Fife Lake

Grand Traverse County, Michigan · MI DNR bathymetric survey

55ft Max
depth

575 acres 15 contours Public access

Paddling Index35ModestMedium confidenceslow-no-wake zones

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Depth scale

0510152030404955

The lake

Survey readout

Fife Lake is mapped to a depth of 55 ft on the Michigan DNR survey and covers about 575 acres in Grand Traverse County, Michigan.

Measured from the Michigan DNR inland-lake contour survey.

Deepest mapped contour: 55 ft
Mean depth: 15.2 ft · estimated
Surface area: 575 acres
Estimated volume: 8,735 acre-ft · 2,846M gal
Shoreline: 3.82 mi · round
Aquatic vegetation: 2% of surface · NDVI estimate
Public access: Boat Launch

Additional depth details15 contours

Contour depths: 0–55 ft
Recorded point soundings: 55 ft, 49 ft, 16 ft, 14 ft

Other waters with a public launch on this map: Spring Lake. Their launches are not marked on the model — only Fife Lake’s own are.

39.3% of the surface sits over water shallower than 10 ft; 32.6% is deeper than 20 ft. Depth, area and volume are estimated from the interpolated survey surface — historical reference, not measurement.

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Location

Grand Traverse County, Michigan · 15 nearest of 37 lakes and 1 bay · tap a dot for that lake

Chart data

Provenance

Sources: MI DNR inland lake contours, USGS 3DEP, USDA NAIP (public domain), OpenStreetMap (ODbL), MI DNR Boat Launches.

⚠ Not for navigation

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Map details & sources5 sources

All layers registered to one bounding box; positions in WGS 84.

Survey-derived depth contours drape over USGS 3DEP elevation, with a USDA NAIP aerial basemap and OpenStreetMap shoreline. Colour shows surveyed depth; dark lines are the survey's own isobaths.

Coordinates: 44.56717, -85.34409
MI DNR lake ID: L15749
Vertical exaggeration: 1.81×
Basemap: USDA NAIP · public domain
Model size: 2.4 MB

Watercraft rules

county-enforced local controls · MI DNR

Restricted hourswhole lake, as mapped

Slow — no wakedesignated zones

Official rule details2 rules

Restricted hours“Hours of high-speed boating and water skiing”

Slow — no wake“Slow—no wake speed”

Where the mapped control areas and the official regulation language differ, the language governs. Official county watercraft controls.

Paddling

Paddling Index methodology v1.0 · calculated 2026-08-21

35 / 100ModestData confidence: Medium

Fife Lake has a substantially developed setting, moderate open-water exposure, substantial nearby higher-volume roads. Watercraft controls: Slow-no-wake zones.

Why this score?5 components

Included in the index

Component	Rating	Points of weight	Measurement
Natural setting	Modest	5.7 of 35	34% natural land cover within 150 m of shore (15% forest, 14% wetland; 36% developed)
Geometric wind exposure	Good	13.6 of 29	mean fetch 1,477 m · 0% of sampled water within 500 m of shelter · moderate open-water fetch
Watercraft controls	Slow-no-wake zones	12.0 of 18	Restricted hours; Slow — no wake — designated zones only
Public access	Not listed	—	No DNR-listed access site. Township, county and road-end launches are not in this source, so this is not evidence that access is poor — the component is excluded and the remaining weights are renormalized.
Road isolation	Modest	3.7 of 18	substantial nearby higher-volume roads · 60 MDOT-classified segments within 1.2 km, peak 8,799 vehicles/day

Additional paddling considerations

These describe the lake but are not part of the v1 Paddling Index and do not change the number above.

Wake sensitivity: Low — wide enough that wakes disperse over most of the lake
Aquatic vegetation: Low — approximately 2% mapped coverage · NAIP aerial imagery (NDVI)
Observed motorized activity: Unknown — No lake-level measurement of boat traffic is available. Legal permission to operate motors is not evidence of use.
Wildlife habitat potential: Limited — 15% forest and 14% wetland cover within 150 m of shore

Compare Michigan lakes by Paddling Index →

How this index is calculated. The Paddling Index is a relative composite derived from lake geometry and public environmental, access, roadway and watercraft-control data. It is not a user review, a safety rating, or a prediction of an individual outing. Differences of a few points should not be treated as meaningful — an 84 and an 82 are broadly comparable. Components and weights: natural setting 30%, geometric wind exposure 25%, watercraft controls 15%, public access 15%, road isolation 15%; observed motorboat activity is weighted 0% because no defensible lake-level measurement exists. Where a component has no data the remaining weights are renormalized and the confidence rating is lowered; below Medium confidence no number is shown. Sources: MI DNR Watercraft Control Areas (2026-08), USGS/MRLC NLCD Land Cover (2021), MDOT Annual Average Daily Traffic (2025) and MI DNR bathymetric survey outline (0 ft isobath). Conditions change quickly — check current weather and local conditions before going out.

Fish you might catch

from angler catches, DNR surveys & active stocking

9 species with recent evidence in this lake — sized relative to each other. Illustrations are AI-generated representative adults in everyday colours, not photographs (provenance).

Walleye

Smallmouth Bass

Bullhead

Black Crappie

Crappie

Yellow Perch

Bluegill

Rock Bass

Pumpkinseed

Fishing rules for this lake Beta

Size and daily limits for the 9 species found here — 9 open to harvest.

These are hook-and-line size, daily limit and season rules. Gear, spearing and bow fishing, spawning closures and rod limits are set by other Fisheries Orders and are not shown here.

Black CrappieOpen to harvestMinimum size: no size limit · Daily limit: 25 (FO-215 · statewide inland) The 25 is in any combination of the sunfishes — Bluegill, Pumpkinseed, Black and White Crappie, Rock Bass, Green, Longear and Redear Sunfish, Warmouth and hybrids — not 25 of each (FO-215.23A).

BluegillOpen to harvestMinimum size: no size limit · Daily limit: 25 (FO-215 · statewide inland) The 25 is in any combination of the sunfishes — Bluegill, Pumpkinseed, Black and White Crappie, Rock Bass, Green, Longear and Redear Sunfish, Warmouth and hybrids — not 25 of each (FO-215.23A).

Beta. This panel is newly published. Every value is parsed from the Michigan DNR fisheries orders and hand-checked against the printed digest, but the coverage and wording are still under review. If anything here disagrees with the Michigan DNR's Fisheries Orders or its printed digest, the DNR is right — the signed Fisheries Order is the legal text; the digest summarises it.

BullheadOpen to harvestMinimum size: no size limit · Daily limit: no possession limit (2026 DNR digest · all other species)

CrappieOpen to harvestMinimum size: no size limit · Daily limit: 25 (FO-215 · statewide inland) The 25 is in any combination of the sunfishes — Bluegill, Pumpkinseed, Black and White Crappie, Rock Bass, Green, Longear and Redear Sunfish, Warmouth and hybrids — not 25 of each (FO-215.23A).

PumpkinseedOpen to harvestMinimum size: no size limit · Daily limit: 25 (FO-215 · statewide inland) The 25 is in any combination of the sunfishes — Bluegill, Pumpkinseed, Black and White Crappie, Rock Bass, Green, Longear and Redear Sunfish, Warmouth and hybrids — not 25 of each (FO-215.23A).

Rock BassOpen to harvestMinimum size: no size limit · Daily limit: 25 (FO-215 · statewide inland) The 25 is in any combination of the sunfishes — Bluegill, Pumpkinseed, Black and White Crappie, Rock Bass, Green, Longear and Redear Sunfish, Warmouth and hybrids — not 25 of each (FO-215.23A).

Smallmouth BassOpen to harvestMinimum size: 14" · Daily limit: 5 (FO-215 · statewide inland) The 5 is in any combination of Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass, not 5 of each (FO-215.23A).

WalleyeOpen to harvestMinimum size: 15" · Daily limit: 5 (FO-215 · statewide inland)

Yellow PerchOpen to harvestMinimum size: no size limit · Daily limit: 25 (FO-215 · statewide inland)

From FO-206.26 (eff. 2026-04-01) / FO-215.23A (eff. 2023-09-15) / FO-254.25 (eff. 2025-10-10), checked against the 2026 Michigan Fishing Regulations digest · verified 2026-08-24. Regulations can change — Michigan DNR rules are the controlling source; verify current regulations before fishing. Official regulations

Compiled from registered Master Angler catches, Michigan DNR fishery surveys and Michigan DNR stockings within the last 10 years. Silhouettes are stylized and scaled to typical adult sizes relative to one another. Presence is not a promise — fishing isn’t a sure thing.

Notable catches

Master Angler program · 1994–2025

Trophy-size fish anglers caught here and registered with the DNR — what people have actually caught, distinct from what a survey netted or the state stocked below.

34Catches recorded

8Species

Bluegill10 recorded · to 11.2″

Crappie7 recorded · to 15.5″

Rock Bass6 recorded · to 12.5″

Yellow Perch3 recorded · to 14.9″

Catch details by species8 species

Bluegill10 recorded · to 11.2″ · latest 2023

Crappie7 recorded · to 15.5″ · latest 2025

Rock Bass6 recorded · to 12.5″ · latest 2012

Yellow Perch3 recorded · to 14.9″ · latest 2005

Bullhead2 recorded · to 14.5″ · latest 2025

Pumpkinseed2 recorded · to 9.2″ · latest 2012

Smallmouth Bass2 recorded · to 23.2″ · latest 2005

Walleye2 recorded · to 31″ · latest 2018

Biggest on record

Walleye31″ · 2018 · trolling

Walleye30″ · 2000 · ice fishing

Smallmouth Bass23.2″ · 2005 · spincasting

Smallmouth Bass21″ · 2004 · ice fishing · minnow

Crappie15.5″ · 2025 · ice fishing · live bait

Bait: artificial lure (7) · live bait (4) · crawler (3)
Method: still fishing (11) · spincasting (10) · ice fishing (9) · trolling (2)

Master Angler entries are fish that met the program’s minimum size and were registered by the angler — they show what this lake has produced, not what a day here will produce. A catch on record is history, not a species listing: “Fish you might catch” lists only species with current evidence. Source: Michigan DNR Master Angler data.

Fishery

surveyed 2013 · DNR SFR 2014-181

17Fish sampled

7Species

Gamefish Smallmouth Bass 2 · Walleye 1

Panfish Rock Bass 5 · Bluegill 3 · Yellow Perch 3

All survey species7 species

Gamefish

Smallmouth Bass2 caught

Walleye1 caught

Panfish

Rock Bass5 caught

Bluegill3 caught

Yellow Perch3 caught

Pumpkinseed2 caught

Black Crappie1 caught

Stocking: of Natural Resources Report 2014-181 Status of the Fishery Resource Report Page 2 The first recorded stocking of Fife Lake occurred in 1876, when lake whitefish were stocked (Table 1).

This survey reported catch counts without lengths. Source: Michigan DNR Status of the Fishery Resource report (counts summed across survey years).

DNR stocking

state stocking record · 1980–2025

Fish the Michigan DNR has planted in this lake — what was added, distinct from what a survey netted above.

Walleye1,610,935 stocked · 1980–2025 · 25 plantings

Source: Michigan DNR Fish Stocking Database.

Non-native species records

1 record

Mussels & snails

Zebra Mussel

What does non-native mean?

USGS records identify non-native species that have been documented for this lake or its shoreline. Non-native does not necessarily mean invasive, and historical records do not confirm current presence.

Source: Midwest Glacial Lakes Partnership Conservation Planner; underlying nonindigenous species records from the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species database.

Public fishing access

MI DNR family-friendly fishing

ShoreBoat

County-managed · Free · Rustic restrooms · Paved parking

Amenities: Animal-friendly, bait store, beach, boat launch, boat rental, camping, equipment retnal, picnic tables, swimming access

“Good size lake with two islands. Sand bar by the islands and a nice weeded area.”

Source: Michigan DNR Family Friendly Fishing.

At the lake

community-mapped amenities · straight-line distance

⛻ Campground≈0.4 mi

🏖 Beach / swim areaon the lake · 2 mapped

🎢 Playgroundon the lake · 3 mapped

From OpenStreetMap community mapping — shown only where something is mapped; an amenity missing here may still exist. Distances are straight-line. Verify before you rely on it. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Bait & tackle nearby

licensed retail bait dealers · straight-line distance

Stoberlin LLC≈0.6 mi · (231) 879-3341228 E State, Fife Lake · Google · Apple

JB's Midway≈4.6 mi · (231) 879-413011965 US 131, Fife Lake · Google · Apple

Next Door Store 5059≈11.9 mi · (231) 839-415388 N Morey Rd, Lake City · Google · Apple

Dealers licensed by the Michigan DNR to sell live bait; listing is not an endorsement. Distances are straight-line, not driving — and call ahead: hours and stock change. Source: Michigan DNR retail bait dealer data.

Quick answers

Fife Lake — common questions

How deep is Fife Lake?

The deepest contour on the Michigan DNR bathymetric survey of Fife Lake is 55 ft. That is the deepest depth the historical survey map records, which may differ from the deepest point of the lake itself.

How big is Fife Lake?

Fife Lake covers about 575 acres in Grand Traverse County, Michigan.

What is the average depth of Fife Lake?

The estimated mean depth of Fife Lake is 15.2 ft, calculated from the survey contours.

What fish are in Fife Lake?

Species with survey, catch or recent-stocking evidence include smallmouth bass, walleye, black crappie, bluegill, bullhead, crappie. The page lists all 9 species and the evidence behind each.

Is there public access to Fife Lake?

Yes. The Michigan DNR boat-launch data identifies 1 public access site on Fife Lake, including Fife Lake.