Hand / carry-in launch · Lake Michigan · Wisconsin

Tennison Bay Carry-in Ramp

Name: Tennison Bay Carry-in Ramp
Address: Gibraltar, WI, US
Telephone: (920) 868-3258

A public hand / carry-in launch on Tennison Bay - Green Bay in Gibraltar, Door County, Wisconsin. Managed by Peninsula State Park.

Directions Call (920) 868-3258 All Michigan launches

The launch

What the agency lists

Launch type: Hand / carry-in launch — carry-in launch
Water: Tennison Bay - Green Bay
Fee: Not published in the source — ask the manager
Managed by: Peninsula State Park
Owner: State(Dnr)
Location: Gibraltar, Door County, Wisconsin
Coordinates: 45.1619° N, 87.2351° 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 Green Bay:

Muskellunge · September through November, with late October and November the heavy-fish window

Green Bay Muskie Fishing: The Lower Fox, Sturgeon Bay & Fall Trolling

The lower Fox River, De Pere to the mouth at Green Bay: The center of the program. Wisconsin DNR nets adult muskellunge here every spring, takes eggs from Fox River spawners for the hatchery, and has stocked the river since 1989. Fish run the river below the De Pere dam and out into the bay.

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

Northern Pike Fishing on Lake Michigan

Little Bay de Noc and Big Bay de Noc: The top of Green Bay out of Escanaba and Gladstone. Shallow protected weed flats, a huge pike population, and one of Michigan's better tip-up fisheries when the ice sets up.

Smallmouth Bass · Mid-June through early October, with September the peak for size

Smallmouth Bass Fishing on Lake Michigan

Sturgeon Bay and Little Sturgeon, Door County: The Green Bay side of the Door Peninsula. Warm, fertile, rocky and productive — and by far the most heavily fished smallmouth water on the lake, having hosted major national tournaments.

Walleye · Late March through May in the bays, then late June through August on the reef and open-bay pattern

Walleye Fishing on Lake Michigan

The lower Fox River at Green Bay: The single largest walleye spawning run on Lake Michigan. Late March into April, from the De Pere dam downstream. Shoulder-to-shoulder shore access and a boat launch scene that runs day and night.

Yellow Perch · July through October in the southern basin; December through March on Green Bay ice

Yellow Perch Fishing on Lake Michigan

Sturgeon Bay and Sawyer Harbor, Door County: Green Bay side. The best numbers of perch on the lake, and the anchor of a serious winter ice fishery when the bay locks up.

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 Coho Salmon Lake Trout Lake Whitefish Steelhead

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

Nicolet Bay Access0.8 mi · trailer ramp · WI
Green Bay Access2.3 mi · trailer ramp · WI
Fish Creek Ramp2.4 mi · trailer ramp · WI
Ephraim Boat Ramp3.2 mi · trailer ramp · WI
Sister Bay Marina6.0 mi · trailer ramp · WI
Egg Harbor Municipal Marina8.1 mi · trailer ramp · WI

Straight-line distance, not a boating route.

Landmarks from the water

Lighthouses nearby

Eagle Bluff Light0.5 mi
Chambers Island Light6.9 mi · deactivated
Baileys Harbor Range Rear Light8.4 mi · deactivated

For the crew ashore

Beaches nearby

Camp or picnic

State parks nearby

Peninsula State Park1.1 mi

On shore nearby

Worth the stop

Cave Point County Park17 mi · park

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 Peninsula State Park 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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