Fishing at Cole Lake, Alexander, Manitoba

• Overview

  This water sits in Alexander, Manitoba. This is mixed forest ground. Surface area runs to roughly 3.26 sq km, so plan for one area rather than the whole. The outline measures near 26 km, so a boat opens up water the bank never reaches. Size puts it in the front rank of our Alexander list. Nearest place of any size is Lac du Bonnet, 65 km away. Beausejour is 104 km away, with Kenora at 107 km. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Cole Lake

  Nothing we hold settles how deep this runs. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Survey and observation records for Alexander include smallmouth bass, northern pike, walleye, yellow perch and white sucker. County records show what lives in the area; the local agency holds the water-by-water list. Cole Lake repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 19°C in July and bottom out at -19°C in January. Winter shuts the surface down for months. Winter fishing happens on the ice here, with open water back around late April. Ice clears near late April and comes back about mid November in a typical year. Fishing peaks soon after break-up and again before the cold returns. Anyone fishing Cole Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  No public source sets out the position on this bank. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Nothing formal is recorded here: no ramp, no car park, no marked path. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Fishing rules and camping rules are set separately here. For a change of water, Stamm Lake is 2.1 km distant. Nothing here settles the position at Cole Lake for certain.