Gilbert Lake Fishing near Dryden, Ontario

• Overview

  This water sits in Kenora District, Ontario. The water sits 398 metres up. At some 2.76 sq km it is far too large to cover on foot in a day. The perimeter runs near 7.9 km, so plan the walk before you start. For supplies, Dryden is 24 km out. The nearest city of size is Thunder Bay, 302 km away. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Gilbert Lake

  Depth went unrecorded, which puts the reading back on you. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Across Kenora District, recorded fish include northern pike, longnose sucker and white sucker. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. At Gilbert Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 18°C at the top of summer and -18°C at the bottom of winter. Cold winters and warm summers give a wide working range. Once it clears, about late April, the fishing comes on quickly. Averages place the thaw at late April and the freeze at mid November. From the thaw to midsummer the fishing improves week by week. That shapes the year on Gilbert Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access status is simply unknown for this water. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No launch point is recorded nearby, so this is a bank water unless you carry a boat in. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Ask in the nearest town if you are unsure. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Marshall Lake, 2.5 km away, makes the obvious fallback. For Gilbert Lake, the notice at the access point is the final word.