Thumb Lake fishing: Rainbow Trout, Lake Trout, Brown Trout

Target species: Rainbow Trout, Lake Trout, Brown Trout
Boat: 1 ramp or launch on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Thumb Lake, 1 lane.

The lake

Thumb Lake covers 494 acres in Michigan, across Charlevoix County. It is a lake: 91.1% of it is 90 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is at least 152 feet (46.3 m). Our records hold 3 species for this water.

Depth and bottom

Deepest measured point: at least 152 ft (46.3 m). That is the deepest contour line: the bottom goes deeper. 91.1% of the water is 90 feet or shallower. We hold 37 depth contour lines for this water.

Michigan's Thumb Lake 2.jpg
Hgjudd at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
  • 0–10 ft: 12.6% of the water
  • 10–20 ft: 22.1% of the water
  • 20–30 ft: 16.3% of the water
  • 30–40 ft: 14.7% of the water
  • 40–50 ft: 9.4% of the water
  • 50–60 ft: 5.5% of the water
  • 60–70 ft: 4.1% of the water
  • 70–80 ft: 3.8% of the water
  • 80–90 ft: 2.6% of the water
  • 90–100 ft: 2.9% of the water
  • 100–110 ft: 2.7% of the water
  • 110–120 ft: 1.7% of the water
  • 120–130 ft: 1.3% of the water
  • 130–140 ft: 0.4% of the water

Stocking: 1,136,236 fish, 1997–2026

Michigan DNR records list 1,136,236 fish released into this water from 1997 to 2026.

  • Rainbow Trout: 276,082 in 1989–2024
  • Lake Trout: 20,495 in 1979–2012
  • Brown Trout: 297 in 2013–2015

One more species on the stocking list.

Michigan's Thumb Lake 1.jpg
Hgjudd at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0

3 target fish, led by Rainbow Trout

  • Rainbow Trout — Feeding water: 50–65°F.
  • Lake Trout — Feeding water: 50–65°F.
  • Brown Trout — Feeding water: 50–65°F.

1 ramp or launch on this water

On this water we hold 1 trailer ramp.

  • Thumb Lake — 1 lane, open 4am–11pm, restrooms. Young State Park. phone 231-582-7523

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.
  • 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.