McLaughlin Lake Fishing in Nipissing District, Ontario

• Overview

  Look for McLaughlin Lake in Nipissing District, Ontario. The land about it is mixed forest. It runs to roughly 20 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. The edge runs 3.6 km or so, easy to work in an afternoon. Bancroft lies 44 km from the water. After that come United Townships of Dysart, Dudley, Harcourt, Guilford, Harburn, Bruton, Havelock, Eyre and Clyde at 47 km and Haliburton Village at 64 km. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on McLaughlin Lake

  Depth is not on record here, so the bank has to tell you. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Reported across Nipissing District: smallmouth bass, cisco, yellow perch and pumpkinseed. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Work McLaughlin Lake in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-run averages give July about 18°C and January about -12°C. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. Winter fishing happens on the ice here, with open water back around late April. Break-up near late April, freeze-up near late November: that is the shape of an average year. Right after break-up, and again as the nights sharpen, is when to go. The season on McLaughlin Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. George Lake sits 1 km off and takes the overflow. Nothing on McLaughlin Lake should be assumed from this page alone.