Harold Lake Fishing Guide, Municipal District of Bonnyville No. 87, Alberta

• Overview

  Harold Lake lies in Municipal District of Bonnyville No. 87, Alberta. It sits in spruce and muskeg country. About 2.46 sq km, so local knowledge or a boat saves a lot of walking. You are 24 km from Bonnyville. Further out sit Grand Centre (25 km) and Cold Lake (26 km). One jurisdiction covers this water end to end. There is enough here to keep coming back.

• Where to Fish on Harold Lake

  We hold no depth figure for this one. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Species logged across Municipal District of Bonnyville No. 87 include yellow perch, Iowa darter, walleye, white sucker and northern pike. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. At Harold Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about -17°C in January to roughly 16°C in July. Ice holds for a long stretch, so the open weeks matter more here than further south. The lid usually goes in late April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. From about late April to around mid November, expect open water on the long-run figures. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. Anyone fishing Harold Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. It is recorded as intermittent, which means the basin empties in dry spells. Mapping is blank for access, so scout the approach before committing the car. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. Crane Lake at 7.1 km is the sensible second choice. Check the position on Harold Lake before loading the car.