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Home › Waters › Michigan › Van Etten Lake
Lake · Northeast Lower Michigan, Iosco County, the Lake Huron shore at Oscoda near the mouth of the Au Sable River · Michigan

Van Etten Lake Fishing Guides

A shallow, weedy lake behind the Lake Huron dunes at Oscoda, connected to the big lake by Van Etten Creek and holding walleye, pike and a strong panfish population within sight of the Au Sable mouth.

Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Van Etten Lake

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About the Van Etten Lake

Van Etten Lake lies just inland from Lake Huron at Oscoda in Iosco County, separated from the big lake by a strip of dune and shoreline development and connected to it by Van Etten Creek. It covers roughly fifteen hundred acres and is shallow through most of its area, with a maximum depth well under thirty feet and extensive weed flats across the middle and northern basins.

That shallowness makes it productive. The lake warms early, grows dense stands of submerged vegetation through the summer, and supports a large forage base. Walleye are stocked and hold along the weed edges and the deeper holes, with the best fishing early and late in the day. Northern pike are abundant and use the weed beds heavily. Both largemouth and smallmouth bass are present, with largemouth dominating the vegetated flats and smallmouth relating to the harder bottom near the outlet.

Panfish are the volume fishery. Bluegill, black crappie, yellow perch and rock bass are all common, and the lake sees considerable ice fishing pressure for perch and crappie through the winter. The connection to Lake Huron means an occasional migratory fish turns up in the creek and lower lake, and steelhead and salmon are caught near the outlet in the right conditions. For most anglers, though, the lake is a place to fish weed edges for pike and walleye rather than to chase run fish.

The lake sits immediately next to the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base, and groundwater contamination from firefighting foam used at the base has been an ongoing issue in this area. Michigan has issued fish consumption advisories for the lake, and anglers should check the current state advisory before keeping fish.

Oscoda provides ramps, lodging and tackle, and the mouth of the Au Sable River a mile south is one of the better known steelhead and salmon fisheries on the Lake Huron shore.

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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.

Pool right now

588.58ft NAVD88
  • 24 hours-0.14 ft ↓ falling

Reading taken 54 min ago at USGS 442656083202301, VAN ETTEN LAKE AT OSCODA, MI. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

Fished this water? Add a photo

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 Van Etten 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

Oscoda - the town on the lake and Lake Huron shore, with full services.
Van Etten Lake public boat launch - the main developed access on the lake.
Au Sable River - the major river mouth a short distance south, with its own fishery.
Lake Huron shoreline - the big lake immediately east of the dunes.
Huron National Forest - public land inland from the lake.
Iosco County parks - additional shoreline and launch access.
US Route 23 - the shoreline highway running past the lake.

Seasons

Spring: walleye and pike active in the shallows as the lake warms ahead of the surrounding water.
Summer: heavy weed growth, with panfish plentiful and bass fishing best along the vegetation edges.
Fall: cooling water, pike feeding hard and the best walleye fishing of the open-water season.
Winter: reliable ice and heavy pressure for perch, crappie and pike through the hard-water months.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Van Etten Lake?

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

Where can you access the Van Etten Lake?

Oscoda - the town on the lake and Lake Huron shore, with full services. Van Etten Lake public boat launch - the main developed access on the lake. Au Sable River - the major river mouth a short distance south, with its own fishery. Lake Huron shoreline - the big lake immediately east of the dunes. Huron National Forest - public land inland from the lake. Iosco County parks - additional shoreline and launch access. US Route 23 - the shoreline highway running past the lake.

When is the best time to fish the Van Etten Lake?

Spring: walleye and pike active in the shallows as the lake warms ahead of the surrounding water. Summer: heavy weed growth, with panfish plentiful and bass fishing best along the vegetation edges. Fall: cooling water, pike feeding hard and the best walleye fishing of the open-water season. Winter: reliable ice and heavy pressure for perch, crappie and pike through the hard-water months.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Van Etten 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