Best ice fishing in Kemi: which trip for which day
Illustration photo: a frosted islet on the frozen sea, not at one of the trips described here.
The short answer
For the sea and the ride out, book the afternoon snowmobile trip onto the bay. For a slower day, especially without a car, take the pond trip, which collects you from your hotel and cooks the catch. For a trip nobody else joins, the family outing in Ii is the one sold as private. On an icebreaker day, leave fishing for another day: the cruise and the bay trips overlap.
From a bed in Kemi there are four ways to spend a day on the ice, and they suit four different days.
The bay, and the ride out
The afternoon trip leaves the safari company’s house in town at one and takes you out onto the frozen Bothnian Bay by snowmobile.1 The ride is part of the outing, which makes it the one for a group that would get restless sitting by a hole all day.
A morning on the bay
The same company runs a second trip onto the bay every morning at eleven. It is listed only on its own site, not on the booking platforms, and its details sit inside the booking system, so it suits someone who would rather fish before lunch and is happy to book direct.
A slow day, collected from the hotel
The lodge in Keminmaa fishes its own quiet pond and turns what you catch into a salmon soup, and it collects you from hotels in Kemi and Tornio.2 Without a car, or with anyone who would rather sit by a fire than on a snowmobile, this is the easiest day.
Your party alone
The company in Ii, further down the coast, sells the only ice-fishing trip in the area described as a private tour, with the equipment provided and an offer to tailor any trip.3 What private means at the others is on private ice fishing in Kemi.
On an icebreaker day
The morning cruise is on the water until half past twelve, and the afternoon cruise starts checking in at a quarter past eleven,4 so either one rules out both trips onto the bay that day. Put the fishing on another day, or book the pond trip, which starts when you choose.
Tours you can book
Two hours of ice fishing at the Kukkola rapids, with a fire
Run by Nordic Safaris
From €95per person
Length2 h
See it on the operator’s site(opens in a new tab)Ice fishing on a private pond, with the catch in a soup
Run by Lapland Salmon Lodge
From €120per person
Length5 h
Book now on GetYourGuide(opens in a new tab)By snowmobile to ice fishing on the frozen Bothnian Bay
Run by Sea Lapland Safaris
From €155per person
Length2 h
Book now on GetYourGuide(opens in a new tab)
Questions people ask
Is there lake fishing inland from Kemi?
Ranua, 82 minutes inland, has three guided trips on its lakes, all sold on the companies' own sites: Lupland's morning on a lake, Lupland's longer day that rides out by snowmobile, and Ranua Resort's snowmobile trip out to the ice. Ice fishing in Ranua compares them. From Kemi it makes sense only as part of a longer day there, such as one at the Wildlife Park.
Is the river fishing in Tornio worth the drive?
For something the sea cannot give you, yes. Tornio is 21 minutes from Kemi, and a company there takes guests out at the Kukkola rapids on the border river from mid-December, weather permitting, to the end of March, with a minimum of two people. Fishing rules at the rapids are not the same as on the sea, which ice fishing in Tornio explains.
Does the pond trip leave at a fixed time?
No. The lodge collects you at the time you book, and says it will contact you if anything changes. That makes it the easiest trip to fit around other plans in Kemi, including an icebreaker cruise on a different part of the day, since you choose the start rather than working around a departure.