Fishing at Smallboy Lake, Sudbury, Ontario

• Overview

  Out in Sudbury, Ontario, sits Smallboy Lake. It sits at 381 metres above sea level. About 6 hectares of surface, which puts the far bank inside easy sight. It is a small entry by Sudbury standards. Some 60 km away sits Chapleau, the nearest settlement. Further out sit Wawa (73 km) and Hornepayne (124 km). The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Smallboy Lake

  Depth is not on record here, so the bank has to tell you. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Open biodiversity records for Sudbury list smallmouth bass, northern pike, yellow perch, Iowa darter and walleye. Records at this level tell you what is in the area. Fish Smallboy Lake where the bottom changes rather than where it looks deep.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs -16°C to 16°C. Little of the calendar is open water, so timing counts for everything. After early May the shallows warm and the fish move up. The season between ice runs from about early May to mid November. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. At Smallboy Lake the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Ruby Lake at 1.1 km is the sensible second choice. Confirm before you fish Smallboy Lake.