Fishing at Shy Lake, Thunder Bay District, Ontario

• Overview

  Shy Lake sits within Thunder Bay District in Ontario. Height above sea level is 446 metres. The water covers some 34 hectares, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. Around 6.0 km of bank, which is a long day on foot. By elevation it is in the upper part of our Ontario listings. Start from Schreiber, 23 km down the road. Thunder Bay is the closest city, 160 km away. Rules here are straightforward: one set of provincial rules.

• Where to Fish on Shy Lake

  We hold no depth figure for this one. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Across Thunder Bay District, recorded fish include cisco, blackfin cisco, rainbow smelt and bloater. County data is a starting point rather than a guarantee. Treat Shy Lake as a water to read rather than to cover.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about -17°C in January to roughly 16°C in July. Open water is the exception rather than the rule here. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from early May. On average, early May opens the water and mid November closes it again. Just after the ice goes and just before it returns, the fishing lifts. Keep it in mind when planning a trip to Shy Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Ownership and access are not documented in what we hold. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. Nothing formal is recorded here: no ramp, no car park, no marked path. Keep the gear simple: light line, small hooks, split shot and a couple of proven lures. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Sulphur Lake, 0.9 km away, makes the obvious fallback. Check the position at Shy Lake before loading the car.