Fishing in Canada

[trent]

My dad, who isn't much of a fisherman, would like for him and me to do a father/son trip up to Canada to fish.

We are looking for a lodge/cabin kind of deal where they will outfit you and put you on fish. My dad isn't interested in river fishing, so we are talking lake fishing from a boat.

Has anybody done this or have recommendations of places to check out?

Dad has a recommendation from a colleague who has gone to the same place multiple times on the Lake of the Woods, but I don't think he is married to that place specifically.

[flyfishingpastor]

Trent;

How cool is that! I know that's a bit of a sacrifice because I don't think Joe fishes does he? Must just wants to spend some quality time with his son - which I HIGHLY recommend - I think he'll discover the same two things I discovered (an empty wallet and what a great guy you are) and I'm only your father-in-law!

Where in Canada are you wanting to go? Are we talking just north of Michigan/US or anywhere? I guess I'm asking would you be driving or flying? Is this a wonderful fishing trip or a "trip of a lifetime?" I have a friend who guides in BC for cut throat/bull trout on the Bow River (surely there's some lakes around there someplace? ). I'll dig up his site and email it to you.

Pat

[trent]

I don't think this is a "trip of a lifetime", but more just a father/son outing and kind of a "bucket list" item for him. A long time ago, my grandpa Dale did something where you basically fly into a lodge, they put you on a boat and put a rod in your hand, and you fish for a few days and they send you home with a cooler of fish. I'm not looking for some kind of Orvis endorsed lodge with butlers and personal chefs. I suggested we just fish for a couple of days with a day of travel on either side. If I know my dad, he'll be much more interested in the guides thoughts on the economics of the Canadian timber industry more than the fishing.

On my "doggie" board, I made a similar inquiry and have received a few interesting responses. One was talking all about the supposedly fabulous salmon fishing on the fly in New Brunswick. That's not a Joe kind of trip, but I would be interested in checking it out down the road with Swatkins clan or is it graduating to the Swatkinsmith clan?

[flyfishingpastor]

Trent;

Here's my buddy Richard Mason's website: bowriveradventures.googlepages.com/home

Like I said, he's in BC. He's a pretty cool guy. Only in his mid-40's, retired Canadian AF jet mech, guides FF-ing and collects bamboo rods and vintage reels - what's not to like? I met him through the bamboo board and I bought a vintage J.W. Young reel w/red agate line guide off him this year - beautiful reel. He was great to do biz with. To make sure I'd get the reel in advance of one of our FF-ing adventures (ALL of Trent and my fishing trips have the potential to turn into an adventure ) he express mailed it the day I said I'd take it. The usual way would have been for him to wait until he got the check and then wait 10 days for it to clear - but he popped it in the mail right away. Good guy to do biz with and his reputation as a guide is very high from those on the board who have fished with him.

Anyway, I'm sure there are people on this board that might have fished Canada before that could be much more helpful. Sorry man, haven't been there - yet!

Pat

[Tippecanoe Fly Fishers Admin]

My extended family goes to a place on Lake of the Woods and does well with Walleye in mid September. I personally like the Boundry Waters area. I know Ely, MN there are several lodges that are on lake close to the BWCA. I will be honest with you once you are that far north it all looks similar. At least in the BWCA/Quetico.

If you are interested in a really great place to fish and hang out check out my thread about my vacation over the summer. Again it is in MN, but it is a great place to go.

[reelteacher]

I would highly recommend Zup's Outfitters on beautiful Lac La Croix. My Uncle Bill goes there every year and has tremendous success on smallmouth bass, walleye, and northern pike. I had the opportunity to go there with him for my college graduation, his treat. It was like out of this world!!
The resort is all private and the cabins are 5 star accomodations. Meals, shore lunches, boats with motors, real Indian fishing guides and the whole nine yards are available. It is a tremendous place to go and relax and fish and most importantly enjoy time with your dad. It's one of those places you'll never forget.

www.zupsresort.com/

It is also acknowledged and one of Canada's best fishing resorts.

[trent]

Dustin:

thanks for the recommendation.

Did you fly fish, spin fish, or both?

[reelteacher]

We were fly fishing. My uncle only flyfishes with big bass poppers. He never fly fishes below the surface. I used a few streamers from time to time when things were slow, but the top water action was incredible most of the time. We caught bass and pike on top water poppers all week long.

We used spin gear to fish for walleye with the guide.

[trent]

That's interesting that pike were happy to take the top water stuff. When you do a search for pike flies, you usually end up with some kind of large bunny streamer pattern. When you say big popper, how big are you talking about? Did you use any of the "diver" patterns? After seeing the deer hair at the last tying gathering, I'd like to learn how to tie some of the divers and also tie some of those big bunny streamers too.

Did you have special leader/tippet for the northerns? I've come across references to a "bite tippet" I think is what it was called, but haven't done more research into it.

I did get a sink tip line and dedicated reel for Christmas, so I'd like to try for walleye on that. We'll just see.

Is this the same uncle that has been to a meeting or two? He has a son that came as well that is probably about your age???

[reelteacher]

Sorry Trent, this uncle lives in Bloomington, IN. He was a professor of business at IU. He retired about 10 years ago. He hasn't been to any meetings. My uncle Harold is the one you are referring to and, he has a son named Brian one year my senior.

Very Good questions.

Most of the poppers we used were not huge, size 2 or so. They were about 3 to 4 inches long. Most were deer hair, but he has a chartruese hard bodied popper that he loves to throw, also a size 2.
We did use some Dahlberg divers and they were equally successful. I didn't use any bunny leaches back then. I was primarily into poppers and bucktail streamers. But I imagine bunny leaches would be extremely effective.

We used primarily 8 - 10 lb leader and tippets. Pike were shy of wire, I don't know why...but we always got more hits when we were just using straight mono. Yes, we lost a lot of flies, but we also landed a lot of pike without breaking off. If you hook them in the corner of the mouth, your success rate is almost as good as any other fish. It's when they eat the whole thing and the line rakes across the front teeth that you loose them.
Our main target was bass though and most of the pike we caught were incidental. We didn't go out for pike specifically. We didn't really need to, pike and bass pretty much inhabit the same areas, waiting to ambush anything that comes along.

Good idea with the sink-tip line. It should work well for walleye, but don't limit the line to just them. The sink tip line with bunny leaches, divers, and streamers should work exceptionally well for bass and pike also! I didn't own a sinking line back then, I doubt if I even knew they existed.

[Tippecanoe Fly Fishers Admin]

Trent - I was just in Sportman's on Saturday and they had an interesting book that I flipped through. It was Pike on the Fly, however I am not sure of the author or the price.

When I was fishing for Pike I was using a bit tippet. I forget the brand I was using. The fly I was using was a bait fish pattern that Krebsie gave me to use. He uses it on Snook down in the galdes.

[trent]

Les:

I'll look for that book the next time I'm in there.

Unfortunately, I may have to start avoiding the Warehouse as it seems to unknowingly suck my debit card out of my wallet and charge things without my knowledge! Somehow, the stuff that was charged makes it into my car and eventually to my tying "bench". It's a very strange phenomena!!!

[rstaight]

Trent,

I HAVE THE SAME THING HAPPEN TO ME!!!!!

I thought it was some sort of paranormal thing happening to me. At least I'm not alone.

See honey IT IS ghost.