The best ice fishing from Posio: one choice for each kind of day
Illustration photo: a frozen lake at sunrise, not in Posio.
The short answer
If you have your own gear and someone local to ask about the ice, fish in Posio for free. For a first go with a guide, the cheapest is two hours from Kemijärvi at 79 euros. With children, choose the Kemijärvi resort's own lake, which has child fares. For the aurora as well, take the evening trip that runs until after dark. For a real day on the ice, book the professional fisherman's five hours, if you can make up four adults.
Nobody sells guided ice fishing in Posio, so the choice is between going on your own for nothing and driving to a guide. Which is best depends on the day you want.
On your own
A single rod through the ice needs no licence, as ice fishing in Posio sets out with the rule. What you are missing is gear and knowledge of the ice, not permission.
A first try with a guide
The cheapest guided two hours in reach leave from Kemijärvi, 85 minutes away, at 79 euros a head with the gear and winter clothing lent.
With children
The Kemijärvi resort fishes a lake right beside it for two hours, with outdoor clothing, licences and equipment included, and prints a fare for children of four to eleven, with under-threes free.1
For the aurora too
An evening trip from Kemijärvi runs two and a half hours into the dark with a campfire, for up to four people per booking, and notes that on a clear night the aurora may appear overhead.2
For a proper day on the ice
The same Kemijärvi resort sells five hours beside a professional fisherman on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for groups of four to eight adults.3 Salla’s three to four hours at a remote wilderness pond are the other long option, an hour and a half from Posio.
Questions people ask
Which trip gets furthest from the road?
The Salla trip and the professional fisherman's day. In Salla a guided snowmobile ride takes you to a remote wilderness pond for three to four hours with a picnic lunch; the Kemijärvi professional's day uses a minibus to the shore and a snowmobile sledge out to the fishing hole. The other trips fish a lake beside the resort or a secluded lake reached by car.
When is the season?
The Kemijärvi resort gives January to April for its lake and January to 20 April, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for the professional fisherman's day. The other trips in our records do not print a season. Posio's own tourist information says only that in winter the thousands of lakes become an ice fisher's paradise, which is true and not a timetable, so for December check the ice locally first.
Do we need to bring anything?
Less than you might think on the guided trips. The Kemijärvi resort's lake trip includes outdoor clothing, fishing licences and equipment, and the two-hour trip from Kemijärvi on the booking platform lends fishing gear, winter clothing and boots. On your own in Posio you need an auger, a short rod, warm clothes and, most of all, local advice about where the ice is safe.