BirdTrout
Open the map
Hamlin Lake Dam, Michigan
Hamlin Lake Dam is the top of the Big Sable River run — 4 anadromous species stack below it out of Lake Michigan.
Open in BirdTrout44.0325, -86.492222 · Mason County · NID MI00236. Tap the map to open this water in the live app.
What the runs do here
Hamlin Lake Dam is the anadromous ceiling for the Big Sable River — the top of the run out of Lake Michigan. Fish moving up from the lake stop here, which is 1.1 miles of river below this structure.
| Species | In the river | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Chinook salmon | Aug–Oct | Fish stage off the harbour through August and enter as the river cools; the run peaks in October. |
| Coho salmon | Sept–Nov | Overlaps the chinook run and holds later; peak October and November. |
| Steelhead | Oct–May | Two runs on one calendar — a fall push from October that winters in the river, and the spring run that peaks March through April. |
| Lake-run brown trout | Sept–Nov | Runs with the salmon and stays after them; peak October. |
Curated calendar guidance from state run-timing prose, not regulation and not an observation of this river on any day. MDNR run-timing guidance and Michigan Fishing Guide prose, curated.
Ceiling cited as: OpenStreetMap way 909209148, waterway=dam, name 'Hamlin Dam' — the outlet of Hamlin Lake. Not in the EGLE inventory under that name; OpenStreetMap is the standard Ocqueoc Falls is held to as well, and for the same reason: a named, mapped structure.
The structure
- Owner
- MDNR Parks & Recreation State
- Purpose
- Recreation
- Completed
- 1913
- Type
- Gravity
- Height
- 23 ft
- Length
- 206 ft
- Spillway
- Uncontrolled, 94 ft wide
- Storage
- 102,500 acre-ft · 4,750 acre pool
- Drainage
- 206 sq mi
- Condition
- Satisfactory · High hazard potential
From the National Inventory of Dams (USACE). Hazard potential is a downstream-consequence classification, not a statement about the structure's condition.
The water above and below
No designated coldwater reach within a mile and a half of this structure.
Water right now
No USGS temperature gauge we read reports within 20 miles of this dam, so this page has no live number for it. That is a gap in the gauge network, not a judgement about the water.
Getting to it
- Loomis Street 5.6 mi · boat launch · Lake Michigan
- Peter Copeyon Park 6.5 mi · boat launch · Pere Marquette Lake
Public access sites near the dam, straight-line distance. A dam itself is private property unless its owner says otherwise; these are the places the state lists as open.
Fly shops nearby
- Schmidt Outfitters 29.2 mi · Wellston
- Andy's Tackle Box 30.4 mi · Brethren
- Pere Marquette River Lodge 33.0 mi · Baldwin
- Ed's Sport Shop 33.1 mi · Baldwin
- Baldwin Bait & Tackle 33.2 mi · Baldwin