Strains Lake Fishing near Eganville, Ontario

• Overview

  Set in Renfrew County, Ontario, this is Strains Lake. The surface lies 339 metres up. With some 24 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. With about 2.6 km of edge, you can try several depths in one session. Some 28 km away sits Eganville, the nearest settlement. Further out sit Renfrew (37 km) and Cobden (42 km). Rules here are straightforward: one set of provincial rules.

• Where to Fish on Strains Lake

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Across Renfrew County, recorded fish include smallmouth bass, pumpkinseed, yellow perch and rock bass. County data is a starting point rather than a guarantee. Strains Lake repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July runs about 18°C on average, January about -12°C. Cold winters and warm summers give a wide working range. After late April the shallows warm and the fish move up. Open water usually runs from late April until about early December. Fishing peaks soon after break-up and again before the cold returns. Strains Lake runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  Ownership and access are not documented in what we hold. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Parking is often the real limit rather than the bank itself. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Failing this one, try Dicks Lake, 1.7 km away. Check the position at Strains Lake before loading the car.