Girard Lake Fishing near Kirkland Lake, Ontario

• Overview

  You will find Girard Lake in Cochrane District, Ontario. Height above sea level is 311 metres. At 3 hectares it is the sort of place you fish for an evening rather than a day. On size it sits at the modest end of our Cochrane District list. Kirkland Lake sits 26 km from the bank. Greater Sudbury sits 204 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. Rules can differ a short way off, since the county line is near.

• Where to Fish on Girard Lake

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Cochrane District records list northern pike, yellow perch, white sucker, Iowa darter and logperch among the fish reported. The county list is broader than any single water. The shape of Girard Lake rewards a slow walk along one bank.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 17°C and January at -18°C. Open water is the exception rather than the rule here. Ice-out usually falls in early May, and the weeks after it fish hardest. Ice usually gives way near early May, and forms again about mid November. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. On Girard Lake the same rules apply, with local timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. Public mapping records no formal access here, so plan for a walk and soft ground. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Should this one be busy, Meyers Lake is 2.5 km off. Treat Girard Lake as unsettled until someone local tells you otherwise.