“GUESTS DESIRING to take a side trip to the Big East River, which has been termed ‘The Fisherman’s Paradise,’ may do so in a single day, or if a stay over a few days is desired, a comfortable cabin for sleeping has been provided for our guests. This side trip is popular with many who enjoy a jaunt into nature’s primitive wilds, and have a desire for genuine camp life. … Our guests often desire the services of guides. We have competent men for this purpose, who know the country thoroughly, and whose services may be secured at a very minimal charge. Guides add much to the enjoyment of your side-trip, as they not only know where to go, but they take care of all the little details which rob one of enjoyment when personal attention is necessary.”

- Camp Billie Bear brochure, late 1930s

“JIM [Bennett] was the guide the fishermen used as they stumbled into the bush on overnights. His cooking was outdoors – and famous – if not on the bestseller lists.”

- Gerry Livingston, Billie Bear guest, August 1982

THE PROSPECT of good fishing had brought Indigenous peoples, American sportsmen in search of wilderness, and settlers from other areas of the district on journeys to Bella (or Sand) Lake. Tales of excellent trout fishing, spread first by word of mouth, then by deliberate advertising, lured guests to Camp Billie Bear from its beginnings. In 1914, an article by James Humphreys in Rod and Gun in Canada boosted the Camp’s publicity among sportsmen. Humphreys described his fishing outing in superlatives and praised Camp Billie Bear and its proprietors, Duncan and Mabel Jackson.

Tales and photos of bountiful catches quickly became a standard, enduring feature of Billie Bear brochures. A brochure from the late 1930s, for example, described the “excellent fishing” to be found in Bella and neighbouring lakes, including lake trout and black bass in summer and fall and speckled trout (on the Big East River) in May and June.

“ON OUR FIRST evening in camp we went fishing with J. D. Bunting and his son in one boat with Duncan [Jackson] as guide, and Frank Boddy and myself in the other boat. The lake is only a few yards from camp and can be reached in a couple of minutes. We had not gone one hundred yards from shore when I felt a tug at my bait and sure enough I had hooked the first fish. I said to my mate that I had hooked a trout but he only laughed saying that most likely it was a log I had. However I kept him pulling the boat while I started to wind up my fish. In due course the big trout was brought alongside the boat with hurrahs from Boddy when he finally saw that it was in reality a fish. When the fish was at last got into the boat our excitement was intense. I told my companion to keep quiet as he would soon become accustomed to such sights as this. Then putting the bait once more into the water we set out again and in a few minutes had repeated the performance. I kept on until I had landed my seventh fish. They averaged about two and a half pounds each. ... My friend Boddy captained the rod for the rest of the evening and although he lost some fish did excellent work for a beginner and beat out my record for the day by one trout. As it was then getting dusk we headed for camp where we awaited the arrival of our comrades, Bunting and Jackson. They returned in due course with seventeen as fine trout as I have ever seen, making thirty-two trout in all for the day. Needless to say, Mrs. Jackson had trout galore for supper and we certainly did justice to the bunch. Speckled trout made a very appetizing substitute for Bully beef.”

- James Humphreys, “A Muskoka Fishing Trip,” Rod and Gun in Canada, June 1914

“BELLA LAKE, famous because of ‘Billie Bear’ and long noted for its good fishing yielded to a visiting tourist Monday morning its greatest salmon. Twenty-four pounds of lake trout, dangling from the end of a copper line, and fatally gripping a Williams Wabbler, came to the surface to greet Alfred J. Stecker of St. Petersburg, Florida, and his feminine ‘guide,’ Mrs. Jas. King of Toronto, both guests at ‘Billie Bear.’ The surface was reached after an hour of patient and skilful playwork on the part of the two excited and delighted anglers. Inch by inch the monster was urged toward the boat, the two occupants of which tugged energetically to keep him from making frantic strides toward the opposite shore. When finally landed, the excited guests from all parts of the camp rushed in to measure, weigh and minutely inspect the largest fish ever taken from Bella Lake.”

- Huntsville Forester, August 16, 1934

“IT WAS IN THE early 1970s. The proprietor of Billie Bear Lodge assured us that the lake onto which we were being flown had lake trout. Resting in the depths, waiting to be caught. No guarantee. Fishing doesn’t come with a guarantee.
“The two Cessnas landed in what was a pristine lake except for logs to tie up the planes, a tin boat, and a tent on shore. The unloading was quickly completed as we balanced precariously on the logs. The planes left after we had given the pilot detailed instructions on how to contact the refrigeration van in anticipation of the magnitude of our catch. Initially the motor on the tin boat refused to start, but with input from a heavy equipment operator, a car salesman, a golf course owner, an airline pilot, and a surgeon, after about an hour it burst into life. The fishing could begin.

“The self-appointed expert (sometime heavy equipment operator) instructed us on the finer details of catching trout. No guarantee. Fishing doesn’t come with a guarantee. We trolled and trolled with long lines, short lines, various lures and bait. We even tried a piece of hotdog, but, over a day and a half, not one bite.

“We didn’t care, as Billie Bear had left us in a quiet, tranquil lake. We shared the experience with each other and a pair of loons. We didn’t need the refrigeration truck and later we were teased by our families, but we had a special experience – one that had given a visitor from England lasting memories. Two Canadians had a chance to reconnect with the natural world of this country and the author (at that time a seven-year immigrant to Canada) an intense desire to seek out more of the solitudes this country has to offer.

“Who cares about fishing, anyway?”

- Geoff Lloyd, Toronto and Lake Vernon, 2004

“THE ANGLER of 1906 could never have imagined the changes that have affected the fishing on Bella Lake. Fish are no longer a match for our developing techniques and sophisticated technology. The new vocabulary of fishing includes such terms as ‘invading species,’ ‘slot size,’ and ‘catch and release.’ Unlike the unlimited harvesting of fish so prevalent in the past, the new approach to fishing is conservation. Although the days of walking across the bay ‘on the backs of spawning lake trout’ are gone, Bella Lake still attracts fishers of all ages with its beauty and promise of ‘the big one’.”

- Yves Breda, one of Bella Lake’s intrepid bass fishermen, 2006

Billie Bear Documents Archive, Billie Bear brochure, 1930; James Humphreys, “A Muskoka Fishing Trip,” Rod and Gun in Canada, June 1914; Gerry Livingston, letter to Barb Paterson, August 1982; Julia Pulsifer, letter to Louisa M. Bosworth, New York, September 24, 1916.

Breda, Yves, communication 2006.

Huntsville Forester, “Bella Lake Yields its Largest: Twenty-four Pound Salmon Successfully Landed under Direction of Lady Guide,” August 16, 1934, p. 1.

“Lake of Bays, Highlands of Ontario,” Grand Trunk Railway System pamphlet, c. 1915, https://archive.org./details/lakeofbayshighla00gan/mode/2up

Lloyd, Geoff, “The Most Successful Failed Fishing Trip Ever,” submission to Billie Bear Centennial project, August 2004.

Osborne, Thomas, The Night the Mice Danced the Quadrille (Erin, ON: Boston Mills Press).