On 3/11/2026 at 10:01 PM, WaskaCrank12 said:

My local lake DNR boat ramp is less than 10 minutes/4 miles (one way) from the house.

Within 30 minutes/15 miles (one way) there are at least 6 more lakes.

In a 1 hour/40 mile radius (one way) I can get to dozens of lakes.

These are all lakes that I can drop the boat in to -- there are many other smaller lakes as well.

In reading the replies I am feeling blessed that I have access to so many lakes in close proximity to where I live. I just wish they were not frozen over for 6 months a year

This...

The upper-end size ceiling for bass is lower, and you can only fish about 5 months of the year... that said, there's about a million (okay 10 thousand) options. Some counties alone have over 1,000 lakes!

My local river boat ramps are about 10-15 minutes away. The nearest lake is about 45 minutes away.

The local river I have about a 10-12 mile stretch I can run.

For the two lakes I primarily fish, round trips are 70 miles and 130 miles .

Within an hour and a half one way too most of the biggest lakes in the State. Thirty to forty-five minuets to smaller ponds and 15 minutes to the river.

Typically travel to the bigger lakes for better quality water and fish.

Not sure what the mileage is but the main two lakes I fish are within a 10 minute drive and a 30 minute drive.

20 and 30 acre "lakes".

Probably why I've never caught a 5 lb bass.

I'm gonna try to get out of my comfort zone this year.

30 miles round trip, 25 minutes each way unless I catch the school traffic which adds about 10 minutes. Usually try to time it to miss the worst of it.

I measure distance by time rather than mileage. Almost every place I fish is somewhere I can get to within one hour of driving from my house.

The closest spot is a 60 acre natural lake 7 min away from my house. After that, there are some park pit lakes, neighborhood ponds, riverbank spots, and a few bayous and backwater areas between 10-20 min away. After that it really opens up, as there are hundreds of natural lakes, river spots, impoundments, ponds, and bayous within an hour of my house.

Fortunately, I don't need to go farther than that to have a variety of fishing experiences, and wouldn't have the time to spare on a regular basis anyway.

Michigan has 1000’s of lakes and mid-Michigan is almost void of lakes.

I did do some wading last year for the first time in forever. Shiawassee river is a known great smallie river and only 10-15 minutes from the house.

Next closest lakes are sleepy hollow/lake Ovid ( I avoid like the plague) and muskrat ( very big pond )which, are 30 ish minutes south west of me.

Saginaw river in Saginaw is 30 minutes north. The Saginaw river averages 10-14 deep and heading north by boat another 4-5 miles the shipping channel starts and it’s dredged to 28 ft deep all the way to The Saginaw Bay IE The Bay, The river for whatever reason has been very slow for bass for me the last couple years. I don’t know if the low water has me off or what.

I can be to the southern end of the Saginaw bay in a hour. Bunch of launches on the river in Bay City and on The Bay proper. Northern reaches of the Bay are 1.5 hrs roughly away which, would be Au gres on the west side and Wild fowl bay on the eastern thumb side. I’d like to try Port Austin ( Lake Huron )some time at the tip of Michigan's Thumb but, that’s 2 hrs roughly.

To the west Crystal( we call it little Crystal) Duck, loon, Pratt, Long, Clifford and some trout streams are all about an hour.

Once I’m an hour north or west there are lakes every 5-6 miles on average.

If I’m at my dads side of the family in West branch. I’m 15-20 miles minutes from a ton of small to medium size lakes.

When in Frankfort seeing my mom, brother, and grandparents. I’m 15 minutes from some of the biggest inland lakes in the state IE Crystal ( big Crystal) Big Platte , little platte, upper and lower Herring and of course Lake Michigan.

I have a tidal affected section of the Columbia about 7 miles away. My home lake is 30 minutes away. I have numerous options in the Columbia from 90 minutes to 2 hours each way. My favorite day trip lake is 90 minutes. Most everything else is 5 hours or more. I can be in western Idaho in 7.5 hours.

I have about a dozen within 30 minutes. Mostly smaller lakes.

My home lake and the St Croix river are under 10 minutes from the house.

I am thankful.

My main 3 ramps are probably 10-12 minutes from the house. My ramp that is farthest away is 25 minutes.

I live just off the St. John’s river. One ramp is less than a mile away the other on lake Monroe is 12-13 minutes away. Harris chain is less than an hour.

Stick marsh and Headwaters is 4 hours round trip and Kissimmee is 3 hours round trip on a good day.

If it’s saltwater, Port Canaveral is just under 3 hours round trip, Ponce inlet a little closer.

27 miles as the crow flies.

I have 3 lakes I can fish ‘near’ me. All 4-6 hours round trip depending on traffic.

One is paddle only so I get my kayak fix there. Smallies in numbers, biiiig largies if you can find em

One has smallies in numbers with the odd largie

One has trophy smallies and largies

This is the number of boat ramps and marinas within 2 hours of me.

I have several small ponds about 20 minutes away. I generally only have about 1 1/2 hours to actually

fish due to kids. Most prime places I'd want to fish are an hour or more, but can't do it.

I live only 5 minutes from the Texas City Dike. I also have a free pass. I'm going to fish there one of these days.

I have a few places that are within a 20-30 min drive to fish. Just depends on where I feel like going. Been taking a few trips a year to different places the last few years so those are averaging between 6-8 hours round trip just to try different lakes.

The closest lake is 10 minutes away. But I have traveled up to hour and a half. But in May I’m going to my our niece graduation just outside of Chattanooga. My wife’s brother lives like 20 minutes from Chickamauga lake. So that will be about 4 hours drive which I have no problem making. Going to fish that lake for 3 days, it’s going to be ruff 🥴 but I’m game. The funny thing is it was my wife’s idea and I’m not going to argue with her at all 😂😂😂

I’ve gone as far as 80 for a day trip but more typical is 30-40 miles. Of course with how awful traffic can be around here depending on the direction that 30 mile drive might take as long as the 80 mile drive.

You’ve touched on one of my favorite aspects of fishing. Traveling to new or different water. From Virginia, I have fished from Canada to florida in most every state on the east coast including Wisconsin, Michigan and as far west as Lake Fork in Texas. That’s why I am so anal about trailer and boat maintenance. Locally, it’s an average of 1 and a half hours to most of my lakes and rivers. When I was guiding, that 3 hour round trip was brutal.

200 miles round trip, every time.

If I go to the lakes with the best chance of catching larger bass the trip is 1 hour 20 minutes to 2 hours one way. If I just want to catch bass the trip can be 11 - 55 minutes one way with a much lower chance of larger fish.

My closest bass lake is about 48 miles, but it's muddy filling up with silt. The best lake is a little over 60 miles away. I wish I were closer.