Ontario Fishing, Kayaking & Family Vacation Fun in Georgian Bay

Welcome from your Hosts

Welcome to Diamond Key Lodge, located on the Georgian Bay, in Northern Ontario - Canada. My name is Peter, and together with my wife Karen, we purchased Diamond Key Lodge from the Powell’s in 2008.  Great fishing, beautiful scenery and lots of laughing, . David continues to run the camp. The camp has been in business since the 1940s, and we are proud to continue the tradition of providing a relaxed fishing camp experience.

At Diamond Key, we have the fish and scenery, but that is only part of the story. David is known for his hospitality and offers six very clean house keeping cabins, all with a very relaxed atmosphere. During the fishing season, The Lodge is a nice old Cedar Pan-Abode with a real camp feel.  We’ve also upgraded some of the windows, purchased a communal BBQ (great one), a games room, upgraded mattresses, a beautiful walking trail, some new Lund Boats and Yamaha Engines … but nothing will compare in importance to the welcome and fun feeling created by David.

Please come expecting to relax and have a good time.

Lodge & Cabins

Our Lodge is at the mouth of the Key River, in the French River Delta. The range of fishing is outstanding, with Northern Pike, Muskie, Walleye, and Bass all around us.  The scenery in northern Georgian Bay is famous; artists often paint the sunsets and the rock and pine tree backdrop are at every turn. The Lodge property faces due West, with views into the islands. The stars at night jump out and the sunsets are some of the prettiest in the world. We like to say that we offer the feel of a fly-in camp, but with the convenience of boat access. We are located 3 ½ hours North of Toronto, but have a real feeling of being in the wilderness.   

While we hope the goal is to get away from it all and enjoy fishing, hospitality and the scenery, we do offer free wi-fi internet access, by satellite, so that you can stay connected if need be. Our sincere goal is that you will be busy relaxing, fishing, walking, kayaking or paddling.  Relax and have fun, we like to laugh and have fun – we laugh a lot.

Fishing & Season

Specifically, we are in the Georgian Bay 30,000 islands with access to the Key River, Sand Bay, Henvey Inlet, Pickerel River, Fox Islands, French River and the Bustards. Famous for producing big fish, we tend to fish for Northern Pike, trophy Walleye, Small and Large mouth Bass and Muskie. Set within the islands, we are blessed to have incredible structure ranging from deep weed beds to thousands of miles of shoals. This type of habitat and low density provides for a wide variety of species. If you can view our photo gallery at http://www.diamondkeylodge.smugmug.com, you will see pictures of fish from our guests; you will see some smiling faces!

We are lucky that our season opens at the beginning of May (we are located outside the Key River in zone 14 and do not fish the river in May). We get incredible action for Walleye and Pike, early in the spring when many areas are still not open. We fish in the georgian Bay islands rom May through to the first week of October. While May and June and September are the dominant fishing months, July and August can also produce some real surprise catches. Some groups have been travelling from the U.S. for decades – the fishing and relaxed ambience has helped earn their annual pilgrimage for an Ontario road trip; we are always happy to welcome back as we consider them friends. We would be pleased to provide references, or you can view our testimonials section. One of our proudest moments was when we had four generations of a family fishing together; that is pretty cool.

Bass fishing starts on the 27th of June and our shoals are a perfect structure for hiding really larger fish; and many of them. These are a favorite for kids and provide great action and a ton of fun. The abundance of bait fish provide for some real lunkers and lots of action.

Bob Izumi and Real Fishing at Diamond Key

We are pleased that Bob and his team came to visit us at Diamond Key Lodge. They filmed for a future episode on t.v.  For more information about Bob Izumi, please see http://www.realfishing.com. In addition to be a great fisherman, Bob is also involved in a wonderful organization called http://www.fishingforever.ca, which we support. For those of you who know Bob, he laughs about as much as we do – so it should be a great fit. All kidding aside, we are excited to bring more awareness to the diversity and size of the fish in this part of the Georgian Bay. For the record, they are not eligible for the Fishmaster contest as that would be unfair.

Fishing and Photography Contests

We offer a yearlong fishing tournament (Fishmaster contest) and best picture contest (sunsets, kayaking, fishing, family … no rules).  While many guests bring their own digital cameras, we have six loaner spares, so that if you want to borrow one to capture the moments, please go ahead. At the end of the day, we have a high speed computer, connected by internet. So, you can upload your best pictures and trophy catches and they will instantly update so that we world can see – and you can brag when you get home.

Our Fleet

In 2009, we are in transition. While we love the wood Giesler Boats (they are great), we have begun to purchase new Lund fishing boats (with floors).   We have also started to purchase new 4-stroke Yamaha 15 HP Engines. The debate on wood vs. aluminium fishing boats will continue (laugh).  In 2008, we had a few testers. Some preferred the wood boats for their warmth and historic feel, some preferred the new Lunds. Either way, David is fanatical about engine maintenance, so please rest assured the boats and engine are all in great running form.  

Kayaking & Adventure Tours (July, August, September)

Kayaking in July, August and September have really taken off.   Seems that folks would like the beauty and scenery of a Kayak adventure, but the comforts of home (bed, warm meal, bbq, no tent …).  Once at the camp, we have access to a wonderful selection of day routes for kayaking, all in protected waters. The North East Corner of Georgian Bay and the North Shore Delta of Pickerel and French Rivers are a treasure. They are now protected by the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve http://www.gbbr.ca   as well as the French River Provincial Park system http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/fren.html. We are also within eight miles of the historic Bustard Islands.   For those wanting guided, multiple day tours, we have paired up with White Squall and they have a series of dates booked.  Of course, nothing wrong with fishing from a Kayak either!

We do offer daily Kayak rentals, with the Kayaks that White Squall use on their own adventure tours; in total we have four single and two tandem Kayaks with brands like Boreal Design, Necky and Current Designs. While we do provide all the accessories and P.F.D.s, we only offer these for day rentals; not for overnight Kayak trips.  For this type of adventure, we would suggest that you pair up with White Squall or another outfitter with experience.

If you wish to skip the river kayak and start directly at Diamond Key, you can arrange for a water taxi in our Scout 222 Dorado or our Crestliner Pontoon. For large groups, this has proved convenient as they can meet you at the dock and help load your supplies or personal kayaks; some groups start at highway #69/400 and some prefer to start their Kayaking at our Lodge. If you wish, you can take the taxi both ways, or on one leg of your trip.

For more information on White Squall or our Kayak Rentals, please visit our sister site at http://www.georgianbaykayaking.com.
Over time, we will be building this site to include a bulletin board, route descriptions and links to other awesome Kayaking and Canoe resources.  As a Georgian Bay Kayaking community, it would be nice to share our wealth of knowledge on Kayak instruction, available events, equipment and of course, just plain fun.   

Family Vacations

While it is clearly a fishing lodge during the peak fishing season, it is also a wonderful spot for families. kids will have a blast in the summer as we have a games room, great swimming , a wonderful walking and hiking trail, access to kayaks, kayaking and of course, fishing – which kids love. One of the big hits is the jumping rocks, directly across from the lodge. You can be social, relax, kayak like there is no tomorrow or fish for the trophy – your choice and we will leave you with enough space as the cabins are quite spread out.
We are a great spot to introduce your kids to the outdoors, fishing, incredible stars (with a high end telescope) and wildlife. We have had families rent multiple cabins, this way they can socialize together, but eat certain meals as a family.

In 2008, we renovated the fish hut and have created a games room, which is a great place for kids to go and for teenagers to get some “space”.  It is also great for ping pong, darts and cards. However, you will find that most of the time, your family will be outdoors – which is a good thing.

See you soon

We would like to thank you for considering Diamond Key for your next fishing, kayaking or family trip. We hope you will explore our site and come to visit us.

Thank You.

Peter, Karen, & David

 

©2010 Diamond Key Lodge