June 13, 2009 11:18 pm
—
In late May, we crossed through International Falls, Minn., into Ft. Francis, Ontario.
It was about 10 p.m. and we had to pay a $10 toll to cross the Rainy River Bridge. Canada doesn’t miss any chances to collect American money. The border guards asked if we had tobacco, alcohol or firearms or raw potatoes. All we had was the potatoes, since neither Rich nor I drink or smoke.
But Rich’s name is Abdoler, which may have once been Abdullah, since his father’s ancestry is Syrian, and he does in fact look like a Muslim terrorist just a little bit. And I have small eyes and look something like a criminal, so they decided to go through everything we had.
Few Americans go fishing in Canada without beer, but they worry about alcohol and tobacco being smuggled in to Canadians, who can escape enormous taxes by getting it from Americans. As for the raw potatoes, your guess is as good as mine.
We eventually drove into Canada and were greeted by this enormous sign saying, “Experience Canada.” At that same time, you are greeted by a tremendous stench coming from a gigantic, smoke-spewing, Canadian paper mill on Rainy River which will nearly gag you. And for miles, driving into Canada, there isn’t much about it which is pretty.
You have to get away from the people, the small towns and Indian reservations, where there is as much poverty as you will find anywhere, to see the beauty of Canada. They have been smart enough to preserve the forests around the waterways where Americans come to fish, but on the rest of the forested land the paper companies and timber companies are stripping trees in gigantic swaths. When you fly over Ontario, the land beneath you looks like it has been eternally devastated.
There are tremendous burgeoning numbers of humans on the earth, and the increasing demand for lumber and paper will never cease. Canadian trees grow slowly because of the short growing season, and few of them will ever get larger than six or eight inches in diameter. Logging trucks are everywhere.
It’s just the way it is and will always be. I don’t know what effects it has on wildlife, Canadian species like moose and bear, beaver, martens, fishers, and grouse seem to do fine around the lakes where the timber is left uncut, by design. If you don’t leave those waterway forests, you are not going to appeal to American fishermen, and much money is brought in by sportsmen from the states.
The fees are high, it costs about $40 in licenses to fish a week, and the fish you are allowed to bring back will probably fit in the smallest cooler you have. I like that idea. Eat all you want, and release all but a small number to bring home.
Fishermen like Rich and I don’t make anyone much money. If you get to thinking you have to be wealthy to go there and fish, you are wrong. Common Ozarks outdoorsmen like you and I can do it by planning, finding the ways to do it economically, and of course, not going to the big expensive lodges. Take your food and gas with you.
Many years ago, I got to know Tinker Helseth and his sister Dawn, who descend from an old-time outfitting family maintaining fishing camps as early as the 1920s. Tinker is one of the most experienced and capable outdoorsmen I ever met, himself a trapper, fisherman and hunter.
I spent a lot of time with him years ago flying around in his pontoon plane, fishing and hunting around Ontario’s giant Lake of the Woods. Today, Tinker is grounded, awaiting bypass surgery, which we all hope will get him back to full strength. His sister Dawn has a little cabin on Off Lake, just south of Lake of the Woods, and while she is getting out of the business of outfitting fishermen except on a small, limited basis, she is a great contact for Ozarks anglers.
We were discussing the fact that a law has been passed making it illegal for Americans to use minnow traps or seines to obtain their own bait, in order to protect bait dealers who charge about $6 a dozen for minnows. In some ways, they are making harder for Americans to afford to come to Ontario.
As Dawn told me, “It is all about the money.” Her brother Tinker once told me, “Someday our government needs to start trying to find ways to make it easier for people to come up here and fish, not harder. We need to welcome Americans with open arms, and make licenses cheaper, laws simpler.”
There was a time when I came to Canada and hunted grouse and ducks and geese, and wrote about it, but those days are over. Now it costs $50 for each hunting firearm brought in, and license costs are high, laws complicated and scary. Hunting there has become pretty much a thing for the wealthy.
But still, fishing and enjoying the beauty of Canadian waterways is affordable, if you find folks like Dawn who have accommodations and the knowledge to tell newcomers where the fish are and how to catch them. The waters are full of fish and there are dozens of lakes to fish, many of them available only by portaging canoes, with no motorboats, no cabins, and no people.
Her husband Gabe is thinking about arranging canoe trips of several days in the real wilderness waters far from any roads. Gabe has spent 30 years as a wilderness park ranger, and he once worked along the Canadian border to Alaska trying to apprehend the elite trophy hunters who flew small planes across the border in search of giant grizzly bears. Some of Gabe’s experiences are going to be printed in upcoming issues of my magazine.
Dawn doesn’t have a website, but you can e-mail her at rainbow@escape.ca or phone her at (807) 482-2110. She can give you information on fishing for bass and crappie, walleye, northern pike, muskellunge and lake trout. And she can arrange affordable accommodations for groups of two to eight visitors. There’s good fishing to be found anytime between now and mid-October.
Jackfish Lake at a little cabin the Helseths once owned, now in the hands of a new proprietor, and it too is very economical for four to six fishermen. You can see it on the Web site www.jackfishoutpost.com and make connections with them through that site.
I love the wilderness waters of Canada, and the old-time bush-country people like the Helseths. Spare me their government and their anti-hunter attitudes, and their tax systems. I am not much interested in the big-time outfitters who cater to the elite outdoorsmen looking for trophies. If you are a capable outdoorsman and a fisherman and you aren’t looking for something easy, you can find some fishing in those northwest Ontario waters that you will remember for a lifetime.
And you can find the wilderness. You need to bring your own boat and or good canoes, and look for a way to get to the hard-to-get-to waters. It takes some work, but it is worth it.
Address correspondence to Larry Dablemont, Box 22, Bolivar, Mo., 65613. Send e-mail to lightninridge@windstrea.net, check the Web site www.larrydablemont.com, or call (417) 777-5227.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.