Access: Access is off U.S. Highway 223 from the north and Devil’s Lake Highway from the west. The MDNR boat ramp area lies on the west shore, off Devil’s Lake Highway.

Information: Contact the MDNR’s Livonia office at (734) 432-1267, or the Minnow Bucket Bait and Tackle at (517) 764-1909. For tourism information, contact the Lenawee County Visitor’s Bureau at (800) 536-2933.

HOUGHTON LAKE
No discussion of ice-fishing is complete without mentioning Houghton Lake. It’s probably the most heavily fished lake in the L.P., but it’s definitely a numbers lake where northern pike are concerned. Thousands of pike are taken every year, many of them through the ice, and fish up to 10 or 15 pounds are a real possibility.

Houghton Lake has been known as a northern pike bonanza for years. It’s the state’s biggest inland lake at 20,000 acres and is reputedly the most heavily fished lake in the state. But the pike just keep on coming -- both sublegal and big, impressive fish.

“There are a lot of big northern pike in the lake,” said Gary Hath of Lyman’s On The Lake Resort. “I saw a 41-incher and several 33- to 35-inchers last winter, along with a few that measured from 35 to 38 inches.”

Houghton Lake’s deepest spot is only 20 feet, with an average depth of 9 or 10 feet. Scattered weedbeds make pike fishing good just about anywhere.

“Fish anywhere along the weedbeds,” Hath recommended. “If you throw out a live minnow under a bobber, it won’t last five minutes.”

Access: Houghton Lake lies in Roscommon County off Route 27. Public access is off East Houghton Lake Drive on the northeastern corner of the lake, Iroquois Avenue, west of Knappen Creek, where it flows into the lake on the southeastern shoreline, Clearview Road on the lake’s west side, and off Route 300 on the northern tip of the lake. Information: Contact Lyman’s On the Lake Resort at (989) 422-3231, or the MDNR’s Northern Lake Huron Management Unit at (989) 732-3541. l

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