Fishing at Penn Lake, Thunder Bay District, Ontario

• Overview

  The Thunder Bay District end of Ontario holds Penn Lake. It sits at 232 metres above sea level. Surface area is around 14 hectares, which gives you real water without needing a boat. There is roughly 2.4 km of shoreline here, which is a short walk end to end. Most waters listed here for Thunder Bay District are larger. The nearest town is Terrace Bay, 55 km away. Manitouwadge follows at 59 km, then Schreiber at 67 km. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Penn Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Public occurrence data for Thunder Bay District names cisco, blackfin cisco, rainbow smelt, bloater and shortjaw cisco. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Take Penn Lake a stretch at a time.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect August near 15°C and January near -14°C on the long-run figures. The season turns properly here, and fish follow it closely. Winter fishing happens on the ice here, with open water back around late April. Open water usually runs from late April until about late November. May into June fishes hardest, and September gives a second good stretch before the lid returns. Penn Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public data does not answer the access question here. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. A car park lies 370 m away, so the walk in is short. There are toilets 260 m off. A light spinning outfit with a small box of lures and some bait covers most of what swims here. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. For a change of water, Three Finger Lake is 3.3 km distant. Check the current arrangement for Penn Lake.