Standingstone Lake in Thunder Bay District: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Standingstone Lake sits in Thunder Bay District, out in Ontario. Height above sea level is 319 metres. It measures about 37 hectares, which is a comfortable size for bank fishing. Some 5.4 km of bank gives room to move when the wind turns. Greenstone is the closest place, 58 km off. For a city, Thunder Bay is 169 km off. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Standingstone Lake

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Fish documented in Thunder Bay District include cisco, blackfin cisco, rainbow smelt, bloater and shortjaw cisco. County data is a starting point rather than a guarantee. Standingstone Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July runs about 17°C on average, January about -20°C. Open water arrives late and leaves early, which concentrates the fishing. Ice-out usually falls in early May, and the weeks after it fish hardest. The lid tends to go about early May and return around mid November. September and October fish steadily right up to the freeze. The season on Standingstone Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing in our records says who may fish here. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Access is unmapped, which usually means a farm track and a walk. A light spinning outfit with a small box of lures and some bait covers most of what swims here. Parking is often the real limit rather than the bank itself. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. Should this one be busy, Archie Lake is 1.5 km off. Nothing here settles the position at Standingstone Lake for certain.