Lake Gogebic, the U.P.'s biggest inland lake

Lake Gogebic is the giant of the western U.P. — the largest inland lake in the whole Upper Peninsula. It stretches some fifteen miles north to south and covers well over thirteen thousand acres of clear water. It’s so big, in fact, that it can’t decide what county — or even what clock — it belongs to. The lake straddles the line between Gogebic and Ontonagon counties. That line happens to be the boundary between Central and Eastern time. The southern half, here in Gogebic County’s Marenisco Township, runs on Central time. Cross to the northern end near Bergland and your watch jumps an hour ahead.

What draws people from all over the Midwest is the fishing. Lake Gogebic is one of Michigan’s premier walleye lakes. It gives up jumbo yellow perch, smallmouth bass, northern pike, and whitefish besides. The fishery runs year-round. Summer anglers work it from boats; winter anglers sit in ice shanties, chasing the same walleye through three feet of ice. Resorts and lodges have ringed the shore for well over a century, since the railroad first ran “fish trains” out here in the 1880s. The lake even shares its Ojibwe name with the county. Both come from Agogebic, a name tied to these high waters.

The best public foothold is Lake Gogebic State Park, a quiet 360-acre park on the western shore. It has a campground, a beach, and a boat launch, tucked into the surrounding Ottawa National Forest. A Recreation Passport gets you in.