Blay Lake Fishing in Thunder Bay District, Ontario

• Overview

  Set in Thunder Bay District, Blay Lake is an Ontario water. Elevation runs to 429 metres. With some 75 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. The edge covers about 8.3 km, enough to hold several distinct areas. 37 km away sits Nipigon, the nearest town. Beyond it, Schreiber at 76 km and Greenstone at 77 km. There is no boundary nearby to worry about.

• Where to Fish on Blay Lake

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Open biodiversity records for Thunder Bay District list cisco, blackfin cisco, rainbow smelt and bloater. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Blay Lake gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July to average close to 16°C, with January the cold end at about -19°C. The freeze holds for the better part of the year. Ice-out usually falls in early May, and the weeks after it fish hardest. Break-up near early May, freeze-up near mid November: that is the shape of an average year. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. Keep it in mind when planning a trip to Blay Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Nothing is mapped in the way of a ramp or car park within a short radius. One rod, a handful of hooks and floats, and a few small lures are enough for this water. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. Claus Lake, 2.6 km away, makes the obvious fallback. Nothing on Blay Lake should be assumed from this page alone.