Muskoka Question - Three Mile Lake

[Douger]

A friend of mine is taking his 8 yr. old son to a cottage on Three Mile Lake in the Muskokas. He asked me about the fishing there, but I don't know anything. He doesn't fish but he'd like to take his son out to see what they can catch.

 

I can lend him a 6'6'' bass rod & spinning reel, as well as a 5'6'' panfish/crappie rod & spinning reel, but I don't know which type of bait he should use.

 

Any suggestions that I can pass on to him would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[bigfish1965]

My parents lived on the lake for a time. At night the walleye come close to shore and will take a minnow or leech under a pencil bobber. Lots of bass around and if you know where to look, some nice brook trout. Largemouth are where you would expect to find them, smallies around the deep drop offs and on the flats in the western bay.

There's some creek mouths that attract fish after a rain.

[Hookset]

I've fished that Lake several times. There is some good Bass fishing to be had, but the Walleye fishing hasn't been too good (for me anyway) lately. There was a huge Algae type infestation in the lake last year (or the year before, my memory fails) caused by pollution from run-off. I think the source of the pollution is still being determined and someone else may have more info. about the problem than I have. I just know I showed up for a nice evening Walleye fish, only to find the entire Lake had turned the colour of Pea Soup. And I mean real Pea Soup, you couldn't see your bait 2 inches underwater. It was gross. Was definitely caused by pollution as was stated by the M.O.E. and was not a natural occurence. Not sure how it effects the fish but I doubt if it helped at all. I always used to catch some huge Bluegills in that lake while Bass fishing as well. There are some nice weedlines on the Lake and some good rock strewn deeper sections as well. Hope I don't depress you with the "pollution" report but if I wanted to go swimming in the lake, I'd sure want to know. Let us know how your Pal makes out.

I'm real curious if everything is o.k. or not since I haven't been back since.

 

Hookset.

[John]

I believe that Three Mile Lake had/has a problem common with a lot of Muskoka Lakes and that is development. There are lots of "cottagers" today that want Muskoka location with Toronto accommodation. That is, they are not satisfied with a treed and relatively natural lot. They feel that they must landscape right down to the water. Of course with that landscaping they want green grass and lots of flowers...........which means seasonal fertilizing. The run off when it rains has to be incredible............

[LesCulpJr]

Only got to fish this lake a couple times but the fishing was good for me. Lots o Bass to be had and the walleye seem to be pretty aggresive as well.

They had a bit of a problem with some blue/green algae in the lake, not sure exactly where its at now but the issue was blown alittle out of proportion by the local media.

Basically the issue was bad enough to post an advisory on the lake, but didn't get much worse than that.

I believe they pinned it to a farm in the area where the cattle was spending alot of time in the water.

The great fishing has remained.

Edited July 25, 2007 by LesCulpJr

[mizzmo]

A friend of mine just came back from there last week. he did really well for eyes. he said they were in the weeds 5 to 8 feet of water. chartruese worked well for him. nothing over 22 inches. hope that helps a little.

 

mizzmo