Silver Dollar Area Ontario

Just interested to see if anyone fishes this area of Ontario. My group will be making it's 12th trip to the area later this summer. We stay at Moose Creek Camp about 8 miles north of Silver Dollar. We fish a number of different lakes in this area. Some of our favorites are Wintering, Sowden, Sturgeon, Young and Watcomb. I would enjoy comparing ideas and stories with fisherman who have spent time in this area. JEP

Pepperbell west of Lake of Bays is easy to get to. But the lake has lots of boulders that hide a couple inches under the water. My brother tore up the bottom of his boat and motor one year and had to cut his trip 2 days short. If you go I would be very cautious. We've been there a few times and had days with lots of walleye but nothing big. They are beautiful black and gold from the stained water. Most under 16 inches. Still fun to fish some different water.

My bad sorry for any confusion I was thinking of Bell lake on the south end of Sturgeon, and not Pepperbell as asked to the west of Lake of Bays.

If you are looking for an Adventure day, I would try Flying Loon. Also off 642 about 15 mi. from Silver Dollar to access trail going to the south. The launch can be shallow sometimes but excellent fishing. There is a couple beautiful falls that can hold some nice Walleye and possiblly a trophy pike below them. I plan to fish Flying Loon again this spring when there. Definately beautiful.

Here's a pic of a friend when we were there last below falls. There is alot of water moving through there!

upper pepperbell is a fun lake to fish. unique tint to the water with all of the wood that's submerged. if I remember the drive in is pretty easy. the connecting rivers are clean except at their mouths. last time I was there (bout 8 years ago) we caught a lot (in fact a ton) of walleye but nothing bigger than 17in. We always said we would go back but we haven't made it yet. 

Thanks for some feedback on my previous question about smaller lakes. we aren't travelling with big boats, but they aren't 14ft tin cans either.  Any suggestions to help us on "adventure day" would be greatly appreciated. Looking for a lake i haven't been on or haven't been on for a while.

We used to put in the river right on 642 and motor up to Bawden.  That was a trick, but the fishing was great. Last time I looked we would need a chainsaw.

I have fished Pepperbell Lakes myself. It was no problem to access and I have a big Crestliner. We did ok fishing. Had better luck on other lakes but was fun to try out something different for a day. Plenty of Pike, no monsters but action. Caught a fair amount of Walleye too but on the smaller side.

I did not see anywhere with depth for Lakers myself, but did not venture all the way to the back end of Upper. There were some very rocky areas back there and decided to save money on a new skeg.

Most interesting part was there was a half dozen or so College girls suntanning at the launch. My buddy said it was rarer than a 50" pike......... :)

Outfishin,

I'm thinking Pepperbell is about 15-20 miles west of Silver Dollar on Highway 642. There's actually an Upper Pepperbell Lake too. I've never fished either of them, but to your point about the difficulty reaching them I got to share a story. I was at the Silver Dollar and was talking to a guy who'd been fishing Pepperbell. He seemed to have been driving a fairly new pick-up truck, and he had it totally wrapped in some really tough plastic. He said the going was pretty tough getting back there, but apparently the trek was worth it! 

Is there a pepperbell lake in this area? I remember staying at moose creek camp in the early 90’s when I was 7-8 years old. 

I specifically remember making our way back to a great pike lake on a terrible 2 track and my old man ripped the axle off the boat trailer on a makeshift bridge. Luckily he was the master of jerryrigging and got us to the lake for great fishing and got us back to camp. 

Selbert if you are looking to explore smaller lakes my suggestion would be to bring a atv, chainsaw and a14 footer with a narrow roller trailer. The better lakes are typically ones that you can’t get to with a 4x4 truck.  If the water is low the roller trailer saves a lot of messing around.

My group just got back from the Silver Dollar Area last week and there was a lot of snow! In the woods, there was at least 3.5 feet. In addition, Ignace is bracing for the possibility of another 4-8 inches on Wednesday (4/13)! Based upon what I saw, there is a strong likelihood the water levels will rise considerably from last year. Thank goodness!

FishAddict,  Fished Sturgeon last year the third week in August, some of the best fishing we have had on Sturgeon in a while.  We were unable to hit any of the out lakes because the water was to low to get our bigger boats into.  Fortunately it was not really a big deal.  I hope all the snow and ice they have right now translates into some more water in the lake.  Last year Sturgeon was as low as I remember seeing it in some time.  It was darn scary getting around in some places.  Will be up that same week of Aug 6th to Sturgeon again this year.  Will be on Flatrock in June.

Keep your fingers crossed they get plenty of rain this spring.  Hopefully they get their ice off by the opener.  That is not looking to promising right at the moment. 

My Brother in Law was into Penassi pre covid no idea what access would look like now.  That was like 4 years ago already I believe.