Walleye Sunsets

Fishing on Lake Nipissing at Sunset Cove Resort felt like a home away from home.

I love fishing for walleye on Lake Nipissing.

This easily accessible big lake is home to a wide variety of trophy critters that swim including smallmouth and largemouth bass, huge northern pike, muskie and the ever-popular golden bar walleye. The four-season fishery has fishery management policies in effect that sustain the excellent walleye fishing available on Nip.

aerial sunset cove lodge

We planned another road trip to the big lake in early July with a couple of buddies including Josh MacKay who literally lives on the lake and knows where, when and how to fish for these tasty golden fish.

Our scheduled trip was to fish for walleye during a severe summer heat wave with high sun, flat calm conditions and temperatures hitting the mid-nineties, not the greatest conditions for walleye so may think, but this lake is blessed with so many natural shoals, reefs, rock piles and humps, the walleye schools simply gravitate to every day, it’s just a matter of being on the right structure at the right time of the day.

sunset over lake

Our home away from home for our trip was with the friendly hosts at Sunset Cove Lodge in Callander, Ontario, the Municipality of Callander (formerly the Township of North Himsworth) is a township in central Ontario, Canada, located at the southeast end of Lake Nipissing in the Almaguin Highlands region of the District of Parry Sound. The municipality is located on Callander Bay, just south of North Bay. The lodge offers a variety of beautiful two-story cabins, cottages and custom homes for families and larger groups on the rocky points of the lodge grounds facing the lake, absolutely gorgeous lodging.

They have a safe, protected, sandy beach and all the amenities for families to enjoy including lodge BBQs on the beach for the guests hosted by the lodge owners.

sunset cove lodge cottage interior sunset cove lodge cottage interior

We decided to avoid the mid-day heat by rising early and heading out to some of Josh’s favourite spots for walleye near the lodge and mother nature was nice enough to drive out into the lake with not a ripple on the surface.

It didn’t take us five minutes of vertical jigging with one-quarter ounce ball head jigs and live minnow when the first twenty-plus inch walleye was scooped up in the landing net. After a few quick photos, the thick fish was released safely back to the depths.

sunset cove walleye

This exciting action continued for almost two straight hours as we moved slowly around the shoals and rock humps ranging from eighteen to twenty-plus feet of water as we caught every year class of walleye available ranging from twelve inches to twenty-seven inches and kept a few of the ‘eaters’ for a classic fish fry with the guys that same evening.

sunset cove lodge beach

One of the most enjoyable aspects of fishing and staying at this lodge is the amazing sunsets over the lake while relaxing on a beach chair after dinner and just soaking up all the positive vibes from Mother Nature.

Call Sunset Cove Lodge to book your family vacation or buddy trip today. Phone: (705) 752-2820 Toll Free: 1-800-563-4395

About Karl Kalonka

It's possible Karl's love for fishing began as early as the age of five. His parents took the kids on weekend trips across Ontario fishing for panfish, catfish, and bass. "I started with a bobber and worm from the time I was five years old," says Karl. These days, he has the enviable task of doing what he loves for a living, travelling across Ontario fishing, filming and producing two outdoor series, Extreme Angler and Crappie Angler TV.

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