I drove 13 hours to fish Missinaibi Provincial Park. Here are 7 reasons why it was worth it

#3  The lake has a lot of fish. Like, a LOT

After driving 13 hours to reach Missinaibi, my first job should have been to set up camp before dark. But since my campsite was right on the water, I just had to make a few casts from shore. On my first one, I pulled in a walleye. On my third one, I hooked a pike. Turns out, it wasn’t just luck (or skill), there are simply a lot of fish in the lake. Missinaibi has good fishing for walleye, lake trout, northern pike and smallmouth bass—really good.

Amazingly, I caught three species—bass, pike and walleye—from shore, including the football of a smallie above. Bear in mind that this was my first visit to the park, and I had no local fishing info other than a good hydrographic chart. On top of that, I was fishing from a kayak, so my range was limited (more on that on the next page). Yet, as I explored the lake, I had steady bass, pike and walleye action throughout my trip.

#4  For a big lake, Missinaibi is quite paddle friendly

As I mentioned, the lake is long and thin. So unless the wind is blowing down its length and setting up a swell (which did happen one day) it’s quite navigable in smaller boats. Since I was fishing from a kayak, I was worried about my limited range, but I found plenty of fishable water close to the park.

In fact, here’s a tip for my fellow paddlers. The park boat launch and docks are in a large bay. Most anglers were using powerboats, and from my campsite I saw these boats blast out of this bay heading east or west for points unknown. But I never saw one single boat fish the bay. I guess it’s a psychological thing: If you haul a boat, motor and gas all the way up to Missinaibi, you want to go as far as you can. But one day the weather was iffy, so I stuck close to camp and caught a ton of fish in the bay (above), including one 30-minute stretch where I hooked half a dozen walleye literally within sight of the docks. In fact, a couple of boats right roared past me while I was on that hot streak.

#5  There’s plenty to do when you’re not fishing

As a city dweller, one of my favourite activities in remote campgrounds is simply gazing at the incredible display of stars you can see, absent the light pollution given off by modern civilization. The night sky at Missinaibi didn’t disappoint, and the sunsets and moonrises (below) were incredible, as well.

I’ve heard of individuals who visit a campground and want to engage in non-fishing activities. I don’t have much experience with this odd phenomenon, but I’m reliably told that Missinaibi has excellent birding and pleasant hiking. I also visited the very nice sand beach, and enjoyed some excellent sitting-in-a-lawn-chair-and-watching-the-fire time.