Michigan lake depth maps
Orchard Lake depth map
Orchard Lake in Oakland County, Michigan reaches a depth of 111 feet. Orchard Lake is charted here across 12 closed depth contours, from the 5 ft line down to 110 ft, enclosing about 847 acres of water. Half of that water lies inside the 20 ft line, and only 2.5 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
Orchard Lake depth chart: 12 depth contours from 5 to 110 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 | 847 acres | 100% |
| 10 ft | 551 acres | 65% |
| 20 ft | 377 acres | 45% |
| 30 ft | 321 acres | 38% |
| 40 ft | 250 acres | 30% |
| 50 ft | 192 acres | 23% |
| 60 ft | 138 acres | 16% |
| 70 ft | 95 acres | 11% |
| 80 ft | 54 acres | 6.3% |
| 90 ft | 21 acres | 2.5% |
| 100 ft | 8.8 acres | 1% |
| 110 ft | 2.5 acres | under 1% |
Acreages are computed from the closed Michigan DNR Inland Lake Contours contour rings, with islands subtracted. Shares are of the 847 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 111 ft sounding, marked as a point rather than a closed contour, so it is not charted as a band.
Fishing Orchard Lake: a wide shallow flat over a deep hole
About 847 acres of Orchard Lake sit inside the survey's 5 ft contour, and half of that water is already gone by the 20 ft line: most of this Oakland County water is shallow and the depth is concentrated in one part of the basin. The steepest break on the chart runs from 5 down to 10 ft: 296 acres of bottom fall away across 5 ft there, which makes that band the first contour to work. 2.5 acres, under 1% of the mapped water, lie inside the deepest 110 ft contour, toward the southeastern corner of the lake. At 111 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-20 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 Orchard Lake
Deep water like Orchard 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 110 ft hole. That edge is the 5–10 ft band on the chart above, where 296 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-20 ft flat. Check ice thickness locally before you walk out.
Orchard Lake depth map FAQs
- How deep is Orchard Lake?
- Orchard Lake reaches a maximum depth of 111 feet in the Michigan DNR Inland Lake Contours survey. Most of it is far shallower: the survey charts 12 closed depth contours over about 847 acres, and half of that water sits inside the 20 ft line. The 111 ft figure is a single recorded sounding rather than a closed contour, so the deepest line you can actually trace on the map is 110 ft.
- Where is the deepest part of Orchard Lake?
- The deepest charted water on Orchard Lake lies inside the 110 ft contour, toward the southeastern corner of the lake. That contour encloses 2.5 acres, under 1% of the mapped water, so it is a small target on a big lake, the depth chart above gives the contour to line up on.
- How much of Orchard Lake is shallower than 20 feet?
- About half. The 20 ft contour encloses 377 acres of the roughly 847 acres inside the outer 5 ft line, so the other half of the water is shallower than 20 feet. The sharpest drop is between 5 and 10 feet, where the mapped water sheds 296 acres.
- How accurate is this Orchard 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 Orchard Lake
- Upper Straits Lake depth map · 96+ ft max · 1 mi away
- Pine Lake depth map · 90+ ft max · 2 mi away
- Cass Lake depth map · 123+ ft max · 2 mi away
- Green Lake depth map · 72 ft max · 2 mi away
- Middle Straits Lake depth map · 55 ft max · 3 mi away
Mapped fishing venues near Orchard Lake
Orchard Lake in the venue directory covers access and fishing details for this water.
- Upper Straits Lake · 1 mi away
- Pine Lake · 2 mi away
- Cass Lake · 2 mi away
Fishing in Michigan needs a state license: Michigan fishing license guide · all Michigan venues