Michigan lake depth maps
Middle Straits Lake depth map
Middle Straits Lake in Oakland County, Michigan reaches a depth of 55 feet. Middle Straits Lake is charted here across 10 closed depth contours, from the 5 ft line down to 50 ft, enclosing about 178 acres of water. Half of that water lies inside the 15 ft line, and only under an acre 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
Middle Straits Lake depth chart: 10 depth contours from 5 to 50 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 | 178 acres | 100% |
| 10 ft | 99 acres | 56% |
| 15 ft | 72 acres | 41% |
| 20 ft | 50 acres | 28% |
| 25 ft | 41 acres | 23% |
| 30 ft | 31 acres | 18% |
| 35 ft | 19 acres | 11% |
| 40 ft | 10 acres | 5.7% |
| 45 ft | 3.9 acres | 2.2% |
| 50 ft | under 1 acre | under 1% |
Acreages are computed from the closed Michigan DNR Inland Lake Contours contour rings, with islands subtracted. Shares are of the 178 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 55 ft sounding, marked as a point rather than a closed contour, so it is not charted as a band.
Fishing Middle Straits Lake: a broad shallow flat
About 178 acres of Middle Straits Lake sit inside the survey's 5 ft contour, and half of that water is already gone by the 15 ft line: the bulk of this Oakland County water sits on a shallow flat, with the real depth packed into one part of the basin. The steepest break on the chart runs from 5 down to 10 ft: 79 acres of bottom fall away across 5 ft there, which makes that band the first contour to work. Inside the 50 ft contour there is under an acre of water, toward the southeastern corner of the lake: a single pocket rather than a basin, and worth a drift over in high summer. Nothing here reaches a true cold-water layer at 55 ft, so structure does the thermocline's work: the points and inside turns where the 5 and 10 ft lines pinch together fish hardest in early season, and again as fish follow bait back down in autumn.
Ice fishing on Middle Straits Lake
At 55 ft, Middle Straits Lake is a workable ice depth: deep enough to hold fish all winter without the slow freeze-up of a big basin. Start on the 50 ft hole, 0.5 acres of it, at first light, then move up onto the 5–10 ft break as the sun gets up, and fish the flats inside the 15 ft line through the middle of the day. Check ice thickness locally before you walk out.
Middle Straits Lake depth map FAQs
- How deep is Middle Straits Lake?
- Middle Straits Lake reaches a maximum depth of 55 feet in the Michigan DNR Inland Lake Contours survey. Most of it is far shallower: the survey charts 10 closed depth contours over about 178 acres, and half of that water sits inside the 15 ft line. The 55 ft figure is a single recorded sounding rather than a closed contour, so the deepest line you can actually trace on the map is 50 ft.
- Where is the deepest part of Middle Straits Lake?
- The deepest charted water on Middle Straits Lake lies inside the 50 ft contour, toward the southeastern corner of the lake. That contour encloses under an acre, under 1% 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 Middle Straits Lake is shallower than 15 feet?
- About half. The 15 ft contour encloses 72 acres of the roughly 178 acres inside the outer 5 ft line, so the other half of the water is shallower than 15 feet. The sharpest drop is between 5 and 10 feet, where the mapped water sheds 79 acres.
- How accurate is this Middle Straits 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 Middle Straits Lake
- Green Lake depth map · 72 ft max · 1 mi away
- Upper Straits Lake depth map · 96+ ft max · 2 mi away
- Union Lake depth map · 110 ft max · 2 mi away
- Cooley Lake depth map · 56 ft max · 3 mi away
- Orchard Lake depth map · 111 ft max · 3 mi away
Mapped fishing venues near Middle Straits Lake
Middle Straits Lake in the venue directory covers access and fishing details for this water.
- Green Lake · 1 mi away
- Upper Straits Lake · 2 mi away
- Union Lake · 2 mi away
Fishing in Michigan needs a state license: Michigan fishing license guide · all Michigan venues