Michigan lake depth maps
Ford Lake depth map
Ford Lake in Mason County, Michigan reaches a depth of 84 feet. Ford Lake is charted here across 16 closed depth contours, from the 5 ft line down to 80 ft, enclosing about 182 acres of water. Half of that water lies inside the 40 ft line, and only 10 acres lie inside the deepest one. Every contour is on the interactive map below, free and without an account.
Data: Michigan DNR Inland Lake Contours (public record). Contours closed, checked and area-computed by Jordan Carter, founder of GilledIt · page updated
Ford Lake depth chart: 16 depth contours from 5 to 80 ft
Data: Michigan DNR Inland Lake Contours (public record), retrieved August 2026 · depths change over time · not for navigation
| Depth contour | Water inside it | Share of mapped water |
|---|---|---|
| 5 ft | 182 acres | 100% |
| 10 ft | 161 acres | 89% |
| 15 ft | 147 acres | 81% |
| 20 ft | 135 acres | 74% |
| 25 ft | 124 acres | 68% |
| 30 ft | 111 acres | 61% |
| 35 ft | 98 acres | 54% |
| 40 ft | 83 acres | 46% |
| 45 ft | 71 acres | 39% |
| 50 ft | 62 acres | 34% |
| 55 ft | 55 acres | 30% |
| 60 ft | 48 acres | 26% |
| 65 ft | 39 acres | 22% |
| 70 ft | 29 acres | 16% |
| 75 ft | 22 acres | 12% |
| 80 ft | 10 acres | 5.6% |
Acreages are computed from the closed Michigan DNR Inland Lake Contours contour rings, with islands subtracted. Shares are of the 182 acres inside the outermost charted contour (the 5 ft line), which is the outer edge of the mapped water, several state files carry no 0 ft shoreline line, so this is not the same as a share of the lake's published surface area. The survey also records a 84 ft sounding, marked as a point rather than a closed contour, so it is not charted as a band.
Fishing Ford Lake: a stepped drop into deep water
About 182 acres of Ford Lake sit inside the survey's 5 ft contour, and half of that water is already gone by the 40 ft line: the bottom steps down contour by contour into the deep basin rather than shelving flat or plunging all at once. The steepest break on the chart runs from 5 down to 10 ft: 21 acres of bottom fall away across 5 ft there, which makes that band the first contour to work. 10 acres, 5.6% of the mapped water, lie inside the deepest 80 ft contour, toward the northwestern corner of the lake. At 84 ft this is two-story water: the basin can stay cold below the summer thermocline while warm-water fish stay up on the 5-to-40 ft ground, and the fish that move between the two do it along the 5–10 ft break at first and last light.
Ice fishing on Ford Lake
Deep water like Ford Lake freezes later and less evenly than the shallow lakes around it, and the winter bite sets up on the first real break, not out over the 80 ft hole. That edge is the 5–10 ft band on the chart above, where 21 acres of bottom tilt away, and panfish and walleye work up and down it through the day. By late ice the fish push back onto the 5-to-40 ft flat. Check ice thickness locally before you walk out.
Ford Lake depth map FAQs
- How deep is Ford Lake?
- Ford Lake reaches a maximum depth of 84 feet in the Michigan DNR Inland Lake Contours survey. Most of it is far shallower: the survey charts 16 closed depth contours over about 182 acres, and half of that water sits inside the 40 ft line. The 84 ft figure is a single recorded sounding rather than a closed contour, so the deepest line you can actually trace on the map is 80 ft.
- Where is the deepest part of Ford Lake?
- The deepest charted water on Ford Lake lies inside the 80 ft contour, toward the northwestern corner of the lake. That contour encloses 10 acres, 5.6% of the mapped water, so it is a small target on a small water, the depth chart above gives the contour to line up on.
- How much of Ford Lake is shallower than 40 feet?
- About half. The 40 ft contour encloses 83 acres of the roughly 182 acres inside the outer 5 ft line, so the other half of the water is shallower than 40 feet. The sharpest drop is between 5 and 10 feet, where the mapped water sheds 21 acres.
- How accurate is this Ford Lake depth map?
- The contours come from the Michigan DNR Inland Lake Contours survey, retrieved August 2026 and last rebuilt on August 19, 2026. Depths change over time with water levels and sediment, so treat this map as a planning guide for fishing, and never use it for navigation. Acreages are computed from the published contour geometry, not from a separate area survey, so read them as close approximations.
Depth maps for lakes near Ford Lake
- Bass Lake depth map · 45 ft max · 8 mi away
- Pine Lake depth map · 50 ft max · 12 mi away
- Hamlin Lake depth map · 65+ ft max · 15 mi away
- North Lake depth map · 28 ft max · 19 mi away
- Portage Lake depth map · 60 ft max · 22 mi away
Mapped fishing venues near Ford Lake
Ford Lake in the venue directory covers access and fishing details for this water.
- Bass Lake · 8 mi away
- Maple Leaf Fishing Access Site · 8 mi away
- Pere Marquette River · 8 mi away
Fishing in Michigan needs a state license: Michigan fishing license guide · all Michigan venues