Ice Fishing Report

Well here is the trip report from my Ontario 2011 ice fishing trip. Let me just say right off the bat that Murray Lake Cottages is one of the best camps I've ever been to. The owners Jeff & Tina go out of their way to treat you right. The cabins are clean, well-equipped, and are well cared for. Jeff literally spent the entire day making sure our trip was a smooth one. To make sure we got on the fish he even personally accompanied us into some back lakes. He also cleaned the pike that was caught to make sure those pesky y-bones were taken care of. At the end of the night he asked us to join him to have a beer and watch some hockey; couldn't have asked for better hosts.

The trip up was beautiful as usual:



We finally arrived thurs night and after a few beverages we sought the comfort of our bed away from home. We each had our own bedroom in this spacious cabin.



The next morning we wanted to experience the thrill of the lake trout. Unfortunately the lakers were not cooperating. High pressure and bright sun dominated Until...



Marshall nailed this 5lb 4 oz. beauty. Finally we would eat tonight!

We had several more flags but no more fish. The lakers in this lake were extremely dark and they fought crazy hard. This one made several huge runs until it was landed.



He made a great meal that night, along with several walleyes we caught at another bush lake that Jeff treked us into.



The next day was more of the same(high pressure & sun, sun, sun). The sun however was a blessing in disguise, the morning lows fell to -14.

We made our way into one of the local lakes and caught several small lakers and missed a few others. Much more action than the first day.



That night Jeff took us on an adventure unlike any other. We made our way into the Chapleau game preserve.



Jeff took us into a lake that by law cannot be fished may thru oct. He said it basically see 20-30 people all year long. Mind you this lake was almost 7 miles long. It was beautiful with high rock faces and rolling hills on every side.



From the lack of tracks on the way in, it looked like no on had been here for awhile, if at all this year. We caught our fill of eater walleye that night along with a decent pike.

All in all it was a great trip and one I would like to do again. I know the fishing can be much better than what we experienced. That last lake in particular looked extremely fishy and considering almost no one fishes it makes it more enticing to go back.

The trip home was a good one and we even saw what we think was a wolf running along the Lake Superior shoreline.





We can't wait to return next year or maybe even this summer. Jeff says the early summer fishing is phenomenal and his rates are as good as any so we might be back sooner than later.