Fishing at Frog Lake, Municipal District of Bonnyville No. 87, Alberta

• Overview

  Municipal District of Bonnyville No. 87 in Alberta is where Frog Lake sits. The water sits 569 metres up. Surface area runs to some 58.34 sq km, so a boat and a plan are both worth having. The form is uneven, with sheltered corners at either end. Nearest place of any size is Elk Point, 37 km away. Edmonton sits 210 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Frog Lake

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Records held for Municipal District of Bonnyville No. 87 cover yellow perch, Iowa darter and walleye. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. At Frog Lake light and wind decide more than tackle does.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 16°C for July and -16°C for January. Open water is the exception rather than the rule here. The lid usually sets by midwinter and gives way around late April. The lid tends to go about late April and return around mid November. September and October fish steadily right up to the freeze. It sets the rhythm of the year at Frog Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing we hold confirms whether access is permitted. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No slipway, car park or made path shows up nearby in mapping, so treat access as rough. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Where a permit is needed, the nearest town usually sells it. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. The nearest alternative is Fishing Lake, 7.7 km out. For Frog Lake, the notice at the access point is the final word.