Dam Five Lake

How big is Dam Five Lake?

How deep is Dam Five Lake?

What kind of fish can you catch in Dam Five Lake?

Are there boat launches on Dam Five Lake?

Are there places to eat and drink near Dam Five Lake?

Dam Five Lake is in Lake County approximately fourteen miles east of Isabella. The public access is a short carry-in trail down a few steps and is located off Lake County 7. There is a camp site at the access and space for parking a couple vehicles. The primary fishery is for Walleye and the population is currently maintained by stocking fry in even numbered years, except that fry were stocked in 2021 because they could not be stocked in 2020 due to pandemic restrictions.

The 2023 survey was completed to monitor the fish community and was the second survey used to evaluate the success of Walleye stocking since switching from fingerling to fry. Above average numbers of Walleye were caught, but most of the fish were from the stocked 2021 year class. These fish ranged from 9 to 10.5" long, which contributed to the overall poor average size of 11.8" long and 0.79 pounds. Age analysis determined only 6% of the Walleye caught were produced in non-stocked years and fish from each of the last four stocking events since 2014 were sampled. Results indicate fry stocking has been able to produce large enough year classes to maintain a fishable Walleye population.

Largemouth Bass and Northern Pike are other game fish species present but have never been captured in high enough numbers to be of much interest to anglers. Because the lake has limited submerged aquatic plants, habitat likely limits the abundance of both species as well as other species that require vegetation as part of their life history. Abundance of forage species is also likely influenced by available habitat with White Suckers historically captured in high numbers and Yellow Perch captured in low numbers.

A single Bluegill was captured in 2023, which was the first time the species was caught during a fisheries survey. It is unclear how the fish got in the lake since the DNR has never stocked the species and they do not occur in any connected waterbodies. It is not likely that the species will proliferate in the lake given the available habitat, but future surveys will be used to document any changes to the fish community.

What is the average air temp for Dam Five Lake?

Are there any state parks near Dam Five Lake?