Ghost River Lodge

[10 Pound]

Tell me about this place. Thinking of booking it for the 1st week of July. Mainly wondering about the fishing. Numbers, size?

[Larry Mac]

Hi 10 Pound, We have been fishing Ghost River Lodges many times for many years (One of my favorite all around Canadian destinations). Ghost River Lodge has premium walleye fishing water, stained, highly oxygenated, great cover and lots of fish. I consider this to be a numbers Lodge. Our best day with me and a friend was over 220. 100 fish days are often a reality. Size is usually 15" to 19". Our largest caught there has been 28". Lots of Northern also, the largest for us has been 38". Most of the Northern range from hammer handles to 32". The accommodations are good and it is truly a remote location. Ghost offers the complete Canadian Wilderness Adventure providing great fishing, amazing wildlife and a variety of fishing locations i.e. waterfalls, reefs, islands, vegetation, rivers and bays. We also utilize the portage lakes a couple of times during the week for added adventure. If you are bringing children they can catch walleye and northern right from the dock while you are doing your camp duties (my son caught a 24.5" walleye off the dock last August). I highly recommend this camp. They are great people and will definitely put you on fish. Feel free to PM me with any questions and I will be happy to help. Have a great trip.

PS it is not mentioned much in there literature but there is wonderful Small Mouth and Lake Trout in specific locations and we have had 22lb+ stringers of Jumbo Perch.

Thank you,
Larry Mac

[Tailfin]

Hi Larry Mac,

your response was very interesting. We are going in Aug. Sounds silly to go all the way up there for Perch and Smalleys but I consider that just the frosting on the cake,can't beat a skillet full of Perch and just the fun of catching Smallmouth. Are both species on Marchington Lake?
Tailfin

[Larry Mac]

Hi TailFin, We have fished May, June, July and August at Ghost River. I am a self admitted Walleye Addict. Walleye is my targeted fish of choice. We have fished there so often that we actually stumbled upon the other species (Except Northern) while fishing for walleye. We have only found smallmouth in two locations on Marchington Lake. The lake perch are all around. Ghost River is a fantastic walleye fishery for numbers. I usually take kids (they are now older and have taken advantage of the Father/Son Packages). Kids require action and that is what we are able to get at Ghost. If you pm me with your email address I would be happy to share any information I can along with some pictures of the fish we caught this past August 2009 at Ghost. You and yours will have a very nice time at Ghost River.

Thank you,
Larry Mac

[kona777]

Our first trip to Canada was with Ghost River and we had a great time.. Marchington Lake is a great numbers lake for Walleyes and Northerns.. They also have plenty of water to fish with access to several other lakes.. This trip was with our wives so we also wanted a clean modern cabin with good food and Ghost River met our expectations..

I really like being the only group on a lake so now we just do remote fly-in trips.. However, I would definitely go back to Ghost River if I wanted the extra accomodations/food packages in a trip..

[cowboyd]

Our group fished there either three or four years ago in the fall. The camp and the people were great. I have not run into a more friendly thoughtful camp owner/operators in all of my trips. We were disappointed because we assumed that the access being by boat meant it would be remote fishing. Not true a good number of cabins dot the lake and just up the hill from the lodge is the rail road tracks where we found out you could get there by train. ( although in fairness I am not sure how regular the service is ) The fishing was perhaps some of the worst Canadian fishing we have ever had! We worked our tails off and yes that included having one of their personnel serve as a guide. Based on some of the other comments it could have been just an off week but I know when I pose these questions I like to hear all the feed back. BTW the lake through the cave was a disaster you pull yourself through with a large diameter ( I believe ) hemp rope, which spent lots of time in the water and was covered with algae. The lead boat, first time through, had to break up a branch jam inorder to get through. We only made the trip to the hidden lake once.

Bottom line our trip had great hospitality and very slow fishing!

cowboyd

[GHOST RIVER JOE]

Cowboyd, i'm shocked to hear you had slow fishing. I've been going there for 19 years and i've never had slow fishing. Darrell and tena are great people and their hospitality is impeccable. I consider them very good friends. One day a couple years ago, in 6 hours, i caught 500 inches of walleyes. You can have a ball catching smallmouths too. With 15 remote lakes, there's plenty of great fishing. Ghost river has always done right by me, i will go nowhere else. I suggest you try again, and go in the spring if you can. I usually gor the first week camp is open. It's always great fishing then.

Regards, big joe gannon

[alanexpup]

Hi. do the perch up there have worms too?

[Lenman]

This will be our 4th trip there in July and we've never been disappointed. I've been there once with the guys and this will be my third back with the wife! She loves it and we always have action. I prefer Walleye but we caught plenty of Northern. This year I plan on focusing on Smallies and Lake Trout a bit.

The camp is well run and Daryl and Tena are some of the best hosts that I've had in the 25+ years of Canadian fishing. Don't be afraid to ask what they're hitting on and how to fish the different areas that they mark on your maps. This will help!

Clean cottages with flush toilets & plenty of fish. Our group had some 28" & 29" on our first trip and there was a 40" Northern caught a few hundred yards away from camp when we were up there in 2006.

Good fishing ... I mean catching!

[Curt Block]

To Whom This Concerns,
Darrell and Tena along with the Kids run a top notch outfit, I have been their guest for the past four years in a row and have had a wonderful time on each and every visit. The equipment is well maintained, the accomidations are very at home and the crew treats you like family. I have been to several other Canadian Lodges and this one is definitley my favorite. Not to mention the meals are fantastic to say the least. Tenna does a knock out job !!! I would be sure to have a depth finder on hand. I know you can get one from the Lodge. Its a big help when your being put on the fish, seems that fishing spots are referenced by landmarks, points and water depth. I do not beleive you could find a better place than Ghost River Lodge to expierence a Great Canadian Fishing Adventure. Best of Luck and Hope to see you at the Dock !!!!!

[pikeman14]

we were thinking of booking with ghost river? What was your experience like? Thanks for any posts

[pikeman14]

Is there a specific lake which holds the smallies...or are they dispersed throughout the whole system?

[wmd]

To my knowledge the smallies are only in Marchington Lake which is where the lodge is located. Larry Mac is right about this place, it is very well run and the fishing is quite good. Good numbers and most days a good number of 20" plus fish. There are 15 different lakes to fish and they vary from short portages to a mile long to fish lake trout in Zarn. They make every effort to give excellent service without being overbearing about it and any reasonable request is granted. One of my pet peeves with outfitters is being called buddy or sport with no effort to learn your name. From my first trip there I was called by my first name by Darrel, Tena and Don. I am going back in September for trip 7.
wmd

[pikeman14]

I'm beyond jealous of you all, my trip is for next year 2013. I've got the itch so bad I'm ready to bathe in vagisil!!

[Jig Man]

For a boat in lodge it was a great vacation. Excellent numbers.

However I would not call it a truly a remote location. We did a double portage to what we though was a remote lake only to find a cabin on it. The main lake itself has dozens of private cabins on them. My defination of a remote lake is that you are the only camp on the lake.

With all that said I still would highly recomend Ghost River, great hosts and service, just not remote like we experience on fly-in's.

[Fish-er-man]

Thanks for the posts guys. I was also looking at going here. Sounds like a great place to bring the kids and wives. Would keep them busy all day too. The fact that there are some other cabins has to be expected since you can drive here. The rate is also way cheaper then any fly-in trip I have ever gone on where you are the only ones on the lake. Well besides some local natives anyway who you have to watch so they don't steal your beer.
:cheers:

[Jim22]

I'm highly interested as well. Couple questions; How are the bugs? Is the fishing consistent enough to keep a wife who loves catching but loses patience fast when they aren't biting? Oh and I have two daughters; one 5 the other 2. Is this a good idea? I'm a real outdoors person but my wife not so much. I'm trying to develop our family into an outdoors family but I don't want this to backfire on me.

[packpro]

I would get in touch with the camp owner Darrell right away. I have been to many camps and he and his team are by the far the friendliest and most helpful. No matter where you go you are going to have some challenges with children so young. You will probably want to stay close to the camp in case of any loss of interest. The good news is we caught fish everywhere on the Lake. Some of the best numbers were caught 10-15 minutes from camp. With enough notice they will go the extra mile for you. We went with 12 guys and they really put us on the fish. Good numbers and a quite a few over 25"