Who wants to go to Canada? Apparently, nobody.

My father and I do an annual walleye trip to Ontario thanks to the forum member KWP being so generous in letting us use his totally awesome cabin. It’s always fun to use this as an excuse to get a group of guys together to go along. Many of or guests are more casual and weekend anglers who have the time of their lives up there.

Well for the last few years it’s become apparent that nobody seems to want to go to Canada anymore. It’s crazy. We started way back in the spring asking guys. Dad tried 8-10 friends/relatives, I tried some guys, everybody seemed lukewarm on it at best. So we’re leaving Thursday and it’s just dad and I. The only two guys that took up the offer dropped out last week.

This has left me scratching my head. Back in the 1980s, dad used to set up a 2 week camp in Ontraio and we’d have people coming and going for the whole 14 days. The biggest problem was having too MANY people. Everybody wanted to go. And bring their kids, relatives, etc.

Doesn’t anybody want to go to Canada anymore? I don’t know, maybe for guys now used to all the mod-cons of 21 foot boats running 8000 gagigawatts of the latest electronics it’s just too much of a hardship to rough it with 16 foot boats and basic electronics? I mean, come on, we’re not taking it back to the stone age here. We’ve even got 2-way radios!

Maybe nobody wants to go anywhere that doesn’t have air con, 4G cell phone coverage, cable TV, and a full service bar and restaurant? I mean, really, who wants to go to Canada and eat, ummm, walleye every day? Oh, wait, I do. And the bar is there and well stocked, you just have to mix your own.

It’s freaking weird. The guys that I asked were curious about the fishing, how good is it, etc. To this I replied, “Well, how many walleye have you caught this year?” None of them had a full season walleye catch that would even come close to ONE DAY of the average fishing at KWP’s cabin.

Is Canada seen as just too much of a hassle now with passports and all the can’t-bring-that restrictions?

I don’t get it. I’ll be listening to some of the guys that we asked to go and this winter I’ll hear complaints about how sh!tty the fishing was this year, blah, blah…

I’m probably behind the times and Canadian walleye, well, that’s sooooo 1995. It’s all Belize All Inclusive Bonsai Bonefish Bonanza and Hot Halibut Hang-on-for-your-life Action in Alaska, or whatever now. Canada-schmanada, walleye is soooooooo old school, especially somewhere where you can’t Tweet a play-by-play.

Grouse

You didn’t ask me

I wouldn’t say we are a dying breed, but the fishing population (like hunting, golf or most outdoor passions) are on the steady decline. People, especially those younger than us baby boomers, have other interests now…

Randy Wieland wrote:

You didn’t ask me

X2

Randy Wieland wrote:

You didn’t ask me

Ditto
I leave for a Canada LOTW Muskie trip This Saturday. Fish all day every day, eat, sleep, repeat.

I talk about similar things with my family members, and it seems to always come around to life has gotten to busy.

Kids activities have gotten nuts. Sporting tournaments are every other weekend, camps for those sports are 2-3x a summer, times that by as many sports they play, bday parties times 20 friends each kid, on and on.

Adults also have more crap to attend. Everyone has to have an engagement party, pregnancy party, gender reveal party, since when can you have baby showers for each kid!? Even adults are making big deals of their bdays, cmon!

Everyone is too busy celebrating life that they don’t notice their life is passing by as they do so.

My kids had a pretty easy summer so far, my oldest didn’t make state so she’s been off for a couple weeks, and the middle had a more relaxed coach for 8u and they have had best summer yet. They actually get to run around the neighborhood and play with their friends! Imagine that! Momma is more relaxed BC she’s not scrambling to get everyone where they need to be and makes a guy think really what is all this running with your head cut off all the time really for?

I want to go to lockport…But not sure my 11yo DWI will let me.

I dont want to go to Canada. Honestly I have no interest in leaving the US for any reason or any place.

I go every other year….. and we rough it for sure. No AC, no TV, no radio, heck, we don’t even have fans/electricity. But the best fishing in the world makes up for that. Getting out of this country is good for a person, once in awhile….

so your saying i can’t bring my skeeter?

FryDog62 wrote:

I wouldn’t say we are a dying breed, but the fishing population (like hunting, golf or most outdoor passions) are on the steady decline. People, especially those younger than us baby boomers, have other interests now…

Have to agree, this is my leading suspect.

It’s not easy to put my finger on it because by outward appearances there are still a lot of anglers out there. But then when you look closely at how often people actually fish, it tells the tale.

I asked marine mechanic once about how many hours the average guy put on his outboard per year. He said 3-5 hours is average. What???? Think about the number of 30k++++ boats out there that are getting used 3-5 hours per year.

nhamm wrote:

I talk about similar things with my family members, and it seems to always come around to life has gotten to busy.

Kids activities have gotten nuts.

Adults also have more crap to attend. Everyone has to have an engagement party, pregnancy party, gender reveal party, since when can you have baby showers for each kid!? Even adults are making big deals of their bdays, cmon!

Totally agree. When I tell people that my kids don’t play soccer they look at me like I just told them I’m from the planet Zog. Both of my kids are lukewarm on the usual kid ball sports, they only like fishing and archery. The archery part is strange because my 6 year old loves it, but it’s not because it’s what I do, I haven’t shot a bow since I was at scout camp at the age of 12.

Grouse

carver wrote:

so your saying i can’t bring my skeeter?

You certainly could, but why? The downside to big fiberglass boats is a) It’s a long ways to drag them, and b) the Canadian granite-coated roads wreck heck with the pretty sparkly gelcoat/ paint jobs and the color matched trailers.

And finally there is c). Every one of us who has ever been to Canada knows that somewhere there’s that boulder of Canadian shield granite that rises up like the Pillars of Hercules from 50 feet of water to lurk 16 inches under the surface. And that piece of granite has YOUR lower unit’s name written all over it. It’s out there just waiting. Think of the carnage. The ripped up lower unit. The torn up transom.

Light, simple, and cheap still have their place in this world. Or at least in my world. But what do I know, I’m one of those weirdoes who likes to go to Canada…

Grouse.

Prepping from last year.

Dad came back this year and sold that boat though, wants a flat bottom with a 4stroke mainly. Everyone else sips about 6gallons while our rig can suck over 20 easy. That’s alot of added weight and space for fuel.

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Grouse-
I wonder about this topic quite a bit. I have a LARGE # of friends who see pics of trips that I do, think it’s awesome, and would like to tag along. I always have room for one more, especially if it’s someone new(ish) to the outdoors. However, when the time comes to take the time off work and actually commit to the trip, it’s crickets… I have 2 friends that EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. gawk at the pics and stories from Rainy River and say they are going FOR SURE the following year. I’ve been going to Rainy for close to 10 years now, do all the planning (so they wouldn’t need to do anything but show up with warm clothes and a license), I send the first invites to those 2 guys, and they have never been. I’ll never fully understand…

Anyway this is a long way of saying, what dates are you going next year? Where do you want to meet? And what color jigs should I load up on?!?

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

I want to go to lockport…But not sure my 11yo DWI will let me.

Don’t know the specifics but in our group of guys there are worse things than one dwi. They make sure to hassle you at the border, every year, but no issues yet.

You should check into it, those channels are teasing ya from across the line and you know it

after 10 years, you are “rehabilitated” in the eyes of the Queen…. a surefire way is to get the official form from CA declaring it.

Deemed Rehabilitation

A person is eligible to apply for “deemed rehabilitation” at a port of entry if the person has:
only one conviction in total or one criminal act.
At least ten years elapsed since all sentences for the conviction were completed.
a conviction that is not a serious violation in Canada.
a conviction that did not involve a weapon, serious property damage, or physical harm to any person.

BigWerm wrote:

Grouse-
I wonder about this topic quite a bit. I have a LARGE # of friends who see pics of trips that I do, think it’s awesome, and would like to tag along. I always have room for one more, especially if it’s someone new(ish) to the outdoors. However, when the time comes to take the time off work and actually commit to the trip, it’s crickets… I have 2 friends that EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. gawk at the pics and stories from Rainy River and say they are going FOR SURE the following year. I’ve been going to Rainy for close to 10 years now, do all the planning (so they wouldn’t need to do anything but show up with warm clothes and a license), I send the first invites to those 2 guys, and they have never been. I’ll never fully understand…

Anyway this is a long way of saying, what dates are you going next year? Where do you want to meet? And what color jigs should I load up on?!?

That’s exactly what has happened to me. Guys that have gone in the past and others look at my pictures and swear they will make it next year…

Maybe the only way forward is to put together a trip full of sad, IDO losers who are so out of touch that they still like to fish walleye in Nowheresville, Ontario.

We can get t-shirts printed:
Only losers fish Canadian walleye.
Ask me how many I caught.

On the back it says:
I survived a week of fishing in a 16 foot boat. No! Really!

Grouse

We have a family cabin near Morson, Ontario/LOTW. This year has been very busy up there. Lot’s of boats (for up there) at the government dock, area resorts and on the water. I’d attribute to the weak Canadian dollar, gas prices and it’s been a great fishing year.

Last year was much quieter. I guess I don’t watch the makeup of the anglers, but it’s mostly groups of guys, with a few spouses thrown in – but I see my fair share of kids, too.

I’m lucky, my 14 and 11 year old boys are fishing nuts – walleye, smallies, northerns, panfish – you name it. They play their share of Xbox, Ipads, snap chat, etc, but when it comes to fishing, it’s still the top of the pyramid for now.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

I want to go to lockport…But not sure my 11yo DWI will let me.

Just got back from Ontario, my fishing partner has a ten year old driving award and got across no issues other than a few extra questions. I’d say you’ll be fine.

As far as people not wanting to go to Canada, I’ll never understand it. I tried hard to find a 4th for my trip so we could take two boats. Tried all my usual buddies that jump on any trip in the States. Nobody was interested until I got back and told them about 100+ fish days. No idea why people are opposed too heading up there, so it’s a long drive, big deal.

I just got back from a week at lac suel had an absolute blast I got somewhere every year in canada for a week. Makes it tough to wanna fish leech mille lacs river etc. When ya come back. I think gas prices in canada and DWI records have put a damper on people going up there from what I’ve seen.

Interesting observation, I never thought of it.

I remember as a teen, a trip to Canada was a big deal… Not that I ever went. And there were the stories of catching so many fish that it got boring. As an adult I never heard anyone even say I need to take a fishing trip to Canada.

Couple of years ago I caught an article on WI and MN drop in fishing license. I think is was looking at about 2006 to about 2013ish(don’t remember exact years) Anyways, MN was experiencing a 6% drop annually and WI was experiencing a more dramatic up/down. So short term, its pretty easy to see a huge factor in this last decade. As our economy crashed, so did disposable income. I’m sure many of the destination resorts around Leech, Mil lacs, Hayward, Minoqua/Woodruff all experienced a drop in customers. Things have been stabilizing, but I’m sure many people are still planning vacations closer to home.
I know the metro lakes around here NEVER have a shortage of people pounding them

I work on a blacktop crew and we don’t get vacation time at all from late spring, through late fall/into December. It’s been 23 years since I’ve had a summer vacation.What I wouldn’t give to go to Canada for a week just to fish. I don’t care how spartan the accommodations are or what I fish from, just as long as it floats. I hope to get there one day after I retire = bucket list.

I go about every 4 or 5 years. Sure the 12+ hour drive is a bugger. But the untouched wilderness of the fly-in is unsurpassed. Plus a bad day is 6 walleyes each, a good day is 30+. Plus clean them and cook them, no drive home to clean them, etc.. Plus you never know about that monster pike.
But the real reason is the unsurpassed natural beauty and different wildlife: Moose, Caribou, otters, etc. I just wish I could afford to go every year. This year we’re going.

Randy Wieland wrote:

Anyways, MN was experiencing a 6% drop annually and WI was experiencing a more dramatic up/down. So short term, its pretty easy to see a huge factor in this last decade. As our economy crashed, so did disposable income.

I think this is very good point and something that I usually forget. Many people fish only casually, they could take it or leave it. Lots of these folks took trips to Canada because the idea of scratching all day for 6 bites locally doesn’t intrigue them. Fishing was an easy expense to cut out for them. I believe a lot never pick it back up after stopping for awhile.

When I was up at Minaki a few weeks back the place was almost empty, never fished near another boat. Phenomenal bite. Tough times for resort owners sadly.

fisherman-j wrote:

We have a family cabin near Morson, Ontario/LOTW.
Last year was much quieter.

Last year I suspect the high water canceled at least a few vacations. I was at Buena Vista for a week and the water was 18 inches above the docks. Several of the island resorts couldn’t even use their facilities.

Too much B.S. on the border….and for what??? Canada is a huge money grab and their limits are a frickin joke. All they want is your money and nothing more. I quit going up there after 15 straight trips in 8 years. No firewood..No Potatoes No leaches, No minnows …money grab. I have found very very good fishing in ND and SD in small lakes with very little fishing pressure..similar to Canada with half the hassle. These states are happy to see out of state people out there and welcome you. Canada can keep their 2 fish a day limit and all their regs….I’m done with it!!

I think one of the klinkers for me is the lack of flexibility in the Canadian trips – we pick that week, that time of year and come hell-or-high-water we’re going. Takes 2 weeks to prepare to go, and 2 weeks to recover at work and at home afterwards. Then the week you are there it can be great or a bust (weather-wise or the fishing).

I did plenty of trips to Canada and still do a few, but I seem to enjoy looking at the week ahead for the best days, schedule-wise and work-wise then pick a spot within 2 hours of home and fish a half or full day. I do several shorter trips now, rather than the back-breaking, come hell-or-high-water trip that takes a long time to recover from…

Well said and spot on

nhamm wrote:

I talk about similar things with my family members, and it seems to always come around to life has gotten to busy.

Kids activities have gotten nuts. Sporting tournaments are every other weekend, camps for those sports are 2-3x a summer, times that by as many sports they play, bday parties times 20 friends each kid, on and on.

Adults also have more crap to attend. Everyone has to have an engagement party, pregnancy party, gender reveal party, since when can you have baby showers for each kid!? Even adults are making big deals of their bdays, cmon!

Everyone is too busy celebrating life that they don’t notice their life is passing by as they do so.

My kids had a pretty easy summer so far, my oldest didn’t make state so she’s been off for a couple weeks, and the middle had a more relaxed coach for 8u and they have had best summer yet. They actually get to run around the neighborhood and play with their friends! Imagine that! Momma is more relaxed BC she’s not scrambling to get everyone where they need to be and makes a guy think really what is all this running with your head cut off all the time really for?

nhamm wrote:

I talk about similar things with my family members, and it seems to always come around to life has gotten to busy.

Kids activities have gotten nuts. Sporting tournaments are every other weekend, camps for those sports are 2-3x a summer, times that by as many sports they play, bday parties times 20 friends each kid, on and on.

Adults also have more crap to attend. Everyone has to have an engagement party, pregnancy party, gender reveal party, since when can you have baby showers for each kid!? Even adults are making big deals of their bdays, cmon!

Everyone is too busy celebrating life that they don’t notice their life is passing by as they do so.

My kids had a pretty easy summer so far, my oldest didn’t make state so she’s been off for a couple weeks, and the middle had a more relaxed coach for 8u and they have had best summer yet. They actually get to run around the neighborhood and play with their friends! Imagine that! Momma is more relaxed BC she’s not scrambling to get everyone where they need to be and makes a guy think really what is all this running with your head cut off all the time really for?

nhamm wrote:

I talk about similar things with my family members, and it seems to always come around to life has gotten to busy.

Kids activities have gotten nuts. Sporting tournaments are every other weekend, camps for those sports are 2-3x a summer, times that by as many sports they play, bday parties times 20 friends each kid, on and on.

Adults also have more crap to attend. Everyone has to have an engagement party, pregnancy party, gender reveal party, since when can you have baby showers for each kid!? Even adults are making big deals of their bdays, cmon!

Everyone is too busy celebrating life that they don’t notice their life is passing by as they do so.

My kids had a pretty easy summer so far, my oldest didn’t make state so she’s been off for a couple weeks, and the middle had a more relaxed coach for 8u and they have had best summer yet. They actually get to run around the neighborhood and play with their friends! Imagine that! Momma is more relaxed BC she’s not scrambling to get everyone where they need to be and makes a guy think really what is all this running with your head cut off all the time really for?

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

I want to go to lockport…But not sure my 11yo DWI will let me.

FB & RM you should be good to go, but do your checking and phoning ahead of time just to make sure