Trailer ramp · Lake St. Clair · Michigan

Harley Ensign Memorial Boat Launch

Name: Harley Ensign Memorial
Address: MI, US
Telephone: 586-465-2160

A public trailer ramp on Lake Saint Clair in Macomb County, Michigan, with 18 lanes and 287 trailer spaces. Managed by Mount Clemens Field Office.

Directions Call 586-465-2160 All St. Clair launches

The launch

What the agency lists

Launch type: Trailer ramp — 18-lane ramp
Water: Lake Saint Clair
Lanes: 18
Piers / docks: 9
Trailer parking: 287 spaces
Car-only parking: 52 spaces
Toilets: 1
Fee: Not published in the source — ask the manager
Managed by: Mount Clemens Field Office
Owner: DNR-PRD
Location: Macomb County, Michigan
Coordinates: 42.5933° N, 82.7747° W

Before you launch

Lake St. Clair is big water

St. Clair averages about eleven feet deep and much of it is shallower. Outside the dredged shipping channel, watch the chart and the depth finder, and keep clear of freighter traffic in the channel itself. Wind across the open middle builds a sharp chop quickly.

Current from the St. Clair River in the north and the Detroit River outflow in the south. It moves ice, it moves boats at anchor, and it makes ice near either end untrustworthy in any conditions.
Shallow, fast-building chop. Eleven feet of average depth means a 15-knot wind produces a short steep sea that beats a small boat badly and shuts down flat fishing entirely.
Heavy commercial freighter traffic in the marked shipping channel bisecting the lake. Freighters have no ability to maneuver around you and their wake and draw are significant.

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 St. Clair

Lake Sturgeon · June through September, after the spring spawning period has passed

Lake Sturgeon in the Lake St. Clair System

The Lake St. Clair and St. Clair River system supports the healthiest lake sturgeon population in the Great Lakes, and it is a genuine conservation success built on decades of protection and habitat work. Nearly all of this water is catch-and-release for sturgeon — read the current Michigan rulebook before you rig a rod, and assume the fish goes back.

Muskellunge · June through mid-November, with October and early November the trophy window

Muskie Fishing on Lake St. Clair

Lake St. Clair holds the densest muskellunge population on the continent, and the old line about ten thousand casts does not apply here. A competent angler on a good October day can raise a dozen fish and boat several.

Northern Pike · Late April through June, September through November, and January into February on Anchor Bay ice

Northern Pike Fishing on Lake St. Clair

St. Clair pike are the fish nobody drives here for, which is why they get so little pressure on a lake famous for muskie and smallmouth. The St. Clair Flats delta and Anchor Bay hold good numbers in water shallow enough to fish from a kayak.

Smallmouth Bass · Late May through October, with September and October the best big-fish window

Smallmouth Bass Fishing on Lake St. Clair

Lake St. Clair is the best smallmouth lake in the country and the numbers are not close. Eleven feet of clear water over grass, a forage base of gobies and emerald shiners, and enough four-pound fish that a five-pounder does not stop the boat.

Steelhead · November through April on the St. Clair River; March and April in the tributaries

Steelhead in the Lake St. Clair System: Port Huron to the Clinton River

The Lake St. Clair system is a small, opportunistic steelhead fishery, not a destination. Your best odds are a cold-month fish off the Port Huron wall under the Blue Water Bridge, or a spring fish in the stocked Mill Creek and Clinton River tributaries.

Walleye · Late April through early June, and again from late September into November

Lake St. Clair Walleye Fishing: Night Bite & Delta Tactics

St. Clair is an overlooked walleye lake sitting between two great ones, and its best fishing happens after dark in water shallow enough to wade. Come for the spring and fall night bite in Anchor Bay and the delta, not for a mid-summer daytime trolling program.

Yellow Perch

St. Clair by season

SpringWalleye in the rivers, smallmouth staging on the flats SummerGrass flats, gin-clear water, and muskies FallThe best muskie fishing in North America WinterPerch and pike through ice that is never guaranteed

Next ramp over

Nearest St. Clair launches

Metro Beach Metro Park West1.3 mi · trailer ramp · MI
Selfridge3.4 mi · trailer ramp · 14 lanes · MI
Clinton River Cut-off4.1 mi · trailer ramp · 6 lanes · MI
Brandenburg Memorial Park5.1 mi · trailer ramp · MI
Snooks6.8 mi · trailer ramp · 1 lane · MI
Deckers Landing6.9 mi · trailer ramp · 2 lanes · MI

Straight-line distance, not a boating route.

Landmarks from the water

Lighthouses nearby

St. Clair Flats Range Front Light5.6 mi
St. Clair Flats Rear Range Light5.7 mi · deactivated
Lake St. Clair Light8.9 mi

For the crew ashore

Beaches nearby

H.C.M.A. - Lake St. Clair Metropark Beach1.9 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 Mount Clemens Field Office 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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