Fishing at Longs Lake, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia

• Overview

  Longs Lake belongs to Guysborough County, Nova Scotia. It sits at 60 metres above sea level. The water measures roughly 10 hectares, so nothing here is far from anything else. Roughly 1.3 km of bank means you can walk to a fresh area when one goes quiet. Antigonish lies 38 km from the water. Port Hawkesbury is 38 km away, with Princeville at 54 km. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Longs Lake

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Survey and observation records for Guysborough County include alewife, American eel and brook trout. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. Work Longs Lake in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warmest month averages 18°C, the coldest about -7°C. Winter puts a hard lid on this one. The freeze runs deep into the year, with break-up near late April. Climate averages put the opening at about late April and the closing near late December. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. On Longs Lake the same rules apply, with local timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. There is no recorded infrastructure here; expect to find your own way in. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Susies Lake, 1.1 km away, makes the obvious fallback. Confirm access to Longs Lake locally before you travel.