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Ice fishing prices from Posio: what each trip charges

Low sun casting long shadows across a snow-covered frozen lake, with dry reeds in the foreground and pines on the far shore

Illustration photo: a frozen lake in low winter sun, not in Posio.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

Pay for the length you want, not for a better trip: every guided ice fishing trip within reach costs roughly the same per hour, the professional fisherman's day included. A family with children aged four to eleven pays least on the Kemijärvi resort's own lake. Alone on a Posio lake, with a single rod, the fishing itself costs nothing, and what you pay for elsewhere is the gear, the guide and the drive.

How the operators compare

Prices are the operators' own published starting prices as of the date this guide was updated, and they change through the season.

Kemijärvi 2 hoursKemijärvi resort lakeKemijärvi eveningSalla wilderness pond
Price €79 €83 €100 €141 sharing a sledge, €184 alone
Child fare Not stated €35 (4–11), under 3 free Not stated €92 (3–11)
Family of four €316 at the one price €236 €400 at the one price €466
Who can book Not stated At least 2 adults Up to 4 per booking Not stated
Cancellation Free up to 24 hours ahead Not stated Not stated Not stated

No row is ranked, because a longer trip is not a better one. A family of four is two adults and two children aged four to eleven; where no child fare is printed, the total uses the one price.

Where these figures come from
  • Kemijärvi 2 hours: Two hours on a secluded lake with fishing gear, winter clothing and boots lent, sold on a booking platform.
  • Kemijärvi resort lake: Two hours on the lake beside the resort, with outdoor clothing and equipment lent, from January to April.
  • Kemijärvi evening: Two and a half hours into the dark with a campfire, joining a small group, with hotel pickup in the area.
  • Salla wilderness pond: Three to four hours at a remote wilderness pond, reached by a guided snowmobile ride with two to a sledge.

The prices below are per person, for trips an hour and a half from Posio. On their face they range threefold; per hour on the ice they barely move.

Per hour, most cost the same

The two-hour trip from Kemijärvi on the booking platform works out at just under 40 euros an hour.1 The resort’s own lake, the evening trip and Salla’s three to four hours at the pond all land between about 35 and 47 euros an hour. Even the professional fisherman’s day, at around 46 euros an hour for five hours, sits inside that band, and for that you fish beside someone who does it for a living.2

What changes the bill

Length, first: a longer trip costs more because it is longer. After that, the party. Where a child fare exists it takes a real share off the family total, and the resort’s lake prices the youngest lowest of all;3 a party that is too small or too large for a trip’s rules pays nothing because it cannot book. The table gives both.

The free alternative

A single rod through the ice on a Posio lake costs nothing in licences, as ice fishing in Posio explains. Against that, every price here is for the gear, the guide, the warm clothes and the knowledge of where the ice holds.

Questions people ask

Is a fishing licence a hidden extra?

Only if someone uses a lure. An adult aged 18 to 69 who fishes with a lure or a trap needs the national fisheries management fee, while teenagers and anyone over 70 do not, whatever they fish with. The Kemijärvi resort's lake trip lists licences in its price; the other trips do not say whether theirs would cover a lure, so ask before anyone brings one along.

What does getting there add?

From Posio the Kemijärvi trips are 85 minutes' drive each way and Salla about an hour and a half. The two-hour trip on the booking platform picks up at the Jauri Resort or the Academy Hotel in Kemijärvi, and the evening trip picks up from hotels in Kemijärvi, Pyhä or Luosto, asking to be contacted in advance for longer distances. None of them lists a pickup from Posio, so budget for the fuel and three hours in the car.

Is food included in the price?

Something is included on every trip, and the amount grows with the length. The two-hour trips include coffee or tea and a snack or a warm drink, the evening trip a hot drink and small snacks by a campfire. Salla's trip includes a picnic lunch and coffee at the pond, and the professional fisherman's day hot bread with meat heated on the fire, local juice, coffee and tea.

Written by

Lapland Handbook Staff

Lapland Handbook is written by its editorial staff in Rovaniemi. Every price, age limit and group size in a comparison is read from the operator's own page and marked "Not stated" when the operator does not publish it. Each guide names who should not book, and names the operator that suits each kind of group, whichever it is.

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