Black Lake and the sturgeon season

Tucked into the northeast corner of the county, Black Lake is one of the biggest inland lakes in Michigan — a wide, sandy-bottomed lake shared with Presque Isle County next door. It’s a fine all-around lake for boating, swimming, and fishing, ringed by cottages and quiet shoreline. But Black Lake is famous for one thing in particular: sturgeon.

Lake sturgeon are giant, ancient fish — they can grow well past five feet and live longer than a person. Black Lake is the only place in Michigan where you’re allowed to spear one, and the winter season here is a local legend. It’s the shortest fishing season in the state: it opens on a February morning and runs only until a small quota of fish is reached, which in recent years has taken anywhere from about twenty minutes to a couple of hours. Hundreds of anglers gather on the ice in shanties for it, and the whole thing has become a beloved north-country winter tradition. Years of careful work by the state, local volunteers, and tribal partners have helped the sturgeon population recover.

For buyers, Black Lake offers big-lake living at gentler prices than the resort lakes to the west. The usual waterfront questions apply — frontage, access, and the septic system (see the well-and-septic note). The DNR posts the sturgeon season’s dates and rules each winter at Michigan.gov.