Hundreds of lakes, wild trout streams and something biting in every month of the year. Whether you're after a walleye dinner, a trophy musky or a bucket of bluegill with the kids, here's where to start.
Each of these goes deep on one kind of fishing: where to go, the rules and how to fish it. Pick the one that matches your trip.
Lake by lake: where to swim, paddle and fish, with launches, beaches and the rules.
Read the lakes guide →
Wild brook and brown trout, Blue Ribbon streams, and lake trout and splake lakes that never close.
Read the trout guide →
The fish of ten thousand casts: the best lakes, the 2026 size limits and how to release a big one.
Read the musky guide →
The best lakes through the ice, what bites when, and how to stay safe out there.
Read the ice fishing guide →
A few weekends a year anyone can fish in Michigan without a license, residents and visitors alike.
See the free weekends →
Walleye are the fish most people come for, and the county has plenty of good walleye water. Pike and bass are in nearly every lake, perch and bluegill keep the kids busy, and musky and trout are the fish people talk about for years.
Here's each fish and where to find it. Hover or tap a card for the details.
The fish most people come for, in plenty of lakes.
MoreHagerman, Iron Lake and Lake Ottawa are stocked regularly, Sunset Lake is a local favorite through the ice, and Michigamme Reservoir is big water with light pressure. Keep five a day, 15 inches or longer.
In nearly every lake, and fast-growing in Chicaugon.
MoreChicaugon's pike grow faster than almost anywhere in the western U.P. Many smaller lakes, including Sunset, Iron Lake, Runkle and the big reservoirs, have so many pike that you can keep five of any size there, only one over 24 inches. Elsewhere it's two a day, 24 inches or longer.
Clear rocky water, with catch and release all year.
MoreChicaugon holds smallmouth, and so does Lake Ottawa, where every bass goes back. You can keep five a day, 14 inches or longer, from the Saturday before Memorial Day. Catch and release is open all year.
Weedy bays, with special rules on two lakes.
MoreLook in the weedy water of Lake Emily, Sunset and the Fortune chain. Fire and Indian lakes have a special rule: one bass a day, 18 inches or longer.
No size limit, open all year, great with kids.
MoreNo size limit and 25 a day. Chicaugon grows good bluegill and perch, and Michigamme Reservoir and Peavy Pond are known for crappie. In winter, perch are what most ice anglers are after.
Best odds on Emily, trophies on Chicaugon.
MoreLake Emily for your best odds, Chicaugon for a trophy, where a keeper has to reach 50 inches. One a year, 42 inches statewide. Our musky guide has the rest.
Wild fish in cold Blue Ribbon streams.
MoreWild fish in cold streams: Cooks Run, the South Branch Paint and the Brule are the best known. Two streams stay open for flies-only catch and release all winter. See the trout guide.
Four stocked lakes that never close.
MoreChicaugon, Lake Ottawa, Golden Lake and Lake Ellen are stocked and never close, and most of these fish are caught through the ice.
There's no off season up here, only different fish.
Flies, fly gear and guided trout trips. You'll find it inside Contrast Coffee on Genesee Street.
Visit Dark Waters →
Live bait, tackle and fishing licenses on Crystal Avenue, plus kayak and canoe rentals.
See the listing →A summer weekend of bass fishing at Runkle Lake Park in Crystal Falls. In 2026 it ran July 10 to 12, and we'll post next year's dates once they're set.
Bass FestivalMichigan sets the license aside a few weekends a year. The 2027 dates are coming soon.
3 for FreeWalleye, northern pike, smallmouth and largemouth bass, yellow perch, bluegill, crappie and musky in the lakes, wild brook and brown trout in the streams, and stocked lake trout, splake and rainbow trout in a handful of trout lakes.
May 15 on inland lakes, and it runs to March 15. On the Wisconsin border waters, like the Brule and Menominee, it opens the first Saturday in May.
$76 for the year or $10 for 24 hours, plus a $1 fee. Michigan residents pay $26 for the year.
No. Anyone under 17 can fish without a license.
Hagerman Lake and Iron Lake for walleye, Lake Ottawa for lake trout and bass, Sunset Lake for pike, and Golden Lake for splake. Our Best Lakes guide covers them all.
Fortune Pond's floating pier near Crystal Falls is the easiest, with stocked rainbow trout. Lake Ottawa has a fishing platform, and the state launches on Lake Emily, Stanley, Swan, Lake Mary and Indian Lake all have accessible piers.
Lake Emily for perch, panfish and musky, Chicaugon for big pike, musky and lake trout, the Fortune Lakes at Bewabic State Park for bass and panfish, and Fortune Pond for stocked trout.
Yes. Perch, bluegill and crappie are open all year, the lake trout and splake lakes never close, and walleye and pike are open from May 15 to March 15, so ice fishing runs all winter.
Pick a season and a fish, then a lake to match. Whatever you choose, you'll likely have the water mostly to yourself. Find a room close by and stay a few days.
Fishing, Things to do and tagged bass fishing, crystal falls michigan, fishing, fishing license michigan, ice fishing, iron county michigan, iron river michigan, musky, northern pike, panfish, trout fishing, upper peninsula michigan, walleye.
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Christmas Tree Galleria in Caspian, MI
906-214-2308
906-265-9100
40 E Adams St
Iron River, MI 49935
906-265-9244
1700 County Road 424
Gaastra, MI 49917
906-265-3611
1257 W Ice Lake Rd
Iron River, MI 49935
800-362-7853
373 Brule Mountain Rd
Iron River, MI 49935
800-DO-BRULE
906-265-4957
397 Brule Mountain Rd
Iron River, MI 49935
906-822-7713
1968 US 141 Highway
Amasa, MI 49903
Iron County is one of the Upper Peninsula’s best kept secrets. From camping to fishing, hunting to canoeing, mountain biking to forest bathing – no matter your interests, the great outdoors and clear crisp air await you here.
