The Chain
They get talked about as one thing. They are not one thing. Depth, temperature, and productivity vary by an order of magnitude across the chain, and that difference decides everything about how you fish them.
Combined area
94,791 sq mi
Deepest
Superior
Max depth
1,332 ft
Lakes covered
6
Side by side
| Lake | Area | Avg depth | Max depth | Volume | Shoreline | Signature fish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Superior | 31,700 | 483 ft | 1,332 ft | 2,900 cu mi | 2,726 mi | lake trout |
| Lake Michigan | 22,404 | 279 ft | 925 ft | 1,180 cu mi | 1,640 mi | chinook salmon |
| Lake Huron | 23,007 | 195 ft | 750 ft | 850 cu mi | 3,827 mi | lake trout |
| Lake Erie | 9,910 | 62 ft | 210 ft | 116 cu mi | 871 mi | walleye |
| Lake Ontario | 7,340 | 283 ft | 802 ft | 393 cu mi | 712 mi | chinook salmon |
| Lake St. Clair | 430 | 11 ft | 27 ft | 1 cu mi | 160 mi | muskellunge |
Shoreline figures include islands. State-by-state coastline is measured differently — see the shoreline pages.
Pick a lake
The largest freshwater lake on earth by surface area, and cold enough year-round that it behaves less like a lake than an inland ocean. Deep-water lake trout, big water, short seasons, and weather that turns without asking.
The only Great Lake entirely inside the United States, and the engine of the salmon fishery. Dune coast on the east, big-city harbors on the west, and a summer king salmon program that draws boats from every state on the chain.
More shoreline than any other Great Lake, most of it quiet. Saginaw Bay grows walleye by the million, the Les Cheneaux islands hide pike and smallmouth, and Thunder Bay holds the best-preserved shipwreck field in the system.
The shallowest, warmest, and by a wide margin the most productive. Erie grows more fish per acre than the rest of the chain combined, and its western basin is the best walleye water in North America. Shallow also means it stacks up fast in wind — respect the forecast.
Smallest in surface area, but deeper than Erie and Huron and holding the heaviest average king salmon in the system. New York runs one of the most aggressive stocking programs on the chain, and the Niagara Bar in spring is as good as brown trout fishing gets.
Not officially a Great Lake and nobody who fishes it cares. Eleven feet deep on average, gin-clear over grass flats, and the densest muskie population on the continent. Smallmouth here run big enough to embarrass a bass boat from anywhere else.