LAKE GOGEBIC

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Lake Gogebic, the U. P.'s largest inland lake, is the sixth largest in Michigan. (The Ojibwa name, pronounced "go-GEEB-ick" or "go-GIBB-ick," means "where trout rising to the surface make rings on the water.") It's 13,380 acres and 12 miles long, with 34 miles of shoreline. Lake Gogebic is only 20 to 30 feet deep, which means waves can get choppy quickly when storms come up.
For one-week summer vacations, numerous lakeside rentals let visitors make easy all-day trips to many of the western Upper Peninsula's most distinctive places: the motor-free lakes and old-growth forests of the Sylvania Wilderness Area, the trails and waterfalls of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park (the eastern states' greatest expanse of uncut forest), Lake Superior, hiking in the nearby Trap Hills, and more.

In winter the lake is an ice-fishing magnet and snowmobiling hot spot near a major east-west trail, close enough to Lake Superior to get lake-effect snow. Businesses and bars on the lake work on creating a family atmosphere for snowmobiling on the lake. Another attraction is hunting (deer, bear, and more) on Ottawa National Forest land extending many miles beyond the lake on every side.

But Lake Gogebic is best known for fishing, especially for yellow perch, which grow to be phenomenally large in this big lake, and walleye. A walleye planting around 1905 replaced one of the Midwest's finest bass fisheries with a walleye fishery that has lots of fish, enough of decent size that anglers frequently make their limit. For fishing information, stop at the Maple Ridge Motel and Bait Shop (906-575-3265) on M-28/M-64 in Bergland. The knotty pine walls show off taxidermist/co-owner Nettie Pietila's work: lots of mounted yellow jumbo perch and other species. Her husband and partner, Gus, hand-paints jigs and invented the "Teeter Pig" ice fishing bobber for perch, for sale here. He guides for perch and black bear, too. Maple Ridge rents ice-fishing shacks, tents, heaters, and more.

Here as elsewhere, development has increased fishing pressure. Houses and small resorts with lawns line most of the lake. Modest older cottages are being torn down for year-round homes, some quite impressive. Being so shallow, the big lake warms up fairly quickly in summer—a plus for swimming.

The rocky lake bottom means there's generally no natural sand beach, and resorts have small sand beaches at best. The Lake Gogebic State Park imports sand for its long swimming beach near the south end of the west shore.

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