Water Recreation in Mason County
Located four miles north of Ludington, Hamlin Lake is surrounded by towering dunes, National Forest and State Land. It is more than 12 miles long and 5,000 acres large with 32 miles of shoreline. This man-made lake originated during the logging boom when lumbermen dammed the Big Sable River to make an enormous holding pond for trees felled upstream. The lake has an average depth of 17 feet and a maximum depth of 79 feet.
Pere Marquette River is a world class trout and salmon river that is also extremely popular with canoeists and kayakers. This beautiful sandy river wanders gently for 66 miles through overhanging bluffs, rolling hills, and across the grassy floodplains on its way to Lake Michigan.
Action Rentals
Baldwin Canoe Rental
Freedom Sailing Adventures
Hamlin Lake Boat Rental
Harbor View Marina
Indigo Guide Service
Ludington Municipal Marina
Parrot's Landing Rentals
Pine River Paddlesport Center
River Run Canoe Livery
Public Boat Launches
Big Sable River
- Upper launch off Free Soil Rd, four miles northeast of Fountain
Ford Lake
- Three miles eat of Fountain
Gun Lake
- Two miles north of Fountain
Hackert/Crystal Lake
- Three miles northwest of Scottville
Hamlin Lake
- Hamlin Lake Ramp at Ludington State Park, north of Ludington. Entrance fee.
- Wilson Hill Park on Barnhart Rd., north of Ludington
Hoags Lake
- Six miles southeast of Manistee
Lake Michigan
- Loomis Street Ramp, Ludington
- Pere Marquette Lake, Copeyon Park on S. Washington Ave, Ludington
- Pere Marquette Lake across the channel off S. Lakeshore Dr., near Father Marquette Memorial
Pere Marquette River
- On Pere Marquette Highway, south of Ludington
- Scottville Riverside Park, south of Scottville
- Indian Bridge on Reek Rd., southeast of Custer
- Walhalla Road Bridge, south of Walhalla
- Ruby Creek on the Big South Branch of the Pere Marquette River, seven miles south of Branch
Pleiness Lake
- Seven miles south of Scottville
St. Mary’s Lake
- Nine miles south of Scottville
Tallman Lake
- In Tallman, north of Walhalla
