Fishing Second Chain Lake in Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

• Overview

  Nova Scotia holds Second Chain Lake, in Halifax Regional Municipality. This is pine and birch ground. At about 20 hectares, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. Some 1.7 km away sits Stoneridge, the nearest settlement. Fairmount is 1.7 km and Fairview 2.1 km. Other water nearby: First Chain Lake (0.8 km), Bayers Lake within 1.5 km, Witherod Lake (1.9 km), Long Lake within 2 km and Ragged Lake (2.2 km). It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Second Chain Lake

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Halifax Regional Municipality records list brook trout, alewife, rainbow smelt and American eel among the fish reported. Some of the species recorded here are protected or tightly regulated, so check what may be targeted before you fish. On Second Chain Lake the quiet end is the one worth the extra effort.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-term averages put August at about 18°C and January near -5°C. Hard water is a season in its own right here. Winter locks it down, and mid April brings it back. The season between ice runs from about mid April to late December. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. Second Chain Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. There is somewhere to leave the car, 580 m off. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. First Chain Lake at 0.8 km is the sensible second choice. For Second Chain Lake, the notice at the access point is the final word.