A Panfish-filled time at Sandbanks Provincial Park

If you have a work event 5 hours from home on a Saturday, you might as well turn it into a camping trip. At least, that’s what I did.

When I found out I would have a work event on Amherst Island in May, I knew I didn’t want to drive that far and back in one day. I definitely didn’t want to spend the whole weekend away from Darrell and the dogs. So I started looking for campgrounds in the area, and eventually settled on Sandbanks Provincial Park. The campsites looked decent, there was a dog beach, and we could fish Lake Ontario, the Outlet river, or East Lake. Perfect!

I don’t know what exactly I was expecting when we drove in, but the parking lot upon parking lot for beachgoers was not it. I hadn’t realized just how popular a destination Sandbanks would be for beachgoers, but I soon realized why. Talk about a long, beautiful beach!

To be fair, I’m not much of a beach person. If I’m that close to water I’d rather be out on it in a boat. And that’s exactly what we did after quickly setting up camp.

The boat ramp in the Outlet A campground is definitely not for big boats, and even smaller boats might have trouble when water levels are low. We had brought the 12 foot tinny on top of our camping trailer, so all we had to do was lift it in. I say all we had to do, but bringing the boat like that means having to drag the motors and all the other gear out of the back of the truck and set it up, so it’s not quick.

With a slight chop on the big water, and very full boat with the two of us and the three dogs, we decided to fish the river.

Red-winged Blackbirds and Grackles sang away as we made our way upstream. Erza decided she was sitting on my seat, shoving me to the side and making it hard to move around. After tripping over each other, sliding off seats, and some general chaos, Molly and Panda also found spots to lay down.

Despite my polarized glasses, I was having a hard time spotting any fish and began to think it would be a fishless weekend. Oh, how wrong I would be.

I was throwing a Berkley Power Nymph in pumpkin chartreuse, while Darrell had a white Twister Tail tied on. He beat me to the first fish since he was the first one to cast. All of a sudden, there were sunfish, perch, and bass everywhere. Bass were still open on the Friday (they closed the next day), and though we weren’t targeting them, we ended up with quite a few.

Casting out, we’d let our lures fall, then slowly swim them or hop them back to the boat. The fish couldn’t resist. Sunnies and bluegills and rock bass and perch came to the boat cast after cast. It was non-stop small fish action and I LOVED it!

The next day I headed out early for Amherst Island, had to stop at the park entrance for four deer to cross the road, and then learned the whole ferry process. Darrell, stuck at Sandbanks without a vehicle, was brave as always and took the three dogs for a hike on Cedar Trail. I received many texts about my dog (that would be Panda) and his misdeeds, including trying to go off-trail into the poison ivy, getting his leash tangled in the stairs, and generally annoying the others.

Speaking of poison ivy, there was so much of it! Along the side of the road, growing up through a boardwalk, growing along the bank of the river, and right at the post marker for our campsite. I’d done a walk around the campsite before we let the dogs out of the truck on arrival, and it looked pretty clear. By Sunday, after a night of rain, there was poison ivy popping up in the grass we’d put the boat on. Sandbanks is a great park, but if you’re highly allergic to poison ivy, you might want to camp elsewhere.

On our final day at Sandbanks, we again launched the boat and headed upriver to East Lake to check it out. We then spent hours drifting back down the river, catching big rock bass, sunfish after sunfish, and having double-headers more often than not. It was a perfect day on the water.

We headed back to camp to pack up, then stopped at Currah’s, the park store and grill, for some fantastic burgers. The dogs enjoyed the fries as much as we did, and the onion rings were perfect.

And just like that, it was time to head back home with the dogs asleep in the back seat and Darrell and I discussing the fishing at length. Sandbanks Provincial Park proved to be a great spot for the weekend and I was glad to have the chance to visit. Now I’m looking forward to our next camping trip, something that will be a little different than what we’re used to!