Trailer ramp · Lake Michigan · Indiana

Portage Marina (Burns Waterway)

Name: Portage Marina (Burns Waterway)
Address: IN, US
Telephone: (219) 762-1675

A public trailer ramp on Lake Michigan in Porter County, Indiana. Managed by City of Portage.

Directions Call (219) 762-1675 All Michigan launches

The launch

What the agency lists

Launch type: Trailer ramp — concrete ramp
Water: Lake Michigan
Docks: 1
Parking: Parking lot
Toilets: 1
Fee: No fee listed
Managed by: City of Portage
Location: Porter County, Indiana
Coordinates: 41.6181° N, 87.1741° W

Directions as listed: Burns Ditch, in Portage, marinas along SR 249.

Also listed: boat dock, restrooms.

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

Northern Pike · May and June, September through November, and January through February on Green Bay ice

Northern Pike Fishing on Lake Michigan

Portage Lake and Manistee Lake: More Michigan-shore drowned river lakes with heavy weed growth. Underfished, close to launches, and a good kayak option.

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

Brown Trout Fishing on Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan brown trout are a shallow-water, cold-weather fishery and the Wisconsin shore from Racine to Algoma is the heart of it. From ice-out through May, browns hold inside 20 feet along the harbors and river mouths, catchable from a small boat or a pier.

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 Smallmouth Bass Steelhead 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

Pastrick Marina14 mi · trailer ramp · IN
Washington Park16 mi · trailer ramp · IN
Trail Creek Marina16 mi · trailer ramp · IN
Whiting Park17 mi · trailer ramp · IN
Winding Creek Cove17 mi · hand / carry-in launch · IN
Whihala Beach County Park17 mi · trailer ramp · IN

Straight-line distance, not a boating route.

Every public launch around Portage and Gary, closest first.

For the crew ashore

Beaches nearby

On shore nearby

Worth the stop

Indiana Dunes National Park6.7 mi · dunes
Chicago Lakefront Trail29 mi · drive

Source

Launch facts are from the Indiana DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife, Fishing Access Sites, retrieved 2026-10-27. Ramps close for repairs, fees change and water levels move; confirm with City of Portage before you tow. Fishing rules are set by theIndiana DNR.

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

Lake Michigan launches Indiana launches Launches near Portage Launches near Gary Lake Michigan field guide Indiana shoreline