Fishing for Bass and Pike at Grand Tappattoo Resort

What can I say about Grand Tappattoo on Otter Lake? Location, location, location!
ontario pike fishing grand tappattoo resort

Located on Otter Lake, within a half-hour drive of Parry Sound and only a few hours north of the GTA, the Grand Tappattoo is a beautiful resort. Situated on a prime piece of land with plenty of lodging, an indoor pool, sauna, and gym, all beside a private sandy beach, this lodge is an angler's dream. The lodge also offers hiking and biking trails, and if you prefer a winter vacation, you can enjoy cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and ice skating. There are also snowmobile trails nearby that connect to the resort for more adventures. 

exterior grand tappattoo resort

Grand Tappattoo offers the fantastic Forest Restaurant for three meals a day. The chefs will prepare a meal you won’t soon forget! They offer a mix of casual and fine dining options, with a stunning view of Otter Lake to keep everyone well-fed and happy.

restaurant grand tappattoo resort

We were looking forward to having fun on the water, heading out on our Lund and trying to figure out Otter Lake. We came with limited knowledge of the lake but knew there were plenty of bass and pike to be had. One thing about this lake is that there are plenty of back bays and inlets to hide from the wind if you had to. Unfortunately, we couldn’t bring this lake up on our Lowrance charting. But we had a good base map showing the shoreline. So, we kept it simple and just started casting the shoreline close to Grand Tappattoo. We kept an open mind while fishing and were there just to have fun and see what we could catch, with no target species in mind. We noticed a lot of fallen trees in the water, which we just had to pitch and flip, hoping for a big largemouth. We also noticed there wasn’t a lot of weed in the lake, aside from thin beds of dollar pads along some shorelines and a few thicker lily pad beds and slop in the back bays. 

fish tv ontario bass fishing
ontario bass fishing grand tappattoo resort

I suggest that if you’re after largemouth, just fish all the visual cover you can find. You won’t be disappointed. We covered a lot of the shoreline, happening upon pike fairly frequently. We spotted a few giants following our baits more out of curiosity, not hunger. This trip, we had our best success catching smallmouth bass eager to attack our Mavrik jerkbait and quite easily caught follow-ups with the Ned BLT.  I’m estimating we caught over 40 smallmouth on one weed sand flat we found. We noticed bait busting the surface out from shore and instantly found the smallmouth underneath.

If you are new to the lake, I would suggest you do just as we did and just cast the shorelines with an open mind because you can catch largemouth, smallmouth and pike just about anywhere there.

Fish TV crew at Grand Tappatto Resort

When we headed back to the resort, everyone was out enjoying the sunshine with kids fishing from the dock, using kayaks and paddle boards and jumping on an awesome floating trampoline. Definitely a great spot to take your kids, fish and relax while they have fun.

About Jason Greentree

Jason is a multi-species angler with quite a vast resume of accomplishments in the fishing world. He is a multiple bass tournament winner, participated in many television and radio guest spots and a been on the cover of Outdoor Canada magazine. Currently, Jason continues to enjoy the outdoors and shares his fishing tips and tricks with viewers as a host of Fish TV.

Recommended Articles

Waking Up Bass

Add This Crankbait Presentation to Your Bag of Fishing Tricks

Fat Finesse Worm Bass

Learn a Go-To Technique for Fishing Bass

Slow Death Revisited

This technique is used to slow down the walleye bite transitioning from spring to summer.

Guardian Eagle Resort

A Fly-in, Full-Service Resort in Ontario's Sunset Country

Summer Fishing Patterns for Multi-Species

Bob Izumi discusses tips for different species and how to catch them when summer temperatures soar.

Epic Ice in Northwestern Ontario

An ice fishing report from the Northwest shows it could shape up to be one of the best ice fishing seasons ever.

Multi-Species Magic

Cedar Point Resort on Cedar Lake is a drive-in camp with the fabulous fishing of a remote fly-in.

Fishing for Muskie on the French River

Crane's Lochaven Wilderness Lodge

The Lake of Many Bays

Fly-in Fishing at Pine Portage Lodge

Trophy Pike & Ribs

Fishing at Kesagami Wilderness Lodge

Big Smallmouth Bass

Fly Fishing at Branch's Seine River Lodge

Go Junk Fishing

Can't Find the Pattern? Do This Instead!

Walleye Fishing at Waterfalls Lodge

Waterfalls Lodge offers a wide variety of angling opportunities.

Lady Evelyn Lake

Get to Know This Lake in Northeastern Ontario

Walleye on Lake Temiskaming

Fish'n Canada heads to Lake Temiskaming to tackle Ontario Walleye.

Indian Lake Lodge

The Musky Hunter visits Ontario's Sunset Country for large active musky

Easy Pickin's for Northern Ontario Panfish

Ice fishing for crappies on a lake in Northwestern Ontario.

5 Things to Know When Buying Your First Fly Rod

Learn a few tips and tricks when purchasing a fly fishing rod.

River Lake Trout Techniques

Some techniques to help you catch Lake Trout in the untraditional river setting across Ontario.

How to: Target Black Crappies (Part 1)

Learn to target Black Crappies in Ontario like an Elite Angler