The Channel Between Big and Little Bass Lake

If you follow the red line between Big and Little Bass Lake, then you have found the channel between these two lakes.  It is just over a third of a mile in length and, in spots, is quite deep. Under most circumstances it is a one lane channel and if boats were to pass along the way, one would have to move into the lilly pads for the other boat to pass.

The uniqueness of this channel has always made me wonder why a similar channel between Big Bass Lake and Bluegill Lake was never constructed as those two lakes are also in close proximity one to the other. Yet the channel between Big and Little Bass Lakes can be found in the northern section of Big Bass Lake or the southern part of Little Bass Lake.

A few months ago I featured a multi-part series highlighting various locations within the channel and also Little Bass Lake.

The Bridge Within the Channel

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This is the bridge in the channel between Big and Little Bass Lakes and from this direction one would be going toward Little Bass Lake from Big Bass Lake.  To the right would be the land once belonging to Camp Martin Johnson that is now owned by the Heritage Bay Association.  Yet what lies to the west of that land bridge?  And is it safe enough to walk upon after all these years?

Is there an actual trail that exists to the west or does one just encounter brush and trees?  I believe the cottage of Ann Louise Chase is not far from this location.  I also understand that bears are most often observed in this area.

But how about a view from the Little Bass Lake side leading to Big Bass Lake? 

It’s somewhat wider here, the channel, because you are just leaving the southern portion of Little Bass Lake and one can get a good glance at the bridge from this location being much closer than our other photograph.  As for the channel itself, it is largely a one-lane channel although books can be moved over to the side in bushes to allow someone to pass.  It is also rather deep in spots.

Can anyone enlighten us as to how good the fishing might be in the channel?

Aerial Big Bass Lake and Noreika Property

This is an excellent aerial photograph of Big and Little Bass Lakes as well as the one time Noreika property (to the left and three-fourths to the top of the page).  The southern islands, left to right, are the Haunted Island, The Big Island (complete with a bridge leading to it), and tiny Grandma’s Hat.  Just to its left is Bluegill Lake.  In the lower left of this picture is the Softball Field and a new church in the area.

The two northern islands are Fou Winds Island and Turtle Island.  To their left is a small greenish area in the lake which  refer to as Sunken Island as the water is only three feet deep there and in the middle of the lake.  Just to its east and slightly north is the channel leading to Little Bass Lake which you can locate in the upper left side of this photograph. 

My grandparents, Joseph and Barbara Noreika, purchased their land in 1912 and part of the original deed included one-half of the Haunted Island.  Of their 256 acres some was farm land extending from what is today the public landing site all the way to Noreika Road and along side Big Bass Lake Road.  To its north and all the way back to Big Bass Lake was our forest land which included many swamp marshes. 

This land was a natural setting for many boys club camping trips which I took with three separate clubs in the 1970′s and 80′s. 

Channeling Big Bass Lake

Just after Labor Day this year I finally made a trip to Dave Norris’ favorite lake, that being Big Bass Lake with one ambition in mind and that was to travel the channel between Big and Little Bass Lakes.  I unloaded my outboard motor and rowboat and entered the lake at the public landing and then made my way just to the east of what Dave calls the haunted island.  I now see why as it was eerie to say the least with one lone house on it that I could see.

I went through the narrows of the lake and past the two northern islands and then headed due east for the channel.  I then lifted my outboard moor onto my boat and drifted into the channel. 

As i oared though this channel I was immediately impressed with the scenery and the narrowness of this entry port to Little Bass Lake.  Had I met another boat, it would have been a tight squeeze getting by one another.  The water was somewhat deeper than I had imagined and I saw a great many fish in it.  I should have brought my pole!

As I rowed through this channel I thought about what Dave had once told me about bears frequenting this area occasionally.  What a natural corridor this could be for the locals around Halloween.  My thoughts drifted if Camp Martin Johnson ever used this passageway to scare the kids of that camp?

And, then, there it was!  The footbridge over the channel and my thoughts drifted to where each way would take someone?  I have also heard that the historian of Big Bass Lake, Ann Louise Chase, lives near this channel.  I also wondered how many bears have crossed that bridge over the years?  Once under the bridge, Little Bass Lake was in sight so I turned around and headed back under the bridge heading back toward Big Bass Lake.

What a trip this had been for me as I dipped each oar into te water making my way through the channel ever so slowly.  But there it was, the opening back into Big Bass Lake!

I had achieved my goal of making it through the channel and as I put my outboard back into the lake to make a quick trip back to the public landing, my thoughts drifted to making that same trip again sometime in the future.  But dare I try that voyage at night? 

The Channel Back to Big Bass Lake- Part Five

Now that we’ve left Little Bass Lake, it’s back through the channel and head back toward Big Bass Lake. This is the long straight-away. Some counselors from the former Camp Martin Johnson have told me that the channel in spots in quite deep and excellent for fishing. The problem as to the latter is if another boat is trying to get through the channel while you’re fishing.

I’m glad that we aren’t fishing today because it looks like another boat is waiting for us to exit so they can enter the channel. My motor is up right now as I always choose to row through the channel between the lakes to gain all the wonderful scenery that is enroute to either lake and to take my own sweet time getting through.

I’m sure that the other boat will be patient and allow me the luxury of taking short strokes of my oars. Oh well, I’m almost out anyway.

Well, now that I’m out of the channel its time to put the motor back into the water and head on out around Four Winds and Turtle Island before making that long stretch through the narrows of Big Bass Lake south. Then I hang a right and head on the western shore of Haunted Island as our cottage is the only pier north of the Big Bass Lake Public Landing.

Hope you enjoyed our journey back and through the channel? Tomorrow, Mike Reynolds will have a post with a return to winter.

Through the Channel to Little Bass Lake and Back- Part Four

Well, we’re now through the connecting channel between Big and Little Bass Lake. Little Bass Lake’s shoreline is vastly different than her bigger cousin. No large mansions are in view here and no high speed boats either. Plus the shoreline is largely green with no vast amounts of landscaping.

Little Bass Lake is also the deeper of the two. And, check out this little inlet-

You probably can’t make out the channel for our return trip to Big Bass Lake but there it is in the distance. All we have to do is row there and get ready for that channel voyage again. With each dip of the oar the channel gets closer and closer. Until then though the beauty of Little Bass Lake and its shoreline is a relief to our eyes. This is how Big Bass Lake once looked before the onslaught of new homes to the area.

There it is! The channel back to Big Bass Lake and only a few oar strokes away. It was interesting visiting Little Bass Lake. Too bad we couldn’t stop and chew the fat with one or two residents. I wonder how the fishing is this year at Little Bass Lake?

Next the conclusion to our series as I re-enter the channel heading back to Big Bass Lake.

The Channel Approaching Little Bass Lake- Part Three

This is an interesting look at the portal into Little Bass Lake under the bridge. Here the channel between Big and Little Bass Lake has a long straight-away just prior to a turn at the bridge. I’ve often wondered how many boats a year take this voyage down this channel and if there are more seekers from Little Bass Lake over that of Big Bass Lake?

This bridge is not a roadway but moreso a pathway across the channel. To the left should about be the home of Ann Louise Chase, the author of several books about the Big Bass Lake area. As to the right, it would lead toward where Camp Martin Johnson was once located. I also wonder how safe that bridge is to walk over?

Dan Schultz, a former counselor from CMJ recently told me that the camp property on Little Bass Lake was used for campfires and or cookouts. The camp also used the channel for canoeing as their canoe docks were almost directly across the channel on the Big Bass Lake side.

Tomorrow, our journey reaches into Little Bass Lake and then back again toward Big Bass Lake. Stay with us!

The Channel From Big to Little Bass Lake- Part Two

This is a rather engaging picture of the channel opening between Big and Little Bass Lake taken from the shore of the old Camp Martin Johnson. Not many people know this but the camp had land on three lakes, those being Big and Little Bass Lake plus Bluegill Lake. This photography also allows you to observe this portion of Big Bass Lake from a western perspective.

When you take a look at the channel itself, it is kind of easy to observe that only one boat at a time could manage it as the travel lane is very narrow and full of lily pads. I wonder how far to each side is solid land? It almost gives you the impression that you are sailing through a Florida marsh.

Rounding that corner a large straight-away appears and in the distance you can barely make out the bridge over the channel just before it empties into Little Bass Lake and that is where I will pick up in Part Three. Notice how desolate this channel appears. I have made this voyage myself two times in different decades.

I’ll be back tomorrow in Part Three as the bridge over the channel will be our focus.

The Channel Between Big and Little Bass Lake- Part One

If you proceed due east past Four Winds and Turtle Islands on Big Bass Lake you will find the channel between Big and Little Bass Lake that is about a third of a mile in length. You can locate it on the aerial mark by the yellow mark. But what kind of a travel way will you find here?

Mike Elsner and I both have some interesting photographs that will be highlighted in this series. First, I will have another angle of this channel opening in the next part along with a few pictures of the interior of this passage way. Then the bridge spanning the channel will be shown followed by a few pictures of Little Bass Lake and then our return trip back through the channel en route to Big Bass Lake again.

When my father first took this passage in the 1940′s he said it was filled with poison sumac and he caught it bad. Needless to say he wasn’t “itching” for a return trip anytime soon after that. How easy or how difficult the voyage depends on the amount of rain the lake receives each year.

Join us tomorrow as the voyage begins!

Day Trip to Little Bass Lake

The only boys club that ever made a trip over to Little Bass Lake was the Marion Boys Club on a trip where only four boys came to our property. On this trip I borrowed our family motor boat to make the trip much easier because if done by rowboat that would have been a real long haul with having to negotiate around a great many speed boats.

The boys enjoyed seing both Four Winds Island and Turtle Island for the first time. As we drifted into the channel between Big and Little Bass Lake, I brought the motor up and rowed that short distance into Little Bass Lake.

The boys got a thrill seeing Little Bass Lake for the first time. We motored around the entire lake twice and the kids were amazed as to how much different this lake was. The first reaction was that there were no islands on this lake. The boys also noticed fewer cottages around the lake with much more open space.

They were also surprised to learn that this was the deeper of the two lakes. After about an hour and a half, we headed back through the channel to Big Bass Lake but for that short period of time, these boys from Marion got to see Little Bass Lake and they talked about that experience at our campfire that evening. They were also most impressed with the channel.

Leisurely Rowing at Little Bass Lake

Since I had gone to the trouble of rowing a boat from the southwest corner of Big Bass Lake, through the channel between the lakes, and finally exiting into Little Bass Lake, I decided to take my time to explore the little brother of my home lake.  I had three boys with me om the Marion Boys Club, and they alone took turns rowing only through the channel between the lakes.  I was one weary rower upon our return to our wooded beachfront on Big Bass Lake later that day.

But the kids had the opportunity to explore Little Bass Lake and view the scenery there as we did.  The first thing they noticed there was that there were NO islands on that lake.  Big Bass Lake had five islands and one that was haunted to boot!  The boys also noticed that there weren’t as many cottages on the shores of Little Bass Lake.  I told them that this lake was sightly deeper than its older brother and did not have nearly as many speedboats around it.  On the day we were there I counted only two speedboats.  However we ran across many fishermen with motor boats as they were trolling that lake as they fished.

It was well worth the weariness of making that trip as the kids learned a lot about Little Bass Lake from a man who owned a cottage near the channel between the lakes on the Little Bass side.  They were VERY impressed with the channel between the lakes as well.

The Channel Between Big and Little Bass Lake

On the Northeast corner of Big Bass Lake is the opening of the channel to Little Bass Lake. Along the way one would pass under a small bridge. Depending on the time of year is how easy or how difficult the way between the lakes might be. I have navigated it myself twice rather easily but my father said he had a difficult time doing it and then it was filled with poison ivy. I think he might have caught it and would not attempt it again. These two pictures display the opening of the channel from Big Bass Lake to the entry portal under a bridge to Little Bass Lake.

For fishermen this must be a real treasure as they have access to both lakes without having to dock their boat at the Big Bass Lake landing and then drive over to Little Bass Lake and unload their boat there.

Some say they’ve even fished the channel but I would think that to be difficult in that there isn’t a whole lot of room should another boat be coming through. For those in the know it might be interesting to learn just how far this channel was in relation to Camp Martin Johnson?

For rowboats it’s an interesting trip between the two lakes and one that is worth the time and effort to take.

Aerial Big and Little Bass Lake

Here is a fine aerial photograph of both Big and Little Bass Lakes. The channel between the two is there but hard to locate on this map. I would be interested to learn where those that are on Big and Little Bass Lake have their cottages located around the lake?

I understand that the noted Big Bass Lake area historian, Anne Louise Chase, has her cottage located quite near the channel between Big and Little Bass Lake and our former cottage was on the southwest corner of Big Bass Lake although our property extended farther up the southwest corner.

The former Richard Benish property was where the public landing now sits. So, how about the rest of you? Leave us a comment and let us know where your cottages are in relation to these two lakes.

Plus all five islands are there for you to see, Haunted Island (Matson’s), The Big Island, Grandma’s Hat, Four Winds, and Turtle.

By the way, the area in red is roughly our former property lines.