Knight Lake, Ontario Air Cochrane Report

[bapthorpe]

The following is my fishing report on Knight Lake.  I enjoy the reports of others on this forum so I hope readers find this helpful.  I know our experience would have been enhanced had I been able to find more background information on this lake.

 

First the outfitter, Air Cochrane, recently bought this lake from an outfit called True North a few years ago.  The lake is very small and shallow.  The lake is almost 3 miles long, but approximately only two miles of it are fishable.  The northern third of the lake is completely overgrown with reeds as it is very shallow…like two feet deep.  The rest of the lake is very unremarkable.  The deepest point of the lake is 4 feet deep.  We had excellent down imaging and sonar finders with us.  The lake has absolutely no structure, holes, drop offs, boulders, etc…just flat.  The entire shoreline, of the two miles which is fishable, has reeds growing an easy 50 to 100 yards from shore.  Pockets of grass weeds and cabbage grow throughout the lake.  The fishable part of the lake was so small a slow troll would only take about an hour to do one lap.

 

In terms of the fishing, it would have helped a great deal had we had better information on the lake.  I have fished with Air Cochrane on Nettogami, Edgar, Haultain and Mikwam.  This lake cannot be compared to these body of waters.  Knight Lake holds yellow walleye that average about 14” and can get as big as 18”. Walleye is what this lake is all about.  We initially set the bar for 24” as a BIG walleye, but by the end we lowered this to 20” and caught only a couple that big.

 

We did catch a handful of 8-10” perch which are always a nice surprise.  The northern pike were the smallest pike I have ever seen in such abundance.  20” was the biggest pike caught, most were 12-14”  Information from the outfitter suggested a couple 40+” pike had previously been caught on this lake.  I am not buying that after this trip.  Our group has enjoyed a lot of success over our 15 trips via Air Cochrane, this lake is too shallow to hold big pike.  The best bait proved to be once again the white 3” Mister Twister and small single hook spinner baits.

 

In terms of the cabin, it was fine and very typical of the other Air Cochrane cabins.  I thought it was perfect for a fishing trip.  We rented a satellite phone which proved critical as a gas hose broke on the first day and there were no spares.  They flew one in for us.  2 of the 3 boats leaked.  One boat literally leaked a gallon an hour which proved to be a royal pain.  Fortunately it was warm so wet feet could be more easily tolerated.

 

So whom might I recommend this lake too…I would recommend Knight Lake to fishing parties  who like to use ultra-light fishing equipment and desire 14-18” walleye.  People not wanting to have bad weather keeping them off the lake would do better here. The fishing area is so small that nasty weather, which would keep a person off a lakes like Edgar and Nettogami, would be manageable/navigable on Knight Lake.  One day the winds were 20 mph and we fished, something we could never do on the bigger lakes.  Also, people who cannot swim might feel better fishing in water that is only 2-4 deep.

[bigcreekdad]

Good report....but way far from enticing. Is there an inlet or outlet? I'm wondering how fish survive a long winter in only 4 feet of water?

[pics]

Wow, that seems incredibly shallow.. I also wonder how the fish survive the winter unless it's spring fed somehow.

[DanD]

Wow an honest report without bashing!

Good for you; yes very informative.

Thank you.

 

Dan.

Edited July 30, 2017 by DanD

[Joeytier]

Sounds like a pretty typical northern spruce bog lake. Probably lots of fun for a day or two, but not a week eh?

[bapthorpe]

I am fond of Air Cochrane and our going to Knight Lake was due to our very late booking. There is an outlet to another even smaller lake, that may be deeper? Once we understood the lake and switched to ultra-light rods with 2 lb test and set the "big fish" at 20" we made it fun. Three days was a day too long, but we had fun. We will plan better next year and get on one of their better lakes.

 

:-)

[chris.brock]

 

That doesn't sound like a lake that warrants an outpost camp. Like others have said, how does that lake not freeze solid or run out of oxygen in the winter?

 

Hopefully you guys made the best of it, sounds like you did.

[BassMan11]

It sounds like it's a hunt camp that they try and rent out to fishermen in the summer months. Although I really feel like the OP meant 40 feet deep at it's deepest point.... 4 feet makes 0 sense.

 

I ran into one of these lakes last year, a small lake with limited amounts of fish and really no size. Obviously still had a good time and caught some fish.

 

Thanks for the honest report.

Edited August 1, 2017 by BassMan11

[Moosebunk]

Wow an honest report without bashing!

Good for you; yes very informative.

Thank you..

 

Exactly what I thought.

 

Could sense that this trip was a bummer through that report. They have some better lakes up there as you know, and it planning down the road and you have any questions, drop me a line and I can probably help.

[manitoubass2]

That doesn't sound like a lake that warrants an outpost camp. Like others have said, how does that lake not freeze solid or run out of oxygen in the winter?

 

Hopefully you guys made the best of it, sounds like you did.

There is a lake like that near me. Crystal clear and 4-6fow and full of 12-14"walleye

 

I can't explain it either????