Fishing
Onaping Lake Lodge is located on Lake Onaping which is well known for being one of Northern Ontario’s best fisheries. We offer our guests the chance to fish for Walleye, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass and Lake Trout. Nearby streams and lakes that are within an hour’s drive of base camp offer the chance for good Brook Trout (Speckled Trout) fishing. Lake Onaping is also part of the MNR stocking program with more than 500,000 Walleye and Lake Trout released each year thereby assuring our guests of continued great fishing. Guests at Onaping Lake Lodge experience good sizes and numbers of Walleye, Pike and Bass without the need to travel too far north.
Walleye Fishing:
Lake Onaping offers you excellent Walleye fishing with many fish in the 2-3 pound range and many occasions where you’ll latch onto Walleye in the 4 to 5 pound range as well. With it’s 48 miles long size, Lake Onaping provides fishermen with over 2200 miles of shoreline with weedy bays, shoals, islands and rocky points creating the optimal habitat to not only sustain good populations of Walleyes, but also produce big Walleye.
Northern Pike Fishing:
Lake Onaping has some of the best Northern Pike fishing hotspots in the area and being one of the largest lakes in the region, also produced some of the biggest trophy pike. The abundance of feeder fish provide lots of food for Northern Pike to grow big in size and exist in good numbers.
Northern Pike average around 3 pounds in our lake. Pike in the 4 to 7 pound range are caught frequently. There have been many occasions where our guests catch and release Northern Pike over 40 inches, with some coming close to 50 inches.
Smallmouth Bass Fishing:
Experienced anglers know that Smallmouth Bass are the hardest fighting fish pound-for-pound. Guests at Onaping Lake Lodge can witness and experience this first hand as our waters are filled with Bass. Legendary for their air-born acrobatics as they head straight for the surface once you get them on your line, Smallmouth Bass taste excellent and make for a great shore lunch or evening meal.
The rocks of Lake Onaping produce an endless bounty of Crayfish and minnows, which are the choice meal of Smallmouth Bass.
Regulation Change: Smallmouth Bass is open all year now.
Lake Trout Fishing:
Lake Onaping has good Lake Trout fishing. The many deep areas in the lake maintain cold water allowing the trout to flourish even in the summer when the surface water gets warm. In the spring the Lake Trout are caught by fisherpersons in shallow water while fishing for other species or just by trolling near drop-offs or rocky points. As the water warms up, they go deeper.
Lake Trout can be found in the deepest parts of the lake during the summer but in actual fact, trout that deep are not feeding. When the trout feed, they come into the thermal layer, which is usually around 50 feet deep in mid summer. If you have a smaller slow-trolling boat and don’t have downriggers, you can fish deep for Lake Trout with our light tackle Lake Trout tips, which is far more effective than downriggers and a lot more fun. All you need is your Walleye rod and some 2 oz weights.