Canada first timer, educate me please.

I am currently in the very early stages of planning a late ice trip to Winnipeg to chase pre spawn green backs. Never been to Canada before and confused by the whole passport or enhanced license deal.

I have a class A Iowa drivers license with “REAL ID” seal. My finance has a regular operators license with the “REAL ID” seal. My question is will these ID’s work to get us into and out of Canada as well as purchasing fishing licenses or do we need to get passports. I know the passport process is somewhat lengthy so if this is the route we have to go I need to get a move on sooner rather than later.

Thanks

You need at least a passport card, which are cheaper than passports, but only allow you to travel by car. The process usually takes about a month tops, so you have plenty of time. Lake Winnipeg is an amazing fishery!

getting into Canada is not the issue, getting “back” into the US is….

wetsleeves wrote:

I have a class A Iowa drivers license with “REAL ID” seal. My finance has a regular operators license with the “REAL ID” seal. My question is will these ID’s work to get us into and out of Canada as well as purchasing fishing licenses or do we need to get passports.

Simple answer is “no”. You cannot enter Canada from the US, nor return to the US without a passport now. You must get a passport, so get cracking.

You can expedite a passport for an extra fee.

Real ID is simply for internal USA use. It makes government IDs harder to get and harder to fake. It does not replace a passport.

Grouse

Passports are the way to go, make sure you or girlfriend have clean records(DUI, drunk/disorderly, ect..). It can turn the trip south real quick if you do, you may not get in or it will be a nightmare and hoops to jump through. I am assuming you would be coming in through Pembina/Emmerson border crossing so it wouldn’t hurt to give them a call and ask what is best or required. This is the ph# at Emmerson: 1-800-461-9999. You can also go to this site to look at entry requirements
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/ivc-rnc-eng.html

Good luck and enjoy the trip

Thank you all very much.

I will plan on heading to the post office first thing Monday to start the passport process. I don’t foresee doing any world traveling in the very near future so I think the passport card is the way to go for us

On our last deer hunting trip in November, a fresh DWI guy (6 months) and his rifle got in…. Main thing is to be respectful and have your paperwork in order.

For those of you that have been, how late should we wait to go? What dates would you recommend being there? I was thinking mid March the 17-20th. I know the season goes into the end of March, but I got burned 2 seasons ago waiting too long to head to Erie and that resulted in no trip at all. I almost waited too long last year on our Erie trip but made it there just in time to fish a few days before ice conditions deteriorated.

I know its a big difference when it comes to ice conditions between these two bodies of water and most years extensions are still needed into the end of March for Winnipeg but I just worry about access conditions and shorelines breaking up. For those of you that have been we would greatly appreciate any input on dates as it pertains to ice conditions and the bite. Did you go and get on a great bite? or was it one of those “shoulda been here last week!” trips?

Thanks again

I agree, Passports are the way to go and much more useful in the long run if you need to travel.

Another item to think about when traveling to Canada is they have heavy restrictions on anyone with any type of Alcohol Violation, Open bottle, DUI, etc. If you’ve had one, you better plan on staying in US. If it has been over 10-years there is a process where you can use to prove you have been rehabilitated, but that is lengthy and needs to be done before you consider going.

This doesn’t sound like your concern, but for others if you are taking minor children, you’ll need a notarized statement from the other parent stating you have permission to take the child out of the USA. Again, check with Canadian Authorities on getting documents ahead of time. (I went with a Church Group that took a few boys from single parent home along on a trip, lots of red tape but we had our papers in order and took less than 3-4 minutes at the border while they reviewed documents of all 7 of us in a suburban).

Good luck and enjoy.

No need to go to the post office. Get you application on line an fill it out take it to the county court house get photo taken pay the fee done deal

The later in March the better as more and more fish stage on the south shore and by the red river. The last two years I have gone around 20-25 and fishing has been great. Two years ago the ice was thick and all kinds of snow no worries at all about it going out early. Last year was a different story in the weeks leading up to the trip I was constantly looking at ice conditions due to warm temps in late February and early March. But all said and done when it was time for our trip a little cold front came in and froze up all the water that was on top of the ice. Now this year with the late start to winter it might be wise to do an early March trip a lot can happen from now till then and with the big cool down here I’m sure they will be making lots of ice but there is some catching up to do from years past