Sherlock Lake in Manitou Lake No. 442: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Sherlock Lake sits in Manitou Lake No. 442, out in Saskatchewan. The water sits 580 metres up. At about 95 hectares, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. With 5.2 km or so of shoreline, boat anglers cover ground the bank cannot. Start from Macklin, 50 km down the road. Provost is 52 km and Lloydminster 54 km. One jurisdiction covers this water end to end.

• Where to Fish on Sherlock Lake

  Nothing in our records gives a depth for this one. 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. Anyone new to Sherlock Lake should walk it once before setting up. Fish tight to whatever breaks the bottom's flatness.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 17°C at the top of summer and -15°C at the bottom of winter. Winter shuts the surface down for months. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from late April. Expect the water usable from around late April until roughly mid November. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. Sherlock Lake runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access status is simply unknown for this water. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. It is recorded as intermittent, which means the basin empties in dry spells. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. Where a permit is needed, the nearest town usually sells it. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. Should this one be busy, James Lake is 2.1 km off. Confirm access to Sherlock Lake locally before you travel.