Pleasing Panache

View from Panache Marina

Lake Panache looks like swiss cheese in the form of moose antlers and that is from where the name derives.  It spans Sudbury, Sudbury District, Espanola and Lively and is fed by the Whitefish River system.  180 feet deep in the channel, it has an average depth of just under 50 feet.  The channel can have very rough waters, when waves swell over 5 feet high.  Navigating the lake often involves using the islands for shelter as you tack your way from one place to another.

Greg Cholkan's Fishing Map from his Fishing Blog http://gcholkanfishing.blogspot.com/

Greg Cholkan writes a fishing blog and the map above comes from it.  We tried fishing off the island but only caught two fish in over an hour before finding a great spot just under the docks of the boathouses where we reeled in fish after fish, albeit smaller ones, in just under 30 minutes.  Fishing is way more fun when you are actually catching fish.

Through this blog, I connected with a former Killarney Park Ranger named John and his dog Simba.  He was kind enough to tour us around the Panache Bay Marina, which he indicated is under great new ownership, and to show us the beauty of the lake and its surroundings.  He also fed us spaghetti dinner in his unique log house that he built himself on the road to the marina.  A really enjoyable afternoon.

My favourite photo came from the fishing spot my son found.  The sky was blue and full of clouds and the sun seemed to be shining down on his specific spot, where he netted some great fish hiding under the dock.