Poppy Lake Fishing Guide, Thunder Bay District, Ontario

• Overview

  The Thunder Bay District end of Ontario holds Poppy Lake. Country round the bank runs to boreal forest. At some 1.34 sq km it is far too large to cover on foot in a day. The perimeter runs near 13 km, so plan the walk before you start. Manitouwadge lies 37 km from the water. Hornepayne is 47 km away, with Longlac at 98 km. This one is safely inside the county line.

• Where to Fish on Poppy Lake

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Open biodiversity records for Thunder Bay District list 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. Fish Poppy Lake to its features, not to its size.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 16°C for July and -18°C for January. The ice season is long here and the open one short. Winter locks it down, and early May brings it back. Averages place the thaw at early May and the freeze at mid November. The first weeks of open water and the last are the ones to plan for. Plan around that when you fish Poppy Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing in our records says who may fish here. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Access is unmapped, which usually means a farm track and a walk. One rod, a handful of hooks and floats, and a few small lures are enough for this water. Parking is often the real limit rather than the bank itself. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. For a change of water, Upper Flanders Lake is 3.1 km distant. Nothing here settles the position at Poppy Lake for certain.