Looking for northern location for epic week long ice fish trip

Here it is...a good buddy and myself are planning an epic ice fishing trip for mid febuary. My buddy purchased an enclosed 8'X14' snomobile trailer that will be insulated and heated and we are looking for some productive fishing areas to go for a week long ice fishing trip in the north. We are not looking to go too far(5-8 hours north of barrie) due to fuel prices, so that will land us around two to three hours north of elliot lake, 2-3 hours north of temagami, Sudbury to Gogama/Shining Tree. Target species we would like to get are brookies, walleye, lake trout, rainbows, splake.(any of those would be awesome but preferance would be brookies and or walleye, the main thing is that we are getting fish) We have a reliable sled and a portable otter hut to fish out of. Ideally we would only have to snowmobile 3-5 km max from where we park the portable cabin/trailer to fish. We would totally be willing to relocate midway throughout the week and drive another couple of hours if needed to find another species. 90% of the fish we catch would be catch and release. We would keep a couple of smaller brookies/lakers/walleye to eat while we are there. We may also do a few hours of rabbit hunting while we are up there, just to break up the trip a bit.(i'll be hunting with a recurve bow and my buddy with a .22 lr rifle) One of the main requirements is somewhere decent to park the trailer, a small parking lot would be perfect, it must be somewhat level though we will be bringing jacks to level out the trailer once we get there. We dont want to be in a high traffic area or in town if at all possible, but we also cant be parking on the side of the road as our rig is a bit too big for that.
Both my buddy and myself are experienced fisherman/hunters/campers and are very adamant in following the regulations, including the unwritten ones(especially leaving no garbage). Locations/names of lakes and or hotspots to fish would not be revealed by either of us in any form.

Can anyone help us out? We'd grab a case of beer for anyone that can hook us up with a sweet spot. I personally dont drink beer, but i know my buddy will be having a few while we are there.

Thanks! Please pm me if you have some tips to make this the best ice fishing trip ever.

RedSkullz said:

Can anyone help us out? We'd grab a case of beer for anyone that can hook us up with a sweet spot. I personally dont drink beer, but i know my buddy will be having a few while we are there.

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LOL..thanks for the input openfire...the immediate temagami area is an area i am familiar with. We used to rent a cabin every summer for a week when i was a kid that was 10 minutes south of temagami. The fishing on the lakes we fished then was decent, but only for nice bass and small pike.(but there is a million lakes in that area) I'd like to tread some new water/area, but temagami area would be a good starting point for sure.

All great locations I personally live in timmins so im really familiar with the shining tree/chapleau/wawa. All are great options for many species of fish most popular being Walleye,Pike,Brookies,splake and lakers. Just drop me a msg if you would like to bounce some idea's around and ill point you in the right direction.

- Hoby

Living in timmins...you are a lucky man!! I'd love to live that far north, if only i could convince the wife! Thanks so much for the offer hoby5! I'll pm you after i get home from icefishing for crappies tomorrow and we'll chat. Chapleau/shining tree would be about as far as we can go on our budget.(and to be honest thats exactly where i want to go for this trip)
Thanks again!

I lived in Sudbury for 22 years, and we would go to Lake Panache/Penage near Espanola. There was a road plowed out onto the ice, as well as a lot near the government docks where you could park and then snowmobile from there. Fishing used to be pretty good, but it's been years since I've done this. I've caught Lake Trout, Walleye and Whitefish ice fishing Panache.

Getting caught up in other things..will pm both of you guys asap...going out for some jumbo perch tomorrow on cooks bay...thanks for the comments and help guys! (sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited about this trip!!)

Well perch fishing was downright tough!! We ended up with 7 tiny ones between 4 guys in 5 hours...ouch!! We were running and gunning and couldnt catch a break...sigh...got talking to some guys on the lake and they were experiencing the same thing.

Here is an update abut our trip...

We have the trailer insulated and tested it out with an icehut heater l night in -10...man does she heat up!! We are hoping to get the carbon monxide safe heater installed monday or tuesday. If it all works out as planned we are going to do an overnight test in the right on the full moon on wednesday to try a little back lake i know thats 1 hour north from us. I am hoping it will be -15 to really get to test out the heater....not alot to do before we are ready for this trip!! We are starting to think that shining tree is going to be our destination area. Still open to hear suggestions, so if you are into icefishing in the north please contact me.

Here's an update about the weather here recently last 2 nights have been -30 or worse but not to worry by the time feb rolls around temps should be in the -10 to -20 zone sumtimes warmer . So im hoping the trailer you guys have will be good enough to withstand the weather if worse comes to worse.

p.s i just got a hold of the new stocking list so ill msg you later on about a few more ideas for your trip.

-Hoby

Hoby5 said:

Here's an update about the weather here recently last 2 nights have been -30 or worse but not to worry by the time feb rolls around temps should be in the -10 to -20 zone sumtimes warmer . So im hoping the trailer you guys have will be good enough to withstand the weather if worse comes to worse.

p.s i just got a hold of the new stocking list so ill msg you later on about a few more ideas for your trip.

-Hoby

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Hey
Thanks...we are not too concerned if it is -30. The trailer is professionally insulated and the miniature furnace that is being installed can heat a small cottage safely. In addition we'll both have sleeping bags that are rated at -30 or colder. The only concern we have if its that cold is the snowmobile wont start.
I have done winter camping, in just a tent at -20, and with this setup i am convinced that not only will we be safe, but we'll be comfortable. We had a 1000w heater running on low in -20 and after 3 hours it was warm enough in there for a heavy sweater. We'll also have backup heat just in case as well.
Thanks again and we look foward to hearing ideas from you!