Mistake Lake in Thunder Bay District: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Mistake Lake is a Thunder Bay District water, in Ontario. Height above sea level is 322 metres. At about 22 hectares, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. Shoreline comes to about 3.5 km, small enough to learn in a day. Hornepayne sits 58 km from here and is the nearest stop. For a city, Thunder Bay is 319 km off. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Mistake Lake

  Depth is not on record here, which means reading the ground instead. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Records held for Thunder Bay District cover cisco, blackfin cisco, rainbow smelt and bloater. County records show the wider picture rather than this one place. Mistake Lake repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July runs about 16°C on average, January about -19°C. Everything is compressed into the middle of the year. Firm cover through the cold months, then open water from early May. Break-up sits around early May on average, with the water closing again about mid November. September and October fish steadily right up to the freeze. Plan around that when you fish Mistake Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  No public source sets out the position on this bank. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. Nothing built is recorded close to the bank here. One rod, a handful of hooks and floats, and a few small lures are enough for this water. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. For a change of water, East West Lake is 2.9 km distant. What applies at Mistake Lake may have changed since it was mapped.