“If you have any questions about Kesagami Wilderness Lodge, booking a trip, or you would like further information and / or the Kesagami video, please call me.

I can send you a complete information package including magazine articles and our current newsletter. Let me help you put together your dream fishing trip.”

Pat McEniry

Winter

Kesagami Wilderness Lodge
5210 Malvern Court,
Naples, Florida,
U.S.A. 34112
Phone: 800-253-3474
Fax: 239-775-9261

Summer

Kesagami Wilderness Lodge
P.O. Box 201,
Cochrane, Ontario
Canada P0L 1CO
Phone: (888) 234-8882
Fax: 705-272-2570

Personal items to bring with you
  • warm clothing (Don’t underestimate Mother Nature!)
  • rain suit (A good quality rain suit is a must to protect you from rain or waves when traveling.)
  • camera
  • cigarettes

Don’t Bring:

  • Coolers (We supply “six-pack” sized beverage coolers, cold paks & ice; larger coolers are also available.
  • Fish nets (We supply fish cradles in every boat.)
  • Excessive fishing tackle (We carry the right stuff in our tackle store.)
  • huge hockey bags (4’ long duffle bags)

Lodge Flying Schedule:

  • The date your deposit was received establishes your flying priority in and out of the lodge.
  • The fly-in from our base camp in Cochrane, Ontario is scheduled for morning, weather permitting. We try to start flying by 7:00am. and it sometimes takes until noon to get everybody in. Your party should plan to arrive in Cochrane the night before unless other arrangements are made with us in advance. (Motels and phone numbers are listed on the next page). Please check in with our air base during office hours at (888) 234-8882 a couple of days prior to arrival to confirm you will be there. You may only get the answering machine but at least we’ll have final confirmation. At that time we will try to give you an estimated departure time for your flight to the lodge. Depending on the flying schedule, some of you may get some extra sleep in preparation for your battles with the monster Kesagami pike. If you are flying back home from Timmins on commercial service, please book one of the mid-afternoon flights on your departure day from Kesagami.
  • If you are flying commercial airline into Timmins we recommend contacting Oscar’s Taxi (contact phone numbers are on the next page) to arrange transportation from Timmins to your motel in Cochrane. Transportation will cost $100.00 (Canadian Funds) to be split between your party. It is advisable to have $200 – $300 in Canadian cash to cover gas in Canada or ground transportation between Timmins Airport and Cochrane.
  • huge hockey bags (4’ long duffle bags)

Baggage weight limit is 50 lbs per person. We recommend that you do not bring beer or soda (pop) to the lodge but rather purchase it up there. We will charge you $45.00 CDN + tax for a case of soda and $80.00 CDN for a case of beer (please note that the case price for pop (soda) and beer includes a $25.00 flying charge plus handling fees). Guests who bring their own cases of beverages are automatically charged a flying fee of $25.00 CDN per case. Overweight charges are $1.50 CDN per lb. Due to government and insurance regulations and lodge policy we will not fly overweight. Do not ask us or your fellow fishing group members to fly in an unsafe situation!!

Important

IMPORTANT: From May 10 on, it is difficult to contact us by telephone. A message can be left on a recorder at (888) 234-8882 and we will try to get back to you. PLEASE GET YOUR TRIP DETAILS RESOLVED BEFORE MAY 1.

Beverages:

  • We have a fully licensed lounge at Kesagami that is stocked with quality liquors and wines. The brands of beer that we stock are:
    Molson Canadian, Labatts Blue and Labatts Blue Light. The pop (soda) that we stock are Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Ginger Ale, Tonic Water and Soda Water.
  • Any special brands need to be brought in by your group.

Communications:

  • The lodge is not equipped to accept incoming telephone calls. We have a satellite phone for guest use.
  • If you find it necessary to make outgoing calls, they can be made using a special satellite phone calling card. They are available for sale at the lodge.

Motor Insurance:

  • Motor insurance is available to protect against damage to propellers and lower units. All guests are responsible for damage to outboard motors and repair charges can range from $75.00 (for a damaged prop) to $1500 for a damaged lower unit. The cost of insurance is $5.00 per day per boat used for your party. Many of our veterans sign up for motor insurance. Let us know when you check in, if you are opting to take the insurance.

Overnight Accommodations: (2007 rates)

Motels in Cochrane: 

Westway (705) 272-4285 (Standard accommodations) 1 – $75.00, 2 – $84.00 ($5.00 per extra person) CDN funds
Thrift Lodge (705) 272-4281 (Standard accommodations) 1 – $57.00, 2 – $65.00 ($4.00 per extra person) CDN funds
Lillabelle Resort (888) 494-5344 (Standard accommodations) 2 – $70.00 CDN funds (free shuttle to airbase)
Station Inn (705) 272-3500 (Better accommodations) 1 – $90.00, 2 – $98.00 ($5.00 per extra person) CDN funds (800) 265-2356 (Reservations)
Best Western (705) 272-5200 ( Superior accommodations) 2 – $89.00 up to June 30 $99.00 after June 30 CDN funds**

Kids under 12 are free (free continental breakfast)

** When booking these accommodations please indicate that you are a Kesagami guest in order to receive these preferred rates.
Transportation Services:

Oscar’s Taxi (vans for 4-6 people) (705) 272-3506 $130.00 (CDN funds) for Timmins Airport to Cochrane Motel
$20.00 (CDN funds) for Motel to Air Base $150.00 (CDN funds) for Air Base to Timmins Airport

Fishing Tackle

Rods and Reels – medium/heavy to heavy action equipment is “necessary” for the trophy fish! Most anglers who visit us have never encountered fish as big as the ones at Kesagami. Even experienced anglers are often unprepared for these fish. Broken rods, snapped lines and leaders that are chewed in half were all common place last year at the lodge. Give yourself the best chance possible at landing these giants by bringing heavy duty equipment or rent equipment at the lodge. You want to land that fish of a lifetime!

Line – we recommend a premium brand of 14-25 lb test for the pike and the walleye. The water clarity of Kesagami Lake is tea-stained so the heavier line doesn’t tend to spook the walleye and fully 1/3rd of the trophy pike are caught while walleye fishing. Veteran Kesagami anglers, guides and staff will often use this heavy gear for all fishing situations. Use a premium brand of monofilament or braided fishing line. If you like the new types of fishing lines, Berkley ‘s “Fire Line” had good reports last year.

Leaders – strong wire leaders of 9″ -18″ are highly recommended. Anglers at Kesagami will often use 30lb test leaders while jigging for walleye so they don’t lose the large trophy pike that are often caught while walleye fishing. Leaders from 45lb to 60lb test are recommended for pike.

Hooks – Single barbless hooks only! The HOT lures for Kesagami are all single hooked lures that simply require a pinch down of the barbs with strong pliers. Jigs for walleye need the same simple adjustment. Most of your tackle can be prepared ahead of time. For those of you who need single barbless hooks to convert other types of lures, we have them readily available free of charge at the lodge.

Recommended fishing lures:

Pike

  • Buzzbaits (black, white, chartreuse, chartreuse/white, yellow, green)
  • Johnson Silver Minnow (3/4 oz and 1 1/8 oz, colors – silver, gold)
  • Rapala spoons (if you can find them) (fire tiger, silver, gold, blue/silver, hot orange)
  • Spinnerbaits (white, chartreuse, chartreuse/white, yellow, green)
  • Flashy spoons (orange, red & white, silver, chartreuse)

Walleye

  • jig heads (1/4 to 1/2 oz with 3/8 oz being the most popular, all colors work well)
  • soft plastic twister tails (best colors are yellow, orange & chartreuse)
  • Mister Twister Sassy Shads (3″ natural minnow finish and red/white)
  • Rapala spoons (fire tiger, fluorescent orange, gold and silver)

What doesn’t work

  • deep diving crank baits (due to the shallowness of the water)

most Rapalas (you need weedless lures for most trophy pike fishing)

jerk baits (Kesagami trophies prefer small lures) body baits like Believers, Swim Whiz
Big Tackle Boxes – Guests who bring giant tackle boxes usually regret it during their trip. Trust us that there are only a select number of lures that produce top results on Kesagami.
Sonar – anglers who feel more comfortable with a sonar should bring it along, however most of your fishing will be by sight around points and shallow, visible weed beds.

We stock all top-producing lures in our small tackle shop as well as a line of custom-manufactured lures for Kesagami with barbless hooks. In most cases it will cost less than a regular tackle retailer except Johnsons’s Silver Minnows which are cheaper in the US . If you are in doubt as to what you need, let us help you when you come up to the lodge.

Kesagami Fishing Policy

Click here for a printable version of this page.

  • Release all pike.
  • One or two walleye (under 16″) for shore lunch are permissible.
  • No fish transported home.
  • No live bait.

Fish Handling

  • Cradle all big fish and keep fish in water while unhooking.
  • No fish in boat except shore lunch walleye.
  • Photograph over water only.
  • BIG PIKE NEED WATER! Keeping them in the air and overplaying fish is deadly.
  • Revive completely.

MANDATORY FISHING EQUIPMENT

  • SINGLE BARBLESS HOOKS (We will provide, free of charge, split rings and single barbless hooks so that you may convert your tackle.)
  • LONG NOSE HOOK REMOVERS (No jaw spreaders please)

It takes diligence and commitment to preserve a sportfishery. The mortality rate of trophy fish due to human catching and mishandling alone can jeopardize the trophy population.

Please do your part, ask questions to educate and learn the techniques necessary to save the fishery.