# Torch Lake to Intermediate Lake



## StFishereed (Jan 14, 2009)

My family is staying on at a cottage on the mouth of the Torch river and would like to take a day trip through parts of the Antrim chain of lakes.

I know that you can travel from Torch to Lake Bellaire, but can you also travel from Bellaire to Intermediate? We would be using a pontoon to go from Torch through Clam lake to Bellaire. It looks like there is a dam in Bellaire looking at the google map. Thanks for any help!


----------



## gunfun13 (Jun 13, 2003)

No you cannot travel from bellaire to intermediate, there is a dam. Basically the bellaire hwy bridge is as far up intermediate river as you can go. It gets very shallow just above that, then rapids, then the dam. There used to be a spot a little ways above the bridge where you could tie up and walk into the town of bellaire but its been a long time since i've been up that far. Taking a pontoon from torch river to that point is a fair hike and will probably take you a few hours.


----------



## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

That's the village boat ramp and seawall, and yes, you can tie up there and walk into the village of Bellaire. I remember doing that when I was about 7 years old, neat that people can still do it. 

You cannot dock there overnight.


----------



## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

Watch the wind forecast before venturing to Clam from the Torch R. Any N wind will make the S end of Torch very, very lumpy in short order. I regularly see 3' seas on Torch.


----------



## StFishereed (Jan 14, 2009)

Thanks for the helpful tips. I had a feeling there was a dam in Bellaire. We have been out on Torch in some large waves, but it was with a boat better equipped for those types of conditions. We'll just have to see how the pontoon fares. Thanks again.


----------



## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

Torch is usually always pretty calm in the summer in the morning, but don't let that fool you...take a good look at the forecast before heading out. 10 mph winds inland can be 20 on Torch, and then you get those 3' seas Esox was mentioning-until evening, when it will die down again.


----------



## anon12192013aazz (Dec 10, 2010)

Just north of the town of Bellaire, on the east side of Intermediate Lake, is a small public launch ramp. I've put in there before and caught some nice bass and panfish along the drop off, down to the island.


----------



## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

That would be half a mile from my house.


----------



## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

StFishereed said:


> Thanks for the helpful tips. I had a feeling there was a dam in Bellaire.


When I was a kid there was a big red brick powerhouse in Bellaire, just a hundred feet or so east of the M88 bridge. We could cast to the wall of the powerhouse from the bridge. Used to get a lot of brookies and pike there, as well as at the water level spillway that was where the current dam is. The mill pond was around 16' deep in the middle, and there was an old sawmill under water we would walk the tops of the walls of while swimming. Browns, smallies and walleye galore in the millpond. The water under the rail trestle was deep enough we would jump off the bridge. The Intermediate river from town to L Bellaire had very deep holes and was excellent fishing for Smallies, pike and muskie. Now with the lack of surging from the powerhouse everything has silted in for more than a mile on both sides of the dam. The fishing and boating is unrecognizable from what it was in the 60's and 70's.


----------

