Ducharme Lake, Ontario: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Out in Nipissing District, Ontario, sits Ducharme Lake. The water sits 247 metres up. At about 19 hectares, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. Roughly 2.6 km of bank means you can walk to a fresh area when one goes quiet. Some 19 km away sits Mattawa, the nearest settlement. It is 161 km to Greater Sudbury, the nearest city. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Ducharme Lake

  We hold no depth figure for this one. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Fish documented in Nipissing District include smallmouth bass, cisco, yellow perch and pumpkinseed. The county figures include rivers and lakes alike. Ducharme Lake repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-run averages give July about 18°C and January about -13°C. Winter closes the water for a while, and the reopening is worth catching. Break-up comes around late April, and the run that follows is short and strong. The season between ice runs from about late April to late November. Fishing peaks soon after break-up and again before the cold returns. On Ducharme Lake that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  No access rule appears in what we hold. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. 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. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Montreuil Lake, 1.7 km away, makes the obvious fallback. Where Ducharme Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.