Fishing Maben Lake in Thunder Bay District, Ontario

• Overview

  You will find Maben Lake in Thunder Bay District, Ontario. The surroundings are boreal forest. Roughly 31 hectares: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. With about 2.9 km of edge, you can try several depths in one session. Longlac at 21 km is the nearest place to stop. After that come Geraldton at 29 km and Greenstone at 44 km. This one is safely inside the county line.

• Where to Fish on Maben Lake

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. County-wide records name cisco, blackfin cisco, rainbow smelt and bloater. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. The near bank of Maben Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 16°C; the cold one sits at -19°C. Cold dominates the year and the fishing works around it. Break-up comes around early May, and the run that follows is short and strong. The water is typically free of ice between early May and mid November. June through September is the settled part of the year, with the shoulders busier for fish. On Maben Lake the same rules apply, with local timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  There is no clear statement anywhere on who can fish it. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Mapping records no facilities at all near this water. A light spinning outfit with a small box of lures and some bait covers most of what swims here. Where a permit is needed, the nearest town usually sells it. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Failing this one, try Gog Lake, 1 km away. Nothing here settles the position at Maben Lake for certain.