Coal Lake in Millet: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  You will find Coal Lake in Millet, Alberta. It sits in pine and birch. Roughly 9.77 sq km of surface: treat each bay as a water in its own right. Some 37 km of shoreline means conditions can differ from one end to the other. Millet sits 14 km from the bank. Edmonton is the closest city, 54 km away. What else is close: Labyrinth Lake within 6.8 km, Huard Lake (7.1 km), Adrian Lake within 9.5 km, Big Hay Lake (12 km) and Spider Lake within 13 km. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Coal Lake

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Read Coal Lake for ten minutes before the first cast goes out. If bites stop, change depth before you change everything else.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July near 16°C and January near -13°C on the long-run figures. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. Ice fishing carries the winter, and the water opens about mid April. Open water usually runs from mid April until about mid November. June through September is the settled part of the year, with the shoulders busier for fish. Coal Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public data does not answer the access question here. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. No built facilities appear in mapping around this water. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Some ground is open by custom rather than by right, so tread carefully. Labyrinth Lake sits 6.8 km off and takes the overflow. Check the position on Coal Lake before loading the car.