Jack Lake Fishing near Red Lake, Ontario

• Overview

  Jack Lake sits within Kenora District in Ontario. Beyond the shoreline you have mixed forest. The water covers some 62 hectares, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. The perimeter runs near 6.2 km, so plan the walk before you start. Red Lake is the closest town at 65 km. For a city, Winnipeg is 212 km off. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Jack Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Records held for Kenora District cover northern pike, longnose sucker, white sucker, johnny darter and logperch. Records at this level tell you what is in the area. The near bank of Jack Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages move between -19°C in January and 18°C in July. Winter shuts things down for a spell, then spring reopens them fast. Firm cover through the cold months, then open water from late April. Averages place the thaw at late April and the freeze at mid November. Late spring and early autumn carry the year between them. Keep it in mind when planning a trip to Jack Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Our records carry no access rule either way. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. No made access appears within a short radius, so plan to park on a verge and walk. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Parking is often the real limit rather than the bank itself. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. Should this one be busy, Jill Lake is 1.4 km off. Where Jack Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.