With friends and family on a Canadian fly-in fishing trip, some years ago
Every fisherman who’s gone on a Canadian fishing trip, has many stories to tell, and most everyone has a favorite trip. (Or two) I’ve gone nine times and very much enjoyed all but one. That trip was ruined by severe weather on all but one day. But even that trip, bad as it was, left us with a few good memories.
In 1976 I went on my first Canadian fishing trip along with my best friend Jim, his brother Don and their father Mel. Jim, Don and Mel had been up there before and we were all looking forward to the trip, especially me!
For many fishermen in the U.S., a Canadian fishing trip is the gold standard. Having been regaled with Canadian fishing stories from Jim and Don, along with others, I was chomping at the bit. By the time we left our fair city of Kenosha, Wisconsin visions of giant pike and walleyes flowed through the space between my ears.
Where To Go?
About a month earlier we had visited the “All Canada” fishing show in Milwaukee, and after seeing booth after booth filled with photos of huge northern pike and walleyes, we had to pick one fishing lodge from the many that we saw.
We wanted an isolated location, where we didn’t have to compete for the best fishing spots, and we didn’t want too long of a drive. After kicking it around for a week or so, we settled on Lac Seul, a good sized lake in Northwestern Ontario.
As big as the lake was, there weren’t too many fishing lodges on it. We settled on one we visited at the All Canada show, called “Camp Chicago”, so named by the owners… John and his wife Helen who were from Chicago. John had impressed us at the show, he was a big tough looking character. A former boxer, Korean War veteran and retired Chicago police officer, he was a no-nonsense guy, though a bit gruff. Helen (the cook and housekeeper) was meek, but pleasant.
Camp Chicago was a no-frills type of lodge which offered the modified American plan, to include lodging, boat with motor and one meal a day, if you so desired. There was no bar or recreation room and if you wanted anything to read, you’d better bring it yourself.
We elected to rent an extra boat and motor, as there would be four of us on the trip. The 16 ft aluminum boats came with a 25hp Johnson outboard. This is something we should have probably paid more attention to, as we would be motoring to various fishing locations all along the 150-mile-long body of water. The lake had numerous bays, channels and islands and with no GPS back then, fishermen had to be well versed with a compass or have a keen sense of direction, and many did frequently lose their way in the huge body of water. (Including us, who were lost about half a day mid-week)
Getting There
We hoped to catch enough fish to provide many meals for us once up there, but we took enough provisions to keep from starving, just in case. Once in Canada we bought several cases of Labatts beer, and one or two bottles of Canadian liquor. We also took plenty of live bait in the form of two cases of night crawlers. Any minnows we needed could be purchased from the lodge. We took three fishing rods apiece, with as much tackle as we could fit in an average size tackle box: with a smaller box to back it up.
Weather in Canada any time of the year can change from hour to hour, so we took plenty of cold weather gear, rain gear, and warm weather gear to get through the week. (I brought only one pair of sneakers, and would pay for that throughout the week)
Mel’s Rambler wagon performed admirably throughout the trip
We took Mel’s station wagon, with everyone throwing in for gas and taking a turn driving. We got to International Falls, Minnesota the first night and stayed in a hotel till the next morning. Getting through customs into Canada had been a source of concern, as other than Mel who was older and bald, the rest of us were pretty scruffy looking, with long hair and raggedy clothing.
Jim had been pressing his dad to be the driver when we went through the checkpoint, thinking the border troops wouldn’t hassle the older dude too much. At one point, Mel got so frustrated, he bellowed at Jim.
“I think the only reason you brought me on this trip, was to cart your ass over the border!” 😊
Once across the border we drove all morning and into the afternoon until we reached Lac Seul and Camp Chicago. About sixty miles or more towards the end was gravel road, and that slowed us down considerably. On the trip up we saw several moose and many other critters. We came upon a bad vehicle wreck on a curve involving a motor home which was completely destroyed. Several people had been hurt in the accident and were taken away by ambulance as we waited.
Our crack Canadian fishing team
We’re There!
It was a very hot year in Canada and when we got to our lodge, we changed into swimming suits and jumped into the icy water. The presence of large ribbon leeches gave us the willies, but they were harmless.
As a result of the hot, dry conditions many forests in the area were smoldering, and once at the lodge we were told to prepare to bug out on a moment’s notice due to fire. We saw smoke coming from the surrounding forests the whole week we were there, although we never came into any danger from the fires.
After our swim, we got down to the business we came for, pairing up and taking the boats out. The bay where our lodge was located was big, so we mostly fished there for a few days. We cast for northerns with daredevils, Johnson’s silver spoons and other spoons of assorted color. We hooked into a pike here and there, but the bite was tough and using jigs and crawlers we caught a few walleyes. We fished till supper, had a good meal at the lodge, then fished till dark.
My son Billy with a nice northern during the fly-in trip
The next day we had an early breakfast then headed out to fish. As during the first day, walleyes were sparse, and northerns just a bit better. Moreover, the lake being full of boulders, each boat would break a motor shear pin every hour or two. This required getting to shore and replacing it with a new one. Fortunately, each boat came equipped with a bag full of shear pins. Between the disappointing fishing, and shear pin maintenance, we were getting a little frustrated.
I was determined to find the key to the northern pike, so I opened my tackle box and started going through it, trying a new lure every five minutes or so. I remembered my friend giving me a Mepps minnow with a silver spinner before we left home. He said it worked good on all fish, but especially northern, so I hooked one on. Boom! Brought in a nice northern, cast again…. boom another northern! Repeat, boom! At almost every cast I caught a northern pike, some big, some little and some in between. Obviously, my success did not go unnoticed, and Jim, who was in my boat, found a Mepps minnow with a golden spinner in his tackle box. He started catching pike as well, though not nearly as many as me.
We were naturally competing with the guys in the other boat, and they were watching with envy, so we told them about the Mepps. They both searched, but found no Mepps, so they weren’t having the luck that we were. Jim and I caught pike consistently until we went in to grab lunch.
After lunch, we jumped in the car and drove to Ear Falls, the only town within many miles. We found a small sporting good store and bought out every Mepps minnow they had, silver and gold. When we got back to the lake, we jumped back into the boats and sure enough, everyone started catching fish. It was a good day!
Canadian lakes are full of fish and beauty
Professional Help
Jim and I would have been happy catching northerns for the rest of the trip, but Don and Mel came for the walleyes, and we hadn’t solved that puzzle yet. John, the lodge owner, hooked us up with one of his guides, “Andy”, an Ojibwe who lived on lodge property, sharing an old cabin with his woman and another man. John said Andy could catch walleyes in the middle of a desert, so we hooked up with him for two days.
Andy proved to be all John had said. He handled the boat, got us into the walleyes, cleaned the fish and even loaded and unloaded our gear. He was so good, the four of us got to squabbling about who’s boat he would be in, although we tried to split his time evenly.
One thing about Andy; he wasn’t dumb. He took us to the farthest and most remote parts of Lac Seul, claiming that’s where the best fishing was, and we couldn’t argue with him. Of course, not having any experience on the lake, and us with just a couple of old compasses, managed to get good and lost one afternoon without him. So, we kept him on for a third day, and would have probably kept him four, if a humorous, though unfortunate incident hadn’t occurred.
John told us not to give Andy any beer or liquor, but that turned out to be a difficult task, if you would have fallen on the cooler at any given time, you’d probably have broken Andy’s arm, as he was usually digging into it for a beer.
When our guide wasn’t fishing, he liked to mix it up
Some Evening Theater
In the late evening after our third day with Andy, he, his woman and his friend got into a drunken brawl around their campfire. The woman was yelling and screaming, while Andy and his friend in turn fought with each other and beat her. The ruckus went on until everyone in the lodge was out of their cabins, watching the show.
No doubt Big John had seen this performance before, and after a time came over with a baseball bat and knocked all three of them out, colder than cucumbers. Having done that, he nonchalantly went back to his cabin. The rest of us were a bit stunned, but couldn’t stop ourselves from laughing at the comical display. The remainder of the week (and long after we left) Andy, his woman and their friend were the butt of many jokes. 😊
Left to Our Own Devices
With Andy out of sorts, we made our own way the rest of the week, and as we suspected, walleyes could be caught consistently much closer to our lodge than Andy let on. But credit should go where credit is due, and we had to credit Andy for his walleye technique. The technique involved back trolling, which is trolling in reverse at low speed. The water slapping up against the flat backend of the boat created a rhythm which seemed to trigger the bite. A one quarter or one third ounce plain jig and crawler was the bait.
As our fishing success improved, so did our menu plan. We had fish for breakfast and lunch, and in between sometimes. The daily limits were put in a freezer up by the main lodge, with our names on the packages. By the time we left the following Saturday morning, we each had a nice batch of frozen fillets to take home.
Going Home
One fly in the ointment surfaced just as we left the camp on Saturday morning. The game warden had set up a check point just down the road. He opened each package and checked for a skin flap for identification as well as the number of fish we had with us. Re-wrapping them properly to ensure they wouldn’t thaw before we got home was not easy, and we did end up losing a few.
We had a great time on our trip. Exhausted but content, the drive home was quiet. Once home, we quickly unpacked, and went our separate ways for a few days, having quite enough of each others company during the week. But in a few days, we got back together and had a good time rehashing our trip and the fun we had. Although we all went back to Canada many times, we never made it back to Camp Chicago and always wondered what became of our guide and his two campfire opponents. 😊
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Joe, As always, a wonderful read! Thanks for sharing it!!
You’re welcome Jim!