Ward Lake Fishing Guide, Timiskaming District, Ontario

• Overview

  The Timiskaming District entry here is Ward Lake, in Ontario. The setting is spruce and muskeg on every side. With some 50 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. With 5.0 km or so of shoreline, boat anglers cover ground the bank cannot. Timmins lies 63 km from the water. Kirkland Lake is 78 km away, with Englehart at 88 km. Rules here are straightforward: one set of provincial rules.

• Where to Fish on Ward Lake

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Timiskaming District records list brook trout, northern pike, yellow perch and Iowa darter among the fish reported. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Take Ward Lake a stretch at a time.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about -17°C and July at about 17°C, the water has a wide range to work through. Everything is compressed into the middle of the year. The open season starts with the thaw, near enough early May. Going by climate averages, expect open water from about early May until roughly mid November. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. It sets the rhythm of the year at Ward Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. Melick Lake sits 1.7 km off and takes the overflow. Ask locally about Ward Lake if anything is unclear.