Finger Lake Fishing Guide, Cochrane District, Ontario

• Overview

  Cochrane District, Ontario, is where Finger Lake sits. The country round it is boreal forest from end to end. The water measures roughly 9 hectares, so nothing here is far from anything else. Shoreline comes to about 1.7 km, small enough to learn in a day. Our Cochrane District list holds plenty of bigger water. Hornepayne sits 78 km from the bank. Thunder Bay sits 339 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. No boundary runs near, so the local rules hold throughout.

• Where to Fish on Finger Lake

  Depth is not on record here, which means reading the ground instead. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. County-wide records name northern pike, yellow perch, white sucker, Iowa darter and logperch. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. At Finger Lake the water rewards a slow, careful approach.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about -19°C and July at about 16°C, the water has a wide range to work through. This far north the hard season runs and runs. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from early May. The lid tends to go about early May and return around mid November. Fishing peaks soon after break-up and again before the cold returns. That is the shape of the year on Finger Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Mapping is blank for access, so scout the approach before committing the car. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Lemon Lake sits 1.5 km off and takes the overflow. Ask locally about Finger Lake if anything is unclear.