A Fishing Road Trip in Northeastern Ontario! SheLovesToFish

Last month I traveled to 3 fishing destinations in the Northeastern Ontario region, documenting my adventures along the way. This was an incredible opportunity that was made possible through a partnership with Northeastern Ontario Tourism, Temiskaming Shores, Sudbury Tourism, and Tourism North Bay. For this trip, I was joined by my partner, Eric, and we brought along our boat, the SeaArk Flex 21 powered by Yamaha. It has been fun looking back through all the footage and photos, and putting together videos and articles from this whole experience. A huge thank you to everyone involved in making this memorable adventure possible!

Stop #1: Temiskaming Shores

Our adventure began in Temiskaming Shores where we set out fishing on Lake Temsikaming. Lake Temiskaming is part of the Ottawa River system and borders between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. This was my second time fishing here as my first visit took place last summer during a bass fishing tournament. I enjoyed this fishery so much that I was thrilled for the opportunity to return and capture our experience here. It was once again a memorable fishing adventure!

Accommodations & Dining in Temiskaming Shores

We had a great stay at Sunnydale Cottages which is situated right on the shores of Lake Temiskaming and just a few kilometers from all the amenities in Temiskaming Shores. Sunnydale Cottages is an ideal spot for anglers with various accommodation options, an on-site boat launch, tons of parking, and easy access to outlets for charging boat batteries. We stayed at the Chalet during our visit. The owner, Giuliano, is so friendly and made sure we had a great stay.

As for dining, there are plenty of restaurants and grocery stores just a short drive from Sunnydale Cottages in Temiskaming Shores. Mixing it up between the two, we picking up groceries at Walmart to make lunches to bring while fishing and then going out for some meals. We fished until dark and enjoyed dinners at 28 on the Lake as they were open later, and we found out the food here is delicious. We stopped in at Stacked Pancake & Breakfast House for breakfast twice and it was very good as well!

Fishing on Lake Temiskaming

Eric and I primarily focused on targeting smallmouth, however we did land some other species including walleye, northern pike, and rock bass. I also picked up my first ever goldeye here. Lake Temiskaming is well-known as a walleye fishery, and while we didn’t cross paths with many anglers on this vast body of water, those we did see appeared to be trolling for walleye. We were happy to get into a few ‘eyes ourselves, primarily casting small soft plastic minnow baits rigged on light jigheads, such as the Z-Man Graph Shadz, as well as drop shot rigs.

We began fishing at around 15-18 feet of water around rocky humps and points, and found walleye here. Eric picked up a nice northern pike a little deeper. He also landed the first smallmouth of the trip in around 12 feet of water on a 13 Fishing Jabber Jaw squarebill crankbait. After that, we made our way shallower, fishing around rocky shorelines, docks, and riprap. And this is where the smallmouth bite was on! We got into smallies on both a Ned rig (using the Z-Man Ticklerz) and the squarebill mentioned, and had an absolute blast!

Watch the full video from our fishing adventure on Lake Temiskaming:

Stop #2: Sudbury

Next up, we traveled southwest to Sudbury to explore new waters. I had fished in the Sudbury area just once several years ago during a kayak fishing tournament for bass on Ramsey Lake, and fishing was great here! I looked forward to exploring some new waters this time around, including Panache Lake and Fairbank Lake. We got into a variety of fish species here and had a memorable time on the water!

Accommodations & Dining in Sudbury

We stayed at a lovely and cozy waterfront resort on Fairbank Lake called Fairbank Lake Cottages, located around 45 kilometers northwest of Sudbury. There are various accommodation options here, and we stayed in Cottage One. It was a perfect rustic little cottage overlooking Fairbank Lake. We had our own seating areas and firepit, and all the docks looked to be brand new. There is a boat launch right next door to the resort, and the large docking stretches along the shoreline in front of the cottages for those who want to keep their boats in the water.

We brought along some groceries to prepare breakfast and lunches during our stay, and we also decided to head into Sudbury for dinner after fishing. Both Buzzy Brown’s Brasserie, and Tony V’s Pizza & Restaurant were very tasty options! We had plenty of leftovers to enjoy as well.

Fishing on Panache Lake & Fairbank Lake

We had so much fun fishing on Panache Lake! Our day began with launching the boat at Panache Bay Marina, and we quickly got into smallmouth bass that we spotted chasing bait over a basin. Fish were blowing up on the surface and suspended high in the water column and we caught them using soft plastic minnows rigged on light jigheads (such as the Z-Man Graph Shadz). This type of bass activity is one of my favourite experiences out on the water! Once the wind picked up, we moved to shallower/more sheltered waters and picked up more smallmouth using a Ned rig, and ChatterBait. Another exciting part of this adventure was stumbling upon a great bite for quality pumpkinseeds, bluegills and hybrids, also caught on the Ned rig, using the Z-Man Ticklerz.

We had intended to get out on Fairbank Lake during our second day, however a storm rolled through with high winds and rain the majority of the day. The weather settled right before sunset so we decided to jump in some of the recreational kayaks available for guests at Fairbank Lake Cottages, and explore the bay right out from the resort. I picked up a few smallmouth on a Ned rig along shore and around docks. We had a fantastic time fishing in Sudbury!

Watch the full video from our fishing adventure in Sudbury:

Stop #3: North Bay

And for the final stop, we headed east to North Bay for an adventure on the mighty Lake Nipissing. I have fished this huge body of water in the past however only during the wintertime. I was excited to finally explore open water here! It was another awesome outing with a variety of species hitting the net, and even a little heartbreak upon losing a big one!

Accommodations & Dining in North Bay

Our accommodations for this portion of the trip were North Bay Inn, a cozy and spacious motel located just north of Callander Bay. The staff were very friendly and made sure we were comfortable. There was plenty of room to park and charge the boat batteries (with outlets located throughout), and many dining options even within walking distance from the Inn.

We had dinner at the Crown and Beaver Pub just down the street, and enjoyed it so much that we went back during our second night as well. We also stopped in at Terry’s Place for a very satisfying breakfast.

Fishing on Lake Nipissing

My hope for Lake Nipissing was to catch smallmouth and walleye and we got to check both off, plus Eric also picked up a few freshwater drum and a couple northern pike. We lucked out with a calm day and were able to run around the lake to cover water. Covering deep water (~20 feet) and up shallow, we found the sweet spot in around 10 feet of water around rocky humps. We fished a variety of techniques including squarebill crankbaits, Ned rigs, and drop shot. The most effective technique for us was the Ned rig using the new CrushCity Salted Ned roll in Black. We crawled this bait through rocks and were picking up both smallmouth bass and walleye, at times every cast just sitting in anchor mode with the trolling motor.

Although we didn’t bring musky gear along on this trip, I sure wish we did as we ended up seeing 5 nice-sized musky (one following my crankbait, and 3 others spotted on LiveScope). I also faced some heartbreak when losing a big smallmouth towards the end of the day, fortunately it was captured on video and I put it in slow motion for some extra sting! I look forward to getting back to this amazing body of water, preferably with some musky gear next time!

A Fishing Road Trip in Northeastern Ontario!

Stop #1: Temiskaming Shores