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Home › Waters › Michigan › Intermediate Lake
Lake · Northwest Lower Michigan, Antrim County, the Elk River Chain of Lakes above Torch Lake · Michigan

Intermediate Lake Fishing Guides

A long narrow lake in the Elk River Chain of Lakes in Antrim County, sitting above Torch Lake and offering walleye, pike and smallmouth in quieter water than its famous neighbors.

Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Intermediate Lake

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About the Intermediate Lake

Intermediate Lake lies in Antrim County in northwest Lower Michigan, part of the Elk River Chain of Lakes, a connected system of fourteen lakes and streams that eventually drains to Lake Michigan at Elk Rapids. It is long and narrow, running several miles north to south past the village of Central Lake, and it sits upstream of Torch Lake, the deep clear lake that draws most of the region’s attention.

Being overshadowed works in its favor. Intermediate Lake is shallower, darker and more fertile than Torch, and that makes it considerably more productive for warmwater species. Where Torch is famous for clarity and lake trout, Intermediate grows walleye, pike and bass, and it does so without the boat traffic that the better known lakes in the chain carry through summer.

Walleye are the main target and are supported through management in the chain, holding along the drop edges and the deeper basin and fishing best at low light. Northern pike are abundant in the weedy bays and run large. Smallmouth bass relate to the rock and gravel, largemouth bass hold in the soft-bottom weedy sections, and muskellunge are present in the chain and turn up often enough to keep anglers alert.

Panfish fill out the rest. Bluegill, black crappie and yellow perch are all well represented, and the lake carries a solid winter fishery once ice forms. Because the lake is part of a connected chain, fish move between basins through the connecting waters, and conditions on one lake in the chain often give a useful read on the others.

Access is good and uncrowded. Public launches serve the lake, Central Lake sits on the shore with basic services, and Bellaire is nearby for lodging and supplies. Anglers working the chain often run several lakes in a trip, and the connecting channels make that practical in a small boat when water levels allow.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Intermediate Lake.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Central Lake - the village on the shore at the gauge, with basic services.
Intermediate Lake public launch - the main public boat access.
Bellaire - the nearby town with lodging, food and tackle.
Torch Lake - the large deep lake downstream in the same chain.
Elk River Chain of Lakes - the connected system this lake belongs to.
Elk Rapids - the town at the bottom of the chain on Lake Michigan.
Michigan DNR boating access listings - the authority on public launches in the chain.

Seasons

Spring: warming shallows, strong pike action and the start of the walleye season.
Summer: fish hold on weed edges and drop-offs, with far less boat traffic than neighboring lakes.
Fall: cooling water concentrates walleye and pike and produces the largest fish of the year.
Winter: a dependable ice fishery for panfish, pike and walleye once ice is safe.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Intermediate Lake?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Largemouth Bass, Muskellunge, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Yellow Perch on the Intermediate Lake in Michigan.

Where can you access the Intermediate Lake?

Central Lake - the village on the shore at the gauge, with basic services. Intermediate Lake public launch - the main public boat access. Bellaire - the nearby town with lodging, food and tackle. Torch Lake - the large deep lake downstream in the same chain. Elk River Chain of Lakes - the connected system this lake belongs to. Elk Rapids - the town at the bottom of the chain on Lake Michigan. Michigan DNR boating access listings - the authority on public launches in the chain.

When is the best time to fish the Intermediate Lake?

Spring: warming shallows, strong pike action and the start of the walleye season. Summer: fish hold on weed edges and drop-offs, with far less boat traffic than neighboring lakes. Fall: cooling water concentrates walleye and pike and produces the largest fish of the year. Winter: a dependable ice fishery for panfish, pike and walleye once ice is safe.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Intermediate Lake?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Michigan agency site: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/things-to-do/fishing/fishing-regulations