Fishing Knowles Lake in Hants, Nova Scotia

• Overview

  Set in Hants, Knowles Lake is a Nova Scotia water. It lies 108 metres above sea level. At 4 hectares it is the sort of place you fish for an evening rather than a day. The closest town, Mount Uniacke, is 9.3 km away. Upper Sackville is 19 km and Springfield Lake 20 km. Other water within reach: Mud Lake 1.3 km away, Two Tongue Lake at 1.7 km, Birch Bark Lake 1.9 km away, Nix Lake at 2 km and Wellner Lake 2.3 km away. It lies deep inside the county rather than near an edge.

• Where to Fish on Knowles Lake

  No depth figure has reached our records, which makes a plummet useful. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Open biodiversity records for Hants list American eel, Atlantic salmon and striped bass. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. Knowles Lake gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about -7°C and July at about 18°C, the water has a wide range to work through. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. The lid usually goes in mid April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. Average temperatures cross freezing around mid April in spring and again near mid December in autumn. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. Time your trip to Knowles Lake by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. The nearest alternative is Mud Lake, 1.3 km out. For Knowles Lake, the notice at the access point is the final word.