Deer Lake fishing: Rock Bass, Pumpkinseed, Lake Trout

Lake · Michigan · Deerton, 3.5 mi away

Deer Lake, Michigan: Rock Bass. 90.3% of it is 30 feet deep or less. 1 trailer ramp. At least 70 ft deep. 50 fish stocked since 2025.

Lake

Surface area: 266 acres0.4 mi²from the mapped waterbody polygon; varies with water level
Maximum depth: 70 ftdeep
Fish species: 3
Access points: 1
Access: open to the public
Nearest town: Deerton3.5 mi

Deer Lake fishing: Rock Bass, Pumpkinseed, Lake Trout

Target species: Rock Bass, Pumpkinseed, Lake Trout
Boat: 1 ramp or launch on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Deer Lake, 1 lane.

The lake

Deer Lake covers 266 acres in Michigan, across Alger County. It is a lake: 90.3% of it is 30 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is at least 70 feet (21.3 m). Our records hold 3 species for this water.

Depth and bottom

Deepest measured point: at least 70 ft (21.3 m). That is the deepest contour line: the bottom goes deeper. 90.3% of the water is 30 feet or shallower. We hold 24 depth contours for this water, drawn from 216 soundings.

0–5 ft: 60% of the water
5–10 ft: 4.5% of the water
10–15 ft: 4.8% of the water
15–20 ft: 5.9% of the water
20–25 ft: 10.6% of the water
25–30 ft: 4.5% of the water
30–35 ft: 3.3% of the water
35–40 ft: 2.4% of the water
40–45 ft: 1.6% of the water
45–50 ft: 0.9% of the water
50–55 ft: 0.9% of the water
55–60 ft: 0.7% of the water

Stocking: 50 fish in 2025

USFWS/GLFC records list 50 fish released into this water in 2025.

Lake Trout: 50 in 2025

3 target fish, led by Rock Bass

Rock Bass — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
Pumpkinseed — Feeding water: 65–80°F.
Lake Trout — Feeding water: 50–65°F.

1 ramp or launch on this water

On this water we hold 1 trailer ramp.

Deer Lake — 1 lane, restrooms. Van Riper State Park. phone 906-339-4461

The place listed has no fee or opening hours on file: a blank means we hold no such field, not that it is free or always open, and this list may not be complete.

Water and conditions

Water clarity runs 5.5–7 feet on our readings, averaging 6.3 feet, from 62 readings. These readings span 2017–2018. The latest reading is from 2018, more than three years ago: read these numbers as history, not as the water today.

What is hard here

Only 1 public ramp is on file, so the launch decides where you fish.

Where this data comes from

NOAA National Geodetic Survey / Office for Coastal Management — NOAA topobathymetric lidar DEMs: class A, a survey of the bottom, 2019.
Michigan EGLE — Michigan EGLE: depth contours: class A, a survey of the bottom.
Webster, K.E., McCullough, I.M., Soranno, P.A. LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, EDI, doi:10.6073/pasta/64ddc4d04661d9aef4bd702dc5d8984f (CC BY 4.0); Cheruvelil et al. LAGOS-US LOCUS v1.0 (EDI) — LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0: Lake depth for 17,675 lakes in the conterminous U.S.: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.