Papineau Lake (Barry's Bay area)

Good day all.. Heading to two private cottage rentals Saturday with another family on Lake Papineau. We both have boats we are dragging up there and are willing to do day trips to other lakes for other species / change of scenery. Lakes in that area include Bark and Kamaniskeg (sp). We are primarily Bass fishing but will have riggers for lakers and would enjoy a few small pics for dinner one night....Any suggestions on these lakes or others in the are would be great, or at least directions to a nearby tackle shop to hit and ask questions. Thanks in advance, tight lines all...T

with Barry's Bay being such a popular area I expected lots of feedback...makes me worry a little about our choice of lake???

I used to fish the area a lot, but haven't been there in Years. My favourite lake was Round Lake near Killaloe as it had pickerel and lake trout. We would often swing down and fish the narrows in Golden Lake that feed Round Lake because my uncle lived there and had lots of free beer :) .....good bass fishing.

We used to also put in at Barry Bay in the upper end of Lake Kamaniskeg, lots of great evening fishing there. Nice Views.

Maybe Golden Lake Pete will chime in, he lives there and is an avid fisherman.

Bark Lake is nice for smallies, but it's a big lake. You can launch right at the end of Papineau Lake rd. There are lakers, walleye and pike in there. I love that lake.

Awesome, thx...Hopefully he will, we leave Saturday...

Excellent, some walleye would be nice, but keeping the kids busy with the smallies is what I'm hoping for..

At the corner of Highways 60 & 62 in Barry's Bay there is a sporting goods store (Mad Outdoors) where you can get a "fishing map" of the area.

I have only fished Kamaniskeg from the government dock in Barry's Bay except one trip around Mask Island but there are smallmouth and largemouth and pike there. Plus some really big rock bass. Look for logs under rock overhangs on the shore.

I don't know Bark Lake.

Pete Bowman of the Fish'n Canada TV show was on the Madawaska River catching a lot of smallmouths. He launched off Major Lake Road near Madawaska, if I remember correctly.

Paugh Lake just north of Barry's Bay is another smallmouth lake. There's a sandy beach for launching.

Just west of Barry's bay are Carson Lake and Trout Lake.

If the wind gets up too much on the big lakes - just east of Barry's Bay is Albert Lake. A small lake that occasionally holds some nice bass. It is just off Hwy 60 about 10 kms east. A very rough gravel launch spot.

If you want to drive a bit further east (about 30 kms) there is the Bonnechere River and Golden Lake. You can launch at the government dock off Hwy 60. There are bass and pike and pan fish in the river and walleye in the lake.

Round Lake is just north of Killaloe off Round Lake Road. There is a concrete ramp beside the church in Round Lake Centre near the end of Simpson Pit Road.

Hope this helps.

Pete

If I were you I'd stay fishing right on pap, good fishing there but u will likely need steel line to catch trout consistently, down riggers are for pretend trout fisherman. As for bass they are everywhere if you can't catch them better find a new hobby !

Papineau is a crystal clear waterbody. Offers a little tougher fishing on the bright sunny days. Bark lake will give you lots of area to fish, providing the gas tanks are big enough. The water in Bark was up early this year and the smallmouth are getting scattered but not hard to catch out there.

Thanks to all that have responded, I'll take all the info and hopefully keep the kids busy for the week...It's nice as a first time poster to get a good response like this, hopefully I can return the favour...tight lines all...T

As others have said. Be careful with Bark Lake or the other big ones; they can blow up quick and get dangerous. I was caught on Bark Lake once and had to go way out of my way to get to a calmer shore line that would take me back to the launch. Lifejackets were on and we had to move from one side of the boat to the other to keep her upright as we worked across the big water.

TP785 hope to hear a great report from Papineau!!! Its Go Time!!