Wabakimi canoeing park….

anyone here been there, I am looking at doing a trip there this summer, this is a big step up from BWCA and Quetico and info is tough to come by. Thanks for sharing if you can!

Back about 10 years ago, I was hooked up with a group that did fly-ins into the Wabakimi provincial park. We stayed on Smoothrock lake. Pretty much unbelievable fishing. Eyes, pike, lakers.

Jason, did you guys stay at a cabin or canoe and camp? Looks like a pretty good sized lake. Also what time of year did you go….

I did that trip about 20 years ago and it kicked my
the route they planed for us was full of steep portages and fast water but the fishing was awesome , I have never caught so many nice walleyes and huge pike ever on a canoe trip,
the most important thing when you go, is to talk to the outfitter planing your route, and let them know what the ability of your weakest person is,and pick a group with experience
of the 6 of us that went on our trip 5 had lots of canoe experience and 1 had never been in the woods before
and with all the crying and complaining she almost got left there
it also made the trip a pain in the with all the extra trips on the portages to get her share of the stuff.
its a great area and i would recommend it to anyone that likes the BWCA or Quetico trips,
also check the fishing license requirements for Canada I think there is a change this year

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Jason, did you guys stay at a cabin or canoe and camp? Looks like a pretty good sized lake. Also what time of year did you go….

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We stayed in a primitive cabin. We saw 1-2 other groups per week.

Smoothrock is a long lake (LONG). There is an outfitter on the north end with a bunch of cabins and the outpost we stayed in at the south end.

I was there during several time frames from mid June through mid August. We typically fished eyes near the inlets early and on the reefs later. Lakers were deep pretty much all the time. Really nice pike were available shallow early and then were incidental catches later while fishing the reefs for eyes.

This is the outfitter we used… Pipestone Fly-in Outposts. Good people!

MR Walleye we are looking at a trip like this, my buddy Ken has us completely out fitted already, we are looking at taking the train from Armstrong and doing a loop and training back out. Just two maybe three guys but all expierenced in Canadien portage’s and wilderness camping. Should be interesting….

make sure they are realistic about the portages, a 30 rod portage on flat ground is easy, a 30 rod portage on rocks and steep slopes will take 3 times as long,
if I was going to do it again, I would plan for 1/2 day paddles and spend the afternoon fishing ,
I would rather see less of the area, and not feel like I need to push it to get to my next campsite.

I have really wanted to do something like this, but my main concern was fishing out of a canoe… I like to be able to stand up when i cast, and i don’t know how well i would like fighting a large pike from a canoe?

I used to fly the bush in that area around Wabikimi park and over toward Sioux Lookout. Pretty rugged if you are not sure what to expect. My advice is get ahold of the MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources), like the DNR in the states and talk to the biologist for that area. They will let you know the routes and portages to take. Also keep in mind not all Crown (Public) Land is open to camping. In the park I believe it is, but you should check all that out prior to the trip. It would save a fine in the end. Yes the wardens do get out and visit quite often. Some unlucky ones I flew out were fined $500 per fish. They were 8 fish over so do the math. I think the controlling MNR is probably Sioux Lookout or possibly Armstrong. Outfitters in that area are Pipestone Outposts, Rusty Myers, and Northern Wilderness Outposts. Also Gino Puluchi had a camp on Brenan, not sure who has it now. Have any questions, let me know. Good Luck.

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I have really wanted to do something like this, but my main concern was fishing out of a canoe… I like to be able to stand up when i cast, and i don’t know how well i would like fighting a large pike from a canoe?

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We have rod holders that are made just for canoes. The big bonus here is if we are taking a easy paddle from one camp to the next we put out the rod holders and troll, we also troll from our camp sight to our fishing spot- like were a river dumps into a lake. These rod holders have really made the trip for us and we have found them as valuable as our food pack! Once we get to the “hotspot” we usually find a few rocks at the edge of the river we can stand on and cast and catch

Thank you for the advice bushpilot!!!!