Canal Lake

[Billy - Curtiss]

I'm going to head up to Canal Lake tomorrow before sunrise. I'll be fishing from shore and was wondering if anybody has any tips in terms of spots. I also cannot seem to find much info on this lake in cyberspace. I read that the lake contains bass, pike and walleye. Is that about right?

[lookinforwalleye]

and musky, I used to fish there often when I was a younger man, got my personal best LM and SM at Canal.

 

Try the first bridge for smallies.

[Terry]

the bridge is good. the causeway is ok

and the east end of the lake can be good at times

[keram]

I read that the lake contains bass, pike and walleye. Is that about right?

Yup.

The only problem is that right now your only options to fish from shore are two bridges. At this time of the year water from this lake is drained to Lake Simcoe and according to my "informants" water level already dropped almost 3'. Because lake is very weedy only deeper areas ( around bridges) are still fishable, everything else is a BOG.

[Billy - Curtiss]

Thanks for the heads up. We'll see how it goes then.

[outdoorguy61]

I grew up fishing there and respectfully disagree with the information given....unless you are stuck on shore.Even then,this always seemed to me to be simply a transition area, with bridge at the east end of the lake being the better bet in my opinion, given that access is awkward.

 

There used to be fabulous fishing just east of the island in Bolsover and just west of the large cement bridge. The trick was or used to be to fish the original channel. I could be wrong given the time that has passed, but generally found that most people stuck to fishing the classic structure....and left a substantial amount of fish (usually largemouth) to people like myself.

 

My understanding is that the musky population is not the same and imagine that the carp are still doing well. In addition to what had already been mentioned in rlation to species of fish, rockbass and sunfish were always present.

 

Just another two cents....hope no one is rankled that I disagree with the bridge as a prime location.

 

PS. The gentleman that mentioned about the drop in water should be commended as this affects the lake in a very substantial way. He is likley on to something, given this as our cottage was a consistent producer....on the original channel.

 

outdoorguy61

Edited October 27, 2007 by outdoorguy61

[keram]

hope no one is rankled that I disagree with the bridge as a prime location.

 

Not at all I do not consider bridges area as a prime location either ,but I would like to suggest you read again the original question. The keyword is shore

 

BTW, when did they build a bridge on the EAST end of the lake

Edited October 27, 2007 by keram

[Terry]

I have not fished the lake in years

but for the life of me I can't think of a island near Bolsover..

the only island I know of is at centennial park and that is the bridge I was talking about and the cause way is on the other end of the island..... the 3 spots I gave are the only spots I know of to fish form shore

from the west side of the bridge you have the channel and the big weed bed and it can be great fishing in the evenings and after dark and early morning

 

 

or was years ago when I fished it

[outdoorguy61]

I did reread the gentlemans original post and apologize. I travel too much for my own good and quickly scan.....too quickly in this case.

 

There are actually a few islands on Canal Lake, or at least there used to be. The largest is within 200 m of the bridge in Bolsover, slightly downstream and across from the golf course (lots of poison ivey). There was also another island slightly NW of the bridge at the east end of the lake. And another north of that. The latter two were very very small. The entire easterm basin on the north side was largely a very thick weedy mass (I used to get my fathers 57 Johnson jammed up....lol).

 

Our familys cottage was one of the older established places in Bolsover (east side of King St. beside a resort owned by the Snettsinger sp? family) and was eventually purchased by an old childhood friend that worked at GM in Oshawa. I have a lot of fond memories there and found the fishing to be extremely consistent....except for walleye. We used to get musky spawning in our boathouse area and had lots of carp, etc.

 

outdoorguy61

[mikeh]

canal lake also has crappie, you might want to try a slip float and minnows on the west side of the causeway.

[keram]

So Billy-C, How was the fishing?