Best Provincial Parks?

[Sneakypete]

Fairly new to fishing and bought a kayak two summers ago and looking for tips on some of the better provincial parks for bass, pike and walleye. Hoping for no more than 3.5 hours from Toronto if possible. I’ve already committed to Emily, Balsam, Silent Lake and Long Point this summer but hoping to hear about any gems I haven’t thought of.

[CrowMan]

Killbear, Kawartha Highlands, Sandbanks (West and East Lakes) and Charleston all have good fishing.

[Reef Runner]

Massassauga PP for bass and pike. Eyes tough to find but they’re in there. 

[Jmeyer]

Not within 3 hours of Toronto but the best provincial Park with those species is easily quetico. 

[AKRISONER]

sturgeon bay

[BillM]

Lots of great PPs.   6 Mile is nice and close, decent fishing.  Massassauga is great as well but requires a bit of planning.

[pics]

I love provincial parks but they are crowded these days. I'd rather spend an extra few hours driving to a park where it's peaceful and the fishing is good.. Haliburton Forest might be a decent option 

[skdds]

I'll second Six Mile for bass and pike with the kayak. Some of the hwy 60 lakes in Algonquin also have bass.

[David Chong]

So many great ones, Bon Echo, Sharbot Lake & Charleston are a few of my favourites!!!!

[CrowMan]

Further to this subject...

Doug Ford promised the creation of a new Provincial Park (the first in 40 years) in the 2023 Ontario Budget. Anyone know where it's located ?

 

[Spiel]

While I'm not overly familiar with many of the PP's I have been looking at Restoule as a possible destination this summer.
It looks promising with access to a couple of lakes.

[David Chong]

Restoule is a beautiful park as well! Haven't been there in a few years but have fond memories of it and the fishing there!

[CrowMan]

Haven't been in a while either, but Restoule is a bit of an under the radar Musky gem...that whole chain including Storm and Commanda had good fishing 

 

[porkpie]

On 4/3/2023 at 9:23 AM, Spiel said:

While I'm not overly familiar with many of the PP's I have been looking at Restoule as a possible destination this summer.
It looks promising with access to a couple of lakes.

It’s an excellent park and only 45 minutes from the north bay boat launch as well.  I’ll give you gps coords.

[siwash]

Grundy - Nice park.. fishing ok...

[David Chong]

1 hour ago, siwash said:

Grundy - Nice park.. fishing ok...

Again it's been a while but great park with awesome trails and pretty good fishing!

[siwash]

7 hours ago, David Chong said:

Again it's been a while but great park with awesome trails and pretty good fishing!

Jumping cliffs are a blast too...

[dave524]

Camped both Grundy and Restoule as a tween 60 years ago, got my first Pickerel in Restoule and some at Grundy a year later. I remember a shoal was a hot spot at the west end of the Restoule off a bare rock face, at least a dozen boats anchored there for the evening bite. The drive into Restoule was a long tedious slow one off #11 back then

[410001661]

On 3/23/2023 at 1:10 PM, Reef Runner said:

Massassauga PP for bass and pike. Eyes tough to find but they’re in there. 

Ya I like the Massassauga - good bass fishing and lots of quiet bays to fish

[410001661]

Key river to Georgian Bay 

French River PP

[bow slayer]

I have been doing Restoule for 34 years now and again this July. Walleye and bass fishing is excellent,pike are hit and miss from year to year. Stormy ,clear and restoule have a good musky fishery but alot of publicity in last few years has increased the pressure on them. There is also an underrated lake trout and whitefish fishery which receives very little attention. There is also several back lakes that have some exceptional bass and pike fishing which are accessible from portages or logging roads.

[KraTToR]

On 3/23/2023 at 1:10 PM, Reef Runner said:

Massassauga PP for bass and pike. Eyes tough to find but they’re in there. 

agreed, one of my favs as well. Lots of options but you'll have to paddle a while to get to the good stuff. "eyes are there but not in numbers and if you do catch one, watch the regs (slot size) if your going to keep it.  Lots of back country camp sites so with a bit of planning, you can settle in for a few days and really enjoy your surroundings.

[Headhunter]

The best PP in Ontario is called Crown Land in my opinion. I get out of the city and fish to get away from people and rules. No way am I going to go to a PP and be told I can't...

-talk to my buddies outside the tent after 9:00pm

- play music at the site

-purchase wood for a fire

-pay the ridiculous daily fees

-deal with the sheer numbers of people I was trying to get away from in the first place!

 

OP, look for accessible crown land and do what you want!

HH

[Canuck]

Massassauga PP is great for bass and pike, but I go there by water and anchor in the bays overnight.  LOTS of bears in the park and especially around the campsites where morons have not been careful and have left food scraps around, "training" the bears into being a problem.  

Edited May 24, 2023 by Canuck

[siwash]

On 4/25/2023 at 1:02 PM, Headhunter said:

The best PP in Ontario is called Crown Land in my opinion. I get out of the city and fish to get away from people and rules. No way am I going to go to a PP and be told I can't...

-talk to my buddies outside the tent after 9:00pm

- play music at the site

-purchase wood for a fire

-pay the ridiculous daily fees

-deal with the sheer numbers of people I was trying to get away from in the first place!

 

OP, look for accessible crown land and do what you want!

HH

The only problem with crown land is you won't be guaranteed to get a good site or the camp sote