Fishing Pataban Lake in Thunder Bay District, Ontario

• Overview

  You will find Pataban Lake in Thunder Bay District, Ontario. The ground around here is taiga. The water covers some 28 hectares, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. Roughly 3.2 km of bank means you can walk to a fresh area when one goes quiet. For supplies, Longlac is 25 km out. Then Geraldton, 30 km, and Greenstone, 43 km. The nearest edge is a long way off, so local rules apply throughout.

• Where to Fish on Pataban Lake

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Open biodiversity records for Thunder Bay District list cisco, blackfin cisco, rainbow smelt and bloater. The list covers the county rather than this water alone, so treat it as a guide. The shape of Pataban Lake decides where the fish sit.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 16°C at the top of summer and -18°C at the bottom of winter. Open water is the exception rather than the rule here. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around early May. Open water usually runs from early May until about mid November. Spring is short and heavy here; autumn is longer and steadier. It sets the rhythm of the year at Pataban Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access status is simply unknown for this water. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. No made access appears within a short radius, so plan to park on a verge and walk. A light spinning outfit with a small box of lures and some bait covers most of what swims here. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Keep proof of licence with you rather than in the car. Peden Lake, 2.1 km away, makes the obvious fallback. What applies at Pataban Lake may have changed since it was mapped.