U.S. GREAT LAKES FISHING MAP
Fishing Hot Spots
The American side of all five Great Lakes: Lake Erie from the Maumee River and Port Clinton to Buffalo, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario from Wilson to Oswego, the Salmon River and the Thousand Islands, the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair, Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay, Lake Michigan from Chicago to Green Bay and the Straits, and Lake Superior from Duluth to Sault Ste. Marie. Tap any star or dot to see what it is and what to fish there.
More map layers
Fishing & access
Marine chart layers
Parks & rules
Safety: these are planning references. Use current official charts, weather and marine alerts and proper safety equipment before heading out.
Lake guides for this map
Month-by-month patterns, fish, ramps and rules for each water:
Fishing Hot Spots by area
Harbors, river mouths and launches. Tap one to fly to it on the map.
Walleye, salmon and smallmouth on the inland seas
The Great Lakes hold some of the best freshwater fishing in the world. Lake Erie is the walleye capital, with the Maumee and Detroit river runs in spring and the western basin reefs all summer. Lakes Ontario and Michigan are big-water salmon and trout country, with king salmon running up the Salmon River, the Pere Marquette and dozens of other rivers in the fall.
Smallmouth bass are world class in Lake St. Clair, Door County, the Thousand Islands and eastern Lake Erie, and Lake Superior is cold, deep lake trout water from Duluth to Whitefish Point.
Rules: every state sells its own fishing license and sets its own Great Lakes limits and seasons, and many rivers have special rules during the salmon and steelhead runs. Check the state rules before you go, and never go out on the ice unless it's safe.
BigJoe’s gear for U.S. Great Lakes
What BigJoe would bring to fish these waters.
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