Irene Lake in Timiskaming District: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Irene Lake is one of the Timiskaming District waters in Ontario. Around the bank it is pine and birch. The water covers some 11 hectares, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. The bank runs about 1.9 km all the way round, so one visit can cover most of it. Head to Englehart, 86 km away, for anything you forgot. It is 116 km to Greater Sudbury, the nearest city. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Irene Lake

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Public occurrence data for Timiskaming District names brook trout, northern pike and yellow perch. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Irene Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs -16°C to 17°C. The middle months are generous; the ends are demanding. The lid usually goes in late April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. The water is typically free of ice between late April and mid November. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. Anyone fishing Irene Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. Mapping records no facilities at all near this water. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Look for a notice board at the entrance. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. If the gate is shut, Dillabough Lake at 2.4 km is the nearest alternative. Where Irene Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.