Every public launch, every live buoy, and the named water people actually give each other directions by. Click any marker for detail and a link through to the zone it sits in.
Buoy markers carry live wind once the observation loads. Launch positions are real coordinates. Named water markers are approximate centres for orientation and are not navigation marks.
Ten public access points around the bay. Which one you should use today is a wind question, and the launches page works through it: put in on the shore the wind is coming from, because that shore has no fetch behind it.
| Launch | Zone | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Huron DNR Launch, Patterson Road Bay City. At the mouth of the Saginaw River. Paved ramps with three docks, busy on weekends, no wake zone up and down the river. The most flexible starting point because the river is right there when the bay is unfishable. | Inner Bay | 43.6405, -83.8506 |
| Linwood Beach Marina Linwood. Well kept and efficient even on holiday weekends. The classic west side jumping off point into the middle of the inner bay. | Inner Bay | 43.7332, -83.9466 |
| Bay County Pinconning Park Pinconning. County park with a launch, beach, and boardwalk. Day use fee. Good option when you want the north end of the inner bay. | Inner Bay | 43.8532, -83.9244 |
| Pine River Access Standish. Small boat ramp near the top of the inner bay. Narrow road, limited parking, five to seven feet of water off the ramp. | Lower Bay | 43.9766, -83.8564 |
| Au Gres Public Access, Point Lookout Harbor Au Gres. Harbor of refuge with well maintained ramps and plenty of parking. Access east to open Lake Huron or west up the river. The main gateway to the lower bay. | Lower Bay | 44.0270, -83.6793 |
| Quanicassee area ramp, Barney Drive Fairgrove. Two ramps with docks on the shallow south end of the east side. Quiet, and the closest east shore access to Bay City. | Eastern Bay | 43.5847, -83.6809 |
| Fish Point Wildlife Refuge Unionville. State wildlife area with marsh, an observation tower, and ditch fishing. The bay itself is not reachable by car here, so treat it as shore access and birding rather than a launch. | Eastern Bay | 43.6966, -83.5266 |
| Sebewaing Harbor Marina Sebewaing. Two docks, four unloading spots, bait shop on site. The traditional east side launch and the one that clears quickly even when busy. | Eastern Bay | 43.7344, -83.4586 |
| Bay Port Public Boating Access Bay Port. Launch plus extensive shore fishing off the docks. Long standing perch reputation, and a fish company in town. | Eastern Bay | 43.8542, -83.3743 |
| Caseville Harbor Caseville. Full harbor at the top of the east shore near the transition to the outer bay. Everything within walking distance. | Eastern Bay | 43.9428, -83.2749 |
Three NOAA stations report wind from inside the bay. The outer bay buoy has been offline since mid July, which is normal for it, and the site marks any observation over three hours old as stale rather than showing it as current.
| Station | Zone | Position |
|---|---|---|
| SBLM4 Saginaw Bay Light #1 inner bay | all zones | 43.8100, -83.7200 |
| GSLM4 Gravelly Shoal Light north end | all zones | 44.0180, -83.5370 |
| TAWM4 Tawas Point northwest corner | all zones | 44.2540, -83.4490 |
In a bay with very little structure, people navigate by names. Some are real features, some are road ends projected out onto open water. Either way these are the words used at the ramp and in the state fishing reports.
| Place | Zone | Approximate position |
|---|---|---|
| Callahan Reef Hard structure in open water, at the boundary between the lower and eastern bay. Fish relate to it and so does everybody else. | Lower Bay | 43.8600, -83.6200 |
| Spoils Island Dredge spoil island off the south east shore. Named repeatedly in state fishing reports for walleye in about ten feet. | Eastern Bay | 43.6800, -83.7800 |
| Wildfowl Bay Shallow protected water behind the islands on the east side. Perch, pike, and extensive reeds and bulrush. | Eastern Bay | 43.7900, -83.4200 |
| Shipping channel, outer reach The dredged channel running out from the river mouth. The one piece of real structure in the inner bay, and a working channel with commercial traffic. | Inner Bay | 43.7200, -83.7900 |
| Dredge Island, river mouth Rip rap edges near the mouth that hold baitfish. First structure post spawn fish meet on the way back out. | Inner Bay | 43.6500, -83.8500 |
The lower bay is also described by road ends carried straight out from shore, Thomas Road, Finn Road, and Vasser Road among them. Those are bearings people run rather than fixed points, so they are named on the lower bay page rather than pinned here.