Dorsey Lake in Thunder Bay District: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Dorsey Lake belongs to Thunder Bay District, Ontario. It stands 349 metres above sea level. The water covers some 29 hectares, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. Shoreline comes to about 2.8 km, small enough to learn in a day. The town to know is Greenstone, 70 km out. The big place round here is Thunder Bay, 245 km distant. There is no boundary nearby to worry about.

• Where to Fish on Dorsey Lake

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Open biodiversity records for Thunder Bay District list cisco, blackfin cisco, rainbow smelt and bloater. Records at this level tell you what is in the area. On Dorsey Lake that means starting tight and working out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 16°C; the cold one sits at -20°C. The ice season is long here and the open one short. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from early May. Break-up sits around early May on average, with the water closing again about mid November. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. Plan any trip to Dorsey Lake around it.

• Tackle & Baits

  No access rule appears in what we hold. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. The map shows no ramp or car park nearby, so this is a walk-in water. A light spinning outfit with a small box of lures and some bait covers most of what swims here. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. For a change of water, Girvan Lake is 2.2 km distant. Treat access at Dorsey Lake as something to verify.