Fishing Lily Lake in Hastings County, Ontario

• Overview

  Hastings County in Ontario is where Lily Lake sits. The bank is 333 metres above sea level. Roughly 33 hectares: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. The edge runs 3.2 km or so, easy to work in an afternoon. Some 27 km away sits Bancroft, the nearest settlement. Beyond it, Eganville at 55 km and United Townships of Dysart, Dudley, Harcourt, Guilford, Harburn, Bruton, Havelock, Eyre and Clyde at 69 km. Being near a boundary, it pays to know which side you are fishing.

• Where to Fish on Lily Lake

  Depth is unknown to us, and the shoreline is the better guide. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Hastings County records list rock bass, smallmouth bass, pumpkinseed and yellow perch among the fish reported. County records show what lives in the area; the local agency holds the water-by-water list. Read Lily Lake before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 18°C in July and bottom out at -12°C in January. Spring and autumn carry the fishing; summer and winter test it. Count the season from break-up, usually late April. Averages place the thaw at late April and the freeze at early December. Late spring and early autumn carry the year between them. Lily Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  The access position is unclear from public sources. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. Parkhurst Lake at 1.6 km is the sensible second choice. Nothing here settles the position at Lily Lake for certain.