Fishing at Parkhurst Lake, Hastings County, Ontario

• Overview

  Ontario holds Parkhurst Lake, in Hastings County. Beyond the shoreline you have lake country bush. It runs to roughly 13 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. The edge runs 1.9 km or so, easy to work in an afternoon. Some 28 km away sits Bancroft, the nearest settlement. Then Eganville, 55 km, and Madoc, 70 km. This one sits near enough to a boundary to be worth checking.

• Where to Fish on Parkhurst Lake

  Depth is not on record here, so the bank has to tell you. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Reported across Hastings County: rock bass, smallmouth bass and pumpkinseed. County records show the wider picture rather than this one place. The shape of Parkhurst Lake decides where the fish sit.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Seasonal averages run from -12°C in January up to 18°C in July. Four clear seasons, with a proper winter at one end. Ice-out usually falls in late April, and the weeks after it fish hardest. The lid tends to go about late April and return around early December. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. Parkhurst Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Nothing is mapped in the way of a ramp or car park within a short radius. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Bank access can be seasonal on ground like this. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. Lily Lake sits 1.6 km off and takes the overflow. Check the current arrangement for Parkhurst Lake.