Ice Fishing at Your Cottage Rental

Ice fishing is about spending a day in the fresh air and sunshine, while not needing a boat or a lot of equipment.  If you have an Ontario Cottage Rental in Muskoka, Parry Sound or Haliburton areas, you can walk out your front door for great fishing.

You don’t need the typical fishing rod or live bait (but it helps).  The lakes in Muskoka, Parry Sound and Haliburton, whether big or small, all offer the cottage renter excellent opportunities to catch their dinner in the winter time.  Ice fishing is popular among the locals and they know the good fishing spots and are always happy to share their secrets and stories!

The beauty of ice fishing is the actual ease of getting there and doing it.  Only a few pieces of equipment are needed.  But first you should have warm wind proof clothing, waterproof boots for occasional spots of slush, warm mitts or gloves that you can remove easily.  You will need a auger, fishing line, hooks, sinkers and any one of a number of jig baits which often include a metal spoon or wobbler.  Live bait is best but packaged baits can be used and the attractants on these baits often work very well.

Since I love to fish and yesterday, Feb. 6th was such a beautiful day, I headed out onto Lake of Bays in Muskoka.  It was about -4C when I started my trek across the lake with auger in one hand and my day pack in the other.  I did not need snowshoes or skis as the snowmobile trail was in the direction I wanted to go.  After about 1/4 km. I reached a place I often catch fish during the summer.  I drilled a couple  holes with my auger and baited the first hole with minnow from my freezer and for the 2nd line I used a small Williams silvery blue with a small minnow head on the hook.

As the sun warmed up and I sat there gazing at all the cottages, it was clear that while most where closed for the winter, several had activities going on.  Some of these would be a weekend cottage rental for families, while other cottage rentals were clearly enjoyed by snowmobilers. There was no wind and it was easy to lose track of time.

Fish often bite on a rising barometer so I was fairly certain of catching something and in 40′ of water I was targeting Lake Trout or Whitefish.  About 4 hours later I had caught 4 Lake Trout and no Whitefish.  The largest was about 4 pounds, and the other 3 were around 3 pounds each.

I kept the largest one, and one of the smaller ones that had been hooked too deep to survive.  As the sun lowered over the horizon and the temperature dropped, I walked back to shore and was home by 4:30.  I gave my neighbour Al the smaller fish, and we will enjoy the larger one on the BBQ tonight.

What a fantastic way to spend a day – so book your Ontario Cottage Rental now and experience this first hand.  If you want a cottage rental with the extra treat of a HOT TUB and SAUNA, book it now!