Need info on Canada Trip

[casedog]

I live in Northern Kentucky and would like to take a trip in August with my wife and kids to a remote place in Canada, where there is a lot of wildlife. Hears the deal. I have a set a twins that are 16 and a 21 year old so this might be the last year that they are interested in hanging out with their old man. Also my wife has arthritis so the trip can't be to rough. I guess what I am looking for is a place up north about a 10 hour drive or less that I can haul a boat, stay in a cabin (not to expensive) and see some wildlife and of course fish. I know people are going to say why don't you just stay in Kentucky but I would love for my family to see maybe some bear or moose while they are fishing on a beatutiful lake. By the way, we do go camping in Kentucky probably 10 weekends a year. No place like Kentucky. If anyone has any information on this I would greatly appreciate it.

Casedog

[know1]

You don't necessarily have to go all the way to Canada, and at a 10 hour limit, you're going to be pressed to get too far into it. There is a lot of wilderness and plenty of cabins in the Superior National Forest and Voyageurs National park on the edge of the BWCA and Quetico in the Ely, MN area. Fishing can be pretty good for Smallmouth, Walleye and Northern Pike.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/superior/

[fatika]

You should try Grandfallscamp.com- This year will be my 8th time in a row and my friend has been going for more than 20 with his family. We usually make it there in about 12 hours or so, and that is hauling a boat. We have taken dirt bikes and quads up there, repelled a 260 ft. cliff and fished alot of backcountry lakes and some of his bear hunting camps that were right on the water. It is like a playground for adults and kids. We always go up opening day of smallmouth, its the last week in june. Temperatures are tricky at times so bring your swim trunks and bring sweatshirts and raingear. We leave on Thursday morning early and get there about 5 in the evening and set up camp in the woods. You have to buy a permit to camp for 7 dollars a night and tell them where you are going to be camping. We camp for two days then go to Grandfalls to check in and drop off some stuff. The camp is on Cummings lake and this lake is beautiful !! You can see down at least 15 ft. It is great watching your dardevil cruising through the water and then seeing a pike attack it. There is a lake right across the street called Tunnel Lake and it is just the same but way bigger. We took a hour ride in a jon boat to see some of the cliffs that he was talking about. They filmed a Labatts beer commercial back at those cliffs. It was incredible, cliffs about 400 ft high and the water was going right through them. Now we have better boats so it only takes 25 minutes to get back there. I could talk about this place for hours because there is so much to see and so many lakes to fish. We made a couple trips back in the bush to fish lakes that noone ever goes to, not even the locals. For the most part you can drive to them-need 4x4 though. Just bring a canoe and you can fish untouched waters that are LOADED. He told us that there was a steel boat back at Reception (walleye lake ) you could drive within a mile of this lake then walk through the woods with all your stuff. So a buddy and I decided to take a trolling motor, battery and all our poles and make the hike back there. Wow it seemed like ten miles with all that stuff. We grabbed a small tree on the ground and slid it through the battery and clipped the trolling motor onto the tree and put over our shoulders, that helped out with all the weight. When we got to the lake the steel boat was beached. We push and push, everytime you push your feet would sink in this stinky as mud and when your feet came out you had leeches all over your toes. So we finally get the boat in the water and had the best day of fishing ever. We caught at least 60 walleye and ended up taking 4 with us for dinner. All of our buddies thought we were stupid for going all the way back there but it was worth breaking your back for the type of day we had. There are so many lakes back there, you couldn't fish them all in a year. He gave us a map of the backcountry lakes and if you wanna fish them, he will give you directions. Some lakes nothing but pike, some smallies, some walleye, and some brook trout and rainbows. I think it costs about 750 canadien which is about the same as american now with the exchange rate. If your interested check out the website and try to call him to see if anything is available. He built two chalets on Tunnel Lake that are beautiful and charges 1000 for them, but they are usually booked year long. I look forward to this trip every year, I think we are going to try to go up in October also this year. Sorry for rambling !!

[RoadToad]

Nothing to apologize for; sounds like an incredible place!

[casedog]

Thanks for all the information. All the places look great now all I have to do is get the boat purring, clean up my rods and reels and head out. I'm sure the kids and wife will love it. I'll post a message and let you know how the trip ends up. I'm excited.

Good fishing
Casedog

[fredcombs]

I have to agree that the Ely minnesota area is a great place, I have been going for over 15 years. There are great cabins at any number of the lakes up there. Great fishing for walleye, smallies, northern and crappies. The cabins are alot nicer then you would find at a canadian camp, in my opinion. there is also alot to do in the ely area if the rest of your crew is not into fishing all week. If you need any info on places to stay up there let me know.