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There aren’t many places in the world more beautiful than the Killarney Wilderness Park. Combine this natural beauty with great fishing and you have yourself the making of a prime fishing destination. Bear Lake Wilderness Camp offers you access to Killarney Wilderness Park’s excellent fishing and beautiful scenery.
BLWC is a boat-in camp offering fishermen many lakes to fish from. You can fish on the chain of main lakes and enjoy yourself, but the best fishing is found on their many portage lakes. Smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, pike and panfish are the top targets for fishermen. Walleye are available on the main lakes but in limited quantity. That said, they do catch a number of trophy walleye every year. Lake trout and brook trout are also available.
This entry contains the information I have learned about Bear Lake Wilderness Camp from searching the web. Fishing Traveler has received no financial or any other type of compensation for this post. The information here is accurate only to the best of my knowledge. All information should be verified with Bear Lake Wilderness Camp before booking a trip.
Fishing
I have already described the fishing in the introduction but want to emphasize that the best fishing at BLWC is on the portage lakes. There are some people who go there and only fish the main chain of lakes but I don’t recommend this plan unless you are a only targeting trophy fish. You just won’t find the numbers on the main lakes that you’ll find on the portage lakes.
They have about 25 lakes that have boat or canoe caches. Some of these lakes you do need to hire a guide for the first time in order not to get lost. We didn’t do that and caught a lot of fish. I do know someone who did this and the fishing was out of this world on a lake stuffed with largemouth bass.
Even some of the easily accessible portage lakes can be phenomenal, especially if you are a bass chaser. You can see our full trip report to Bear Lake Wilderness Camp here. We just scratched the surface of the fishing potential at this camp.
From a dad’s perspective, this is a great camp to take children to due to the combination of adventure of a boat-in and number of fish you can catch. Both of my sons caught their largest bass ever on this trip.
I recently had a conversation with someone who called the bass fishing unbeleiveable but was disappointed about the walleye fishing at Bear Lake. So let me emphasize that it is my opinion that this is not the place to go to chase walleyes in numbers. They do catch a number of trophy walleye every year on the chain of main lakes. I would guess if you really focused you could find some nice fish during a week’s stay. We didn’t target walleye. So, I can’t comment too much on the walleye fishing from personal experience. I just know what I have read and heard from others.
Lake trout, perch and bluegill are available. They also have a brook trout lake if that fits your interest.
Fishing Video
Here is an overview of what Bear Lake Wilderness Camp offers.
Accommodations
Bear Lake Wilderness Camp is a boat-in camp. BLWC is not totally isolated and there are other cabins on the main lakes but don’t let this bother you as there is not a lot of fishing pressure here. I think we saw one other boat during the week that was not associated with the camp.
The cabins are typical for a boat-in camp. They have electric which works on a generator that shuts down overnight. They have running water for drinking. You will have to use an outhouse which really isn’t that big of a deal.
Packages and Rates
BLWC offers a Housekeeping Plan package. The rates on their site are still from 2009 but will run adults about $700 per person. Kids under 14 are just $150 each. You do need to pay an extra $90 for your portage motor for the week.
They offer a pike and walleye special for late May into the end of June for approximately $500.
Location
Bear Lake Wilderness Camp is located near Espanola, Ontario. The Google Map below is intended to give you an idea of their general location and does not reflect the exact destination.
Contact Information
There is a lot more information about Bear Lake Wilderness Camp on their site or by calling 705-866-7100 during the season and 502-648-2758 during the off-season.
Comments and Reviews
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We caught a ton of fish a BLWC. Check out our full report for more details.