AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Bush Lake is a quiet, 51-acre inland lake tucked into Mills Township in Ogemaw County, just south of the community of Skidway Lake in Michigan's north-central lower peninsula. With a public boat launch, a small neighborhood beach with a playground, and a mix of shallow weed beds and deeper holes, it serves as a low-key local escape for anglers, paddlers, and families who want a lake day without the crowds of the region's bigger waterbodies.↗↗
The lake's character is defined by its compact size and varied bottom structure — a sunken island, a sand bar on the south side, and old submerged railroad tracks that give the waterbed a sense of history. Water lilies line the edges, the south-side weed beds hold bluegill and largemouth bass, and the whole lake can be circled by kayak in an easy morning paddle.↗↗
A Lake with Layers
At only about 51 acres and a maximum depth around 35 feet, Bush Lake is small enough to feel intimate but complex enough to reward exploration. The bottom drops from shallow sandy flats into deeper holes, and the lake holds a sunken island and a sand bar along its south side — features that experienced boaters watch for and anglers use as ambush points. Remnants of old railroad tracks lie submerged in the water, and a set of cement stairs descends from the trail between the boat launch and the park, hinting at decades of earlier shoreline use.
