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

• Overview

  This water sits in Thunder Bay District, Ontario. Height above sea level is 285 metres. It runs to roughly 20 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. The edge runs 2.9 km or so, easy to work in an afternoon. Start from Schreiber, 41 km down the road. It is 144 km to Thunder Bay, the nearest city. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on First Lake

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Fish documented in Thunder Bay District include cisco, blackfin cisco, rainbow smelt, bloater and shortjaw cisco. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. Work First Lake in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 16°C; the cold one sits at -18°C. Little of the calendar is open water, so timing counts for everything. The open season starts with the thaw, near enough early May. Break-up near early May, freeze-up near mid November: that is the shape of an average year. Early summer and early autumn carry the open-water season. First Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything 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. Keep the gear simple: light line, small hooks, split shot and a couple of proven lures. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. The nearest alternative is Cloutier Lake, 3.4 km out. The position on First Lake is worth confirming on the day.