Thank you everybody for all of the suggestions. Hot Stepper, your idea sounds great for retirement. I am still pretty young and help my Dad run a business. Getting away for that amount of time is not possible. I am going to boat down the west coast to St Joe in the middle to end of summer. I have been looking all over the internet and getting alot of good ideas from this thread. I am going to take a trip up and look around for a weekend to get a better assumption than just what you see from websites. Thanks again. Dan

Danny,

I have boated on Torch and launched out of Elk Rapids. IF you need anything get my number from Sean and give me a call.

Andy

If you get close to Boyne let us know and we can try to point you in the right directions.

Yeah to what he said. There are TWO (2) seperate public launch ramps in the city of Elk Rapids---one is for Elk Lake and the other is for Grand Traverse Bay. The Elk Lake ramp can/will take you to Torch Lake via Lake Skegmog and the Torch River. OR, if you prefer to do some boating on Grand Traverse Bay, you can still launch your boat in Elk Rapids just on the other side of the dam. Either way it provides lots of great boating!

Kamma,
Is there a dam that prevents going from Lake Michigan into
Elk and Skegmog lakes ? We're new in T.C. and have been in Elk Rapids by car but never noticed if there's a dam.
Ed

In the torch chain, you can go from Elk Rapids to Bellaire thats it. Yes there is a dam ,no access to the east bay.

Yes, and if you stop in to just about any hotel they usually have a specialy made map (mostly orange for land and blue for water) they give away free to the tourists just of the Grand Traverse bay and surrounding areas which includes Torch Lake, etc.

There are several connectling lakes and rivers that eventually connect to Torch Lake via Clam Lake. However, many of these lakes are not naviagable with boats much beyond 30'. The Torch River flows into Lake Skegmog, and Skegmog into Elk Lake and in downtown Elk Rapids there is a small dam that seperates all the lakes I have just mentioned above from the Grand Traverse Bay.

I like going to the city of Elk Rapids because if it is too rough out on Grand Traverse Bay, then I can just put my boat in on the other side of the dam and go into Elk Lake...etc, etc.

If you go to www.fishweb.com and then click on "Boat" at the top of the upper left hand of the page, then click on the word "chain O Lakes" it will show you an animated map of the lakes---click on the red words of the map and it will show you lots of real photos of some of the scenery, etc. It's a very good website---you can spend hours just clicking away as you navigate thru the website and is a great help.

Kamma,
Got those orange and blue maps they are great. Thanks for clearing up my confusion regarding Elk Rapids and the dam.
Better to learn here then show up thinking I could motor thru !!!!
We moved to T.C. this summer and didn't get the boat here until just before Labor Day and then I lost a trans in my truck so couldn't launch until mid-Sept. We did get out in the west bay and powers island , bowers harbor area 5-6 times before winterizing. There is always next spring.
thanks,
ed

Ed, you are a blessed man to be able to have moved to the TC area. I just love the boating and water ways up north. There are a few good guys that are locals up there----Josh (Perfect Mix) and his brother Zack and their Dad Rick aka "26sxl". One has a powerquest and the other a Fountain and Rick has a Searay with a pair of badazz 350cid small blocks in it---a real sleeper. Anyway, they're some very nice and easy going people.

Hey Mark.let's not get to carried away!!!!!!