Fishing at Rat Lake, Mackenzie County, Alberta

• Overview

  In Alberta, Rat Lake belongs to Mackenzie County. This is northern bush country. At 1.99 sq km this is proper open water rather than a pond. The edge covers about 6.7 km, enough to hold several distinct areas. Ground here is low by Alberta standards. Start from Hay River, 124 km down the road. Beyond it, High Level at 151 km and La Crête at 191 km. Round about: Swan Lake lies 22 km on, Esk Lake at 54 km and Beatty Lake lies 59 km on. No boundary runs near, so the local rules hold throughout.

• Where to Fish on Rat Lake

  Nothing in our records gives a depth for this one. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Species logged across Mackenzie County include longnose sucker, northern pike and Arctic grayling. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. On Rat Lake a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs -23°C to 16°C. The freeze holds for the better part of the year. Ice-out usually falls in early May, and the weeks after it fish hardest. The season between ice runs from about early May to early November. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. That shapes the year on Rat Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. No slipway, car park or made path shows up nearby in mapping, so treat access as rough. Light line and small metal for the trout; a fly rod earns its place on calm evenings. Parking is often the real limit rather than the bank itself. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. For a change of water, Swan Lake is 22 km distant. None of that is settled for Rat Lake in what we hold.