Is four mile lake in Canada connected to an ocean?

Question

Is four mile lake in Canada connected to an ocean?

Answer 1

Four Mile Lake is located in the Chelsea State Game Area which is approximately 1 mile north and 2 miles east of the Village of Chelsea (see map of Chelsea State Game Area). This lake covers a surface area of 256 acres, has a maximum depth of only 18 feet and is part of the Huron River watershed. There is a shallow intermittent inlet at the lake's northeast end and a permanent outlet to Mill Creek is located at the lake's southwest end.

Because of periodic flooding which has historically resulted in seasonal fluctuations in the Four Mile Lake level, several affected property owners petitioned the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners in 1982 to set a legal lake level. In 1984, the legal lake level was set at 887.0 feet above sea level. The first phase of this project, completed in 1988, involved cleaning out the Four Mile Lake drain and installing a new water control structure. The second phase of the project was completed in 1991 and included the installation of a sediment basin and a water pump on the lake's northeast side near where Drain #3 enters Four Mile Lake. This pump was installed to prevent the backflow of water from Four Mile Lake onto private lands after the lake level was raised. Over time, water from Four Mile Lake began flowing through the wetland area on the lake's southwest side. In March of 1996, litigation involving the alleged flooding of an adjacent property owner (Mr. Martin Merkel) was initiated. This suit claims that Mr. Merkel's property has been flooded as the result of two breaches in a d**e maintained by the State of Michigan. This litigation is pending.

Four Mile Lake was dredged for marl in the past and nearly the entire lake bottom is composed of it (Brown 1941). A cement plant once operated on the south end of this lake. Located just south and west of Four Mile Lake are several ponds, locally called "the marl pits," which were created from past marl dredging operations. There is also a marl pond located just north of Four-Mile Lake. Collectively these ponds cover an area of approximately 60 acres (see map of Chelsea State Game Area). Local Conservation Officers report that all of these ponds have fair to good bass and bluegill populations and anglers can access them by trails or small boats. No fishery survey data is on file for these ponds.

Four Mile Lake is characterized as having gradual drop-offs and over 75% of the lake's surface area has water less than 5 feet in depth (see map of Four Mile Lake). Submergent aquatic vegetation is abundant in Four Mile Lake. Coontail (Ceratophyllum sp.) and broad-leaf pond weed (Potamogeton sp.) are the most prominent vegetation types; Eurasian milfoil (Myriophyllum spictatum), bulrush, pond lily, and other pond weed species are present. Cattails are abundant along the southern and western shores. This lake is almost completely surrounded by state land and is mostly undeveloped. Approximately 10 seasonal and year-round homes are located on the east side of the lake and the remainder of the lake's shoreline is low and marshy. A small, gravel boat launch is located on the south end of the lake.

History

Bluegill, largemouth bass, yellow perch, and northern pike were stocked in Four Mile Lake in the late 1930s and in the 1940s. These stocking programs were discontinued shortly thereafter. Hatchery-reared northern pike were stocked in Four Mile Lake in 1983, 1984, and 1985. This lake was mapped in March 1941.

The first fish survey on record was conducted in 1941 (Brown 1941). It captured bluegill, pumpkinseed sunfish, yellow perch, black crappie, rock bass, largemouth bass, and northern pike as well as an assortment of various types of minnows. In 1960, an extensive survey with a very large seine was made. Bluegill and pumpkinseed were the most abundant species. Based on fish scale analysis, bluegill, pumpkinseed, yellow perch, black crappie, and northern pike were all growing slightly above state average growth rates. In 1976, a fall survey indicated a slight decline in bluegill and pumpkinseed growth rates and a significant improvement in the growth of black crappie had occurred since 1960.

A trap net and gill net survey in 1985 resulted in a very good catch of bluegill, pumpkinseed sunfish, rock bass, bullheads, and northern pike. Bluegills averaged 6.4 inches and exhibited growth rates that were approximately 0.5 inch below the state average. Age and growth analysis revealed that fish were attaining a large size because they are relatively long-lived. This survey also indicated a very impressive population of pumpkinseed sunfish was present Their average size exceeded that of the bluegill. Usually pumpkinseeds are substantially smaller average size than bluegills. Growth analysis indicated that pumpkinseeds exhibited above average growth rates and were long-lived. Black crappies exhibited near-average growth rates and a large average size. This survey produced a good catch of northern pike, however, these fish were growing well below the state average growth rate. Northern pike fingerlings, which were raised in the hatchery system on dry pellet food, were stocked for 2 years prior to the 1985 survey. If the pike captured in this survey were aged correctly, then none of the stocked fish were captured. Only 3- and 4-year-old pike were taken. The pike stocking program for this lake was subsequently discontinued.

A catch of fish very similar to previous trap and gill net surveys of Four Mile Lake was made during a survey in 1990. Bluegills comprised 40% of the trap net catch and averaged 6.3 inches. Pumpkinseed average size, nearly 7 inches, once again exceeded that of bluegill. Pumpkinseeds exhibited growth rates nearly 1 inch above the state average, whereas bluegills had moderately slow growth. Nearly 200 bullheads were captured in trap nets. They comprised over 32% of the total catch by number and nearly 50% of the catch by weight, and had an average length of 12.5 inches. Because bullheads were both abundant and large, they appear to be underutilized by anglers. Even though largemouth bass are infrequently captured with trap or gill nets, 14 bass averaging nearly 14 inches were caught during the 1990 survey and over 50% of them were legal size. Sixteen fast-growing northern pike were captured which averaged over 21 inches in length.

Fisheries personnel from the Jackson District have successfully raised redear sunfish since 1984 and have stocked over 2.5 million fingerlings in over 30 area lakes. This fast-growing panfish, originally native to the southeastern United States, has become increasingly popular among anglers since their first introduction to a few southern Michigan lakes in the early 1950s. Preliminary evaluations have generally shown good survival of stocked redears, and their natural reproduction has been confirmed in several lakes. Redear sunfish were introduced into Four Mile Lake in 1987. Although only four redears were caught during the 1990 survey, they averaged nearly 9 inches and appeared very healthy and robust. More redear sunfish were stocked in this lake in 1991, 1992, and 1993.

This lake has historically been very popular with anglers and receives moderately heavy fishing pressure during the open water and ice fishing seasons. The lake is apparently heavily used by waterfowl hunters in the fall as evidenced by the numerous hunting blinds located along the shoreline.

Fishery Resource

Four Mile Lake was last surveyed in May of 1995 with four standard trap nets (8 x 5 x 3-foot, 1.5-inch mesh) and two experimental gill nets (125-ft long, six mesh sizes). The trap nets were fished for 2 nights and the gill nets were fished for 1 night. Gamefish species captured during this survey in descending order of abundance included bluegill, redear sunfish, yellow bullhead, black crappie, northern pike, brown bullhead, rock bass, largemouth bass, pumpkinseed sunfish, and yellow perch (Tables 1a and 1b).

Evaluation of the redear sunfish previously stocked into this lake was one of the primary objectives of the 1995 fish survey. Approximately 78,000 fingerlings were stocked in 1987-93. The 1995 survey resulted in the capture of 52 redear adults, most of which were 4 years old and were likely survivors from fingerlings stocked in 1991. Redear growth was 0.5 inch above the state average, as verified by fish scale analysis. Age analysis indicated that some redears belonged to year classes which had not been stocked (1989 and 1990) and that some natural reproduction had taken occurred Some redears over 10 inches were captured, indicating the goal of creating a "trophy" panfish had been achieved. Natural reproduction, growth and survival of this species should continue to be monitored and a follow-up survey is tentatively scheduled for the spring of 1999.

Bluegills comprised over 30% of all fish caught in trap nets and they averaged nearly 6 inches long. Fifty-three percent of the bluegills caught in trap nets were at least 6 inches, an acceptable size to most anglers (Table 1a). Based on growth analysis using fish scales, bluegills caught in trap and gill nets during 1995 exhibited growth rates that were approximately 0.5 inch below the state average (Table 2a).

Black crappie caught in trap nets averaged 9.5 inches in length and exhibited growth rates slightly above the state average rate. Over 90% of all the crappies were over 7 inches long or "keeper" size.

The northern pike catch was impressive. Twenty-four pike ranging in size from 17 to 29 inches (average over 21 inches) were captured in trap and gill nets. As a group, northern pike exhibited slow growth but those caught during the 1995 survey appeared very healthy and robust.

In general, few largemouth bass are caught with trap and gill nets and this survey was no exception. Only 15 largemouth were captured and they averaged just over 12 inches. Largemouth bass exhibited bel

Answer 2

The first answer is about a lake in Michigan, not one in Canada.

Gazetteers indicate several lakes by that name scattered across Canada, and all of them are eventually connected to the Ocean as Canada has no areas of interior drainage (it can be found in some parts of the western US like northern Nevada where streams simply end in salt pans in the desert). All lakes either flow into a stream or else seep water underground, that water flows toward a stream and eventually into an ocean. So no matter which specific lake you mean, yes it is connected to the Pacific, the Arctic, or the Atlantic.