Fishing at Upper Salter Lake, Hants, Nova Scotia

• Overview

  You will find Upper Salter Lake in Hants, Nova Scotia. Mixed forest runs right down to the water. Small at around 7 hectares: two anglers spread out cover most of it. Some 19 km away sits Windsor, the nearest settlement. Beyond it, Hantsport at 25 km and Wolfville at 26 km. Water in the same corner: Lower Salter Lake at about 1.1 km, Bills Lake 1.9 km, Upper Chain Lake at about 3.4 km, Chain Lake 3.6 km and Five Island Lake at about 3.7 km. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Upper Salter Lake

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Open biodiversity records for Hants list American eel, Atlantic salmon, striped bass and smallmouth bass. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. On Upper Salter Lake a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Typical July readings run about 18°C; by January the average is down near -6°C. Seasons are distinct, and each one fishes differently. After mid April the shallows warm and the fish move up. On the long-run averages the water opens up around mid April and starts locking again about mid December. Fishing peaks soon after break-up and again before the cold returns. Upper Salter Lake runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  No access rule appears in what we hold. No made access appears within a short radius, so plan to park on a verge and walk. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. A phone call first saves an afternoon. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Lower Salter Lake, 1.1 km away, makes the obvious fallback. Check the current arrangement for Upper Salter Lake.