Shaw Dam Lake, Ontario: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Shaw Dam Lake sits within Algoma in Ontario. It sits in lake country bush. Roughly 62 hectares: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. With 6.0 km or so of shoreline, boat anglers cover ground the bank cannot. By elevation it sits in the lower part of our Ontario listings. The town to know is Thessalon, 12 km out. Greater Sudbury sits 197 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. Rules here are straightforward: one set of provincial rules.

• Where to Fish on Shaw Dam Lake

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Species logged across Algoma include walleye, northern pike, Iowa darter and yellow perch. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. The shape of Shaw Dam Lake rewards a slow walk along one bank.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 18°C for July and -11°C for January. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. Count the season from break-up, usually mid April. Break-up near mid April, freeze-up near late November: that is the shape of an average year. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. At Shaw Dam Lake the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  No public source sets out the position on this bank. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No launch point is recorded nearby, so this is a bank water unless you carry a boat in. Parking space is the usual limit rather than the bank itself. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Should this one be busy, Bailey Lake is 3.9 km off. Nothing on Shaw Dam Lake should be assumed from this page alone.