Black Lake's primary outlet is the Black River (also called Upper Black River), which flows northeast into Lake Huron near Cheboygan. The lake sits in its own watershed, separate from the nearby Inland Waterway chain of Crooked, Burt, and Mullett Lakes, contributing to its quieter character.
Black Lake's shallow profile means it freezes reliably and solidly — reviewers report 12-inch ice during the season. It's a popular ice fishing destination for perch and walleye. Standard caution applies near inflows and outflows, and always check conditions locally before heading out.
What is the Black Lake sturgeon season?
Can I see sturgeon outside spearing season?
Black Lake is one of Michigan's great inland waters wearing one of North America's great fish stories: 10,000-plus acres between Onaway and Cheboygan, tenth-largest in the state, and home to a genuinely recovering population of lake sturgeon — fish that can live a century and top six feet. Every February the lake hosts the sturgeon-spearing season that made it famous: a days-long (sometimes hours-long) event where a strict harvest quota, live monitoring, and registered shanties concentrate the whole ancient tradition into one frozen carnival, with the conservation group Sturgeon for Tomorrow and the DNR running the science that makes it sustainable. The rest of the year, the sturgeon story continues at the Black River's spawning run and the streamside rearing facility that gives fingerlings their start.
Beyond the celebrity fish, Black Lake fishes big and honest: walleye as the working fishery, smallmouth on the rock, pike and muskellunge in the weeds, and perch through the ice for the ninety-nine percent of winter that isn't spearing week. Onaway State Park holds a stretch of the southeast shore with camping under the hardwoods. Big water rules apply — ten thousand acres builds real waves — and the launches on this page carry the details.