Nevins Lake

Alger County, Michigan · MI DNR bathymetric survey

16ft Max
depth

264 acres 8 contours

Paddling Index64MixedMedium confidencesheltered geometry · wooded shoreline

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Depth scale

0246810121416

The lake

Survey readout

Nevins Lake is mapped to a depth of 16 ft on the Michigan DNR survey and covers about 264 acres in Alger County, Michigan.

Measured from the Michigan DNR inland-lake contour survey (depths read from the survey's isobath field; this lake's summary-depth column is blank in the source).

Deepest mapped contour: 16 ft
Mean depth: 6.2 ft · estimated
Surface area: 264 acres
Estimated volume: 1,638 acre-ft · 534M gal
Shoreline: 5.59 mi · irregular
Aquatic vegetation: 6% of surface · NDVI estimate
Public access: No public DNR launch identified

Additional depth details8 contours

Contour depths: 0–16 ft
Recorded point soundings: 16 ft

73.9% of the surface sits over water shallower than 10 ft. Depth, area and volume are estimated from the interpolated survey surface — historical reference, not measurement.

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Location

Alger County, Michigan · 15 nearest of 105 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.

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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: 46.51578, -86.24458
MI DNR lake ID: L28940
Vertical exaggeration: 3.0×
Basemap: USDA NAIP · public domain
Model size: 2.6 MB

Paddling

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

64 / 100MixedData confidence: Medium

Nevins Lake has a mostly natural, lightly developed setting, generally sheltered geometry, some nearby classified roads. No special watercraft restriction is identified in the current source.

Why this score?5 components

Included in the index

Component	Rating	Points of weight	Measurement
Natural setting	Very Good	26.6 of 35	76% natural land cover within 150 m of shore (39% forest, 37% wetland; 14% developed)
Geometric wind exposure	Very Good	18.5 of 29	mean fetch 1,002 m · 8% of sampled water within 500 m of shelter · generally short fetch
Watercraft controls	None identified	8.8 of 18	No special watercraft restriction identified in the current DNR source. Motors permitted, subject to general law.
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	Good	10.6 of 18	some nearby classified roads · 7 MDOT-classified segments within 1.2 km, peak 1,316 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 6% 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: High — 39% forest and 37% 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

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

Rock Bass

Fishing rules for this lake Beta

Size and daily limits for the 1 species found here — 1 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.

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).

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.

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. 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 · 2018

One Master Angler catch is on record for this lake: 12.1″ rock bass in 2018.

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.

Non-native species records

No non-native species recorded in the available dataset. This does not confirm that no non-native species are present.

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

Quick answers

Nevins Lake — common questions

How deep is Nevins Lake?

The deepest contour on the Michigan DNR bathymetric survey of Nevins Lake is 16 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 Nevins Lake?

Nevins Lake covers about 264 acres in Alger County, Michigan.

What is the average depth of Nevins Lake?

The estimated mean depth of Nevins Lake is 6.2 ft, calculated from the survey contours.

What fish are in Nevins Lake?

Species with survey, catch or recent-stocking evidence include rock bass. The page shows the evidence behind each.

Is there public access to Nevins Lake?

No public launch for Nevins Lake appears in the Michigan DNR access data. That is not the same as the lake being private -- municipal and private ramps are not in that source.

More lakes in Alger County