Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Last year, Leon and I went to the Harrisburg Outdoor show looking for lodges in Canada that would rent us a boat to bass fish.  We found three places that met our requirements.

Earlier this year I contacted the three places and only one returned my call.  So we booked a week at a lodge on Cranberry Lake in Ontario.  One of the things we liked about this lake was that it was only an eight-hour drive away and they advertised a variety of fish in their lake.

The drive up was uneventful except for an inquisitive custom’s officer on the US/Canadian border wondering why we had so much stuff.  I figured he didn’t fish. 

The accommodations were nice.  We’re normally used to back country cabins and were pleased with a 5G signal, clean showers, hot water, and a modern kitchen.  The lodge’s managers and owner were real nice and accommodated everything we needed. 

We had beautiful weather in the 60s to 70s during the day with no bugs.  The wind was mostly quite although we did have a few days where we had to work with the wind.  The only problem was the lake was down 2’ and the fishing was slow.  We talked to people who come up every year for the past 20-30 years and they weren’t having much luck.  Leon and I went with no expectations because September in Canada could be very cold.

We explored every shoreline of the lake along with many islands.  Scenery was beautiful, and the topo maps of the lake showed 15’ at its deepest.  But the lake was down a couple feet and full of grass.  Both things we’re not used to fishing. 




Swans were everywhere.  Both adult and the “ugly duckling?? .  Never seen so many.  And when they take off or land, they made quite the appearance.





Despite the slow fishing, we did catch some nice picture fish.  But some didn’t count because they were green and not bronze.  We also had a nice variety of fish, including bluegill, red breasted panfish, rock fish, small mouth, large month and pike. The lake was healthy and full of young-of-year fish.  We’d get bit with every cast. I downsized one slow afternoon and got four species on every other cast.  Then moved up to bigger fish baits.

We had to work hard for fish, and we didn’t get many fish that justified pulling out the camera.  We did catch a bunch of little ones, but it wasn’t what I would call wide open.  I guess Leon and I are spoiled with the Northern Quebec lakes and their fishery. 














If anyone has any information on Canadian lodge fishing in either Ontario or Quebec, please share