Spring Lake Fishing near Manistique, Michigan

• Overview

  Spring Lake sits within Schoolcraft County in Michigan. The land about it is pine and birch. It covers about 12 acres, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. Supplies mean a trip to Manistique, 17 miles off. It is 130 miles to Green Bay, the nearest city. One jurisdiction covers this water end to end.

• Where to Fish on Spring Lake

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Across Schoolcraft County, recorded fish include rainbow smelt, alewife, bloater, yellow perch and white sucker. The county list is broader than any single water. Anyone new to Spring Lake should walk it once before setting up.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The range across the year is 15°F to 65°F. Cold winters and warm summers give a wide working range. The lid usually goes in mid April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. Averages place the thaw at mid April and the freeze at early December. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. Spring Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  No access rule appears in what we hold. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Carr Ponds sits 0.7 miles off and takes the overflow. Check the position at Spring Lake before loading the car.