Anyone from Thunder Bay Ontario?

[briverb]

Grew up in Thunder Bay, but moved away in 1990. Heading back this week to visit family and was planning on taking my 7 year old niece ice fishing. No one else in my enitre family goes ice fishing there. I will be driving a car around while I am there so I am looking for lakes to take her that we can walk on. I remember going to a few places in our beat up cars and walking on when we were in high school, but not many. We used to go to Whitefish Lake a lot and Shebandowan Lake. Most other places we went to we would use snowmachine or 4x4 to get into.

Most of my friends have moved away from T. Bay and the ones that are left usually go places they need to take their 4x4 and snow machines into, but I'm sure they can recommend a few when I get there, though.

Anyways, thought their might be a few Northern Ontarionians on here who could give me some direction and maybe jog my memory on a few more easy spots to take my niece for a day or 2. She is so excited to go ice fishing, I can't wait to take her out for the first time. Should make for some really good pictures. :-)

I used to be a member of the Thunder Bay Fishing Forum so I will check there as well. Surprising how I forgot so many places I used to fish there since I left.

Thanks for any feedback.

[BigRackLover]

Born there.

Can't help you though. A snow machine was a must when ice fishing back home. I usually fish Superior.

Usually you can drive fairly close to the shoreline along Superior 25-50km past Nipigon along Nipigon Bay. Whitefish, lake trout and brook trout (slot size) (maybe walleye) are available through the same hole. Even in Amethyst harbour there are probably lots of spots to drive a car on.

[jrcw]

Fellow T-Bay'er here. Did some fishing there over the holidays. Rented a shack on Lac des Milles Lacs from Archie's Charters (he does salmon/laker trips on Lake Superior in the summer). http://www.archiescharters.com/icehuts.html You can sleep in them and it's $70 per day. For easy day trips with no sled/quad/4x4 required I'd recommend Silver Harbour on Lake Superior. It's only 20 min town on Lakeshore Drive. Big parking lot and you can walk out 200 yards from the boat launch and catch fish. Bring your trout lures. The old Finnish guys have shacks there so it MUST be good! Check the thunderbayfishing.com forum or call D&R Sports for ice conditions there, it's less reliable there than on the inland lakes. Should be fine into March though. For pike and walleye try Hazelwood Lake at the Conservation Area. You can walk out here and catch fish near the islands or river mouth. Whitefish Lake could be OK but the good spots may be a bit of a walk from the public launch. The guys on the forum or at D&R will point you in the right direction I'm sure. Nice to see someone take a kid fishing...especially back in good ol' NWO! Tight Lines! :)

[ESOXangler]

AHH good old T Bay. Well i'd try for lac des mille lac for starters if your up for the 2 hour drive and going for "pickeral" ha ha. I personally wouldnt bother with Hazelwood but if you do go bring leeches. Also give cloud lake a try (theres some monster walleye in there) and smallies. If you want specks i suggest adrian its just a short hike off the boreal road. Good luck and wish i was tagging along.

[briverb]

Thanks for the replies. I put a post on the Thunder Bay Fishing forum and got a list of lakes as well. Surprised how many I forgot about. Big bonus is an old fishing/hunting buddy still lives there who I thought left. Said I can use any of his gear, even if he cannot make it out. Hopefully he will have enought time off to join us.

I never thought about actually renting a shack since I have so much of my own gear, but I guess it would be hard to bring it all on the plane, eh? Also, now my other niece who is 5 wants to go, so renting a shack while be a must. Can't wait to get those 2 little goobers on the ice. Can't wait to see their faces when I tell them they have to drill the holes with the hand auger themselves. :)

thanks again

[brohymn2]

i wish i was headed there right about now, have fun

[BigRackLover]

After going to Pigeon this weekend, I wish I could have a selection of lakes like that around Tbay. Although when September rolls around, I'd much rather be an Alberta resident.

[jrcw]

briverb - PM me if you want some more info on the shack rentals at Lac

[brohymn2]

After going to Pigeon this weekend, I wish I could have a selection of lakes like that around Tbay. Although when September rolls around, I'd much rather be an Alberta resident.

ill second that

[ESOXangler]

Leemer you hunting out here too? lol can't beat it

[brohymn2]

Leemer you hunting out here too? lol can't beat it

ya man i needed something to fill the void when i stopped drinking lots. although right now im doing a hunting of different kind

[maximus]

ah fellow NWO'ian's. If your looking for a walk in adventure I suggest Quetico. Nothing says NWO like Lake Trout. :) Any of you boys from GP?

[jrcw]

x2 on the Quetico suggestion. What a great place that is. No roads, no people, and dozens upon dozens of lakes. Make sure to check the regs, bait restrictions etc. As for Cloud Lake, rumour has it the fishing took a serious hit after it was featured on a major TV fishing show. maximus - not from GP, but a fellow Peace Country resident! It's not NWO, but it's still NW.

[ESOXangler]

some how im in edmonton not sure why thou

[Map Maker]

some how im in edmonton not sure why thou

Maybe the north sask reminds you of the Kam. :D

Could be worse, Im in Red Deer. I tried living in the big city. Couldnt handle it.
Red Deer is good for now.

[ESOXangler]

ha ha yep just like the kam ha ha. Yeah the big city is too much, way too much. But its a nice jump off point to northern alberta for work.

[briverb]

Well I have been in T. Bay for a week of ice fishing, watching Olympics and chattin' it up with the o'le locals at Tim Horton's. Got a few pike out of the Kam with my nieces and nephew and older sister. Got some great video of them trying to get through the 3 feet of ice with the 8 inch hand auger I borrowed. HALARIOUS!!!!!!! They we so determined to get through the ice. All 4 of them turning the auger at the same time. They did pretty good. They managed to get through 1 foot of ice working as a team. :lol:

The kids were glued to my homemade hockey stick tip up when we finally landed a pike on it. They sat around that thing for over an hour staring at it to move again. I was trying to teach them a few things about pike, like keeping your fingers away from the hook and of course I got my finger ripped open by the first pike we landed. That freaked them out quite a bit. Last time that happened to me was over 20 years ago at the Kam, so it was kind of fitting.

Headed to Silver Harbour with my brother in law. It was his first time ice fishing. He landed 2 nice lakers between 3 and 5 lbs. I landed 1 around 5 lbs. The best part was when he hooked his first one, I wanted to get him on video. For those of you from a Lake Superior ice fishing background, you know that lake usually does not have snow on it due to the high winds. So after I reeled my line in I tried to run over to him and I had both feet slip out from under me and I slammed on the ice. It was anything but graceful and funny as heck. All day the ice was cracking and moaning and a few times the rumbling went under us and some water shot out of the pressure crack we were fishing within eyesight of. I thought it was awesome, but my brother in law kept asking if the ice was going to crack wide open. Good times.

Anyways, I know this is not a "Thunder Bay Discussion Board", but thought I'd just post my results so far and ask how the weather and ice fishing has been around Red Deer and Calgary. I get back March 2nd and will be dying to get out.