Fishing Battersby Lake in Sudbury, Ontario

• Overview

  Battersby Lake is a Sudbury water, in Ontario. The surroundings are pine and birch. With some 70 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. The shoreline runs about 8.6 km, so it pays to pick a stretch and stay with it. Compared with other Ontario water on our list, it sits high. Head to Dowling, 65 km away, for anything you forgot. Then Rayside-Balfour, 69 km, and Valley East, 77 km. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Battersby Lake

  We hold no depth figure for this one. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. County-wide records name smallmouth bass, northern pike, yellow perch and Iowa darter. Read it as a county summary, not a water-by-water list. On Battersby Lake the first feature you find is usually worth a session.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs -15°C to 17°C. Winter shuts the surface down for months. After late April the shallows warm and the fish move up. On average, late April opens the water and late November closes it again. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. That shapes the year on Battersby Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  No access rule appears in what we hold. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No launch point is recorded nearby, so this is a bank water unless you carry a boat in. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. A phone call first saves an afternoon. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. The nearest alternative is Athlone Lake, 4.9 km out. Where Battersby Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.