Author: kashabowie_admin

Getting Checked by a Conservation Officer on Your Trip What to expect? How to help?

It isn’t uncommon for our guests to get checked by a Conservation Officer at some point of their Ontario fishing adventure. Ontario’s Conservation Officers regularly patrol remote lakes by aircraft and set up road checks to check for compliance with possession and size limits for fish.

If you’re a repeat customer with Kashabowie Outposts, you’ll know that Fern gives a great rundown on the limits, laws, and safety practices that we want our guests to follow.

If you’re checked by a Conservation Officer while on the water, here are few tips to make the check quick and positive for anglers and the officers:
-Have your license on your person (not back at camp). This allows the officer to know how many fish you’re allowed to have and also identifies you as being licensed.
-Make sure you measure your fish before you decide to keep them. Anglers are only allowed one walleye greater than 18.1″ (46cm) on any of our lakes. Some of our lakes also have northern pike slot sizes.
-Have an accurate tally of how many fish you have stored at the outposts and make sure that the fish are stored in a manner that they can be easily identified, counted, and measured until being prepared for immediate consumption
-Make sure you have a lifejacket for each person on board the boat and that you remembered to put your safety kit in the boat.
-Save the beer for back at camp. In Ontario, you can’t have open alcohol (beer, liquor) in a boat or away from a residence or licensed establishment.

If you’re checked by a Conservation Officer at a road check or while driving home, here are a few tips:
-Have your fishing license accessible and not packed in the bottom of your duffle bag or tackle box
-Have a tally of how many fish you’re traveling with
-Have your fish packed so that they can be easily identified and counted. (Don’t try and squeeze your limit into one ziplock or vacuum pack).
-Keep your cooler storing fish at the top of your gear so that the officer doesn’t have to dig through your items to inspect your fish.

Ontario’s Conservation Officers want to make sure that our resources are respected and used in a safe manner. For more information on limits and regulations around fishing, check out: Ontario Fishing Regulations Summary

How to Pack Tackle for Your Canadian Fishing Adventure

Written by: KOP Staff

One of the most stressful aspects of preparing for your fly-in fishing trip is trying to decide what to pack and what to leave behind in terms of fishing tackle.  With weight restrictions and space being a premium on a fly-in, prioritizing what kind of tackle to bring on your trip is an important consideration.
We encourage anglers to think about the following before deciding on what kind of tackle to pack:  What lake will I be going to?  What kind of fish do I want to catch?  What time of year will I be fishing?  Answering these questions will really help you reduce your tackle.  Here are some ideas to help you pick some tackle that we know will put fish in the boat and smiles on your faces:
Rods and Reels
We recommend anglers bring two-piece rods in shorter rod tubes to help keep your gear safe.  For bass and walleye, bring a few 6’6″ to 7′ medium or medium-light action spinning rods spooled up with 8-10lb test monofilament or 10-20lb test braid. We also like to have one bait-cast rod in the 7′ length to use for bottom-bouncing for walleye and throwing some larger bass baits.  Pike anglers looking for bigger pike should stick with a few 6’6″ to 7’6″ long medium-heavy action baitcast rods spooled up with 30-50lb test braid or 17lb test monofilament.
Walleye
-1/8 to 3/8oz jigs (heavier jigs for fishing current areas, lighter jigs for fishing the shallows).
-5 to 10 packs of soft-plastic baits such as:
     -3″ grubs in white, yellow and chartreuse
     -3″ to 4″ paddle tail minnow baits in white, shad or smelt
-Little Joe style spinners (single hook for minnows, tandem for crawlers).  Hammered gold, chartreuse, silver and white blades are all you need
-Bottom-bouncers 1oz to 2.5oz (these keep your spinners on the bottom where the walleye are and help keep you out of the snags)
-Rapala Husky Jerks (#10-#12).  We love the clown, blue/ orange, gold colours.  Toss these out a long cast-length behind the boat, put it in gear and hold on.
Northern Pike
-12″ to 20″ Titanium or steel leaders
-Rapala Husky Jerks (#12) and X-Raps (#12)
-Spoons like the classic Daredevil, Johnson Silver Minnow (3″ to 5″ long)
-Bigger soft-plastic swimbaits like the Storm Swim Shad, 5″ to 7″ Fluke-Style baits (rigged on wide gap jigs or off-set worm hooks)
-1/2oz to 3/4 oz spinner baits (white or chartreuse)
-In-line bucktail spinners (larger Vibrax/ Mepps)
Smallmouth Bass
-1/8oz to 3/8oz tube jig heads and mushroom head jigs to rig plastics on
-1/0 to 4/0 off-set worm hooks to rig plastics on
-3″ tube jigs (brown, pumpkin, green pumpkin)
-4″ senko-style stick baits (white, green pumpkin)
-4″ to 5″ Fluke Style baits (white)
-Rapala X-Rap (#10) in white
-3″ topwater baits (Rebel Pop-R, Rapala Skitter Pop, Tiny Torpedo)
-Vibrax/ Mepps Spinners
We also recommend you pack a few pairs of pliers and hemostats as well as side cutters for hook extraction.  Hemostats are much lighter than most pliers and do the job just as well.  A fish handling glove really lets you keep a firm grip on a fish while removing hooks and holding your trophy for a quick picture.  Also, bring a small assortment of fluorocarbon or monofilament leader material in the 8 to 12lb test range for walleye and bass if you like to fish with superlines (braid).  Pike anglers will definitely need to bring an assortment of leaders to help land fish and save lures.
We hope this helps you out as you hit the tackle shops and go through your gear before your Kashabowie Outposts fishing adventure!
-KOP Staff

Staying Safe on Your Trip!

Written by: KOP Staff

Whether you’re a first time guest or one of our valued repeat customers, you know that safety is our number one priority at Kashabowie Outposts.  Although we’ll go through our safety procedures in advance of your flight, here are a few tips to help keep you safe on your trip of a lifetime!
First Aid Kit
Pack a proper first aid kit (more than just band aids) keeping in mind that we’re flying you in to the middle of nowhere.  Your kit should include a variety of bandages, anti-septic wipes, polysporin, advil (ibuprofen), aspirin, benadryl (for bites/ stings).
On the Water
Regardless of your swimming abilities, we always encourage you to wear your lifejacket/ PFD when in the boat, especially when navigating from spot to spot.  Many guests now prefer the inflatable-style PFD’s that can be worn in even the hottest weather.
Sun & Bugs
We recommend you wear sun-protection clothing (Simms, Columbia, Striker) and sunscreen when out on the water. We see some pretty hot days up here and nothing ruins a fishing trip like a bad sunburn.  Make sure you bring a hat to help keep the sun off your head and face.  We also recommend you drink plenty of water and non-alcoholic drinks on the water to stay hydrated on those hot days!
Bring a bug jacket, bug-spray and after-bite/ antihistamine (if you react to bites).  Generally speaking, the bugs aren’t bad on the water but cleaning fish, cooking dinner on the grill or sitting around the campfire can be a bit of a challenge at certain times of the year.
Cold & Rain
A quality rain suit may be the most important piece of gear anglers can have on a fishing trip.  Of course we hope that you’ll have nice sunny days on your fly-in, but we know that isn’t always the case.  We recommend investing in good rain gear and packing a fleece jacket as a second layer for cooler days.  A good rain jacket makes a great windbreaker even on sunny days and saves the need to pack a second coat.  Dressing in layers is definitely the way to go when you’re up in Northwestern Ontario.  It isn’t uncommon to start your day in your full rain suit with a hoodie and end your afternoon in shorts and sandals.
Before you hit the water in the morning, make sure you have a plan with your fishing partners on what time you expect to be back and what to do if you’re running late.  We also recommend you bring a ziplock bag or map case to keep your lake map dry and keep it with you when you’re out on the water.  As always, please don’t forget to call in at the end of the day to let us know you’re all safe and if there’s anything you need!