Fishing Drug Lake in Pictou County, Nova Scotia

• Overview

  Out in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, sits Drug Lake. The sea is 26 km distant. The water measures roughly 5 hectares, so nothing here is far from anything else. It sits higher than most water we list in Nova Scotia. Start from Stellarton, 20 km down the road. After that come Westville at 21 km and New Glasgow at 23 km. This one sits near enough to a boundary to be worth checking.

• Where to Fish on Drug Lake

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Open biodiversity records for Pictou County list American eel, rainbow smelt, alewife and Atlantic salmon. Some of the species recorded here are protected or tightly regulated, so check what may be targeted before you fish. Read Drug Lake for ten minutes before the first cast goes out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Seasonal averages run from -7°C in February up to 18°C in August. Cold locks it up for a good stretch each year. Hard water holds through the cold months, breaking up near late April. Ice clears near late April and comes back about mid December in a typical year. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. Drug Lake runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. Mapping is blank for access, so scout the approach before committing the car. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. Black Lake, 1.4 km away, makes the obvious fallback. Where Drug Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.