Fishing Citellus Lake in Thunder Bay District, Ontario

• Overview

  Citellus Lake is set in Thunder Bay District, Ontario. Country round the bank runs to spruce and muskeg. Roughly 91 hectares: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. About 4.3 km of bank, so nothing stays unexplored for long. Head to Manitouwadge, 37 km away, for anything you forgot. The big place round here is Thunder Bay, 245 km distant. There is no boundary nearby to worry about.

• Where to Fish on Citellus Lake

  No figure exists for depth, so let the water show you. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. County-wide records name cisco, blackfin cisco, rainbow smelt and bloater. It is the county picture; the agency list is water-specific. At Citellus Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The range across the year is -18°C to 16°C. The year here is short and sharp: a long lid, then a burst of open water. The lid usually goes in early May, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. Averages suggest open water from about early May through to roughly mid November. The middle of summer slows a little, with dawn and dusk carrying it. On Citellus Lake that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Nothing formal is recorded here: no ramp, no car park, no marked path. A light spinning outfit with a small box of lures and some bait covers most of what swims here. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. Failing this one, try Marmota Lake, 4.8 km away. What applies at Citellus Lake may have changed since it was mapped.