Lake Ogascanan Lodge is a family-run fishing lodge situated on a 15-mile lake in a restricted-access zone of Quebec’s bush country. To get there, you need to drive about 60 miles (100 km) of logging road past the last town, and the nearest store is roughly two hours away. The Mullens family took over the lodge in 1989 and has run it every season since then. Their outfitting roots go back to 1964 on Kipawa Lake, which makes the people running the docks today the third generation in the trade. More than eight in ten guests who arrive each year have fished at the lake before, and some groups have been coming back for over 30 years.Plenty of anglers have driven a full day north only to find boats parked on every point and cottage docks along every shoreline. The fish on lakes like that have seen every lure in the tackle shop. Ogascanan works the other way. As a Quebec Fishing Outfitter, the lodge is the only operator and landowner on the lake, so only its guests fish the water. Trips run out of a drive-in Main Camp, private outpost camps and the three-cabin Island Outpost, with 10 cabins spread across six locations. Boats and motors come with the stay, along with a lake orientation on arrival, coaching through the week and shore lunches on the sand beach.
The family sees that high return rate as the plain result of keeping the lake quiet and protected. “A fella doesn’t drive this far to share his lake with a hundred other boats. We’re the only ones up here, and the province sets the slot, not us. Nobody’s on the ice all winter, and nothing gets stocked. Sometimes you’re fishing, and sometimes you’re catchin’, but when you come back next year, the fish are still here. That’s why most of our guests keep coming back,” said a member of the family that runs the lodge. The same faces show up at the dock each summer, often with sons, brothers, and old fishing buddies along.
About Lake Ogascanan Lodge
Lake Ogascanan Lodge is a family-run Quebec Fishing Lodge owned and operated by the Mullens family since 1989. The lodge sits on a restricted-access lake reached only by bush road, where it is the only lodge and the only landowner on the water. Guests fish for naturally reproducing walleye, northern pike, and lake trout during a 16-week season with no ice fishing. Stays are offered at the drive-in Main Camp, private outposts, and the Island Outpost Camp, with boats and motors provided. Most guests are repeat anglers who book year after year. For more information, visit https://ogascanan.com/.