Michigan Fish Shelters

Six lakes. 100 mapped locations. Free, no signup.

Fish shelters - cribs, brush bundles, slab trees - sunk deliberately to hold fish. These are the documented ones: coordinates published by the lake associations and clubs that built them, cross-checked against Michigan EGLE permit records.

Elk River Chain of Lakes

Five lakes, one program. The Elk River Chain of Lakes Fish Shelter Committee sank three structures at every site - a hardwood crate, a slab tree and a stump cluster - in 15 to 25 feet, between 2012 and 2017.

Fishing the whole chain? All 63 locations in one file: Elk River Chain (ZIP) · GPX · USR · HWR

Gun Lake

The newest set, and a different kind: a live project. The Gun Lake Protective Association has raised walleye here since 1910; in 2022 EGLE approved their plan for brush shelters at 37 sites, phased through summer 2027. These are the approved locations, verified against the state lake boundary — the plan, not a dive log.

New lakes go up regularly

I'm working through Michigan's permit records lake by lake. Subscribe and you'll hear when the next one lands.

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What these files are

Every download comes as GPX for Garmin and phone apps, USR for Lowrance and Simrad, and HWR for Humminbird HELIX, plus a plain-text notes file. Copy it to an SD card and use your unit's import menu.

Coordinates are good to about 80 feet. Idle over the mark and read your sonar rather than expecting to drop straight onto the structure.

Before you keep fish: most of these lakes carry consumption limits — mercury, PCBs or dioxins depending on the water and the species. Each lake page lists what applied as of the 2026 guide. Always check the current guide before you keep fish; Michigan revises it every year. Look your lake up at michigan.gov/eatsafefish.

Who put these here

Volunteers did - lake associations, sportsmen's clubs, conservation districts - mostly through the ice in January and February, because that is the only way to get a loaded sled over open water. We just found the paperwork. If a file is useful to you, consider joining or donating to the association that did the work.

Found one that isn't where we said? Tell us: [email protected]
Coordinates are approximate and not for navigation.