Fishing Bennett Lake in Rainy River District, Ontario

• Overview

  Bennett Lake belongs to Rainy River District, Ontario. Everything around it is pine and birch. This is sizeable water at about 1.94 sq km, and a boat opens up most of it. The shoreline runs about 9.4 km, so it pays to pick a stretch and stay with it. For a base, Atikokan sits 47 km out. Thunder Bay sits 226 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Bennett Lake

  Depth is unknown to us, and the shoreline is the better guide. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. County-wide records name northern pike, smallmouth bass, yellow perch, walleye and white sucker. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Treat Bennett Lake as a water to read rather than to cover.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warmest month averages 18°C, the coldest about -17°C. The freeze arrives properly here and holds. Once it clears, about late April, the fishing comes on quickly. In an average year the thaw lands around late April and the freeze near mid November. Late spring and early autumn carry the year between them. On Bennett Lake that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Nothing built is recorded close to the bank here. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Where a permit is needed, the nearest town usually sells it. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Should this one be busy, Reed Lake is 1.4 km off. Nothing here settles the position at Bennett Lake for certain.