Fishing at Upper Andrew Lake, Bruce County, Ontario

• Overview

  Upper Andrew Lake belongs to Bruce County, Ontario. Country round the bank runs to pine and birch. It runs to roughly 77 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. At about 7.7 km of edge, most people work one arm at a time. By elevation it sits in the lower part of our Ontario listings. For a base, Tobermory sits 19 km out. Wiarton lies 57 km off, Owen Sound another 82 km. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Upper Andrew Lake

  Depth figures are not published for this one. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Open biodiversity records for Bruce County list smallmouth bass, lake whitefish, humpback whitefish, rainbow smelt and white sucker. County data is a starting point rather than a guarantee. The near bank of Upper Andrew Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  On the long-term average, July reads 19°C and February reads -7°C. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. Firm cover through the cold months, then open water from mid April. Expect the water usable from around mid April until roughly mid December. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. Anyone fishing Upper Andrew Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Mapping is blank for access, so scout the approach before committing the car. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Where a permit is needed, the nearest town usually sells it. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Clear Lake, 1.5 km away, makes the obvious fallback. For Upper Andrew Lake in particular, ask before you travel.