Canada Fishing Trip Report

[MrSimon]

I just got back from a week long trip at Happy Day Lodge in Ontario. In addition to their main lodge, they have an outpost cabin situated on the northwest corner of Lake Windermere that five of us stayed at. Its a very nice cabin with propane cooking, propane fridge, solar lights, pump water, and even a shower. It was unbelievably secluded! During the entire week we only saw one other boat, and that was way off in the distance.

The main lake had solid fishing, but we also had access to two bush lakes. We accessed the bush lakes by carrying small motors through the woods and putting them on boats that were already there. It was a pretty rough hike into one of the lakes, but the fishing was fantastic and the scenery and solitude were second to none.

We fished for five and a half days and caught a bunch of pike, walleye, and smallmouth bass. Nobody caught any absolute trophies, but the fish were healthy and aggressive.

We honestly felt like we were the only people in the world for a week. Being completely off the grid is nice. Lots of people go to Canada and stay at lodges .... which is fine .... but staying at an outpost is a whole different ballgame.

 

[MrSimon]

 

[fool4fish1226]

Sounds like a really cool trip, thanks for sharing the photos

 

[earl60446]

Glad you had a good time. Reminds me of flying out of Red Lake, Ont which is a trip I took about 3 times back in the late 1980's. The walleye fishing was very good and the northern fishing was fantastic. Any weedbed had 10+ lb northern, what a blast that was. Last time I was in Canada (2000) sorta turned me off, the hassles and expense, not worth it. We never caught any smallmouth up there, maybe too far north. Looks like you did your best on smallmouth.
Tim

 

[Smells Fishy]

We just got back from a fishing trip in Elgin Canada but we weren't boon docking it quite like you. Looks like a good time and those smallies are bad ***!

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

Very nice pics, that's my kind of vacation

 

[RPjet]

Dang......now I'm jealous! Nice report!

 

[fishingmich]

Hey Mr. Simon, looks like this was a pretty good trip. I just went online and checked out their website and it looks pretty sweet. Overall would you recomend another trip to this place? I'm looking for a place to take my 11 year old son and it looks pretty nice. Not too far to drive, reasonable price and very scenic. Gimme a shout and let me know what you think. Either post or pm. I cant wait to go!

 

[DanMC]

Very,very nice...glad you enjoyed yourself in Canada eh =D> !
Dan

 

[Jim]

Great report man! You always do awesome trips! =D>

 

[MrSimon]

Hey Mr. Simon, looks like this was a pretty good trip. I just went online and checked out their website and it looks pretty sweet. Overall would you recomend another trip to this place? I'm looking for a place to take my 11 year old son and it looks pretty nice. Not too far to drive, reasonable price and very scenic. Gimme a shout and let me know what you think. Either post or pm. I cant wait to go!

Sorry for the delay in responding. I would absolutely recommend taking a trip to Happy Day Lodge. We loved the outpost, but you may or may not want to take an 11 year old. If he is used to roughing it a bit and has some camping and boating experience, then I'd say go for it. Only problem is the outpost is booked up for 2013 and most of 2014.

The main lodge is also very nice and has excellent cabins. As of two days ago they had a couple weeks open for this summer, so book FAST if you want to go.

They also have decent camping accommodations. I just decided last week to head up again this summer and we'll be renting an RV and staying in the camping area.

And just to wet your whistle a little bit, here are a couple little videos we took on our last trip.

Just a short video of us running up the lake in the rental boat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvU-BlHNFxE

Us catching one of our first walleye of the trip .... it was pretty exciting since we are really terrible walleye fishermen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBSPX4WiA-0

And a silly video of us having trouble releasing a little pike.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-93s1HCoIbM

 

[shamoo]

Nice looken place, thats one heck of a crazy release :LOL2:

 

[earl60446]

Yep, releases like that can get a treble hook buried in your hand. Never get your hand by the hook when a pike can still jump around and get you hooked up. Hold the pike still with one hand and use the pliers on the lure hooks. Not critisizing, just good to be careful, especially when remote fishing. Good photos and videos. Looks like that place has some real sweet rental boats too.
Tim

 

[MrSimon]

Yep, releases like that can get a treble hook buried in your hand. Never get your hand by the hook when a pike can still jump around and get you hooked up. Hold the pike still with one hand and use the pliers on the lure hooks. Not critisizing, just good to be careful, especially when remote fishing. Good photos and videos. Looks like that place has some real sweet rental boats too.
Tim

You are absolutely correct! The very first fish I caught on this trip was a small pike that buried a hood deep in the meaty part of my thumb. It was pretty nasty and could have been worse. I was able to get it out without making too large of a hole, and my med kit was well stocked with ointment and bandaids.

After that, I was much more careful.

 

[fishingmich]

Thanks for the info. We're not gonna be able to this summer but I'm pretty sure we're gonna go next year. We're gonna spend a week this summer in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. Its as close as you can get to Canada without all the hassle of Customs. We probably won't try to book the outpost cabin because I'd like to take my own boat. After all, that's why we come together on this website isn't it? :mrgreen: We'll take this trip once or twice and that will hopefully get him ready for a fly-in in a couple of years. I went in 1999 and I can't wait to go back. Love the videos. Thanks for the help.

 

[MrSimon]

You can definitely take your own boat to the outpost!

You have to check in at the main lodge and they have a nice ramp. You can launch your own boat and they'll give you directions on how to get to the outpost.

 

[fishingmich]

I would love the outpost cabin. Being by ourselves, nobody else around. And even though he's pretty hardcore when it comes to fishing, he's still a kid and he likes to be around other people. There might be other kids there to play with, he likes to talk to people when they come in from fishing and see how they did and what they caught em on and then tell them about what we caught and what we caught em on. He really gets into it. Thanks for the help. Its nice to get some firsthand info that doesn't come from someone who's being paid to talk about it. They seem to be reasonably priced too.