Trailer ramp · Lake Michigan · Wisconsin

Lake Michigan Access (Pershing Park)

Name: Lake Michigan Access (Pershing Park)
Address: Racine, WI, US
Telephone: (262) 636-9131

A public trailer ramp on Lake Michigan in Racine, Racine County, Wisconsin. Managed by Parks Department.

Directions Call (262) 636-9131 All Michigan launches

The launch

What the agency lists

Launch type: Trailer ramp — concrete ramp
Water: Lake Michigan
Fee: Not published in the source — ask the manager
Managed by: Parks Department
Owner: City
Location: Racine, Racine County, Wisconsin
Coordinates: 42.7284° N, 87.7791° W

Before you launch

Lake Michigan is big water

The pier-head channel is the dangerous part of the trip. An onshore wind stacks waves where the channel meets the lake, and the run home can be far worse than the run out. Check the wind direction against the harbor mouth before you leave the ramp.

Longshore currents and structural rip currents at the piers. Lake Michigan produces more drowning fatalities than any other Great Lake, and most of them happen to swimmers near breakwalls and piers, not to anglers offshore.
Sudden north-to-northwest wind shifts. The lake runs 300 miles north to south, so a northerly builds enormous fetch and turns a flat morning into a five-foot afternoon on the south end.
Seiche events. Wind and pressure can push water to one end of the basin and let it slosh back, producing fast, unexpected water-level swings — one on the Chicago shoreline in 1954 killed several people on a pier.

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 Michigan

Our Michigan fishing guides name spots at or near Racine:

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

Brown Trout Fishing on Lake Michigan

Racine and the Root River mouth: The Root warms early and pulls browns into the harbor and the shoreline just north and south of it.

Steelhead · June through August offshore; October through April in the tributaries, peaking in March

Steelhead Fishing on Lake Michigan

Root River and the Wisconsin tributaries: Racine's Root River and the Milwaukee-area streams carry good fall and spring runs and put steelhead within a short drive of a million people.

Chinook Salmon · Late June through Labor Day, with the staging run building through the last two weeks of August

Chinook Salmon Fishing on Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is still the most reliable king salmon water in the United States, and the stretch from St. Joseph to Frankfort will put a 15-pound fish in the box on an ordinary July morning. You will work deeper and farther offshore than your father did, but the fish are there.

Coho Salmon · Late March through May in the southern basin, then north to Ludington and Manistee by July

Coho Salmon Fishing on Lake Michigan

The April and May coho run in southern Lake Michigan is the most beginner-friendly big-water salmon fishing in America — the fish school tight in the top 25 feet within a few miles of Chicago and the Indiana ports. A 4- to 6-pound coho on light tackle in 45-degree water is a better introduction to Great Lakes trolling than any king trip.

Lake Trout · May and June on shallow rock, July through September deep, plus a fall reef concentration

Lake Trout Fishing on Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan lake trout are the most dependable fish in the lake — they are there in numbers when the kings are not, and they will bite in flat, hot, bright conditions that shut a salmon program down. Fish the reefs and the deep basin edges, and expect to work 100 to 180 feet down from July on.

Lake Whitefish · December through March through the ice; October through April from a boat in Grand Traverse Bay

Lake Whitefish Fishing on Lake Michigan

Grand Traverse Bay is the marquee whitefish water on Lake Michigan and it produces from a boat in open water as well as through the ice, which very few whitefish fisheries do. Fish 60 to 120 feet on the deep flats and the fish are there most of the year.

Muskellunge Northern Pike Smallmouth Bass Walleye Yellow Perch

Michigan by season

SpringCoho in close, browns on the beach SummerKings go deep and the fleet goes with them FallStaging kings and the river run WinterHarbor ice, tributary steelhead, and open water for the brave

Next ramp over

Nearest Michigan launches

Simmon's Island Boat Harbor9.4 mi · trailer ramp · WI
Bender Park Boat Launch10 mi · trailer ramp · WI
South Shore Park Boat Ramp19 mi · trailer ramp · WI
River Front Launching Site21 mi · trailer ramp · WI
McKinley Park Marina23 mi · trailer ramp · WI
Port Washington - Lake Michigan46 mi · trailer ramp · WI

Straight-line distance, not a boating route.

Landmarks from the water

Lighthouses nearby

Racine Harbor Lighthouse and Life Saving Station0.4 mi · deactivated
Racine North Breakwater Light0.6 mi · deactivated
Racine Reef Light2.2 mi · deactivated

For the crew ashore

Beaches nearby

On shore nearby

Worth the stop

Illinois Beach State Park21 mi · beach

Source

Launch facts are from the Wisconsin DNR, Public Boat Access Sites, retrieved 2026-10-05. Ramps close for repairs, fees change and water levels move; confirm with Parks Department before you tow. Fishing rules are set by theWisconsin 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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