Fishing Halls Lake in Haliburton County, Ontario

• Overview

  The Haliburton County end of Ontario holds Halls Lake. The bank gives way to rolling bush. It measures some 5.48 sq km, and wind has room to build across it. You are looking at roughly 13 km of shoreline, with plenty of water between access points. It is among the larger waters listed here for Haliburton County. Supplies mean a trip to Haliburton Village, 20 km off. It is 107 km to Barrie, the nearest city. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Halls Lake

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Across Haliburton County, recorded fish include smallmouth bass, pumpkinseed and rock bass. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. The near bank of Halls Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 18°C for July and -11°C for January. Hard water is a season in its own right here. After late April the shallows warm and the fish move up. Open water usually runs from late April until about early December. September and October fish steadily right up to the freeze. It holds true on Halls Lake more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. A boat ramp sits 1.2 km away, so trailered boats can get on. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Should this one be busy, Welch Lake is 2.7 km off. Signs at Halls Lake carry more weight than any list.