Canadian Dreaming

Today I woke up to a snow-covered world. The rain falling yesterday afternoon and evening turned to snow in the wee hours and continued into the morning. The temperatures, in the mid-thirties, caused most of it to melt as the day wore on. As one anxious for weather conducive to outside activities, this was a setback.

The time inside gave me the opportunity to plan for spring weather as it will arrive eventually. Lately I have been thinking about my fishing trip to Canada in May. After several years of annual trips, the pandemic has prevented me from going since 2019. At this point it appears that the border will be open. It will be a matter of making sure I have whatever proof of vaccination and testing is required at the border and having all of it with me.

Yesterday I ordered a new fishing rod from St. Croix Rods in Park Falls, WI. They are available in the local sporting goods shops, but I may not have been able to find exactly what I wanted. In addition, I watched a video of someone who ordered from the factory and his excitement over getting it straight from Park Falls made me want to order it. I called to make sure they had it in stock and Peter, the phone representative, said it would ship in one week. I am going to use it primarily for walleye fishing. Now I am searching for the right reel for it. As with everything else, there are a lot of choices. 

In order to fish in Ontario, I will need an Outdoors Card and a license. The Outdoors Card allows the bearer to purchase fishing and hunting licenses. The card is good for a three-year period. I bought one in early 2020, before the pandemic shut down the border, so mine is good until 2023. My fishing trip will be for eight days, so I will purchase the eight-day license. 

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry offers two types of fishing licenses, conservation and sportsman. These vary in cost and the number of fish you can have in your possession. I fish for walleye, northern pike and lake trout. If one purchases a sportsman license, the more expensive of the two, he or she can have four walleye, four northern pike and two lake trout at any one time. A conservation license allows half of each of those amounts. No one can eat that many fish in one day, so the limits really only affect how many fish you can bring home. I will get the conservation license and that will be plenty of fish for me. 

The final two things to check today were my passport and Canadian cash. My passport is good until 2027, so there are no worries there. I have $55 Canadian left over from 2019, so I will go to Associated Bank in May and exchange enough American dollars to get another $150 Canadian. I don't like to be up there with no Canadian cash. 

As I look at the snow and hear the wind blowing, I am happy that this year I have the trip to the wilds of Ontario, Canada to look forward to. 

Nice Canadian Walleye

Dr. Fauci and Canadian Fishing

The last time I was in Canada was in May of 2019. My fishing partners and I were returning from what had recently become a highly enjoyable week of catching fish, eating fish, and telling fish stories. We had left a deposit with our host and planned to return in May of 2020 for more of the same.

Of course, we did not return 2020 or 2021, and now this new Covid variant has me concerned about 2022. Its course seems to be the same as the original pandemic creator, Covid 19. A few cases here, a few cases there, and the next thing you know it dominates the news. The Delta variant, which fortunately seems to be vulnerable to the Covid 19 vaccines, started out much the same. The scientists are working furiously to figure out how to deal with the Omicron virus, as it's known, while the rest of us wait to find out how 2022 is going to begin.

One thing about the scientists that has me a bit concerned is this story about Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, getting into some type of talk show argument with Texas Senator and blowhard Ted Cruz. Dr. Fauci could win any argument with Ted Cruz with 90% of his brain tied behind his back, but the country needs 100% of his brain right now to solve this latest virus issue. I urge the good doctor, and everyone else, to ignore Senator Cruz and focus on things that are important, like getting my buddies and me back to our Canadian fishing camp in 2022. 

I have collected a few new lures that I am dying to try on the big lake trout, northern pike and walleye in northern Ontario. My Christmas list has a new St. Croix fishing rod on it. Our camp host has made some great improvements to the place that I have only enjoyed through photographs and a first hand report from someone who made it up there this fall. I will spend a good portion of the next few following the news reports of any virus activity and calculating how it will affect Canadian border crossings. At my age I cannot afford to miss another year of Canadian fishing.