Lake Michigan
The only Great Lake entirely inside the United States, and the engine of the salmon fishery. Dune coast on the east, big-city harbors on the west, and a summer king salmon program that draws boats from every state on the chain.
Shoreline
Michigan
More freshwater coastline than any state in the country and the only one touching four Great Lakes. Two peninsulas, 3,288 miles of shore, and a fishery that runs from Erie walleye to Superior lake trout.
Shoreline
3,288 mi
Lakes
5
Gamefish
12
Places covered
7
Water it touches
Lake Huron
More shoreline than any other Great Lake, most of it quiet. Saginaw Bay grows walleye by the million, the Les Cheneaux islands hide pike and smallmouth, and Thunder Bay holds the best-preserved shipwreck field in the system.
Lake Superior
The largest freshwater lake on earth by surface area, and cold enough year-round that it behaves less like a lake than an inland ocean. Deep-water lake trout, big water, short seasons, and weather that turns without asking.
Lake Erie
The shallowest, warmest, and by a wide margin the most productive. Erie grows more fish per acre than the rest of the chain combined, and its western basin is the best walleye water in North America. Shallow also means it stacks up fast in wind — respect the forecast.
Lake St. Clair
Not officially a Great Lake and nobody who fishes it cares. Eleven feet deep on average, gin-clear over grass flats, and the densest muskie population on the continent. Smallmouth here run big enough to embarrass a bass boat from anywhere else.
Who makes the rules
Michigan DNR
Licences, seasons, size and bag limits, launch permits, and shoreline access in Michigan are all set here. Rules change annually — read the current version before you fish or launch.
Open Michigan DNRFish in Michigan waters
Where to go
Michigan shoreline
Grand Haven State Park
A 48-acre sand beach on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Grand River, with the Grand Haven pier and its red catwalk running out to the light.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Forty-two miles of banded sandstone cliff on Lake Superior between Munising and Grand Marais, Michigan — the first national lakeshore in the country.
Point Betsie Lighthouse
An 1858 brick light on the Lake Michigan shore north of Frankfort, Michigan, marking the south entrance to the Manitou Passage.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Perched dunes 450 feet above Lake Michigan on Michigan's northwest coast, with the Dune Climb, Pierce Stocking Drive, and 35 miles of shore.
Tahquamenon Falls and Whitefish Point
Michigan's largest waterfall and the Lake Superior point that guards Whitefish Bay, an hour apart on the eastern Upper Peninsula.
Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
A 4,300-square-mile protected shipwreck field off Alpena, Michigan, in Lake Huron, with wrecks in water shallow enough to snorkel.
Tunnel of Trees — M-119
A narrow, shoulderless 20-mile stretch of Michigan M-119 running the Lake Michigan bluff from Harbor Springs to Cross Village.