Fishing at Little Burnt Lake, Hastings County, Ontario

• Overview

  Little Burnt Lake is one of the Hastings County listings for Ontario. This is pine and birch country. With some 47 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. There is roughly 4.6 km of shoreline here, which is a short walk end to end. On our Hastings County list it sits near the top for size. Supplies mean a trip to Marmora, 29 km off. Beyond it, Madoc at 33 km and Bancroft at 36 km. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Little Burnt Lake

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Fish documented in Hastings County include rock bass, smallmouth bass, pumpkinseed, yellow perch and bluegill. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Work Little Burnt Lake in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-term averages put July at about 19°C and January near -10°C. Fishing here follows the temperature more than the calendar. Ice-out usually falls in mid April, and the weeks after it fish hardest. Open water usually runs from mid April until about early December. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. On Little Burnt Lake the same rules apply, with local timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  We hold no note on access for this one. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Nothing formal is recorded here: no ramp, no car park, no marked path. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Ask in the nearest town if you are unsure. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. For a change of water, Freen Lake is 2.4 km distant. Ask locally about Little Burnt Lake if anything is unclear.