Packing for a Fly-in

Steve Cegielski, operations manager – Packing for our bi-annual family fishing trip to Lac Seul reservoir in Ontario is always a challenge. But, this year’s trip is a fly-in into Vaughan Lake part of south central Lac Seul making it even more of a challenge. Past years we’ve boated into Lac Seul, but the only way into Vaughan Lake is via floatplane.

We’re allowed 70lbs per person, but 25lb of the pounds is set aside for food and community gear like nets, depth finders, water, beer, soda, etc. That leaves me just 45lb of personal gear….so every single piece of equipment gets evaluated.

First I pack the essentials…rods and reels. Technically, everything else I can live without. Next, I pared down the tackle bag limiting my self to four small trays. Jigs of every color filled one tray, live bait rigs and bottom bouncers filled another tray, leaving a little room for crank-baits, spoons and stick-baits for the large pike.

Clothes – how much do we really need for a week in the bush? Two pair of jeans, two shorts and enough socks, plus t-shirts and underwear for each day. I rounded off my clothes with a medium weight long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, and rain gear. Pray for varied weather so you’re not stuck in dirty jeans or shorts all week. If things get bad, wash dirty clothes in the lake.

I used my fish scale to check my progress…wow, I was only at 38.4lbs. I could pack 6.6 lbs of conveniences like: bait buckets, extra rod and reel, and of course some special snacks.
I just purchased new Danner Gore-Tex boots from Cabela’s– so I don’t need rubber boots – every little bit helps.

A good rule of thumb, you should be able to carry everything down to the float plane in one trip. That means one bag over the shoulder, cooler (full of supplies) in one hand, and rod tube in the other hand…..done.

It feels good to be really organized – take the weight issue as a challenge then after the trip analyze what you’ll do different on your next Canadian adventure.