Fishing McAuley Lake in Sudbury, Ontario

• Overview

  The Sudbury entry here is McAuley Lake, in Ontario. The ground round it is spruce and muskeg. At about 27 hectares, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. The full circuit measures close to 2.6 km on foot. Start from Chapleau, 58 km down the road. Greater Sudbury is the closest city, 182 km away. No border sits close enough to matter.

• Where to Fish on McAuley Lake

  No figure exists for depth, so let the water show you. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Fish documented in Sudbury include smallmouth bass, northern pike and yellow perch. County records show the wider picture rather than this one place. On McAuley Lake that means starting tight and working out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 17°C and January at -16°C. Open water is the exception rather than the rule here. Break-up comes around late April, and the run that follows is short and strong. Break-up near late April, freeze-up near mid November: that is the shape of an average year. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. That shapes the year on McAuley Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Our records carry no access rule either way. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. No made access appears within a short radius, so plan to park on a verge and walk. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Some ground is open by custom rather than by right, so tread carefully. Buhl Lake, 1.3 km away, makes the obvious fallback. Rules at McAuley Lake are worth checking on the day.