I’m excited to finally share the news about a big project I’ve been working on planning over the past few months. I’ve partnered with Ontario’s Southwest and a number of the tourism partners within this region to highlight some of the fishing opportunities found in this part of the province. The adventure began with a visit to Sarnia-Lambton region for a walleye fishing excursion on the St. Clair River and Lake Huron. What a way to kick off this big adventure!
Please note: It is recommended to plan ahead before traveling by connecting with local operators and businesses to determine any new public health measures and procedures put in place.
Eric and I departed from our home in Ottawa and made our way to Hampton Inn in Point Edward, Ontario. The hotel is located just minutes away from Sarnia Bay Marina where we’d be departing from for our fishing outing the following morning. After checking in at the hotel, we took a stroll along the scenic harbor at Sarnia Bay and headed to March Hare and Refined Fool Brewing Co for dinner. We decided on ordering fried chicken sandwiches with french fries and it was a yummy choice! We both enjoy craft beer and decided to try some local flavour. I went for an Ontario Craft Lager and Eric went for the Van Full of Weirdos, LOL! Yes, the beer names are quite comical! Our dinner and drinks were delicious! The weather was perfect for dining on the patio, too.
St. Clair River & Lake Huron Walleye Fishing
We were up bright and early the following morning to meet our fishing guide for the day, Lorne Font of Twin Bridge Fishing Charters. We departed from the docks around 6am and made our way to the mouth of the St. Clair River at Lake Huron. Lorne set us up with bottom bouncers and his homemade worm harnesses rigged with live nightcrawlers. We were catching fish in no time! In fact, it was still dark out when the first few walleye made their way into the boat. I’m so thankful we got out for this early morning adventure as the sunrise on Lake Huron was absolutely breathtaking. There’s something truly special about fishing on the Great Lakes, and the bright blue water colour here was phenomenal.
We fished the mouth of the river for a couple of hours picking up a few walleye, and then Lorne took us exploring on the river where he mentioned we may also get into some smallmouth bass. Lorne has spent his entire life in the Sarnia area and was a fantastic tour guide sharing some of the area’s history. Eric landed a bonus freshwater drum (also known as a sheepshead) and we missed a couple of other good bites that were likely smallmouth bass. We had a wonderful introduction to fishing in this area and you can see more of our catches in the full video of this adventure:
Bluewater Anglers Hatchery
After grabbing lunch, we had the opportunity to stop by the Bluewater Anglers Hatchery for a tour of the facility with one of the volunteers, Jake Van Rooyen. It was a great opportunity to check out some young rainbow and brown trout, learn about the trout and salmon stocking programs, school programs, events, and tours that take place at the hatchery. This hatchery is not-for-profit organization and is run entirely by volunteers. Additionally, there’s also an outdoor pond with some larger rainbow and brown trout where visitors have the opportunity to feed the fish.
Additional Dining
We ended up staying in Point Edward for a second night as our next fishing excursion of this road trip was postponed due to high winds. This provided us the opportunity to check out a few more restaurants which I’ll include below.
Left Image: After our fishing charter wrapped up, we hopped off the boat and just a few steps away was Alternate Grounds Dockside. We enjoyed a nice lunch here. I had the shrimp tacos (mmmm!) and Eric ordered a club sandwich.
Top right image: We received a few recommendations to try out Salvatore’s Trattoria e Ristorante while in Point Edward. My goodness, the food was incredibly delicious! We ordered the Mista Combos and went with angel hair pasta with garlic and oil sauce, and vela pasta with rosa sauce, along with chicken, salad, green beans, bread sticks and garlic bread. We had more than enough left over for lunch the following day. We also picked up a sample pack of craft beer from Imperial City Brew House. My favourite was the Wheat POG.
Bottom right image: Before heading off to our next destination, we stopped in for takeout breakfast at John’s Restaurant. It was a very popular spot and it’s easy to figure out why – the food was great! We ordered a couple of the Grab & Go breakfast muffin sandwiches, hashbrowns, and juice.
Needless to say, we had such an enjoyable experience in Point Edward, and hope to be back again soon!
Fun trip. I haven’t even finished breakfast yet and now I want shrimp tacos… 🙂