Fishing Winter House Pond

Thursday, July 13, 2023 

Hi Blog!

On Wednesday, we left St. John’s and moved over to Winterton on the Bay de Verde Peninsula. We drove out of fog and into beautiful sunshine. The weather is supposed to be nice the next couple days and we wanted to take our kayaks out for a spin and maybe catch a trout or two. We checked with the campground owner to see if there were any trout ponds nearby. He suggested we try Winter House Pond which is just around the corner from the campground. He looked at our Jeep and said, “I think you can get in there with that.”

Thursday dawned bright and beautiful. After a quick Ruby walk and a hearty breakfast, we loaded up our fishing gear and took off into the back of the beyond. Many Newfoundlanders still heat their homes with wood. Every winter they head out into the woods to cut and stack wood to dry during the summer months. Most areas of Newfoundland are criss-crossed with ATV and snowmobile tracks. Lucky for us,  there are several cabins on Winter House Pond, so the gravel road was wide enough for our Jeep.

We were on the lookout for wildlife like moose and caribou. We did not expect to see Bugs Bunny!

The ride to the boat launch was exciting. Dusty the Jeep was having a great time bouncing over the rocky road. The potholes provided a great back massage! The path to the lake was well signed. The boat launch had both a gravel beach and a dock. Pictured below, Kathy gets ready to set sail.

There was a slight breeze coming toward the boat launch, so we decided to paddle across the lake and let the wind bring us back.

We tried our luck around a little island, but the surrounding water was too shallow.

Once we were far enough out into the lake, we could see back to our campground. Way up at the top of that mountain in the photo below, there is a white fenced scenic overlook which sits right above our RV.

The folks in this cabin have a birds eye view of the lake.

We were excited to see a family of loons out fishing. If the loons are here, then there must be fish in the lake.

As the morning warmed up, we started to see some action. However, we couldn’t “match the hatch,” so our attempts were for naught.

As it got closer to lunchtime, the winds picked up and the clouds rolled in.

When we returned to the boat launch, the winds had shifted. Our side of the pond was now quiet. We could see some fish feeding, but not on what we had to offer.

Our day on Winter House Pond reminded us that it is called fishing, not catching. However, Kathy is prepared to tell the folks back at camp about the one that got away!

The darker side of kayak fishing. Once we set out all our gear to dry, we hiked up to the scenic overlooks above our RV.

Here is the view of Winter House Pond from our overlook. The lake in the foreground is Middle Pond.

Just because we didn't catch any trout, didn't mean that we weren't having trout for dinner. Loblaws to the rescue! The Steelhead Rainbow Trout poached in white wine, lemon and tarragon was delicious.

Tomorrow, we hope to explore more of the Bay de Verde Peninsula, so stay tuned.