Fishing the Bays de Noc

If you fish, you may already know this corner of Lake Michigan by reputation. Gladstone sits right on Little Bay de Noc, with Big Bay de Noc just around the Stonington Peninsula, and together the two bays are some of the most celebrated fishing water in the Midwest.

The headliner is walleye. The most recent state fall survey estimated around 175,000 adult walleye in Little Bay de Noc alone, and the bays regularly give up true trophies. The fishing runs all year: charter boats work the bays from spring through the November trophy season, and in winter whole villages of ice shanties spring up out on the bays. The quieter secret is the smallmouth bass — a fishery state biologists have called world-class, strong enough that national bass tournaments, including a Bassmaster championship event, have come to these waters. Add yellow perch, northern pike, and salmon out toward the big lake, and there’s something biting in every season.

For a newcomer, the easy entry points are everywhere: public launches around both bays, fishing platforms on the lower Escanaba River, and charter captains based in Gladstone and Escanaba who know every reef and weed line. Like any fishery, the bays have their up years and down years — but around here, the down years would count as good years most places.