Living on Hubbard Lake

Tucked into the west side of Alcona County, Hubbard Lake is one of the largest inland lakes in the whole northeast Lower Peninsula — about 8,850 acres, roughly seven miles long and two miles wide, and known for unusually clear, deep water. It spans three townships (Alcona, Caledonia, and Hawes), and a ring of cottages and year-round homes follows the shoreline.

For a lot of people, Hubbard Lake is the reason they move here. The lake is big enough for real boating, with several bays and sandbars to anchor at, and the fishing is good year-round — walleye, northern pike, smallmouth bass, yellow perch, and rainbow trout, plus ice fishing in winter. There are public DNR boat launches on the north, east, and south shores, a marina, and a small commercial cluster with a store and a couple of restaurants. The lake community is tight-knit, leans toward retirees and seasonal families, and does the small-town summer thing well, right down to a Fourth of July parade.

If you’re buying on the water, a few things are worth a closer look: how the septic system is set up (lakeside systems get extra scrutiny — see the well-and-septic note), where the property line meets the water, and what comes with the dock and bottomland. Lake levels and shoreline rules matter on any inland lake. The lake was named back in 1867 for Bela Hubbard, a Michigan geologist — though old-timers once called it the “Bottomless Lake.”