Monday, September 28, 2009

All-Canada Show E-Newsletter


Want to keep up-to-date on what’s happening with the All-Canada Show? Sign-up for our E-newsletter at www.allcanada.com. We just announced via our E-newsletter the All-Canada Show is adding shows in Dallas, TX and Sioux Falls, SD. How cool is that.

All-Canada also announced our new social media sides here on Blogger, YouTube and Twitter, Visit our www.allcanada for links.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Caribou Season


Steve Cegielski, operations manager – Caribou hunting is in full swing during the month of September. Quebec is the Caribou hunting meca of Canada, but a few years back I had the chance to travel to Northern Manitoba on a special Caribou hunt with Cabela’s TV.

We hunted at Nueltin Lodges, which is in extreme Northern Manitoba, so close you could boat up to Nunavut Territory. I had the chance to throw a rock into the waters of Nunavut, but we couldn’t cross the border because of license requirements.

Awesome hunt, at first you spend your time admiring the shed antlers scattered on every point and shoreline. Then we got down to some serious antler hunting of our own. We each tagged two caribou and camp as a whole had 100% success. If a successful hunting trip is what your after, caribou is your game….success ratios are high.

Even better than the hunting is the landscape…we were on the fringe of the tree line. One day we’d be in the timber and the next we’d be glassing endless miles of barren land. Barren land is a poor descriptive word because it leave you with a feeling of boring, but the barren land is beautiful especially in the fall. Now spending the winter there might be another story.

If you ever get the chance a trip to the barren land….treeless terrain is worth every penny. If fishing is your game make sure you take time away from the boat to hike the eskers to see the vastness of the land.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Live Bait - Crawlers



By: Steve Cegielski, Operations Manager
When it comes to live bait, minnows, crawlers, and leeches all have their place. Minnows are hard to keep alive, and don’t stay on the hook. Leeches can’t be taken across the Canadian border and are very expensive. So that leaves crawlers as the bait of choice for late summer Canadian fishing trips.

Of course each lakes fish tend to prefer one over the other, but usually crawlers will be the most consistent during late summer bite.

You can buy crawlers in large quanities (500 crawlers to a flat) in the states and transport at a low cost. A flat of crawlers cost about $50-60.00 dollars. You must use artificial bedding to transport across the border. Crawlers are easy to keep alive….cool damp environment is the key.

I’ll use whole crawlers to back troll using two hook crawler harnesses seems to work the best. Some guys will even enject the crawler with air to give buoyancy.

When it comes to jigging I prefer to cut crawlers in half and insert the hook into the crawler just like a twister tail. Let the remainder of the crawler dangle like a twister tail. I’ve found a whole crawler allows the walleye to short bite and steal the bait.

I once witnessed a guy caught 8 walleyes on the same half crawler…hard to keep crawler meat on the hook that long…..hungry walleyes.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Yukon Fishing Adventure



By: Jennifer Young, All-Canada Show President

Yukon Trip more than expected

My husband, Jeff, my sister, Cecilia and her husband, Matt and I flew to Wolf Lake Lodge in the Yukon this July.

We had so much fun. We learned how to fly fish for arctic grayling. We also fished for lake trout and northern pike (at the outpost May Lake). Check out the YouTube video. You will see the beautiful scenery. Feel the waves at your feet and the wind on your face.

The shorelunch is something that can’t be beat. Fresh cooked fish with all the fixins.

Come to the All-Canada Show (www.allcanadashow.com) in 11 cities in the Midwest US and read the full feature story in All-Canada Adventures magazine.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

High Water in Red Lake Ontario


Rod Schlafer, Show Director - Starting out this spring the weather has been nothing close to typical. In Northern Manitoba ice off was extremely late and some camps opened 3 weeks later than normal. And due to the continuous rain this some summer water levels are also approaching historical high levels. I was reading a blog by Viking Outpost and Hugh Carlson actually had a fish swim through his motor shed. Check out Viking Lodges blog for pictures and story.

In my talks with outfitters across Canada it seemed like summer weather never came and water temps never reached normal levels, making fishing better in most instances keeping fish in the shallows. In mid August I found most of the Walleye’s on the lake I was fishing in 4’ to 14’ of water. Not typical of an August bite where fish should be in 20’+.
The weather was so messed up I was actually fishing the first week in August and found myself in a May-Fly hatch. Go figure!

Wet weather also means low fire hazard. I never once heard of a fire ban this entire summer in Ontario or Manitoba…makes for nice shore lunches!

Check out the photo of a camp in Red Lake Ontario, he said water levels this summer where 3-4’ feet above normal, a 30 year high!

It is now the first week of September and I actually had someone say it has been the nicest week of the summer! Pretty soon the snow will start to blow and this summer and its miserable weather will be history.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Blue Walleye


Steve Cegielski, operations manager - While we were at Pipestone Outpost this summer we encountered unique walleyes. About 25% of the walleyes we caught that week had a distinct blue coloration, especially their dorsal fin and tail. Only one other time have I caught the so called “blue walleye.” At first the walleyes appear to be very dark, but once compared or laid side by side with the typical golden belly walleye the blue coloration stands out.

I’ve since researched the color phase walleye on Pipestone Outposts website. Check out this link to their website for some more inside info into the “blue walleye.” http://www.pfo.net/pfo_files/File/blue-walleye-article.pdf

With the sun angle just right they make for some awesome or should I say unique walleye photos. Some call it a prehistoric fish, I’m not sure that’s true, I believe it’s a genetic trait.

The article stated that the coloring is actually in the mucus of the skin of the walleye. I learned this first hand by cleaning some blue walleyes and the blue fish slim smeared blue all over my shoreboard. (fish cleaning table)

Curious if anyone else has caught the “blue walleye” any where else in Northwest Ontario? If so where and when?

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Kids in Canada


Steve Cegielski, All-Canada Show, operations manager - Back from our family trip to Pipestone Outpost. We flew 239 miles northeast of Emo, Ontario to enjoy a week at Kenoji Lake outpost. Mike and Renae have been long time All-Canada Show exhibitors, and it was my turn to write the family article in All-Canada Adventures for 2010.

My brother, his wife Kristine, and their two boys Blake and Riley joined my wife and our two boys Ben and Max on a trip that none of us will soon forget.

Great flight in the DeHavilland Otter float plane. We were worried that the young boy’s ages 5,6,7,8 years old would have a motion sickness issue, but no problem….they all fell asleep to the vibrations of the Otter.

Never to young to learn the art of walleye jigging and casting for pike…..we accomplished both. Maybe not in record speed, or endurance, but fishing ruled the week.

Now a veteran of “Kids in Canada” I have many tips and tricks to make the trip go smoothly.

Number one “safety”….lifejackets that fit and are comfortable are a must.

2. Travel to far end of lake right away in the morning and work your way back to camp.

3. Keep moving….no 3 hour jigging session over a lake hump….”boring dad”

4. Bring rubber boots...wet feet ends a perfectly good day on the water.

5 Most importantly….bring lots of snacks in the boat.

Take a kid fishing, you won’t be disappointed

Steve