Any Success on South Bay?, Southerner hoping for some help! ??

[Scottyc25]

Hey Everyone,

I’ve been planning an ice fishing trip with my father-in-law for the last few weeks and up until recently had been planning on finding a northern back lake to try but with talk of slush and not wanting to get stuck we’ve decided to go a different route and see what we can catch on Nipissing.

We live in St. Thomas, Ont. and haven’t been ice fishing on Nipissing in about 10 years and back then we’d gone with an outfitter. Now we have our own equipment to be self-sufficient on the ice and are planning to camp for a couple nights.

I’ve been scouring this message board for hints and info on where we might have a shot at catching some walleye and/or perch and see Callander Bay mentioned a lot. I’m just wondering what kind of success (if any) anyone is having out around South Bay. I’m not asking for specific locations, I’d just like to know if the bite is on over that way. It’s a long way to drive to just roll the dice.

Thanks in advance for any information and regardless of how we make out, I’ll definitely report back on how our trip went.

Scottyc25

[porkpie]

Do you have a snowmobile or an atv? Callander bay will have more beaten down trails to follow and if you can move around a bit you’ll find fish. If you haven’t been in 10 years I’d go to Callander. If you have a reliable snowmobile it’s not a big deal to run out of callander. Be aware there is no overnight parking in Callendar but you can probably pay an outfitter for parking.

[dickie]

Four of us were fishing with greening bay cottages from the 15th -18th in the day huts. We did quite well catching 63 walleye and 43 perch. We had 11 in the slot and having a good fry took the rest home. We caught 6 that were over the slot and the rest being below were sent back to live another day. The perch over all were good size The ice bungalows they took over from SSIC were out but few holes drilled due to rising water around them because of their weight and snow cover on the lake. Many of the fishermen in them were fishing outside the temps were going to really drop after we left so that should help that situation. The service and accomodations were great Thanks to all the staff that made it that way

[Perch_master]

The south shore has been pretty good for the past week! Been getting good walleye out there. Definitely my favourite part of the lake I've fished so far. The snow when I was last out was about ankle deep besides the snowmobile paths that had frozen. Was a super tough walk but manageable. I do think it's worth the trek though! The evening bite was phenomenal.

[Scottyc25]

@porkpie - yes, we’ll have a 4 wheeler with us to haul our gear out. Our plan is to do some runnin’ and gunnin’ until we (hopefully) get onto a good bite and then set up our tent and stuff. I don’t mind trying Callander Bay and we can sneak out onto the main lake from there if we had to. We’ve never fished the inner bay as the last half dozen or so times we fished Nip we went out with Lake Nipissing Ice Fishing Charters and were out off Sunset Cove.


Is it worth fishing Callander Bay if it’s a tent city and everyone and their brother is out on the ice?

Good call on the parking situation. I’ll try calling a couple outfitters before heading up to see about swinging a cash deal on a parking spot. Fingers crossed!


@dickie - sounds like you had a great couple days up there! Glad to hear it. I’ve read some good fishing reports over the last few days and yours is up there with the better ones. It definitely gives me some hope that we’ll find some fish. We’re more than happy to just find fish to catch, even if they all get released.

@perch_master - thanks for the feedback. What part of the south shore were you referring to? I don’t want to ask for anyone’s spots so in very general terms and using the Waltonian Inn as middle would you say east or west of the Inn? Having a 4 wheeler should help us cover ground (ice?) easier and hopefully find some fish.

[Perch_master]

No problem at all. I'm new to nip so I don't really have too much info to supply. But I was west of the inn! Fishing pretty much in the middle of South Bay. I kind of have just been mixing in with the hut cities out there and setting up LOL. Good luck. Happy to hear you have a mode of transport out there. I'll be up on Tues and will be back at it. Hoping to get some more!

[porkpie]

In the summer I fish offshore all the time as the best fishing is out there If the wind will let you get to it. That said, the fish move around a lot and callander and surrounding areas and main lake just outside the bay can be really good in winter . If you are mobile look at navionics and keep moving around until you get on them. Don’t be tied to just the morning or evening bite. If you move a bit you can often find fresh fish all day. Be mindful with the 4 wheeler that you can easily get stuck depending on snow and slush conditions. If you have a winch bring an ice anchor to unstick yourself!