Mantle Lake in Rainy River District: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Set in Rainy River District, Ontario, this is Mantle Lake. Elevation runs to 388 metres. Roughly 11 hectares: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. A shoreline of some 1.6 km keeps the choices simple. It is one of the smaller waters we list in Rainy River District. Ely lies 48 km from the water. The big place round here is Thunder Bay, 214 km distant. No border sits close enough to matter.

• Where to Fish on Mantle Lake

  The records we hold are silent on depth, so plan to find it yourself. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Species logged across Rainy River District include northern pike, smallmouth bass, yellow perch and walleye. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. On Mantle Lake that means starting tight and working out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July near 19°C and January near -16°C on the long-run figures. Hard water is a season in its own right here. Ice fishing carries the winter, and the water opens about late April. The season between ice runs from about late April to mid November. From the thaw to midsummer the fishing improves week by week. The season on Mantle Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. 2 covers this ground, which means extra rules to check. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Bank access can be seasonal on ground like this. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. The nearest alternative is Charm Lake, 0.6 km out. Nothing here settles the position at Mantle Lake for certain.