Deer Lake Fishing near Manitouwadge, Ontario

• Overview

  Deer Lake is a Thunder Bay District water, Ontario side. The ground around here is taiga. At about 26 hectares, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. The bank runs about 2.9 km all the way round, so one visit can cover most of it. Manitouwadge lies 48 km from the water. Hornepayne is 86 km away, with Wawa at 103 km. The nearest edge is a long way off, so local rules apply throughout.

• Where to Fish on Deer Lake

  Depth went unrecorded, which puts the reading back on you. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Thunder Bay District records list cisco, blackfin cisco, rainbow smelt, bloater and shortjaw cisco among the fish reported. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. The near bank of Deer Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Typical July readings run about 16°C; by January the average is down near -16°C. Open water is the exception rather than the rule here. Look for the thaw near early May; the fishing lifts straight after. The season between ice runs from about early May to mid November. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. At Deer Lake the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. The nearest car park we can see is 1.2 km out, so expect a walk with your gear. A campsite lies 1.1 km away for anyone staying over. Toilets show in mapping about 880 m away. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Some ground is open by custom rather than by right, so tread carefully. For a change of water, Dunc Lake is 3.5 km distant. Where Deer Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.