Sturgeon falls to French river

[rustyfisher]

I'm going to be fishing the mouth in a few weeks and I was wondering if anyone had any info on pressure cracks,ice thickness and how the fishing was this year.

[maskedburito]

I am not sure where you are planning on fishing, I drove by French River Provincial Park and from Hwy 69 (by that big snowmobile bridge) The river was not at all frozen. But Im sure the smaller parts are, and all I could see is whats off the hwy.

[rustyfisher]

I was planning on fishing at the mouth of the french on lake nipissings side near sandy island

[Crash2000]

AH, Sandy Island. Love going there. I wish I could help you on ice conditions.

[gruhler]

I was just there this past weekend and can give you a bit of an update. I don't take my truck out, but use a snowmobile. I went from Sturgeon to the mouth of the French to my camp Friday evening, at dark. I could not see much due to the snow and darkness, but could feel small slushy stretches and the ice/snow was very chunky. The warm stretch and subsequent cold has frozen trails with truck trails being the most chewed up. There is lots of ice and several places to cross the pressure cracks. This week's cold stretch should freeze up some of the slush.

Coming home yesterday, it was windy and snowy, so my view was zero again. I used a GPS and drove looking at it while driving slowly (15 mph). No problems other than view, but drifts were forming so it was like in a boat bouncing over waves.

There are usually Xmas tree markers showing the way, but not yet this year. Just follow the snowmobile trails. They go towards Iron Island, then travel fairly close to Iron Island. Not sure where you are going, but my camp is between Target and Sandy, so I cross a pressure crack near the south end of Iron. This crack is parallel to the mouth of the French and on my to camp Friday night, I had some difficulty finding a way across it in the dark and had to back track. Not sure if there is an easy way across the crack near Target, but I used the one closer to Iron.

The only cautions ... watch out for chunky sections ... tire ruts frozen. I often scout pressure crack crossings.


Parking ... I usually park at the end of Nipissing Road. Where do you access the lake from Sturgeon? The warm stretch last week wreaked havoc on the access at the end of Nipissing Road. It is chunky and jagged. I wouldn't park there, but not sure where else you can park. I parked on Marleau Road near the turn around. It is just before the Nipissing Road Lake access, turn left and drive to the end. I had to drive the snowmobile on the road to get to the lake. If you have a better access point and parking, please let me know.

[Alex Bass Man]

The warmer temps and the rain did mess up the lake for sure. We are getting a good cold snap this week and it should freeze the water up good.

[rustyfisher]

The last few years we have been driving our pickup across and accessing the Lake at the end of nipissing road. Usually there is a pressure cracks or two we have to cross. Our camp is located on the north side of sandy maybe a km east from duck island. We won't be going up til February now so hopefully the cracks don't worsen by then. Was there alot of vehicles on the ice as well? And how is the fishing?

[Alex Bass Man]

This year has been different as towards how early we can drive on the lake. We have been driving on it for a few weeks now which is about two weeks early in most cases. There have been a lot of vehicles but some days, you have to have a vehicle with 4x4.

The bit this year has been really good. Hearing a lot of people have been getting good amount of fish.