Clear Lake in Cochrane District: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Clear Lake is one of the Cochrane District waters in Ontario. Elevation runs to 253 metres. With some 12 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. With about 1.6 km of edge, you can try several depths in one session. Kapuskasing lies 24 km from the water. Then Smooth Rock Falls, 43 km, and Cochrane, 89 km. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Clear Lake

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Across Cochrane District, recorded fish include northern pike, yellow perch, white sucker, Iowa darter and logperch. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Fish Clear Lake to its features, not to its size.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July is the warm end of the year here, averaging about 17°C, while January sits near -18°C. Long winters and short summers set the pattern. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from early May. Open water usually runs from early May until about mid November. From the thaw to midsummer the fishing improves week by week. Anyone fishing Clear Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• 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. Public data shows nothing built here, so treat the whole approach as informal. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Signs go up and come down, so check on the day. For a change of water, Nansen Lake is 0.4 km distant. For Clear Lake, the notice at the access point is the final word.