North Muskoka / Parry Sound Ice Fishing tips?

Hi folks. New to ice fishing north Muskoka (Huntsville) and south Perry, between Parry Sound and Algonquin Park. I live near Arrowhead. I'm familiar with the Magnetawan and Whitestone areas, Rosseau, Vernon, Mary, Fairy, and Peninsula Lake and Lake of Bays but not specifically for ice fishing. I would like to get out with my wife and young boys to catch some Lake Trout, Splake, Speckles, Pike and panfish. Gills are good! I would love (and appreciate) some guidance here or via PM on access sites and general areas, species etc. If you have any general ideas, please let me know. I'm certainly not new to fishing but sort of novice for ice fishing. I am not interested in trophies, just tight lines for my kids, and to avoid any areas known for unsafe ice.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Lake Rosseau has several public access points available. It and Joseph are the pinnacle of Lake Trout fishing in Muskoka, but Joe is closed until Feb 15.

Lake of Bays has excellent Whitefish and decent lake trout.

Pen lake in Huntsville has lots of stocked Lake trout but I have not been able to figure them out

Wherever you go be extremely careful. Despite this cold morning the bigger lakes will still be dicey. 300+ feet deep takes a long time to properly freeze

Checked my Rosseau spot today and found open water.

There was guys out at Skeleton Bay off the side of 141 though.

I checked a small lake just off the highway and found about 4-5" of black and 2" of white on top. Slushy too

Thanks for the report! Yikes! That’s not much ice for February. I checked the ice just north of Huntsville... 10” snow, 12” slush, 12” ice. So different.

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Originally Posted by blasted_saber

Checked my Rosseau spot today and found open water.

There was guys out at Skeleton Bay off the side of 141 though.

I checked a small lake just off the highway and found about 4-5" of black and 2" of white on top. Slushy too

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