Big Bear Lake Fishing in Digby County, Nova Scotia

• Overview

  This water sits in Digby County, Nova Scotia. The surface lies 67 metres up. The water covers some 49 hectares, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. The full circuit measures close to 5.0 km on foot. You are 44 km from Yarmouth. Then Digby, 49 km, and Shelburne, 66 km. Round about: Points Lake about 0.8 km, Little Bear Lake out at 0.9 km, Squash Lake about 2.2 km, Prout Lake out at 2.3 km and McQuinn Lake about 2.5 km. It lies deep inside the county rather than near an edge.

• Where to Fish on Big Bear Lake

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Public occurrence data for Digby County names alewife, Atlantic salmon and American shad. Some of the species recorded here are protected or tightly regulated, so check what may be targeted before you fish. Fish Big Bear Lake where the bottom changes rather than where it looks deep.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 17°C for July and -5°C for February. Four clear seasons, with a proper winter at one end. The lid usually sets by midwinter and gives way around early April. Averages suggest open water from about early April through to roughly late December. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. The season on Big Bear Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. Nothing in the way of made access shows up nearby: no ramp, no car park, no path. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Points Lake at 0.8 km is the sensible second choice. Check the current arrangement for Big Bear Lake.