Pancake Lake in Algoma: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  You will find Pancake Lake in Algoma, Ontario. Height above sea level is 348 metres. The water covers around 3.64 sq km, which puts most of it out of reach from the bank. At about 14 km of edge, most people work one arm at a time. Size puts it in the front rank of our Algoma list. Sault Ste. Marie lies 65 km from the water. For a city, Greater Sudbury is 284 km off. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Pancake Lake

  There is no published depth for this one, so start shallow and work out. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Algoma records list walleye, northern pike and Iowa darter among the fish reported. Take it as the county picture rather than a promise for this water. Read Pancake Lake for ten minutes before the first cast goes out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July is the warm end of the year here, averaging about 17°C, while January sits near -12°C. Four clear seasons, with a proper winter at one end. The lid usually goes in late April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. The open-water window runs from around late April to about late November in an average year. Fishing peaks soon after break-up and again before the cold returns. On Pancake Lake that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. No built facilities appear in mapping around this water. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. Should this one be busy, Upper Smith Lake is 2.4 km off. Treat Pancake Lake as unsettled until someone local tells you otherwise.