Traverse City / Elk Rapids / Torch Lake???
 

I've never been on the water in this area of MI. Is there some pointers that some locals could give me on navigating this area? I feel confident that I can manage on my own but it's always nice to have some local knowledge. We are planning on dropping into elk lake and heading in to Torch Lake. It looks like Skegmog is a little tricky to get thru with a lot of stumps going into Torch River. I'm not sure if there is a better way to do this?

Also if there are any local favorite watering holes that I should know about please let me know!

Thanks

Stumps are your main concern. Buddy of mine is very familar with the water ways around there and still hooked his drive last year or the year before. once you get into torch just remember the sand bar will be the first thing to "2 'o' clock". water is very shallow all along the south side of the lake to your east. once you pass the sand bar there isnt much to worry about till you get wayyy up on the north end. there are some giant rocks im told around the edges. dockside bar is pretty sweet half way up the lake and on the east side. problem lies in that on busy weekends theres soo many weekend warriors with 20ft boats they can hardly manage that parking becomes a bit scares on the river side. the docks on the lake side are in a bit shallow of water for my liking and very rocky. do not go passed the marina on that river with your boat. shallow shallow.

water is a bit shallow going itno the slips at alden too.

not trying to scare you just know that its better to have the drives wayyy up than messing props up.

I put in at Elk Lake often and run up the river.

When going from Elk Lake into Skegemog stay in the middle and on plane, it is a bit shallow, then when heading into and down the river from Lake Skegemog stay near the center of the markers and keep the drives up, at least until you start seeing house's, I try to stay near center the whole way, its not to bad until you get down near the turn to the left and heading towards Torch River Marina this is a sandy bottom but real shallow I stay in the very middle on this section.

Area in red shallow.

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Thanks for the info guys. We have a group of three boats heading up there for the 4th. Looking forward to it!

We will be headed up to Charlevoix on the 4th. How long will you guys be in town? Stick around for Boyne Thunder!

What are you saying is shallow? Clam River ? Ive boated up there a lot and have run wide open in Clam Lake/River, plenty of depth on the river. Just curious as to what you meant.

The map shows Torch on the top of the map (sand bar outlined in red) and skegemog on the bottom of the map.

Your going to have an amazing trip though! Lots to see and do, you will wish you had MORE TIME! Elk and Torch are both great, and East Bay and West Bay lake Michigan are amazing.

Look forward to hooking up and running together

The rivers are no wake and both have pretty strong currents near Torch Lake which is no problem other than when you add the 4th of July boat traffic and the less experienced boaters. You'll see by all the people hanging out at the sandbar how shallow it is there too. But its busy for a reason - the water is incredible!

We are headed up to Torch July 3rd and 4th. Probably West Traverse bay on the 5th. Then back up for Boyne Thunder. If you see an all white 28 Pantera stop over and say hi.

Friday or Saturday were gonna run to suttons bay then to Power Island for raft off and beers all day. We have 3 boats in our crew a 32 fountain, 312 fastech, 36 cig. Find us! Will be a great time