Kearl Lake Fishing in Wood Buffalo, Alberta

• Overview

  Kearl Lake stands in Wood Buffalo, Alberta. It sits at 329 metres above sea level. At 5.46 sq km this is proper open water rather than a pond. Some 12 km of bank gives room to move when the wind turns. By elevation it sits in the lower part of our Alberta listings. Start from Fort McMurray, 64 km down the road. For a city, Edmonton is 439 km off. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Kearl Lake

  Depth figures are not published for this one. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Species logged across Wood Buffalo include longnose sucker, Arctic grayling, white sucker, mountain whitefish and yellow perch. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. On Kearl Lake the first feature you find is usually worth a session.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 17°C at the top of summer and -20°C at the bottom of winter. Open water is the exception rather than the rule here. The freeze runs deep into the year, with break-up near late April. The season between ice runs from about late April to early November. September and October fish steadily right up to the freeze. Anyone fishing Kearl Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  We hold no note on access for this one. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. Light line and small metal for the trout; a fly rod earns its place on calm evenings. Check locally before you travel, because a wasted drive is a long one. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. If the gate is shut, McClelland Lake at 23 km is the nearest alternative. Confirm access to Kearl Lake locally before you travel.