Loch Lomond in Thunder Bay District: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Loch Lomond is one of the Thunder Bay District waters in Ontario. Mixed forest runs right down to the water. Around 16.15 sq km of open water: conditions change from one end to the other. At about 60 km of edge, most people fish a single area and learn it well. Size puts it in the front rank of our Thunder Bay District list. The nearest town is Neebing, 11 km away. Westfort is 13 km and Vickers Park 15 km. Rules here are straightforward: one set of provincial rules.

• Where to Fish on Loch Lomond

  Nothing in our records gives a depth for this one. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Records held for Thunder Bay District cover cisco, blackfin cisco, rainbow smelt and bloater. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Read Loch Lomond for ten minutes before the first cast goes out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The range across the year is -15°C to 18°C. Winter shuts the surface down for months. The open season starts with the thaw, near enough late April. Going by climate averages, expect open water from about late April until roughly late November. Fish feed hardest at the start and the close of the open season. The season on Loch Lomond rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. A light spinning outfit with a small box of lures and some bait covers most of what swims here. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. The nearest alternative is Johnson Lake, 2.3 km out. None of that is settled for Loch Lomond in what we hold.