Nipigon & Pasha Lake

James or anybody who has been there. How far to get to a decent paved landing on Nipigon?

Had lunch with a guy Sunday and we got talking open water fishing and lo & behold he wants to hit Nipigon for Pike one of these years. Having watched your shows and read reports from Pike guys that hit Nipigon my interest is peaked. I know Chad has a nice set-up at Pasha but I just can’t find out how far away a decent landing is.

It will be a deep V boat so i’m wondering where James launches his Skeeter when he goes. I guess part two of the question would be once launched how far to get to some of the Pikier bays?

Thank you.

I’ve been to Nipigon 5 times with my Skeeter mx2025, Did not concentrate on pike, but caught plenty while Speck fishing. Big ones too. However, I have never seen or heard of a paved or decent landing, but I am sure I have not seen all of them. All of the launching I have done has been unpaved after fairly lengthy unpaved roads. Some years the roads were pretty good and I could maintain 40 MPH other times, well lets just say…not so good.

As an aside, It is a huge lake, and more than once, it has scared the crap out of me, be it waves (South wind in September one year) or fog, or just the isolation of it. Most days I never saw another boat, and usually covered 30-40 miles of water daily. I recommend bring as much gas as possible from the USA, I usually brought 8-10 6 gallon tanks plus a full tank in the boat.

Not what I was hoping to hear, but thank-you.

Don’t get me wrong. It was definitely fun and I don’t regret it a bit. But it was what I would call a rustic experience.

Where did you stay? Or were you camping?

I did something like that in Manitoba on lake sipiwisk. 16 hours in a vehicle, 4-6 hours by boat. Granted they were 25 horses. Camped and we’re at the mercy of mother nature. But walleye and nord fishing wax like catching sunfish off a dock.

And yes the road to the lake access was an adventure.

I stayed at onaman river resort, much longer drive than Pasha but you can launch right there. If you ever want to discuss it feel free to PM me.

Never seen a paved landing or paved roads to Nipigon but who knows? I travel 30 -40 miles to get to my honey holes and I take light wieght camping gear and camp on the lake to make the most of my 30-40 mile trip. Finding good camp sight on Nipigon is about as hard as finding paved roads and landings to the lake. I listen to the daily Nipigon weather report on my marine radio to understand if and when I can travel. My trips are planned around long warm days and what would be relatively stable weather periods. I’ve never done Pasha so I cant help you there. It’s not for everyone but it is for me. 5 1/2 months away. Out on the lake at 30 -40 mile level of tranquility I have yet to meet other anglers fishing the same area. Let’s keep it that way.

I think I know what one you mean (on orient bay) It would be quite a trip up to the main lake from there wouldn’t it?

5 1/2 months away. Out on the lake at 30 -40 mile level of tranquility

Seriously? How many times have you done this? That would be a dream of mine!

munchy wrote:

5 1/2 months away. Out on the lake at 30 -40 mile level of tranquility

Seriously? How many times have you done this? That would be a dream of mine!

Year 22 coming up. Many areas yet to be explored and discovered. I started the big trips into the lake about 5 years ago.

Pasha is best bet because you will have weather days you cant get on Nipigon. On those days you can go on Pashas day trip lakes to get out of the wind. Best to have 6 to 8 fishing days because you will have days you cant get on the lake.
If you really want to not see another person try it in winter!

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Can you get Specks in the winter? Lakers?

Been a long time, but we got into Nipigon by going down the Onaman River.

We were here.

http://www.onamanriverresort.com

We watched a woodland caribou swim from one island to another on the lake. Very memeorable.

I’ve not yet seen a Caribou on the lake. Very rare. That would be cool.
What part of the lake?
I’ve been looking!

There is a paved landing on lake Nipigon about 25-30 miles (guesstimate) from Pasha Lake Cabins. It’s called High Hill Harbor. Very nice landing.

You have invoked an old memory of fishing Lake Nipigon when I was a teenager. We used to drive to MacDiaremid, just of the TransCanadian Highway on Orient bay, launch our 14 foot/20 hp boats and head north then west along the shore to the bays just south of Noanan Island. We used to stay in an old loggers cabin for a week. The Nipigon River exits the lake in those channels, we used to go through and old dam whose center was removed when they built the last dam downstream from there. We would only fish for northern as walleye was considered not very desireable by my elders. We fished around the islands, the bays off the river which at that time had log booms across them to facilitate logs being sent down the river. We also would have to get over those booms. The last year we went, I think it was 1972, we witnessed the last log raft to be sent down this way. In the bays the water was extremely clear and full of stumps and big northern. I realize that was 45 years ago but one never knows. One interesting memory, we would buy ice that was cut from the lake. It was mid August and it was stored in a big wooden building, encased in sawdust. They sell you a chunk, wash it off and in a cooler it went, would last all week. Attitudes were different then as it was the big thing to bring home a couple of 45-48 inch gutted northerns to show off

doorman wrote:

I’ve not yet seen a Caribou on the lake. Very rare. That would be cool.
What part of the lake?
I’ve been looking!

On the east side where the Onaman river dumps in. This was 35 years ago, but going by my best recollection it wasn’t terribly far into the lake. We were there just to fish the Onaman River, but we took a day to motor into Lake Nipigon to check it out. The fishing was really good in the river, but we didn’t catch much in the lake that day. Beautiful place nonetheless .

I’ll add that the caribou was a very dark calico and he scooted into the bush pretty fast went he hit shore.

Pat McSharry wrote:

There is a paved landing on lake Nipigon about 25-30 miles (guesstimate) from Pasha Lake Cabins. It’s called High Hill Harbor. Very nice landing.

Thanks Pat!!!!

David Anderson wrote:

You have invoked an old memory of fishing Lake Nipigon when I was a teenager. We used to drive to MacDiaremid, just of the TransCanadian Highway on Orient bay, launch our 14 foot/20 hp boats and head north then west along the shore to the bays just south of Noanan Island. We used to stay in an old loggers cabin for a week. The Nipigon River exits the lake in those channels, we used to go through and old dam whose center was removed when they built the last dam downstream from there. We would only fish for northern as <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye was considered not very desireable by my elders. We fished around the islands, the bays off the river which at that time had log booms across them to facilitate logs being sent down the river. We also would have to get over those booms. The last year we went, I think it was 1972, we witnessed the last log raft to be sent down this way. In the bays the water was extremely clear and full of stumps and big northern. I realize that was 45 years ago but one never knows. One interesting memory, we would buy ice that was cut from the lake. It was mid August and it was stored in a big wooden building, encased in sawdust. They sell you a chunk, wash it off and in a cooler it went, would last all week. Attitudes were different then as it was the big thing to bring home a couple of 45-48 inch gutted northerns to show off

Great memories Dave. I have the same type of thing with the icehouse on the only Canadian trip dad took me on in the 60’s. Our camp was somewhere up past Kenora, I’m not even sure where.

The best ramp is at High Hill Harbor on the east side near Beardmore. They have fuel there but you need to get a hold of someone at the campground for it. 60′ boats launch there. South Bay has another good ramp.
GullBay, SW corner of Murchasion island has a great bay for pike, the mud river on the North end is the best on the entire lake for pike. Chief Bay another great spot. A river on the south end of Macanyre bay is a local favorite also.
Stash fuel along the way if you can for the return trip. Bring a crash bag in case you can’t get back to camp. A shotgun is a must if your camping as you will get occasional black bears creating problems. ( Permit required ($28.00)

Thanks Ed, is the permit required to camp or for the gun?

Ed Lashyro wrote:

The best ramp is at High Hill Harbor on the east side near Beardmore. They have fuel there but you need to get a hold of someone at the campground for it. 60′ boats launch there. South Bay has another good ramp.
GullBay, SW corner of Murchasion island has a great bay for pike, the mud river on the North end is the best on the entire lake for pike. Chief Bay another great spot. A river on the south end of Macanyre bay is a local favorite also.
Stash fuel along the way if you can for the return trip. Bring a crash bag in case you can’t get back to camp. A shotgun is a must if your camping as you will get occasional black bears creating problems. ( Permit required ($28.00)

Great info here for hardcore Nipigon fishers. The question is: do you have the guts?

Both, its been a couple years but at the time it was $28.00 for up to three guns good for ninety days no matter how many times you go there. We would bring a 12 ga pump with buckshot. You will see a lot of bears.

Camping on queens land requires a camping permit for each day there unless you stay on your boat and don’t touch land. I thought it was $10.00 perversion per night. There is a nice campground near Beardmore with hookups showers ect.

There are several nice remote sites but only a few offer 360 degree protection. Bring a chain saw also.