Big Evans Lake (Martiny Lake Flooding)

1. Rewritten Description

Big Evans Lake is one of nine connected basins that make up the Martiny Lake Flooding, formed in 1954 when the Winchester Dam was built across the South Branch Chippewa River. The flooding links Big Evans Lake with Lower Evans Lake, Upper Evans Lake, Lost Lake, Tubbs Lake, Boom Lake, Dogfish Lake, Manake Lake, and Saddlebag Lake, with individual basins running anywhere from 10 to 40 feet deep and connected by shallow channels. The whole system sits inside the roughly 2,500-acre Martiny Lake State Game Area in Martiny Township, giving anglers a mix of open water and surrounding wooded public land to explore. Fish were stocked into these lakes individually well before the 1954 flooding, some going back to the early 1930s, and a Michigan DNR hatchery survey in June 2017 confirmed a healthy fishery still exists across most game species today. Panfish and bass anglers return to the chain regularly, drawn by the variety of connected water and the relative quiet compared to Mecosta County's larger, more developed lakes. Visitors exploring the Martiny Chain can treat Big Evans Lake as part of a broader day on the water that also touches Tubbs Lake and the surrounding game area trails.