Tainer Lake in Mason County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Set in Mason County, Michigan, this is Tainer Lake. This is mixed forest ground. At 22 acres it is the sort of place you fish for an evening rather than a day. Ground here is low by Michigan standards. Some 5.1 miles away sits Manistee, the nearest settlement. For a city, Green Bay is 88 miles off. Local rules may differ a few miles either side of here.

• Where to Fish on Tainer Lake

  The records we hold are silent on depth, so plan to find it yourself. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Reported across Mason County: rainbow smelt, alewife, bloater, yellow perch and johnny darter. The county figures include rivers and lakes alike. Read Tainer Lake for ten minutes before the first cast goes out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 69°F in July and bottom out at 22°F in January. Four clear seasons, with a proper winter at one end. The lid usually goes in early April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. Averages suggest open water from about early April through to roughly mid December. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. The season on Tainer Lake follows the weather closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing we hold confirms whether access is permitted. The car has to stay half a mile away, which shapes how much tackle you bring. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. Shingle Mill Lake, 0.9 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. None of that is settled for Tainer Lake in what we hold.