Fishing Hoare Lake in Hastings County, Ontario

• Overview

  Hoare Lake is a Hastings County water, Ontario side. The bank is 434 metres above sea level. At roughly 2 hectares, the whole thing is within casting reach of a single walk. Most waters listed here for Hastings County are larger. Head to Bancroft, 34 km away, for anything you forgot. Further out sit United Townships of Dysart, Dudley, Harcourt, Guilford, Harburn, Bruton, Havelock, Eyre and Clyde (55 km) and Eganville (55 km). Local rules may differ a few miles either side of here.

• Where to Fish on Hoare Lake

  Nothing we hold settles how deep this runs. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Species logged across Hastings County include rock bass, smallmouth bass and pumpkinseed. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Hoare Lake gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Seasonal averages run from -12°C in January up to 18°C in July. Cold locks it up for a good stretch each year. The open season starts with the thaw, near enough late April. Climate averages put the opening at about late April and the closing near early December. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. It sets the rhythm of the year at Hoare Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. 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. Access can change hands, so last year's answer may not hold. Vanderbeck Lake, 1.3 km away, makes the obvious fallback. None of that is settled for Hoare Lake in what we hold.