Michigan lake depth maps
Pickerel Lake depth map
Pickerel Lake in Dickinson County, Michigan reaches a depth of 66 feet. Pickerel Lake is charted here across 7 closed depth contours, from the 5 ft line down to 60 ft, enclosing about 70 acres of water. Half of that water lies inside the 30 ft line, and only 3.6 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
Pickerel Lake depth chart: 7 depth contours from 5 to 60 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 | 70 acres | 100% |
| 10 ft | 43 acres | 62% |
| 20 ft | 38 acres | 55% |
| 30 ft | 28 acres | 40% |
| 40 ft | 19 acres | 27% |
| 50 ft | 12 acres | 17% |
| 60 ft | 3.6 acres | 5.2% |
Acreages are computed from the closed Michigan DNR Inland Lake Contours contour rings, with islands subtracted. Shares are of the 70 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 66 ft sounding, marked as a point rather than a closed contour, so it is not charted as a band.
Fishing Pickerel Lake: a stepped drop into deep water
The survey encloses about 70 acres of Pickerel Lake inside its 5 ft contour, and half of that water lies inside the 30 ft line, so the drop to the deep basin comes in stages, each contour giving up another slice of water, rather than in one abrupt wall. Between 5 and 10 ft the mapped water sheds 27 acres in 5 ft of depth, the sharpest change on the chart, start on that band, because it is where the bottom stops being flat. The deepest 60 ft contour holds 3.6 acres, 5.2% of the mapped water, toward the eastern side of the lake. 66 ft of water makes this a two-story fishery: warm-water fish hold the 5-to-30 ft ground while the basin can stay cold below the summer thermocline, and the traffic between the two runs along the 5–10 ft break at first and last light.
Ice fishing on Pickerel Lake
Pickerel Lake freezes later and less evenly than the shallow waters around it, and the winter bite sets up on the first real break rather than out over the 60 ft hole. The 5–10 ft band on the chart above is that edge: 27 acres of bottom tilt away there, and panfish and walleye slide up and down it through the day. Late ice pushes fish back onto the 5-to-30 ft flat. Check ice thickness locally before you walk out.
Pickerel Lake depth map FAQs
- How deep is Pickerel Lake?
- Pickerel Lake reaches a maximum depth of 66 feet in the Michigan DNR Inland Lake Contours survey. Most of it is far shallower: the survey charts 7 closed depth contours over about 70 acres, and half of that water sits inside the 30 ft line. The 66 ft figure is a single recorded sounding rather than a closed contour, so the deepest line you can actually trace on the map is 60 ft.
- Where is the deepest part of Pickerel Lake?
- The deepest charted water on Pickerel Lake lies inside the 60 ft contour, toward the eastern side of the lake. That contour encloses 3.6 acres, 5.2% 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 Pickerel Lake is shallower than 30 feet?
- About half. The 30 ft contour encloses 28 acres of the roughly 70 acres inside the outer 5 ft line, so the other half of the water is shallower than 30 feet. The sharpest drop is between 5 and 10 feet, where the mapped water sheds 27 acres.
- How accurate is this Pickerel 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 Pickerel Lake
- Witch Lake depth map · 95 ft max · 17 mi away
- Bat Lake depth map · 70 ft max · 17 mi away
- Squaw Lake depth map · 80 ft max · 19 mi away
- Bass Lake depth map · 58 ft max · 20 mi away
- Mary Lake depth map · 80+ ft max · 23 mi away
Mapped fishing venues near Pickerel Lake
Pickerel Lake in the venue directory covers access and fishing details for this water.
- Witch Lake · 17 mi away
- Bat Lake · 17 mi away
- Squaw Lake · 19 mi away
Fishing in Michigan needs a state license: Michigan fishing license guide · all Michigan venues