Telma Lake, Ontario: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Telma Lake stands in Nipissing District, Ontario. Land around it is pine and birch. You can fish the entire water from one spot if you pick it well. It is a small entry by Nipissing District standards. Huntsville is the closest place, 37 km off. Barrie sits 142 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. One jurisdiction covers this water end to end.

• Where to Fish on Telma Lake

  Depth went unrecorded, which puts the reading back on you. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Records held for Nipissing District cover smallmouth bass, cisco, yellow perch, pumpkinseed and rock bass. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Read Telma Lake before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Average temperature peaks around 18°C in July and bottoms out near -12°C in January. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. Break-up comes around late April, and the run that follows is short and strong. Break-up near late April, freeze-up near late November: that is the shape of an average year. May into June fishes hardest, and September gives a second good stretch before the lid returns. On Telma Lake the same rules apply, with local timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing in our records says who may fish here. A camping area sits within 900 m of here. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Bank access can be seasonal on ground like this. Access can change hands, so last year's answer may not hold. Oak Lake, 0.7 km away, makes the obvious fallback. Treat Telma Lake as unsettled until someone local tells you otherwise.