In mid-July, I travelled with my partner, Eric, to Temiskaming Shores for a fishing adventure out on Lake Temiskaming. After participating in a bass tournament on this body of water last summer and experiencing amazing smallmouth bass fishing, I was very eager to return and spend more time exploring this beautiful fishery. Although smallmouth were top of mind for this trip, we were fortunate to also check off walleye, northern pike, panfish, and a new species for me: goldeye. This experience turned out to be a memorable multi-species fishing adventure for us! Thank you to Temiskaming Shores and Northeastern Ontario for partnering with me on this adventure.
Lake Temiskaming is part of the Ottawa River system and is situated north of Temagami, right along the provincial boundary between Ontario and Quebec. Adding to the species mentioned above, others found here include lake trout, whitefish, yellow perch, catfish, burbot, and more. Lake Temiskaming is especially popular for walleye fishing.
During our visit, we stayed at Sunnydale Cottages, which is located just a few kilometres east of the town of Temiskaming Shores. Located right on the shores of Lake Temiskaming, Sunnydale Cottages is a perfect spot for anglers with plenty of on-shore parking space for boats, along with ample outlets for charging boat batteries. There is also an on-site boat launch. This was my second time staying in the Chalet here, which is a very cozy and spacious 5-bedroom cottage. In addition to the Chalet accommodations, there are several other cottages, all with a view of the lake. Giuliano, the owner, is so friendly and ensured we had a great stay.
A couple of our favourite dining establishments here included dinner at 28 On The Lake, as well as breakfast at Stacked Pancake & Breakfast House. Both restaurants are less than a 10-minute drive from Sunnydale Cottages. All of the meals were delicious!
Lake Temiskaming offers gorgeous scenery made up of steep cliffs, Canadian Shield rock and forest, along with farmland throughout the Quebec side of the lake. I was in awe of the views here during our time exploring these waters. Due to windy conditions during our visit, we decided to use the boat launch in town at Haileybury Marina, which offers shelter from the main lake.
We set out in pursuit of smallmouth bass, focusing our time initially in around 15-18 feet of water near rocky humps and points. The first fish of the trip was a beautiful northern pike caught by Eric in around 20 feet of water. We spotted this fish on LiveScope chasing bait, and it crushed his soft plastic minnow bait. We saw tons of bait on our electronics both in deep and shallow water. After the pike, we picked up several walleye at various depths using small soft plastic minnows rigged on light jigheads (such as the Z-Man Graph Shadz) as well as drop shot rigs. There is such an abundance of walleye here!
As we continued the search for smallmouth, we made our way up into shallower water. Eric picked up the first smallie in around 12 feet of water on a squarebill crankbait, including the 13 Fishing Jabber Jaw. We were excited that our plan was beginning to come together! We had more success after moving even shallower, focusing on rocky shorelines and structures like docks and riprap. Schools of bait were stacked up in the shallows as well, and we were seeing the bass chasing the baitfish. The quality and average size of the smallmouth that we got into here was a definite highlight of this trip! I hope to be back on Lake Temiskaming soon!
Watch the full video from our Lake Temiskaming fishing adventure.
