The West Arm and West Bay of Lake Nipissing
These maps are for reference only. Be warned, this lake is full of rocks!
While mostly accurate in depth, any rock, boulder, and shoal locations are not clearly marked.
We highly recommend the smartphone navigation application Navionics (available for iOS and Android) for those wishing to explore the intracies of this amazing lake. We personally use these maps with great success, however no map is perfect. We have managed to bump into the same rock we were looking for!
The The West Arm and West Bay of Lake Nipissing offer miles of twisting shoreline, picturesque islands and hidden back bays. Areas of shallows with extensive weed-beds and many rock shoals contrast with areas of clear, deep channels. The lake offers many miles of scenic shoreline. Rocky cliffs anchor towering white pine trees. In other locations the glaciers have carved the granite rocks, creating clearings of smooth rocks on the water's edge. These make great spots for a shore lunch or noonday swim. Immediately north of the West Arm and West Bay area is a new 2000 - acre nature reserve called Mashkinonje Provincial Park. The park has roughly 35km of natural paths and includes a 0.5km board walk suitable for walkers and wheelchairs.
Northern Pike, abundant in the weed-beds, average 2 to 3 lbs and trophy pike can reach 25 - 30 lbs. But the pike here are small fry compared to our musky which averages between 10 - 25 lbs. Local Musky records are over 50 lbs and over 54" in length. Old Minsitry records reference a 70lb Musky! Walleyes include the common "yellows" along with sauger and the rare blue walleye, native to Lake Nipissing. Most of the walleyes caught are pan size weighing about 1.5 lbs. (great for dinner), but can also grow to over 8 lbs. There are good populations of both small-mouth and large-mouth bass. The bronze-backs small mouth are abundant among the shallow rocky shoals while the largemouths stick close to the weed-beds with the pike(cabbage, pencil weeds and lily pads). Bass up to 4 - 5 lbs are not uncommon with the average being around 2 lbs. Other fish species include perch, sunfish, rock bass, drum, garpike and sturgeon.
Boat launches are available at the many of the nearby lodges for a small fee, as well as a free public ramp at the Southern Bridge of the Sucker Creek narrows. The sucker creek launch was recently rebuilt in the spring of 2015 and is only a few minutes down the road. Located in a sheltered calm area, it is the launch we recommend. there is parking available for day trips, and we have enough space back at the Lake House to keep your trailer there as well.
We recommend a minimum of a 16' boat with a 30hp motor to be able to explore the further reaches of the lake. Dont be put off though, we have sent our 12' runabout with a 9.9 Jonhson on some great island exploring adventures!
