Fishing Canada

Several years ago I got involved with a bunch of fishing crazies and was invited to go fishing with them in Canada. I enjoyed the trip so much that I got a little crazy myself and this year made my fourth trip with the gang to the same area. It worked out so that my three sons and son-in-law could all go, so I decided it was time to give them fishing lessons. I found excellent air fare, and after a mad rush to secure passports and fishing gear we were all ready.

Feeding the Mosquitoes while waiting at the dock

The area is Lake Of The Woods, Ontario, which is a huge lake that extends from northern Minnesota into Canada, covering almost a million acres. It has 65,000 miles of shoreline and over 14,000 islands. We fish out of Ash Rapids Fishing Camp, which is on a peninsula about 20 miles southwest of Kenora, Ontario, and only accessible by boat or a really long hike.

Ash Rapids Lodge

We Took the early morning flight to Fargo, North Dakota, via Minneapolis, and drove from there north to Winnipeg, then east for a couple more hours. We were supposed to be picked up on the dock and transported to the lodge, but they forgot to tell me they had changed docks so we provided sport for the mosquitoes while we waited for them to find us. It was almost dark when we finally got there, but they waited dinner and we enjoyed Ribs and Walleye, an excellent meal. Our cabin slept six, so Dan Olsen hooked up with us. He is one of the regulars that I fished with on my 2007 trip. His snoring made Kenny sound like a kitten purring.

Kenny's big One!

First morning out was clear and sunny with just a light breeze. Kenny, Darin and I were in one boat and Joel and Clay were in the other. We drift fished the east end of Copper Island for Walleye the first couple of hours, I caught six and the boys caught about that many combined. I guess you can call it experience but I'm just a darn good fisherman. Had to show the boys how to do it. Later we started skirting the island, casting for Northerns and Small mouth and did pretty well. We stopped for lunch and Kenny went for a swim. He said he slipped on the rocks, but I think he just wanted to see how the water was. He forgot to take his cell phone and camera out of his pocket. The phone dried out and was okay, but the camera drowned and could not be resuscitated..

Joel's first Northern Pike

We spent most of the day fishing for Northerns in a few different spots, then went back to where we started and fished for Walleye again in the evening. We had better luck and I think everyone caught some. We were back at camp by 7:00 pm and had a fine dinner of Walleye and roast beef.

Daddy caught the biggest Walleye

Second day it was a little more windy so we decided to go to a place called Nebraska Avenue (don't ask me why) where the islands are plentiful and provide a wind break. We were casting for Northerns and low and behold I caught the first fish again! Darn but I am good! We hadn't been fishing long when I told Joel and Darin to reel in and we would go over where Clay and Kenny were fishing. Darin replied that he couldn't reel in because he had something. It turned out to be a 40 inch, 14.5 pound Musky.

Darin and his “Hog”

Muskies are a first cousin to Northern Pike, but they are a lot more elusive and not nearly as aggressive. They are what everyone at camp talks about catching, but hardly anyone does. As it turned out, this was the only one caught out of our camp on this visit. Darin did us all proud. We fished that area most of the morning, catching more pike and bass and having lunch. We found one area where there was Walleye, but they were pretty small and the wind was blowing us around so we decided to go elsewhere.

Notice Joel is wearing the glove on the hand next to the poop vent, not the teeth.
Is there such a thing as poop-phobia?

We hit the east side of Copper and I caught a 27 inch walleye on the first drift, a 24 incher in the second and a large Northern on the third. No one else was catching anything so we decided to move on. We made a little trip up the rapids, which aren't very rapid, and fished some new area. We found one unnamed lake that we had all to ourselves and the Northerns started hitting just as it was time to go back to camp. Reluctantly returning we had dinner of Walleye and Southern Fried Chicken. Southern Canada is different from Southern USA, and so it the chicken, but it was good. After dinner Jared taught us how to play a card game called "Wits", but he got mad because we beat him at his own game.



We thought this was Billy Big Mouth, but it turned out to be a smallmouth.

Third day it was cold and rainy, and we decided not to fish for Walleye, but to try to find some area out of the wind to fish for Northerns. We went up the rapids quite a ways and found some secluded channels that were quite calm. It didn't rain much and occasionally we would see blue sky, but it stayed chilly most of the day. Everyone caught fish, but it was fairly slow at first, picking up around noon, then slowing down again in the afternoon. Joel was doing pretty well, catching quite a few Northerns, until he cast his lure in front of our boat and the prop cut his line. He accused me of speeding up and cutting it on purpose, but I wouldn't do that just because he was out fishing me. Anyhow, his luck changed and he didn't catch another fish until I got tired of listening to him whine and gave him another lure just like the one he had lost.

Daddy also caught the biggest pike! (At least they let me think so.)

Mid afternoon we got hit by a real downpour. Luckily we had our rain gear. We found a place to go ashore and explored the woods for a while until the rain stopped. Back on the lake we watched some curious otters playing peek-a-boo with us. We also saw a couple of really large turtles as well as a few smaller ones. I think they are snapping turtles.

We stayed out fishing as long as we could because it was our last chance. It was getting dark and stormy again when we made camp. We had dinner of Walleye and spaghetti and meat balls. We got things pretty well packed up before going to bed so we could be ready to leave right after breakfast.

The fishing crew, ready to head home

I think Clay caught some fish, but I don't have any evidence of it since he won't sent me his photos. Maybe when life is less hectic he will do a blog and give us the proof.

After eating, saying our good-byes and a photo session, we loaded the boats and headed back to the dock. The drive back to Fargo was uneventful. We didn't even have to get out of the car at customs, but just passed right through. We made good time and were a couple of hours early for our flight so we went to TGI Friday's for lunch. the flight home was also uneventful. It was a direct flight and we were back in Salt Lake by 7:30 pm. Joel and I could neither one find our car in the parking lot, but finally did after a diligent search. Clay caught the shuttle buss to Rexburg, Joel headed home to Willard and Darin, Kenny and I went to Kenny's place in Lehi. Darin's car was there and he headed home. I stayed the night and left early the next morning, arriving in New Harmony around 9:00 am.