Old Lake CottageWalleye fishing near Thunder Bay, ON
868 documented waters within 300 km, 6 of them with walleye as the primary species.
Where they are biting today
- Lower Manitou Lake (Sioux Narrows)79
- Thunder Lake (Dryden)78
- Walleye Lake (Vermilion Bay)78
- Rubanoe Lake (Dryden)78
- Fourstar Lake (Dryden)78
- Cliff Lake (Vermilion Bay)78
- Gordon Lake (Dryden)78
- Weaver River78
- Cuttle Lake (Fort Frances)77
- Darling Lake (Vermilion Bay)77
Fishing walleye around Thunder Bay
The waters around Thunder Bay give walleye anglers real options: 868 documented waters in range are on record for walleye in our Ontario catalogue, and their daily scores - built from weather, water temperature at depth and species-fit modelling - decide the order shown above rather than reputation or hearsay.
Start with Lower Manitou Lake (Sioux Narrows), today's top scorer at 79 (about 312 km from Thunder Bay, roughly 91 m of water at its deepest). If it is busy or the wind is wrong, Thunder Lake (Dryden) scores 78 (about 294 km from Thunder Bay, roughly 24 m of water at its deepest). Walleye Lake (Vermilion Bay) at 78 is the third card worth keeping in hand. All of these numbers come from the same daily model, so they are directly comparable water to water.
Walleye have large, light-sensitive eyes that give them sharp low-light vision - the same trait behind their name (that eerie eye-shine) also explains why they feed most actively at dawn, dusk, and after dark, retreating to deeper, darker water on bright days. Early-season Ontario walleye hold near their spawning rivers and on windswept boulder or coarse-gravel shoals, sliding out to deeper weed lines, drop-offs and channel edges as summer builds. The jig-and-minnow worked near bottom is the default Ontario presentation - vertical jigging in clear water by day, with crankbaits and spinners over shallow structure once the light drops.
Treat this page as a living shortlist: the ranking refreshes daily (currently showing September 14, 2026), and a shift in wind, cloud cover or water temperature is often enough to reorder it.