Fishing at Arrell Lake, Thunder Bay District, Ontario

• Overview

  Arrell Lake is a Thunder Bay District water, Ontario side. The bank gives way to northern bush. At about 67 hectares, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. With 8.6 km or so of shoreline, boat anglers cover ground the bank cannot. It is high ground by Ontario standards. You are 52 km from Nipigon. It is 152 km to Thunder Bay, the nearest city. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Arrell Lake

  Depth went unrecorded, which puts the reading back on you. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Thunder Bay District records list cisco, blackfin cisco and rainbow smelt among the fish reported. Records at this level tell you what is in the area. Treat Arrell Lake as a water to read rather than to cover.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Typical July readings run about 16°C; by January the average is down near -19°C. Little of the calendar is open water, so timing counts for everything. Ice is part of the season here, ending near early May. Ice usually gives way near early May, and forms again about mid November. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. Arrell Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. A light spinning outfit with a small box of lures and some bait covers most of what swims here. Parking is often the real limit rather than the bank itself. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. Dempster Lake sits 3.6 km off and takes the overflow. Check the current arrangement for Arrell Lake.