Interstate lake

[duckman#1]

Anyone have info a lake called Interstate? Its located on South bound 69 just out of Lansing. It has a veiwing dock. Is this a nature perserve? Do they allow fishing? If so has anyone tried it?

[YPSIFLY]

Interstate is a type C trout Lake. I have never fished it.

[DaveW731]

First, the good news....
I have fished it extensively over the years. I consider it a great tune-up location, to check out the gear, before I go someplace serious. I do not believe it is a nature preserve, and I think the area around the lake is open to hunting in the fall, but I would advise checking with DNR to be sure

Now, the bad news.....
I have caught one trout in 10 years. I have caught zillions of small largemouths and double-zillions of small bluegills. It is difficult to fish from shore because of the weeds. You can use a boat, but you will need a canoe or other car top type, because it is walk-in access down about a 50 foot, easy-to-walk path. As with all such small bodies of water, after an initial phase of explosive fish growth, overpopulation and stunting appears to have set in: You should see what the Vexlar screens look like in the winter!

Other general info: From shore, the water drops from a 4' shelf down to about 10' fairly quickly. Straight out from the entrance, in the middle of the largest area, the water is much deeper, which is where the trout mostly are. Having given the lake a bit of a bad rap, I do still go out there fairly often, just because it is convenient and I can always catch a few bass, even if they are undersized. If you fish from shore, use weedless stuff and start with light colors: the lake is clear enough so I can sight-fish a chartreuse tube down to about 6', out about 30' from shore.

I can suggest another pond in that general area. If you take the same exit you would use to get to Interstate and go east instead, you will go underneath I-96, and then come to Canal Road, by the State Police Post. Turn north on Canal Road and you will go under a bridge. On your right, you will see a county park that has a pond in it, that has some larger bass and some decent pike in it. It is even more weedy than Interstate, closes at dusk, does not allow boats and is harder to fish from shore. HOWEVER, I have had better success there with both larger bass and pike.
Hope this helps,
Dave

[fishing addict]

About 5 miles south,behind the ballfields in Potterville,is Lake Alliance. Was started as a sister lake,to Interstate,and gets half of the same stock truck. Has a boat ramp. Is much deeper, and some of the bass& gills are getting to be good sized. Also a class C trout lake. Electric motors only. Rock bass & some specs(crappie) also. Mostly fishable from shore,but knee boots help around the cattails. I, caught a ten pound 34&1/2 inch pike,5 years ago. Also has some nice channel cats. The lake on canal road is called Lake Delta.

[SgtSabre]

I just moved almost right next to lake interstate so I've been going out there pretty regularly for the last few weeks.
First off, I've found that there are boatloads of rainbow trout in this lake. The first day I went there I limited out in about two hours using a bright orange #0 Mepps Aglia Long spinner. All the trout I've caught there have been tiny, though. Barely legal. 10" maximum. Since that day I've gone out quite a few more times and usually catch one or two. I believe that they are heading deep now, though. I havn't seen too many in the past week. During the first week of trout season, they could be seen feeding extremely aggressively within 20 yards of shore. The place, in my experience, is absolutely packed with rainbow and I think it would do a lot of good to fish a bunch of them out.

[jstfish48162]

welcome to the site SgtSabre

[djkimmel]

I had heard they planted smallmouth bass in Lake Interstate and two of my neighbors said they caught 16 keepers there last year during the summer from a canoe. I haven't tried it myself - there are usually 1 to 3 anglers out there when I go by.

Lake Delta used to have some giant panfish - I've heard they are scarce now, but I have another fishing partner who caught a 6 pound largemouth out of it 3 or 4 years ago.

[just ducky]

SgtSabre,
They stock a boatload of rainbows each spring that are right around 10", and they usually do come easy. There are a FEW holdovers that get bigger. Try fishing at dark with canned corn....yep, that's what I said. Tiny hooks, light line, and a kernel of corn on an open spool. You'll see the line take off when they hit. Lanterns hung off the side also help attract the small food in the water, which in turn brings the trout too. I've never used corn at this particular lake, but it works like a charm in some others that they stock.