About Scalawags Whitefish & Chips

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231-436-7777

Scalawags Whitefish & Chips is a locally owned and operated Northern Michigan tradition.
We are a quick-service, casual seafood dining establishment featuring the freshest Whitefish, Perch, and Walleye harvested from the Great Lakes.

Scalawags is open from late April through October each year. For more than 30 years, families and groups have planned their vacations and trips
to Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island around a meal at Scalawag's Whitefish and Chips.

Whether dining in or taking your meal out for a lake-view picnic, we are dedicated to serving the freshest Great Lakes Whitefish around.

What Fresh Whitefish Means to You

Taking a bite out of the Great Lakes has never been more satisfying than it is today at Scalawags Whitefish and Chips in Mackinaw City, established in 1992. Now, almost 30 years later, we're still serving up delicious, fresh whitefish to longtime customers as well as newcomers every year.

We are all about fresh fish from the Great Lakes, eating healthy and using the right ingredients.

Besides our best-selling whitefish and unbeatable tartar sauce, compliments are coming in constantly for our whitefish chowder and hush puppies.

More popular than it has ever been, the demand for freshwater fish has steadily increased over the past decades not only because more and more are finding out how great it tastes, but also because of its health benefits. We use only the freshest ingredients, and a top-quality, zero tans fat oil for cooking our fish.

Demand for freshwater fish like whitefish, perch and walleye is at an all-time high right there alongside the traditional seafood favorites like shrimp, lobster, tuna and scallops. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, the supply of whitefish and other delectable freshwater fish has experienced a steady decline, causing an unavoidable increase in price seen more commonly with seafood.

More foreigners are buying available commercial fishing licenses in the Great Lakes, harvesting and taking their catch back to their native country to sell. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has reformatted fishing zones and changed the allotments given to commercial operations. Zones that appear to be getting fished out are restricted in an effort to rebuild stock.

More concerning than the issues impacting commercial fisherman in the Great Lakes, is the ever-growing threat of invasive species competing for food with native fish species. The presence of more and more predator fish is compounding the problem. Even the ice cover or lack of it on the Great Lakes can negatively impact the larvae and spawning factors that affect the fish population.

All of this is having an impact on the availability and price of Great Lakes fish. In today's market, consumers consider whitefish a specialty item similar to perch and walleye.

Scalawags customers can have it all. Building on our strong reputation as having the best whitefish, our visitors can choose from a number of menu items including whitefish, perch, walleye, shrimp and chicken tenders. There are turkey, ham and whitefish sandwiches along with our mouth-watering whitefish reuben.

Heartfelt gratitude goes out to our loyal customers. Because of them, Scalawags in Mackinaw City will continue to set the standard for Great Lakes fresh fish, overcoming obstacles, which necessarily impact pricing.

We will continue to keep up on the issues affecting the commercial fishing industry and the Great Lakes fisheries. And, we will keep our customers up to date with legislation and research as well as ways you can get involved to preserve the environment of our Great Lakes and the health of our fish.