Manistique Lake fishing: Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Muskellunge

Target species: Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Muskellunge, Walleye, Black Bullhead, White Sucker, Cisco
Boat: 6 ramps and launches on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Cooks Bay, 1 lane.

The lake

Manistique Lake covers 10,350 acres in Michigan, across Mackinac County. It is a lake: the deepest point measured is at least 20 feet (6.1 m). Our records hold 10 species for this water.

Manistique Lake Sunset.jpg
Phoenix-Five · CC BY-SA 4.0

7 target fish, led by Northern Pike

  • Northern Pike — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
  • Smallmouth Bass — Feeding water: 60–75°F.
  • Muskellunge — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
  • Walleye — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
  • Black Bullhead — Feeding water: 70–80°F.
  • White Sucker — Feeding water: 50–70°F.
  • Cisco — Feeding water: 40–60°F.

Also recorded here: Rock Bass, Yellow Perch, Pumpkinseed.

S Manistique Lake Michigan.jpg
Howenstein115 · CC0

Depth and bottom

Deepest measured point: at least 20 ft (6.1 m). That is the deepest contour line: the bottom goes deeper. We hold 298 depth contour lines for this water.

CL-215 Picking up water from Big Manistique Lake (7294433494).jpg
Seney Natural History Association · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • 0–2 ft: 1.2% of the water
  • 2–4 ft: 2.8% of the water
  • 4–6 ft: 4.1% of the water
  • 6–8 ft: 5% of the water
  • 8–10 ft: 9.1% of the water
  • 10–11 ft: 8.9% of the water
  • 11–12 ft: 7.2% of the water
  • 12–13 ft: 5.7% of the water
  • 13–15 ft: 13.8% of the water
  • 15–16 ft: 11% of the water
  • 16–18 ft: 8.2% of the water
  • 18–20 ft: 23% of the water

Stocking: 2,311,995 fish, 1979–2025

Michigan DNR records list 2,311,995 fish released into this water from 1979 to 2025.

  • Walleye: 2,267,580 in 1979–2025
  • Smallmouth Bass: 10,000 in 1998
  • Muskellunge: 3,239 in 2004

One more species on the stocking list.

6 ramps and launches on this water

On this water we hold 6 trailer ramps.

  • Cooks Bay — 1 lane, restrooms. Newberry Field Office (PRD). phone 906-293-5900 · website mcgi.state.mi.us/mrbis/BASDetail.aspx?sid=A-49-008
  • County Line — 1 lane, restrooms. Newberry Field Office (PRD). phone 906-293-5900 · website mcgi.state.mi.us/mrbis/BASDetail.aspx?sid=A-48-007
  • Luce County Park — 1 lane. Luce County. phone 906-293-2999 · website mcgi.state.mi.us/mrbis/BASDetail.aspx?sid=A-48-013
  • Northside — 1 lane, restrooms. Newberry Field Office (PRD). phone 906-293-5900 · website mcgi.state.mi.us/mrbis/BASDetail.aspx?sid=A-48-001
  • Portage Township Park — 1 lane, restrooms. Portage Township. phone 269-329-4522
  • Saw-Wa-Quato — 1 lane, restrooms. Portage Township. phone 906-586-9522 · website mcgi.state.mi.us/mrbis/BASDetail.aspx?sid=A-49-002

Fee and opening hours are blank for all 6 places in this list: 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

Wind is the limit, not the fish: 10,350 acres of open water build a short steep chop, and there is no shelter in the middle.

Where this data comes from

  • 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.