Bankson Lake is a all-sports lake located in
Van Buren County, just south of
Lawton,
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. The lake is unique in that it has rather undeveloped shores and is home to two large camps - th
Miracle Camp and Retreat Centerand the Girl Scouts. Miracle Camp and Retreat Center has existed on the lake since 1965 and provides summer camps, weekend retreats, winter retreats, and other Christian camping for more than 12,000 people each year.
Bankson Lake has a depth of up to and is well stocked with sport fish, including
walleye
The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...
and
Muskies. There is a good population of native purebred
Muskies as well. It has been one of Southwest Michigan's premier source lakes for Female musky eggs, which are then crossed with
northern pike
The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus '' Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a ...
milt to produce hybrid
Tiger Muskies.
As with other spring-fed lakes in the area, its depth is water-table dependent. It has had historical lows in the late 1940s that left a sandbar toward the eastern end completely dry. Cottages were built around that time, that later flooded as the lake level rose. There is at least one remaining visible foundation at the northern end of this bar that had 3 feet of water over it as of 2009. The water level has been high enough in the 1950s to permit the use of "float-in" boat houses, a few of which remain around the lake though they are now dry.
Bankson Lake is governed by the Bankson Lake Association
See also
*
List of lakes in Michigan
This is a list of lakes in Michigan. The United States, American state of Michigan borders four of the five Great Lakes, Great Lakes.
The number of inland lakes in Michigan depends on the minimum size. There are:
* 62,798 lakes ≥
* 26,266 lak ...
References
External links
Michigan DNRState of Michigan List of Lakes
Bankson Lake AssociationOfficial website
Michigan Fish Stock RecordsSearchable database of fish stocking in Bankson Lake
Miracle Camp and Retreat CenterOfficial Miracle Camp Website
Lakes of Michigan
Bodies of water of Van Buren County, Michigan
{{VanBurenCountyMI-geo-stub