Trailer ramp · Lake Huron · Michigan

Maxton Bay Boat Launch

Name: Maxton Bay
Address: MI, US
Telephone: 906-297-5947

A public trailer ramp on Lake Huron in Chippewa County, Michigan, with 1 lane and 23 trailer spaces. Managed by DeTour State Harbor.

Directions Call 906-297-5947 All Huron launches

The launch

What the agency lists

Launch type: Trailer ramp — 1-lane ramp
Water: Lake Huron
Lanes: 1
Piers / docks: 1
Trailer parking: 23 spaces
Toilets: 1
Fee: Not published in the source — ask the manager
Managed by: DeTour State Harbor
Owner: DNR-FRD
Location: Chippewa County, Michigan
Coordinates: 46.0401° N, 83.6801° W

Before you launch

Lake Huron is big water

Saginaw Bay is shallow and builds a steep, short sea in a hurry; the open-lake ports along the Thumb and the northeast shore can be a long way apart. Know the next harbor down the shore before the wind tells you that you need it.

Saginaw Bay ice that separates from shore. Offshore wind on a shallow bay has stranded groups of anglers on drifting plates more than once, requiring air rescue. Never cross a pressure crack you cannot recross.
Shallow, steep chop in the bay. Eleven to twenty feet of water builds an ugly short-period sea in a moderate wind, far rougher for its height than deep water.
Long unserviced stretches of Michigan shoreline between Harbor Beach and Alpena. Marina spacing is wide; fuel planning matters.

Read how to read a Great Lakes marine forecast and trailering and launching on big water. Pack the big-water safety kit.

From this launch

What to fish on Lake Huron

Brown Trout · Late March through May, with a second window from October into December near harbors and river mouths

Brown Trout Fishing on Lake Huron

Lake Huron brown trout are the most overlooked cold-water fish on the sunrise side of Michigan. From ice-out through May they hold in 8 to 20 feet along the Saginaw Bay shoreline and near the harbors from Port Austin to Alpena, and you will usually have the water to yourself.

Chinook Salmon · July through early September, best in the northern ports from Rogers City north

Chinook Salmon Fishing on Lake Huron

Lake Huron's chinook fishery is a fraction of what it was before the alewife crash of 2003, and anyone promising you a Michigan-style king box is selling something. Wild, naturally reproducing fish still run the northern end from Rogers City to De Tour, and they are lean, fast and worth targeting if you go in with the right expectations.

Coho Salmon · May through July, best in the northern third of the lake

Coho Salmon Fishing on Lake Huron

Lake Huron has the thinnest coho fishery on the American side of the chain, a consequence of the same alewife collapse that took the chinook down. The northern shore from Rogers City to De Tour and the water off Alpena still give up coho in early summer, usually mixed into a lake trout and steelhead program.

Lake Sturgeon · June through September, outside the spring spawning period

Lake Sturgeon on Lake Huron

Lake sturgeon persist in Lake Huron in scattered, closely watched populations rather than as a general fishery, and nearly all of this water is release-only or closed to sturgeon fishing outright. Treat a Huron sturgeon as a fish to identify, handle correctly and release, and check the Michigan DNR rulebook for the exact water before you go.

Lake Trout · May and June on shallow rock, July through September deep, with a heavy fall reef bite

Lake Trout Fishing on Lake Huron

Lake Huron's lake trout are the best conservation story on the chain: a native fish that went to functionally zero under sea lamprey and now reproduces naturally across the main basin. Fish the rock from Rogers City to Drummond Island and you will find more, and shallower, lake trout than most anglers expect.

Lake Whitefish · January through early March on the ice, with a fall reef window in late October and November

Lake Whitefish Fishing on Lake Huron

The Les Cheneaux Islands at Cedarville and Hessel are the most dependable whitefish ice fishery in Michigan, and the protected channels there make ice while the open lake is still rolling. Fish 25 to 60 feet on the deep flats between the islands and you are in the game.

Muskellunge Northern Pike Smallmouth Bass Steelhead Walleye Yellow Perch

Huron by season

SpringSaginaw Bay wakes up first SummerTrolling season on the bay, deep structure on the main lake FallBig walleye out deep, lakers up on the rock WinterSaginaw Bay is one of the great ice fisheries in America

Next ramp over

Nearest Huron launches

De Tour Passage12 mi · trailer ramp · 2 lanes · MI
Cedarville33 mi · trailer ramp · 2 lanes · MI
Hessel Marina36 mi · trailer ramp · 1 lane · MI
Hammond Bay39 mi · trailer ramp · 2 lanes · MI
Hammond Point41 mi · hand / carry-in launch · MI
Bois Blanc43 mi · trailer ramp · MI

Straight-line distance, not a boating route.

For the crew ashore

Beaches nearby

Betsey Seaman Memorial Park-Drummond Island3.2 mi

Source

Launch facts are from the Michigan DNR, State Sponsored Developed Boating Access Sites, retrieved 2026-10-05. Ramps close for repairs, fees change and water levels move; confirm with DeTour State Harbor before you tow. Fishing rules are set by theMichigan DNR.

Chart shoreline generalized from Natural Earth (public domain). Not for navigation. Something wrong or missing? Write to contact@greatamericanlakes.com.

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