Quick 3 Day Ice Camping Trip

“Are you sure we can make it into that lake you were looking at?”

I’m never sure of anything and Darrell, despite the question, knows that by now.

“I don’t know. It’s not like I could find any information about it, but it seems like the type of place that will be fished in the winter. Besides, there are plenty of other lakes in the area.”

We were in the truck, with the three dogs, a snowmobile trailer hooked on, and a pile of gear crammed into every space. The weather was “wintery” and called for us to drive through snow squalls on this 6 hour trip from home. After booking a day off of work and turning it into a 3-day weekend, we had both hoped to fish and camp somewhere closer, but some mid-week rain in more southern areas meant the lakes were full of slush, so we headed north. Towards Gogama, in fact.

The highway was slick and we passed multiple cars in the ditch. I wondered if it was really a great idea to keep going, but I was in need of a weekend on the ice and knew that I wouldn’t be happy without it.

I watched my Backroad Mapbooks app (a must for all adventures) as we got closer to our intended lake. Like most of the lakes in this area it’s surrounded by crown land and although fishing information was limited to a couple of posts online, Darrell had talked to someone that said the fishing was good for walleye and pike. I was really hoping for pike. The only problem would be access, and when we arrived, that was definitely a problem.

Like most of the lakes and backroads in this area, there was just a small clearing by the road for parking. Unlike some of the other areas, this one wasn’t plowed at all, it was just cleared by vehicles driving through the snow and perhaps the odd shovel. Although Darrell tried to fit our truck and trailer into a small space beside one of the trucks already there, it just wasn’t going to work. We turned around and headed back down the road, looking for a lake with better access. Always be adaptable and always have a back-up plan.

Our next stop was at a lake with a beautifully cleared parking area! It wasn’t even a lake that was on our radar. Someone had brought a snowblower in to clear the parking area. Unfortunately, the lake was a foot and a half of snow and slush once you got off the path heading to a cottage. It was a no go. Now we were getting late in the afternoon and needed to find a place quickly, so we headed to our back-up spot, a group of lakes we had been to before. There was plenty of room to park and an easy snowmobile trail to follow to get to the lake. It’s a beautiful place so I didn’t mind ending up there at all.

New for us was going fishing and camping with the snowmobiles. Not only did we now have to unload the machines and load up our sleds, but we also had to get the dogs to follow the snowmobiles and not head towards the road. Fortunately, this proved to be an easier task than my anxiety thought it would be. We took our sleds to the start of the trail and when Darrell unleashed the dogs they ran after me no problem. Running behind my sled on this trail through the forest allowed the dogs to stretch their legs after so many hours in the truck. They loved it.

Once we reached the lake we were happy to find that snow cover and slush wasn’t much of an issue. As long as we stayed away from shore, we had decent footing. We stopped the sleds to look at our map and pick a spot to setup. With the wind picking up we ended up having a small area to choose from where we would be well-protected.

After setting up the hut we were all exhausted. We ended up in about 40 feet of water, which wasn’t as shallow as we would have liked with this being a stocked trout lake, but making sure we were sheltered and out of the worst of the slush had won out over ideal depths. We didn’t even make dinner that first night. Both of us were beat, so after getting a rod set-up and a line down the hole, we played musical cots with the dogs until we all found somewhere to pass out.

The next day we spent plenty of time outside, enjoying the views and the sunshine, but also inside the hut, fishing, reading, eating good food and napping. Everything a weekend should be. Darrell and I took turns taking our sleds out to explore. It’s a new experience to have the means to quickly cover ground in the winter and it let me explore far more than I would have otherwise. There were animal tracks to see, side trails to wonder about, and just that feeling of glee you get from being on a snowmobile.

While day 2 was wonderful, night 2 was…not so wonderful. Despite a delicious dinner of steak and potatoes, we ended up having a difficult night. The temperature dropped to -30C and eventually the heater was refusing to work. One of us would have to stay up to babysit it. There was a lot of swearing, smacking of the heater, and improvising. It’s not bad to lose the heat when you’re in your sleeping bag, but I couldn’t convince the dogs to stay inside their sleeping bag, which left me worried about keeping the heat going. Yet again, we’ve learned more lessons on a camping trip.

That night would have been a great one to catch a fish, particularly the burbot that apparently inhabit the lake, but all we had to show for it was about eight fewer minnows and no fish. Something kept eating our minnows, but they managed to not get hooked. At least we were marking fish on the finder for much of the trip, despite not catching them.

When I took the dogs out for their morning pee at 5am, we scared something that went crashing through the trees. I always wonder what the sounds belong to. On that final day I heard so many birds singing away in the trees. It was beautiful to hear and even after a -30C night, it was a sure sign that spring was on the way.

We fished a few more places around the lake, enjoying the fact that it was Monday and we had the whole place to ourselves. Eventually though, it was time to pack up and leave. That was easier said than done when it came to the hut. The fabric skirt had frozen into the ice and it took a torch, a hammer, and a shovel to get it free.

On the drive back to the truck my faithful Australian shepherds once again followed me without fail. Panda and Erza are never far from me. Molly, on the other hand, got distracted by smells. Just when I was getting worried that Darrell was so far behind I heard his sled, and saw Molly sitting in his lap. Apparently that had been the only way to get her attention and get her back to the truck. She’s always the one that doesn’t want the adventures to end.

And so we called it quits on another adventure. We did not have the most successful ice fishing trip, or even ice fishing season, but we did have some great camping trips! And as always, being in such awesome areas has convinced me that we do not live in the right place and need to move. That’s pretty common for me after any camping trip!

Winter camping has proved to be an amazing way to have to fun during a season that keeps so many of us at home. I’m grateful that I finally agreed with Darrell’s idea to try camping in the winter. I love it!

Want to see for yourself what it was like? Watch the video below.