Downey Lake Fishing Guide, Timiskaming District, Ontario

• Overview

  The Timiskaming District end of Ontario holds Downey Lake. Elevation runs to 304 metres. It covers about 2 hectares, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. On size it sits at the modest end of our Timiskaming District list. Englehart at 40 km is the nearest place to stop. For a city, Greater Sudbury is 145 km off. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Downey Lake

  Our records hold no depth for this water. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Species logged across Timiskaming District include brook trout, northern pike, yellow perch, Iowa darter and walleye. Take it as the county picture rather than a promise for this water. At Downey Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 18°C; the cold one sits at -16°C. Cold locks it up for a good stretch each year. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from late April. On average, late April opens the water and mid November closes it again. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. Anyone fishing Downey Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  There is no clear statement anywhere on who can fish it. Nothing built is recorded close to the bank here. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Shane Lake, 0.4 km away, makes the obvious fallback. None of that is settled for Downey Lake in what we hold.