Bent Lake Fishing near Chapleau, Ontario

• Overview

  Bent Lake is listed under Sudbury, Ontario. Around the bank it is boreal forest. Roughly 20 hectares: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. Roughly 4.8 km of bank means you can walk to a fresh area when one goes quiet. Some 34 km away sits Chapleau, the nearest settlement. Then Wawa, 138 km, and Timmins, 142 km. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Bent Lake

  Depth is unknown to us, and the shoreline is the better guide. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Across Sudbury, recorded fish include smallmouth bass, northern pike, yellow perch and Iowa darter. Species recorded across the county may be limited to a few waters. On Bent Lake a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about -16°C and July at about 17°C, the water has a wide range to work through. Cold dominates the year and the fishing works around it. Expect a solid lid for months and a thaw around late April. On the long-run averages the water opens up around late April and starts locking again about mid November. Fishing peaks soon after break-up and again before the cold returns. That is the shape of the year on Bent Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Mapping shows an empty shoreline: no ramp, no jetty, no marked entry. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Failing this one, try Bain Lake, 2.3 km away. Check the current arrangement for Bent Lake.