Pickerel-Crooked Lakes
Watershed: Pickerel-Crooked Lake Watershed
Primary Inflows: Mud Creek, Cedar Creek,
Minnehaha Creek
Primary Outflows: Crooked River
Surface Area: 2351 acres (Crooked) and 1082 acres (Pickerel)
Shoreline: 16.3 miles (Crooked) and 7.1 miles (Pickerel)
Maximum Depth: 50 feet (Crooked) and 70 feet (Pickerel)
Description:
Crooked Lake, along with Pickerel, Round and Spring lakes, are part of the Headwaters of the Inland Waterway, a chain of connecting waterways that extend across the Northern Lower Peninsula.
Crooked and Pickerel Lakes are located in southeast Emmet County. The small towns of Conway and Oden are both located on the western shore of Crooked Lake, and the County-owned park Camp Pet-O-Se-Ga is on the eastern shore of Pickerel Lake. The half-mile Black Hole channel connects the two lakes. Between the two lakes, in the Black Hole Channel, lies the Black Hole Nature Preserve of the Little Traverse Conservancy. The water level of Crooked and Pickerel Lakes is controlled by the lock on the Crooked River in Alanson.
Water from Crooked and Pickerel Lakes flows through the Crooked River into Burt Lake, and eventually into Lake Huron via the Cheboygan River. However, this hasn’t always been the case. At the end of the last ice age, following the retreating glaciers, water flowed west across the Inland Waterway through Crooked and Pickerel Lakes, and emptied into Little Traverse Bay. Then, around 4,000 years ago, tall sand dunes rose up in the Petoskey State Park area west of Round Lake, thereby cutting off the connection and reversing the flow of the Inland Waterway northeast into Lake Huron.
Crooked and Pickerel Lakes are popular recreation and tourism destinations. Common activities include fishing, boating, swimming, and paddling. Walleye, perch, and northern pike are three common sport fish found within the lakes. The Oden State Fish Hatchery and Michigan Fisheries Visitor Center to the west of Crooked Lake is a popular tourist destination.
Primary Inflows: Mud Creek, Cedar Creek,
Minnehaha Creek
Primary Outflows: Crooked River
Surface Area: 2351 acres (Crooked) and 1082 acres (Pickerel)
Shoreline: 16.3 miles (Crooked) and 7.1 miles (Pickerel)
Maximum Depth: 50 feet (Crooked) and 70 feet (Pickerel)
Description:
Crooked Lake, along with Pickerel, Round and Spring lakes, are part of the Headwaters of the Inland Waterway, a chain of connecting waterways that extend across the Northern Lower Peninsula.
Crooked and Pickerel Lakes are located in southeast Emmet County. The small towns of Conway and Oden are both located on the western shore of Crooked Lake, and the County-owned park Camp Pet-O-Se-Ga is on the eastern shore of Pickerel Lake. The half-mile Black Hole channel connects the two lakes. Between the two lakes, in the Black Hole Channel, lies the Black Hole Nature Preserve of the Little Traverse Conservancy. The water level of Crooked and Pickerel Lakes is controlled by the lock on the Crooked River in Alanson.
Water from Crooked and Pickerel Lakes flows through the Crooked River into Burt Lake, and eventually into Lake Huron via the Cheboygan River. However, this hasn’t always been the case. At the end of the last ice age, following the retreating glaciers, water flowed west across the Inland Waterway through Crooked and Pickerel Lakes, and emptied into Little Traverse Bay. Then, around 4,000 years ago, tall sand dunes rose up in the Petoskey State Park area west of Round Lake, thereby cutting off the connection and reversing the flow of the Inland Waterway northeast into Lake Huron.
Crooked and Pickerel Lakes are popular recreation and tourism destinations. Common activities include fishing, boating, swimming, and paddling. Walleye, perch, and northern pike are three common sport fish found within the lakes. The Oden State Fish Hatchery and Michigan Fisheries Visitor Center to the west of Crooked Lake is a popular tourist destination.
Known Aquatic Invasive Species:
Purple Loosestrife
Zebra mussels
Curly-Leaf Pondweed
Round Gobies
Quagga mussels (Confirmed in Crooked Lake, July 2015)
Monitoring and Research:
Crooked and Pickerel Lakes are monitored every three years through the Watershed Council’s Comprehensive Water Quality Monitoring (CWQM) Program for dissolved oxygen, specific conductivity, pH, nitrate-nitrogen, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chloride levels.
Water transparency, chlorophyll-a, and water temperature are also monitored in Crooked and Pickerel Lakes each summer by volunteers as part of the Watershed Council’s Volunteer Lake Monitoring (VLM) Program.
These lakes are monitored through the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Surface Water Quality Protection Program (SWQPP).
Purple Loosestrife
Zebra mussels
Curly-Leaf Pondweed
Round Gobies
Quagga mussels (Confirmed in Crooked Lake, July 2015)
Monitoring and Research:
Crooked and Pickerel Lakes are monitored every three years through the Watershed Council’s Comprehensive Water Quality Monitoring (CWQM) Program for dissolved oxygen, specific conductivity, pH, nitrate-nitrogen, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chloride levels.
Water transparency, chlorophyll-a, and water temperature are also monitored in Crooked and Pickerel Lakes each summer by volunteers as part of the Watershed Council’s Volunteer Lake Monitoring (VLM) Program.
These lakes are monitored through the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Surface Water Quality Protection Program (SWQPP).
Publications:
- Burt Lake Watershed Management Plan (2017)
- Pickerel-Crooked Lakes Aquatic Plant Survey Report (2015)
- Crooked Pickerel Shoreline Survey (2012)
- Headwaters of the Inland Waterway – Pickerel-Crooked Lakes Profile (2005)
- Headwaters of the Inland Waterway - Pickerel-Crooked Lakes Profile 2010)
- Aquatic Vegetation Survey for Crooked and Pickerel Lakes (2008)
- Pickerel and Crooked Lakes Water Quality Report (2007)
- Pickerel and Crooked Lakes Dissolved Oxygen Monitoring Report (1990)
- Septic Leachate Detector Survey of Crooked and Pickerel Lakes (1988)
Additional Resources:
See additional resources on our Aquavist page.
Pickerel-Crooked Lakes Association
View an interactive map of Pickerel Lake, including public access sites, on Michigan Fishweb.
View an interactive map of Crooked Lake, including public access sites, on Michigan Fishweb.
A wide variety of maps for this area are available online at the Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI) Data Resources page.
Information about Threatened, Endangered, and Special Concern species in this lake’s watershed is available on the Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI) website.
See additional resources on our Aquavist page.
Pickerel-Crooked Lakes Association
View an interactive map of Pickerel Lake, including public access sites, on Michigan Fishweb.
View an interactive map of Crooked Lake, including public access sites, on Michigan Fishweb.
A wide variety of maps for this area are available online at the Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI) Data Resources page.
Information about Threatened, Endangered, and Special Concern species in this lake’s watershed is available on the Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI) website.
Source: Google Maps 2015
