Clear Lake Fishing near Mattawa, Ontario

• Overview

  Clear Lake is listed under Nipissing District, Ontario. What surrounds it is lake country bush. The water covers some 69 hectares, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. Shoreline comes to about 4.8 km, small enough to learn in a day. Few waters listed in Nipissing District are bigger. Mattawa sits 24 km from here and is the nearest stop. Greater Sudbury is the closest city, 157 km away. No boundary runs near, so the local rules hold throughout.

• Where to Fish on Clear Lake

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Records held for Nipissing District cover smallmouth bass, cisco, yellow perch, pumpkinseed and rock bass. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Clear Lake fishes better once you know its edges.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-run averages give July about 18°C and January about -13°C. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. Once it clears, about late April, the fishing comes on quickly. Climate figures give an open season running late April to late November. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. That shapes the year on Clear Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  No access rule appears in what we hold. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. Nothing built is recorded close to the bank here. 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. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. The nearest alternative is Harrington Lake, 1 km out. For Clear Lake, the notice at the access point is the final word.