Portage Lake Fishing near Bracebridge, Ontario

• Overview

  Ontario holds Portage Lake, in Parry Sound District. Height above sea level is 225 metres. It runs to roughly 98 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. Size puts it in the front rank of our Parry Sound District list. Nearest town is Parry Sound, 24 km off. Further out sit Bracebridge (43 km) and Gravenhurst (47 km). Rules can differ a short way off, since the county line is near.

• Where to Fish on Portage Lake

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Public occurrence data for Parry Sound District names smallmouth bass, pumpkinseed, yellow perch and northern pike. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Portage Lake gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  On the long-term average, July reads 19°C and January reads -9°C. Hard water is a season in its own right here. The freeze runs deep into the year, with break-up near mid April. The lid tends to go about mid April and return around early December. Right after break-up, and again as the nights sharpen, is when to go. That shapes the year on Portage Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing in our records says who may fish here. A marina 870 m from here covers launching and moorings. A jetty or pier is mapped about 780 m from here. There are picnic tables recorded roughly 620 m off. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Signs go up and come down, so check on the day. Should this one be busy, Krapek Lake is 0.6 km off. For Portage Lake, the notice at the access point is the final word.