Cliff Lake Fishing in Kenora District, Ontario

• Overview

  Ontario holds Cliff Lake, in Kenora District. Elevation runs to 372 metres. This is big water, about 22.97 sq km, and in a wind it behaves like a small sea. With about 104 km of shoreline, local advice saves a lot of walking. Size puts it in the front rank of our Kenora District list. Some 35 km away sits Vermilion Bay, the nearest settlement. For a city, Winnipeg is 277 km off. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Cliff Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Open biodiversity records for Kenora District list northern pike, longnose sucker, white sucker, johnny darter and logperch. The list covers the county rather than this water alone, so treat it as a guide. Read Cliff Lake before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 18°C and January at -18°C. Spring and autumn carry the fishing; summer and winter test it. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from late April. Break-up near late April, freeze-up near mid November: that is the shape of an average year. Right after break-up, and again as the nights sharpen, is when to go. The season on Cliff Lake follows the weather closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing we hold confirms whether access is permitted. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. No made access appears within a short radius, so plan to park on a verge and walk. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. If the gate is shut, Pickerel Lake at 5.9 km is the nearest alternative. Check the current arrangement for Cliff Lake.