Pointing Lake Fishing near Hornepayne, Ontario

• Overview

  The Cochrane District entry here is Pointing Lake, in Ontario. It lies 305 metres above sea level. It runs to roughly 11 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. The edge runs 2.4 km or so, easy to work in an afternoon. Hornepayne is the closest town at 34 km. Thunder Bay sits 355 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. One jurisdiction covers this water end to end.

• Where to Fish on Pointing Lake

  No depth figure has reached our records, which makes a plummet useful. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Survey and observation records for Cochrane District include northern pike, yellow perch, white sucker and Iowa darter. County records show what lives in the area; the local agency holds the water-by-water list. At Pointing Lake the water rewards a slow, careful approach.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-run averages give July about 16°C and January about -19°C. Open water is the exception rather than the rule here. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from early May. The season between ice runs from about early May to mid November. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. Pointing Lake runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  Ownership and access are not documented in what we hold. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Mapping shows an empty shoreline: no ramp, no jetty, no marked entry. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. For a change of water, Jig Lake is 0.5 km distant. Treat access at Pointing Lake as something to verify.