I don’t often make a practice of writing about personal experiences, but a recent trip to the Canadian northwoods has prompted me to make this one exception.
The purpose of the trip was fishing and the location was Ramsey Lake, a good-sized wilderness lake that is part of Northern Ontario’s Spanish River system. To be more precise, Ramsey Lake is located between the Northern Ontario cities of Sudbury and Timmins, approximately 350 miles north of Toronto.
For a reasonable fee, guests are provided with their living quarters, food, boats and motors.
Also included in the cost is the approximate two-hour ride on a barge, taking you and your equipment from the small wilderness logging town of Biscotasing, 15 miles to the end of Biscotasi Lake. From there, a tractor and trailer carries our clothing and equipment over a portage where it is loaded on another barge for the final two mile trip to the camp. At the end of the week, the same method is used to depart the camp.
The camp offers a “full plan”, which includes lodging, food, boats and motors. The food plan offered is one of the most unique I’ve ever seen offered at a wilderness lodge. The food is kept in a pantry on the camp grounds and guests on the full plan can go to the pantry and take whatever they want, whenever they want. You prepare your own meals.
Included on the food list is chicken, pork chops, ground beef, bacon, soup and stew, potatoes, onions, pancake mix, cereal, vegetables, coffee, fruit juices, and many other items. Each guest is also allotted one steak per week.
The boats are 15-foot aluminum v-bottoms equipped with 9.9 horsepower Evinrude motors. All are in top condition.
The fishing at Ramsey Lake is second to none, except maybe for one of those fly-in trips that costs three or four times as much. And I stress maybe.
Ramsey is a hotbed for walleye and northern pike fishing, with walleye in the 2-3 pound range fairly common, and 10-12 pounders not out of the question. Northern pike are found throughout the lake and average in the 4-7 pound range, with pike upwards of 20 pounds being caught on occasion.
Biscotasi Lake, the location of a trip I took several years ago, offers the same type of fishing as Ramsey. The only real difference between the two camps is that there are several other camps on Biscotasi Lake. Ray’s Camps is the only one located on Ramsey Lake.
The units themselves, which are located in the main lodge, are equipped with eight bunk beds, hot and cold running water, toilets, showers, gas stove and oven, wood stove for heat and propane powered refrigerator/freezers and lamps.
All cooking and eating utensils are supplied. The only thing guests have to bring is the necessary clothing and fishing equipment for their stay.
Ray’s Camps offers ample opportunity for the photography enthusiasts with beautiful Canadian sunsets, wildlife and scenery.
Charlie Roth
As featured in Charlie’s column – Sports Slants