# Prairie Bee Camps - Ontario



## CaptKC (Feb 25, 2008)

Just got back late last evening.

First things first - Prairie Bee is a pretty big lake with lots of character and a week wasn't enough time to explore the whole lake for us. It would be more than an hour long boat ride to the other side. They have the only cabins on the lake, 4 plus one outpost cabin on the other side. Ethan and Dylan are the boys of Bob and Sondra who also own Happy Day Lodge on Windermere and Ethan and Dylan run Prairie Bee. Nice kids and they worked hard all week. The cabins are really out dated but they are trying to fix them up a little. We stayed in cabin 3 and it was TINY for 2 adults and two 11 year old boys. They don't have electricity but they have wind power and solar power to store energy for lighting in the cabins. They have propone to power fridge/freezer and stove and hot water heater. Water is supplied by the lake - do not drink it. The cabin had a shower and toilet. No a/c. They do bring in bait, ice and fuel a couple times a week and they have basic tackle and limited supply of snacks you can buy. They have a nice fish cleaning house and they will try to run a generator as much as they can. The boys stay at Happy Day lodge and usually showed up late morning and were gone by mid/late afternoon. 

Now to the fishing - I think we did 'okay' based on other reports we were getting from other campers. We struggled to find consistent number of walleye which was disappointing. Our group probably only caught 25-30 all week and several over size limit. 18 inches and over have to go back. In my opinion, their management practices are backwards. They should be letting these little fish go as my understanding they are the best spawners. Too many fish 15-17 inches being taken out. But what do I know.....I'm sure they are being consulted as to what's best for that fishery. 

We did decent on bass, but again not the numbers I was hoping for. We caught several 17 inches and one 18 inch fish. We did portage around to below the dam that feeds Windermere and waded out to fish the hole below it and had a lot of fun on bass for a couple hours one afternoon. 

The pike fishing was better than I was expecting. Most were small, but they were easy to target and find and each typical spot we caught a couple. I did catch a 30 inch pike in the middle of the lake casting a worm harness for walleye in 8 foot of water. he was heavy and would guess 8-10 pounds. Didn't have a scale. We got into a good fight in the boat and my thumb ended up in his mouth somehow and I have a nice battle wound. In hindsight, it probably needed a couple stitches, but had some gauze and tape and back to fishing quick. 

I think the time of year killed us. It was the only week we could find that they had an opening and didn't affect my sons sports or school. Would like to go again in late spring or early summer. 

While we didn't see them, I guess there were a couple bears in camp on Wednesday night while we ate dinner and played poker right outside our cabin. Wish we could have seen them. Saw one bald eagle.


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## nightowl (Apr 10, 2004)

We had been going to Prairie Bee for about 16 yrs, stayed in the outpost cabin. Always had a great time and fishing was decent. After the new owners bought it a few years ago and turned it over to their 15 yr old son at the time things went downhill for us. Although they did some upgrades on the cabin, letting a kid run the camp isn't a good idea.


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## Rich B (Feb 14, 2016)

Capt KC....thanks for your detailed report....a few years back I fished Windermere several years with family and friends and often wondered about Prairie Bee....have heard that Windermere fishing has improved since we were there (it was just "OK" at that time, though heard the C&R limits that Bob put into play have helped improve that lake's fishery).....glad you enjoyed your week up north...no doubt the weather and time of year also played into the slower fishing.


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