The Little Lake Clear that Fishes Big

You have heard the saying, some smaller lakes fish big, as in big fish.

Well, a late summer road trip to the Bonnechere Valley region of Northern Ontario—with the nearest city of Pembroke just 45 minutes to the north—to a lake with crystal clear water and a host of swimming species that attract anglers and families every year.

Our trip started by visiting with the gracious hosts of Sandy Beach Cottages, the cottages are pet-friendly and have everything you need to have a worry-free holiday! 

The Cottages

They offer complete housekeeping cottages plus a lake house bunkie, (sleeping quarters only). All of the cottages all equipped with a full-size refrigerator, stove, microwave oven, coffee maker, and toaster as well as everything you need to prepare and serve a meal. The drinking water is regularly tested by an accredited laboratory. They also have propane wall furnaces installed in all cottages except the bunkie for cooler month visits. Each cottage also has access to WiFi. 

Fishing On Lake Clear

We decided to start our angling adventure on this lake with an evening of walleye jigging the deeper, thick weed beds just a short boat ride from the cottages, ranging between 12 to 15 feet of water. We connected with the lake’s abundant northern pike right away and a few chunky largemouth bass when the sun was still high and bright, but once the sun hit the tree lines the bright gold and yellow walleye decided to come out of the weeds and gorge for almost an hour straight of catching the gorgeous walleye of Lake Clear. We kept a few for the table and released the bigger fish.

The next morning was began chasing bass in the shallower weed beds ranging from 8 to 10 feet of water with soft beaver baits rigged weedless for the abundant largemouth bass and caught some really thick fish when we pitched our baits into the thickest part of the weeds. A very exciting experience pulling a big largemouth out of thick weeds. 

Once the sun got up and raised the shallow water temperatures, the lake’s spunky smallmouth bass began schooling up in the shallow shorelines chasing small schools of perch and offered us the opportunity to cast small popper-style hard baits along these same shorelines and had the time of our lives catching a bunch of fat stomached bass that crushed our topwater lures without hesitation. 

Man, was that ever fun!

Combined with this lake’s tap clear conditions, you could watch the big bass literally swim over and smash our lures. It was very cool.

Lake Clear allows anglers to catch multiple species of fish including northern pike, perch, trout, large and smallmouth bass, whitefish and ling. The bottom of the lake is soft at the West end with shallow weed growth. From the first island eastward, the bottom becomes mostly rocky with small sandy pockets in some of the back bays. There are growths of aquatic grasses, such as wild rice and sawgrass, near the outlets of creeks and towards Little Lake Clear. (Pike are most frequently found in these areas.) There are approximately, eighteen islands in the lake, depending on exactly what constitutes an island to you. Generally, if it is large enough to support a few trees, they call it an island. Many of these islands are crown land, but a few are privately owned. Most noteworthy of these is Turner's Island, which is the largest Island on the Lake.

Looking for that perfect location for families to enjoy while the guys go fishing, look no further than Sandy Beach Cottages with its crystal-clear beach clean, comfortable cottages and a smaller lake that fishes big.

Sandy Beach Cottages

Bonnechere Valley, Eganville ON
PH: 1-833-861-0500 or 613-754-0000
Web: https://sbcottages.ca/
Email: lakeclearsbcottages@gmail.com

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