When my friend Katie invited me up to the Sault to film for her business, Bodyvive Integrated Therapies (she’s an incredible Osteopath), I said, “OF COURSE!” But then I found out she had never been ice fishing—so I immediately padded the schedule to fix that. Splake have dodged me for years, so the last thing I expected on this trip was to finally cross them off my list… in Sault Ste. Marie of all places.
Fishing the Sault Has Always Been a Dream
Fishing in Sault Ste. Marie has been on my bucket list forever. As a kid, I’d watch anglers on TV battling trout and salmon in the St. Marys Rapids and think, “I want to do that… but it’s so far away!” I was ten—an hour’s drive felt like an expedition. But time has passed (a lot of time), and travel isn’t the Herculean task it once seemed.
Figuring Out How To Fish in Sault Saint Marie
That’s when it hit me: I had never fished the Sault before, and somehow I was about to introduce a rookie to the sport. I wanted Katie to experience why I love ice fishing so much, but I didn’t even know which lakes were accessible by foot in winter. So I turned to social media—and my friends, as always, came through. Thanks to Big Jim McLaughlin and Jack Summers, I connected with a few local anglers who pointed me in the right direction.
With a storm on the way, I decided to head up a day early to scout. The drive through Muskoka, Sudbury, and Algoma was pure magic—clear roads, snowy trees, and that classic northern winter calm. The next morning, though, I got the full northern welcome: minus twenty-eight Celsius. I bundled up, grabbed a hot coffee, and set out… only to return moments later when I realized I’d forgotten my rods. Perfect timing to also discover my car heater wasn’t working. I cracked open a few hand warmers and headed back out anyway.
Getting on the Ice
I spent the afternoon checking access points and eventually found a lake that looked too good to ignore. So I punched a hole, dropped a line, and within minutes landed my first-ever splake. It smashed an Anglers Choice AC30 on a Nishine Lure Works Smelt Head Head. I stayed for about an hour, caught a couple more, then forced myself to leave the spot for the next day with Katie.
Driving around the Sault, I couldn’t get over how stunning the landscape was. I’m no stranger to mountains and valleys, but something about this area hits different—wild, rugged, and just gorgeous.
Splake Fishing in Sault Saint Marie is FUN
Saturday was Katie’s first-ever ice fishing day. The weather warmed up a bit, we grabbed breakfast, and hit the road—making a rare stop for live bait. I wanted to make sure she caught a fish, and with two lines allowed per person, I set up one rod with a shiner to boost our odds.
We set up the hut in six feet of water. I handed Katie a Buckshot spoon with a salted minnow head, and while I was still setting the set line, I heard:
“Umm… Dan? I think I have one… yeah, I have one!”
Just like that, she iced her first fish.
The action didn’t stop. Katie landed a big splake on a live minnow, and I kept numbers rolling in on the AC30 and Smelt Head. Since I’d never tried splake before, we kept a few and cooked them simply—salt, pepper, butter, lime. Absolutely delicious. Splake shot straight up my list of favourite fish: aggressive, beautiful, willing to hit lures and bait, and fantastic on the table.
Plus, since splake are sterile and stocked for put-and-take fisheries, keeping them doesn’t harm the ecosystem.
Thinking About the Next Trip
I didn’t get to fish the St. Marys Rapids this time—but that wasn’t the goal of the trip anyway. I’ll be filming with Katie again in the spring, and that’s when I’ll finally chase fish in those legendary rapids.
For now, though, I’ll keep replaying those afternoons in the Algoma “mountains,” catching splake in Sault Ste. Marie—one of the most striking fish I’ve ever seen.
