Ford Lake fishing: Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass, Walleye

Target species: Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass, Walleye, Northern Pike, Black Crappie, Black Bullhead, White Sucker
Boat: 1 ramp or launch on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Ford Lake, 4 lanes.

The lake

Ford Lake covers 987 acres in Michigan, across Washtenaw County. It is a lake: the deepest point measured is at least 30 feet (9.1 m). Our records hold 18 species for this water.

7 target fish, led by Smallmouth Bass

  • Smallmouth Bass — Feeding water: 60–75°F.
  • Largemouth Bass — Feeding water: 65–85°F.
  • Walleye — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
  • Northern Pike — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
  • Black Crappie — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
  • Black Bullhead — Feeding water: 70–80°F.
  • White Sucker — Feeding water: 50–70°F.

Also recorded here: Bluegill, Rock Bass, Yellow Perch, Green Sunfish, Pumpkinseed, Channel Catfish, Yellow Bullhead, Common Carp, Spottail Shiner, Golden Shiner, Fathead Minnow.

Ford Lake Park, 9075 South Huron River Drive, Ypsilanti Township, Michigan - panoramio.jpg
Dwight Burdette · CC BY 3.0

Depth and bottom

Deepest measured point: at least 30 ft (9.1 m). That is the deepest contour line: the bottom goes deeper. We hold 99 depth contour lines for this water.

  • 0–2 ft: 2.4% of the water
  • 2–4 ft: 3.5% of the water
  • 4–6 ft: 2.8% of the water
  • 6–8 ft: 3.2% of the water
  • 8–10 ft: 4.3% of the water
  • 10–12 ft: 4.6% of the water
  • 12–14 ft: 4.9% of the water
  • 14–16 ft: 5.3% of the water
  • 16–18 ft: 5.2% of the water
  • 18–20 ft: 6% of the water
  • 20–22 ft: 5.4% of the water
  • 22–24 ft: 6% of the water
  • 24–26 ft: 7.6% of the water
  • 26–28 ft: 4.3% of the water
  • 28–30 ft: 34.6% of the water

Stocking: 5,219,374 fish, 1979–2006

Michigan DNR records list 5,219,374 fish released into this water from 1979 to 2006. The latest stocking on record is from 2006, more than three years ago.

Ford Lake Park, 9075 South Huron River Drive, Ypsilanti Township, Michigan - panoramio (1).jpg
Dwight Burdette · CC BY 3.0
  • Walleye: 5,000,000 in 1982–1985
  • Channel Catfish: 155,939 in 1987–2004
  • Bluegill: 11,500 in 1990
  • Northern Pike: 440 in 2006

One more species on the stocking list.

1 ramp or launch on this water

On this water we hold 1 trailer ramp.

  • Ford Lake — 4 lanes. Ypsilanti Township.

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.

What is hard here

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

Where this data comes from

  • Michigan EGLE — Michigan EGLE: depth contours: class A, a survey of the bottom.
  • EPA NLA — EPA National Lakes Assessment: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
  • 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.