Iron Lake Fishing near Amethyst Harbour, Ontario

• Overview

  Iron Lake falls in Thunder Bay District, part of Ontario. It sits at 320 metres above sea level. Surface area runs to about 5 hectares — small enough to read in one session. On size it sits at the modest end of our Thunder Bay District list. Some 14 km away sits Amethyst Harbour, the nearest settlement. The big place round here is Thunder Bay, 46 km distant. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Iron Lake

  Depth is not on record here, so the bank has to tell you. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Records held for Thunder Bay District cover cisco, blackfin cisco and rainbow smelt. Take it as the county picture rather than a promise for this water. On Iron Lake a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate records put July near 17°C and January near -15°C. This is a two-season water: locked, then wide open. The lid usually sets by midwinter and gives way around late April. On average, late April opens the water and mid November closes it again. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. Anyone fishing Iron Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing on record says whether the bank is open or closed. There is camping recorded roughly 1.2 km off. A light spinning outfit with a small box of lures and some bait covers most of what swims here. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Deception Lake sits 0.6 km off and takes the overflow. Nothing here settles the position at Iron Lake for certain.