New in 2012! Musk ox sponsored by Cabela's

Show attracts Canada’s BEST Fishing & Hunting

The All-Canada Show, visiting mid-America’s largest cities, will feature Canada’s top fishing and hunting destinations. The 29th annual event also includes free seminars, free maps and travel guides, a free magazine with features and tips on Canadian adventures, free Cabela’s hunting simulator and, on opening night, a free Dardevle collector lure.

Adventurers interested in traveling to Canada will find a wide variety of destinations including canoe outfitters, drive in resorts, remote fly-in outposts, 5-star fly-in lodges and hunting outfitters. The shows website lists exhibitors in each market including links to their websites. Go to AllCanadaShow.com for details.
The show is also a resource for planning the perfect adventure.

“The key to a successful Canadian trip is proper planning,” says the show’s owner Jennifer Young, “That’s the whole premise of the All-Canada Show – we have everything you need to plan your trip. The opportunity for show guests to talk, face-to-face, with the owners and operators of these lodges…greatly improves their chances of a successful adventure.”

Show staff and featured speaker Norm “the Great” McCreight use their combined 80 years fishing and hunting expertise on the show’s seminar stage to educate consumers. These informational presentations offer insight into selecting for the perfect destination, choosing the right lodge plan, crossing the border, plus tips on saving money and wilderness safety.

Young also noted, “There are some misconceptions out there about trips to Canada, the biggest being that it is expensive. Our show does host some of the finest lodges and resorts anywhere in the world, but there are also many housekeeping lodges and camps offering fabulous fishing that are very affordable.”

“If you like Canada, there’s plenty to keep you occupied at the show,” she said, “Although the primary purpose of the show is to select the perfect destination for your adventure, we also offer a variety of information, attractions and entertainment to aid in the process and create a real Canadian atmosphere.”
For a discount coupon and complete details on the All-Canada Show go to: http://www.allcanadashow.com/.

Other show features include:

Musk Ox Mount from High Arctic Lodge presented by Cabela’s. This 800 pound musk ox was taken in September 2011 in Nunavut. Musk ox have been around this earth for over 150,000 years. They are the only prehistoric animals who haven’t adapted since the Ice Age. They lived with saber tooth tigers, wooly mammoths, Megaloceros, and Mastodons. Come to the show and bring your kids to see one up close and personal….don’t miss it.

Norm “The Great” McCreight—This icon of the All-Canada Show will talk
hunting and fishing in his beloved Canada at his daily seminars and may even throw in a few hockey comments. Updated seminar schedules will be posted on the All-Canada website: AllCanadaShow.com.

Meet 2008 DU International Artist of the Year—Anthony J. Padgett, rated in the top 10wildlife artists in the United States, will be present during all show hours in the gallery at the show. Padgett painted “Locked at Lac Seul,” the original artwork of two trophy moose near Lac Seul, Ontario.

Eppinger night—Opening night every paid admission will receive a free collector Eppinger Dardevle, one of the best lures to take along on your Canadian fishing trip. Throughout the show, children between the ages of 8 and 16 will receive a free mini-Dardevle with a paid admission.

‘Locked at Lac Seul’ presented by Cabela’s is back by popular demand. This exhibit includes two trophy moose with original antlers locked in a duel to the death. The display is the largest of its kind in the world.

Other Attractions—The show’s traditional favorites are back: an authentic Canadian shore lunch (for an extra fee) in concessions, featuring Labatt Blue and a Free Cabela’s hunting simulator.

Free stuff—All show guests will receive a free copy of All-Canada Adventures
magazine (a $5.25 value) as well as maps and brochures from exhibitors and the All-Canada Show Travel Centre.

Prizes—Grand prize for all seven shows is an Anthony J. Padgett original artwork, plus $1,000 Cabela’s gift card. In addition All-Canada awards a vacation prize to Canada in every city including three days and four nights for two people, American Plan including all meals, boat, motor, gas, guide (two-day minimum) and tax.

Admission--Adults, $10; seniors and children (13-16), $8; and children 12 and under, free. For $2 off coupon and complete show details, log on to AllCanadaShow.com Buy tickets online and save 50% at AllCanadaShow.com.

2012 All-Canada Show Schedule: St. Louis, St. Charles Convention Center, Jan. 6-8; Indianapolis, The Fountains, Carmel, Jan. 9-11; Chicago, Pheasant Run Resort, St. Charles, Jan. 12-15; Madison, Marriott Madison West Convention Center, Jan. 16-18; Milwaukee, Milwaukee County Sports Complex, Jan. 19-22; Green Bay, ShopKo Hall, Jan. 26-29; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Earle Brown Heritage Center, Minneapolis, Feb. 17-19.

Hours: St. Louis: 5-9 p.m., Friday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sunday. Chicago, Milwaukee and Green Bay: 5-9 p.m., Thursday; 3-9 p.m., Friday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sunday. Madison and Indianapolis: 5-9 p.m., Monday; 3-9 p.m., Tuesday and 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Wednesday (free lunch on Wednesday from 11 - 2 pm). Minneapolis: 3-9 p.m., Friday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sunday.

Sponsors--National sponsors in 2012 include Northwest Ontario, Canada, Cabela's, Labatt Blue, Yamaha Canada, Eppinger, Gates Taxidermy, Travel Manitoba, Anthony Padgett Gallery, and Spectra Print.

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Canadian fishing tips

Some great Canadian fishing tips. Add your best tips on the comments area.

Taking Kids to Canada

Take your kids to Canada when they are young! You will all relax, rewind, and make great memories.

Planning the Perfect Trip to Canada

We at the All-Canada Show would like to share our planning secrets with you. Check out the podcast, and then download the documents that you can use on your next trip.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/All-Canada-Show/114951305201603#!/media/set/?set=a.317129738317091.93440.114951305201603&type=1
Click for the documents that you can use.

Fishing Fever by Norm McCreight

It starts for me in the winter, not much to do, so you start looking at last summer’s pictures of the big fishing trip you took. Then you phone a buddy and make a comment that could be complimentary or more likely it’s not. If an argument occurs I’m putting my money on it’s about the one that got away, no conclusive evidences. Then you poke thru some of your tackle, try and tidy up the box a little, that’s when your mind turns to this year adventure. Where to go, what to fish for, who’s going, who’s not?

That’s one of the big advantages of having one of the All-Canada Show close by to attend. Here all friends in the group that can get together for an outing, talk to all sorts of lodge and outpost owners, look at pictures, enjoy a seminar, or a Canadian walleye shore lunch with a glass of cold Labatt beer.

One of the biggest thrills for me is planning a trip with my sons while perusing over a map. One of the more popular stops at the All-Canada Show is the Travel Centre. Here there are many different publications showing different areas of Canada to fish, plus a bunch of lake maps. These maps are great for looking up lakes you want to fish and the lodges that are either on the lake or close by. Even though I know these areas very well I still use these maps for reference, they contain lots of information.

Two summers ago my middle son MacKenzie had my second grandchild (Brady), and he also bought a new home that summer. To say the least he was pretty busy and had no time for fishing. So this summer I wanted to go on a trip with just him, I fish a lot with Normie he has no kids and seems to always be ready. So I went to the old filing cabinet and pulled out one of the maps I got at the Travel Center and tried to find a place for us to go. I know, I’m lucky enough to live in Canada and I do have my honey holes.

This time I wanted to go to Ontario, which is just an hour and a half away, and have some good bass fishing. There is very little smallmouth bass fishing here in Manitoba and no largemouth bass to speak of. So Kenzie and I pointed and grunted at each other for about half an hour and then decided on Rush Bay in Lake of the Woods. He could only go for the day so it was close to Winnipeg and we were both familiar with the lake. The only problem now was the wait.

Time went by fast enough, turkey hunting, bear scouting, and opening day fishing for walleye and then finally our bass fishing. trip. We wanted to take advantage of the whole day so we got up at 3-30am hit the road and got to the Ontario border in record time. The sun had just broken the eastern horizon and there was a bit of mist in the air. Besides when a cold front is moving in the best time I like to go fishing is on the third or even better the fourth of hot steady weather. This was the fourth day, just as we got to the boat launch Kenzie yells out “Look a bear” sure enough just to my right was a big huge black bear just sitting on the side of the road, we drove right by it and it didn’t move.

We got the boat lined up, and looked back at the bear, the bear actually moved over to the edge of the ditch to get a better look at us. For a second I got nerves hoping I wouldn’t screw up backing up in front of the bear, and then I gave my head a shake. We parked the truck and trailer leaving it and the bear behind. We’re not the greatest bass fishermen, but with a bit of luck we do OK. We set up three rods each, one was a six and a half foot casting rod and spinning reel, with a ¼ oz white tube jig on it. The second was a seven foot medium action with a fast tip for trolling, bait caster reel tipped with a small snap swivel. There’s a key to that snap swivel.

I’ll troll with different crank baits colour, size, depth and shapes being the change up, when I get a couple of hits or just one, I’ll take off that snap swivel and tie that bait right to the lure, which is usually an o ring on crank baits. I try to fish with the least amount of hardware so to speak. The last rod is a bait caster seven foot or a seven and ½ foot medium action medium tip; I don’t need a fast tip with this combo. I warn you now, it’s hard to find a medium action only rod, and most of them have a fast tip. I find this rod works best for me with this type of bait. The bait is double bladed spinner bait, make it nice and bright. It’s noisy bait with a large profile great for bass.

So I can fish the shallows and the points with a little finesse, with the tube jig, fast, slow, it is very versatile. Cranks to locate and the spinner to trigger that strike. At least that’s the plan. My 125hp motor works great, I was at the point we picked out on the map in seconds. I like to have the rod right there beside me so I get the first cast. Just as I get it in my hand I can hear Kenzie’s lure hit the water, just like his brother grrrrr why do I bring them? It must have been his third cast when his rod bent and he called out” Fish on”! It didn’t bother me that he caught a fish, it’s just the first fish of the day and there went two bucks and so far it was the biggest fish, another two bucks. No, no your right, no gas money either.

I can see that the rod had loaded with a lot of weight, I was sure it was a nice northern by the way it was fighting. Then the surface exploded and this fat bellied bass came flying right at us, I thought it was going to join us in the boat. Kenzie raised his rod over his head, he’s as tall as me, 6’4”, but still there was a bit of slack in that line. We were both hoping that that bass wouldn’t spit that lure out. The fish dove back into the water for a brief second the line stayed limp we stopped breathing. Then line went tight, the fight was back on. The fish tail danced, darted from right to left, he fought for about 7 minutes or so then he slowed down and Kenz got him close enough to the boat so I could lip him. At first I thought it was a smallmouth bass but it turn out to be a largemouth, Kenzie’s first. Good fish and a good kid, he must have a great father.

We caught a few bass here and there but it started to get really hot, no clouds and the sun was high it was in the mid 30’s, in fact, it was 37C (89f) and for you scientist (310K). We moved to a shallow bay, found a six foot drop off, not so great for fishing but awesome for swimming. We took a half hour break and enjoyed the water, it felt real good. After we cooled off we started to fish a little deeper, off points made of gravel. With the trolling motor we ziged zagged the lower edge and caught some nice fish. I started to pick up an image on the locator which turned out to be a weed bed. I change my tube jig to a small jig and an even smaller minnow and started to catch these monster size perch.

I caught perch here before but I didn’t realize they got that big in this bay. As late afternoon rolled in we went back to the place we fished in the morning and caught some more bass and some good size northern, the biggest one around 38”. All together we caught about 70 fish between us with the bass being the first fish and the 38 inch northern being the biggest all monies going to Kenzie, I’ve been robbed. All in all I had a great day of fishing, lots of action, great weather, a super boat to fish in and a great partner to fish the day with. And to think it all started with a single fishing map from the Travel Centre.