Big Lighthouse Lake Fishing in Hastings County, Ontario

• Overview

  Big Lighthouse Lake is one of the Hastings County listings for Ontario. It sits at 402 metres above sea level. At about 20 hectares, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. Around 2.4 km of margin, front to back. Bancroft at 20 km is the nearest place to stop. United Townships of Dysart, Dudley, Harcourt, Guilford, Harburn, Bruton, Havelock, Eyre and Clyde is 30 km away, with Haliburton Village at 40 km. The boundary is close enough to be worth checking before you fish.

• Where to Fish on Big Lighthouse Lake

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Records held for Hastings County cover rock bass, smallmouth bass, pumpkinseed and yellow perch. It is the county picture; the agency list is water-specific. The near bank of Big Lighthouse Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 18°C at the top of summer and -12°C at the bottom of winter. The freeze arrives properly here and holds. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around late April. Ice clears near late April and comes back about late November in a typical year. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. Keep it in mind when planning a trip to Big Lighthouse Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing we hold confirms whether access is permitted. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Public mapping records no formal access here, so plan for a walk and soft ground. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. The nearest alternative is Little Lighthouse Lake, 1.1 km out. Where Big Lighthouse Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.