Clearwater Lake Fishing near Iroquois Falls, Ontario

• Overview

  Cochrane District, Ontario, is where Clearwater Lake sits. Height above sea level is 298 metres. Around 28 hectares of surface means several distinct areas to work. With about 3.8 km of edge, you can try several depths in one session. 24 km away sits Iroquois Falls, the nearest town. Beyond it, Timmins at 35 km and Cochrane at 42 km. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Clearwater Lake

  Depth figures are not published for this one. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Records held for Cochrane District cover northern pike, yellow perch, white sucker, Iowa darter and logperch. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Fish Clearwater Lake where the bottom changes rather than where it looks deep.

• Seasonal Patterns

  On the long-term average, July reads 17°C and January reads -18°C. Winter runs most of the calendar, and everything worth doing happens in the gap. After early May the shallows warm and the fish move up. In an average year the thaw lands around early May and the freeze near mid November. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. Clearwater Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Parking space is the usual limit rather than the bank itself. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. For a change of water, Dipper Lake is 1.2 km distant. Check the position at Clearwater Lake before loading the car.