Lake Nipissing named Canada's best ice fishing destination

The team at Fish Bay Marina is busy preparing ice shacks while they await for Lake Nipissing to freeze before they can be towed out on the lake.(File photo)"Lake Nipissing is one of the only lakes in our part of the area that has sleeper bungalows on the lake," said co-owner Samantha Simpkin.

"So they like that experience."

The online platform FishingBooker declared Lake Nipissing as Canada's top ice fishing destination for 2023.

Describing the area as an 870 square kilometre frozen paradise with an abundance of walleye population, in its blog last month.

This came as no surprise to Simpkin who told CTV News her huts are booked up.

"Every weekend, we multiple bookings throughout the week," said Simpkon.

"We've been doing those for 12 years now and a lot of our customers are repeat customers."

The lake is also home to many other species like northern pike and perch.

Tanya Bedard, the new executive director of Tourism North Bay said the ice fishing season draws a good number of tourists to the area where they spend lots of money; helping the local economy.

"It is a tremendous driver for our hotels, our restaurants, our breweries and cafés," said Bedard.

"It's certainly a great experience for folks who are wanting to experience hat for the first time."

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Ice hut rental operators are excited to start up and said having the best lake in Canada for the hobby will only help the sport's popularity in the area.

"I hope people get out and ice fish this year," said Simpkin.

"It's a great experience on Lake Nipissing."

Simpkin said she expects business to pick up within the next week or two as temperatures begin to drop.