Ontario Fisherman Magazine

Fly-in Ontario bass fishing.

It had been some years since we last fished at Wolf Lake, then a camping-only outpost site for Day Airways. Dragging the jon boat across the short median that separates Victoria and Wolf Lakes brought us to a seldom fished lake where our party enjoyed great bass fishing, including a couple big (20 & 21") smallmouth bass.

Since that trip, Stanton Air has built a modern cottage-style outpost camp nothing like any bass camp I had ever seen and we were to be among the first parties to enjoy it. With windows all round, a screened porch, full kitchen, and large sitting / dining area, the 2-bedroom camp could well serve as the model for fly-in outpost camps everywhere !

The uniform depth of most of the main-lake basin dictates that the bass fishing translates into pounding shorelines, especially early and later in the day. As mentioned, the summer heat and clear water can make for challenging mid day fishing, so fish early, later enjoy a midday nap, a BBQ, ice cold drinks, swimming, canoeing, hiking, and then get back to work after dinner  right through to total darkness. Oh, you’ll catch bass and plenty of them. Repeatedly, the best fishing at Wolf Lake came from the upper end of the lake (where a seldom-used hunt camp is located and shoreline cover / weed growth is more abundant)and the shoreline opposite the outpost camp itself, where scrub alders and a hard bottom consistently attract numbers of bass.

Another good stretch is immediately to the right of the camp (looking across the lake from the dock), while a series of bite-size back bays around the lake perimeter seemed always to hold a few, though bigger bass. The hot weather kept us in camp a bit more than we might have liked, but with a propane BBQ and a large fridge that kept everything cold and fresh, meal preparation was a nice distraction from the heat. Wolf Lake

Overview

Wolf Lake is a very clear lake, with little in the way of weed growth or shoreline cover. The uniform depth of most of the main-lake basin. Wolf Lake offers a surprising array of bass fishing situations and cover - rocky points, steep break lines, distinct weed lines, pad beds, shoreline deadfalls, stumps, beaver lodges, even a dock. If someone had a mind to, they might easily catch 20 to 50 bass per day here using a dozen or so proven bass tactics and baits. One thing for sure though, the bass here - both largemouth and smallmouth - are strictly cover-oriented.

A short flight from the Lake St. John airbase near Orillia, ON, will carry anglers to some consistent 2-species bassin' on a remote, pristine lake. As a bonus, just an easy, thirty yard portage away is yet another lake, Victoria Lake, which offers an afternoon's diversion and, again, more bassin' - primarily smallmouth. During our stay at the Wolf /Victoria site, we had several opportunities to observe the area's abundant wildlife ,including beavers, birds, and a family of otters. Wolf Lake's size is deceiving, given the number of back bays and inlets. It occasionally coughs up big smallmouth bass - fish in the 21-inch range and topping five pounds. I was lucky enough to catch such a fish late one evening while fishing a plastic worm next to a log - in a foot of water. What a fish ! More typically, however, bass will range between one and two pounds, with occasional 3's and 4's showing up to keep you sharp and test your skills on light line and tackle.

Victoria Lake is also home to an un-fished population of splake stocked in the past and now fully grown .As we usually do in this part of the province, we found that 6 to 7-inch dark plastic worms outperform most other baits / lures in the clear water. While there is abundant shoreline cover, it is not so heavy that you need to use anything but medium-light spinning gear (6-8 lb-test mono) or bait casting tackle (10-12 lb-test mono). In less than perfect weather, or when bass are very active (early and late in the day, it seems), a 1/4or 3/8-ounce white spinner bait can be deadly. The joy of a spinner bait over a worm? When a bass hits a spinner bait, it is anything but  subtle!

Bill Rivers