Little Hay Lake in Nipissing District: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  You will find Little Hay Lake in Nipissing District, Ontario. The bank is 416 metres above sea level. It runs to roughly 92 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. Bank access stretches around 5.0 km in total. It ranks high for size among our Nipissing District listings. Haliburton Village lies 40 km off, Bancroft another 46 km. No border sits close enough to matter.

• Where to Fish on Little Hay Lake

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Open biodiversity records for Nipissing District list smallmouth bass, cisco and yellow perch. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Little Hay Lake repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warmest month averages 18°C, the coldest about -12°C. A solid cap is the normal state through winter. Hard water holds through the cold months, breaking up near late April. Open water usually runs from late April until about late November. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. On Little Hay Lake the same rules apply, with local timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  No public source sets out the position on this bank. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. A campsite lies 600 m away for anyone staying over. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. A phone call first saves an afternoon. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Should this one be busy, Little Longer Lake is 1.7 km off. Treat access at Little Hay Lake as something to verify.