Fishing at Bernadine Lake, Thunder Bay District, Ontario

• Overview

  Bernadine Lake stands in Thunder Bay District, Ontario. The bank gives way to northern bush. This is sizeable water at about 2.90 sq km, and a boat opens up most of it. The perimeter runs near 11 km, so plan the walk before you start. It is among the larger waters listed here for Thunder Bay District. Greenstone sits 26 km from the bank. Thunder Bay sits 225 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. There is no boundary nearby to worry about.

• Where to Fish on Bernadine Lake

  The records we hold are silent on depth, so plan to find it yourself. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Open biodiversity records for Thunder Bay District list cisco, blackfin cisco, rainbow smelt, bloater and shortjaw cisco. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. At Bernadine Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Typical July readings run about 16°C; by January the average is down near -20°C. The fishing year opens late and shuts early. After early May the shallows warm and the fish move up. Average temperatures cross freezing around early May in spring and again near mid November in autumn. May into June fishes hardest, and September gives a second good stretch before the lid returns. It holds true on Bernadine Lake more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No slipway, car park or made path shows up nearby in mapping, so treat access as rough. One rod, a handful of hooks and floats, and a few small lures are enough for this water. Look for a notice board at the entrance. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Should this one be busy, Organ Lake is 3.9 km off. None of that is settled for Bernadine Lake in what we hold.