Newbie Intro and Trip Advice

[OnTheWater]

Hi All,

Great forum here, lots of helpful information.

 

Found this site through a link on the LAKAIR website. I'm originally from Western New York and grew up taking annual fishing trips to the Peterborough and Huntsville areas. Also lucky enough to do some fly-in fishing out of Cochrane and Sudbury, as well as northwestern Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan. Moved to New England 5 years ago and have gotten hooked on fishing saltwater (If you have any questions on fishing Cape Cod, PM me!)

 

Anyway, I miss the Canadian Shield and am planning to take a long weekend north of Toronto in late August with my dad and 2 siblings. Don't have the option this year of traveling as far as we'd like to, so we're hoping to find good fishing - especially northern pike - and peaceful accommodations without driving more than 4 hours out of Toronto. Looking for a housekeeping cottage with a bit of seclusion if possible where we can cook our own meals and make our own schedule.

 

Checked out Lakair and Promised Land on Nipissing, and have searched this site and found some good info...

Are there any other recommendations? Other areas? Leaning toward Lakair but want to make sure that it is a peaceful place and that the fishing in the area is worth the trip in late August.

 

Thanks for any advice!!

[Spiel]

....Welcome aboard OnTheWater. We have lots of west arm Nipissing anglers here. I'm sure someone will give you the low down on August fishing in that area.

[Mike01]

I fish mostly the eastern portion of the lake since I live in North Bay. Its a two hour boat ride over to the West Arm! There is still very good fishing to be had late in late summer. I'm not sure what the lodges are like in that area, but Lakair sure looks like a first class place. There are several very nice places in the south shore area as well, they might be worth a look.

[Leecher]

Welcome to OFC OnTheWater

 

Leechman

[Woodsman]

Welcome to the fourm OnTheWater. One problem you will most likely find is that very few places rent cottages for long weekends in August. During this time of the year cottage rentals are usually Sat. to Sat.(full week only). If you can wait until after the Labour Day weekend than you should be able to find a cottage to rent for a weekend.

 

Good Luck: Rick

[Rich]

You want excellent pike fishing, try Long Point Bay on the north shore of Lake Erie. We have so many pike it's sick. Bass and big perch too. It's about 2 hrs south of Toronto.

 

PS Welcome aboard!

[ccmtcanada]

Welcome to the board!! Very nice introduction.

 

I don't have a lot of experience hunting pike down, but I was at Lakair this past June and saw a few nice pike and muskie.

 

Good luck!

[OnTheWater]

Thanks All!

 

After hours of research on this board, I narrowed it down to a few of West Bay/West Arm lodges. Like Woodsman said, it's tough to find weekend rentals in season, but it looks like Lakair has an option for us.

 

Now it's time to get focused on what gear to bring. If anyone has some late-August or area specific advice, I'm all ears.

 

Rich - Even though it's less than 2 hours from Buffalo, I never fished Long Point Bay on the north shore of Lake Erie. Funny how in my backyard Lake Erie has unbelievable walleye fishing, incredible sm bass fishing, Niagara River has huge muskies, and the tribs get runs of steelhead that attract travelers from all over the Northeast... yet for us a fishing trip always meant loading up a car and heading north...

[ccmtcanada]

When I was up there in June, the pike for me only hit spinners with gold/bronze coloured blades. I'd throw one on that had shiny silver and nothing....throw the other one on and fish on. I also had luck with large orange spinnerbaits....had a nice muskie follow on one of those. Good luck!

[Woodsman]

OnTheWater: Great to see things are working out for your trip. We expect a report when you return.

 

Best Wishes: Rick