Lake Nipissing

[pdbanjo]

If anyone can add their knowledge of the upper French River to this thread I'd sure like to hear about it. Smallies are the target and launch sites are still undecided especially if anyone knows of any boat ramps on the south east side of Nipissing. At this point, it seems as tho' the only way to access the upper French is via west side launches. Is this true?

[trexellunge]

There are two options for accessing the Upper French, unless you want to travel a LONG way by boat to get there. One is launching out of the Dokis Reservation; there is a good marina there at the end of the long and winding Dokis gravel road. The other is launching out of the town of Sturgeon Falls on the north side of Lake Nipissing and motoring directly across to the Upper French on the South side. Depending on the size of your motor, it's not an tremendously long ride, but watch out for rough water during windy days as you are crossing a fairly wide section of the lake. This option could save you ALOT of car travel time; there are several good marinas\lodges in Sturgeon Falls to use. There is no access besides Dokis on the south side of the lake @ the Upper French, that's why it's basically virgin water... Although there are a few old logging roads on the South side that access the water, which the people of the reservation can tell you more about. Good luck, and buy a map of the Upper French at the Marina store...you're going to need it. The fishing is generally good here, but don't expect to knock the bass dead..it could take a reasonably long time to figure out the water.