ckewley

Didn't fish in Que at all but stayed in Gaspesie park at the Mt Jacques Cartier section, think there was maybe 5 people in that part, quite secluded & beautiful. A bit of a drive to get there though, bugs were next to nill. Looking to do something besides fish, Mont Lyall agate mine was pretty awesome, just south of the park.

Pretty much sums it up! I used it mainly to get dressed as I could stand up & to unload all the crap out of the car for day trips. My bed was in the back of my Rav4 so I left the rear door open all night for air flow, no issues with bugs or rain! It would run down my roof under the sleeve then channel around the door, the bottom of the sleeve has drain holes, no issues. Re-attaching the car wasn't a problem after the first few failed attempts, you figure it out pretty quickly. Now would I buy one? short answer is yes, because of the lady friend, on my own I'd say no. That one for the back of the pick up looks bitchn though

I could be wrong but I was told a long time ago there are 2 types of leeches, ones that suck blood & ones the feed on dead flesh. Solid black ones, fish will gobble them up as they only eat dead flesh, Black with a red stripe around it's border are blood suckers & fish stay clear of those.

Don't know if you've had the Peated 14 before John, really good for a Duty Free exclusive! Thanks Mamona, we were gone for 18 days with a day and a half in NS & 2 days in Que. I booked it straight for NS to just outside Truro, I have extended family there, total time to Truro was 16hrs I believe, made good time through Que which isn't always the case. Ferry to NFLD is about 7hrs

Honestly Lew no picture can do the place justice, if you have it in you to go, do it!!!! I believe round trip was between 300 & 400, I don't have the receipt at work but will check when I get home. Gas was slightly more expensive around 1.40 per L, Beer & booze in general was more expensive but everything else was on par, with Toronto prices anyway. Fishing licence for Trout was dirt cheep for a family pass, Salmon....can be pricey because you need a guide to fish for them, unless you know someone local that will vouch for you as a close relative. If you dig (like) rocks & minerals then I'd highly recommend Meyer's Minerals in Pasadena, went looking for a coffee shop & found this place. You get a complete tour of the workshop & a lesson of all local stones/ Marble/ Labradorite , tons of stuff, neat find for sure.

Well I'll try to make this as short as possible, it'll be hard to do. I have travelled the maritimes for 30 years, majority has been spent in Nova Scotia but a fair bit in the others to be sure, the one glaring omission is Newfoundland! I've always wanted to go just for some unknown reason I've never pulled the trigger. After last years NS trip I made a pact with myself that 2018 would be the year I go. A lot can happen in a year, such as I finding a lady friend that will put up with my crap (we've known each other for over 10 years) but that could have put a dent into my plans, however she also wanted to see NFLD badly, so you might say it's kismet. I love to camp so a camping vacation is what I planned to do, however she has a bad back so sleeping on the ground would not do, fix was turning my Rav4 into a sleeper....honestly I doubt I'll ever put the rear seats back into it, it rocks!! My buddy also inherited a "car tent" that he's never used so I couple that with my car & it's like a traveling condo. So really there was nothing left to do but go This is at Golden Arm RV park in North Sydney Cape Breton night before the ferry to NFLD The ferry ride over was uneventful, the lady friend was nervous about sea sickness but nada on the way there, coming home though...well I'll leave that till the end. Ferry departs at 11:45 am for a 7:15pm arrival in Port Aux Basques. I can honestly say I had a weird fuzzy feeling seeing land from the boat. We drive off the boat and straight to Barachois provincial park for the night not wanting to push it to Gros Morne, after all everyone has warned us, watch out for the moose at dusk & dawn "they're everywhere". Not going to complain one bit, Barachois is a gorgeous park! A river runs behind our spot full of Brookies, nothing big but I was on the board. I'm told the lake that the river runs into has decent size ones, that will have to wait till next time . Next day we head off to Gros Morne. Almost from the second we left the boat the scenery on this island left me speechless, truly breathtaking! Now I'm not going to lie, I did fish... I fished quite abit but think I only have one picture with a fish and its a dink Brookie but I didn't land anything of note anyway. Twelve inchers were quite common, didn't seem to brake that record though. However when you're in Gros Morne there are a ton of other things to do so fishing does take a bit of a back seat, at least for a few days. I should also add, while in the park you'll need a park licence, it's free however. There are some rather irritating rules for river fishing there but that is my problem. I did mention a ton of other things to do, well the first one for me was the Tablelands. No picture can do this place justice, it is outstanding. There is a hike you can do, the standard path which is a fantastic walk with some spectacular sights however I had read somewhere about a unmarked hike that will take you to the top. It isn't on any of the maps you get from the park unless you ask for it specifically then they'll pull it out from under the table & charge you $3.00 for it. Worth it though We started up the trail to the top when my friend got nervous about the big loose rocks we were climbing over, about 1/3 of the way up so we'd call it a day & head down. The Tablelands is one of only a few places on the planet where the Earth's mantle has broken through the crust. You are not allowed to take rocks from here or should I say not supposed to take rocks from here, they are way to cool looking to not be tempted. We'd have lunch off in the distance near the snow & just soak in the sights. Plant life is quite sparse here, no real nutrients for them to live off of. The next day we would putt around Rocky Harbor and a few other places/small hikes just to knock them off the map. I'd throw out the spoon whenever I could but wouldn't catch a whiff of a fish that day. The following day we were of to Gros Morne Mtn & what a day it would be. Gros Morne the bald one on the left The highest peak in the park & second highest in NFLD, Gros Morne stands 2648 ft & is a 16km round trip. It's a bugger that will zap you, but worth every body ache, man was it awesome. It's a 4 km hike into base camp, that alone had many folks calling it a day but once there you get this My friend was rather miffed that she backed off the Tablelands trek so she was determined to make this one count. She did awesome so we ended up with views like these About 1/3 of the way up the first snow patch It took us around 9 hrs to complete the 16km + a few days of swore muscles so we would drive to see Vikings & fish where ever I could without a guide present. Saw some Icebergs in St. Anthony On the way home we spent some time in Quebec at Gaspesie park where just outside the park there is a Geode mine where you can dig for them, pretty awesome place, & although Mt Jacques Cartier is higher than Gros Morne it is nowhere near as intense a climb I could go on for a long time with every little detail about NFLD, my friend is a trained photographer and she didn't bring her camera stating she wanted to take it all in before she tries to capture it......well her I-phone captured 7200 photo's for someone not taking pictures...lol. So I'll end with this, as a Canadian, either born or immigrant you owe it to yourself to travel this truly amazing country we all share. Some amazing things pop out of nowhere to inspire & send you in awe & it must be said, Newfoundland is the crown jewel. A unbelievable adventure was had & this really is the tip of the iceberg posted here CHEERS from the top of the ROCK

Have fished it a few times, love the area a lot. Have only fished the east end as we were mainly there for extended weekend trips & travelling by canoe but the Walleye were plenty & good size, found some Bass decent size, Perch were hit & miss but mostly dinks & Pike are decent but nothing big. We mainly stay on the one island which has enough room for 3-4 tents if there is a bunch of you. A whole host of info out there to help you but we found Jeff's Map of the area to be pretty spot on for CL camping. Small warning the east end can whip up pretty fast when the wind is right, if your paddling can make it more challenging

Oh man I'm PSYCHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The skin I have is wood background, brown dialog boxes (trees faded on the right side) with green trim, looks great actually!

I'd try any aquarium supply store, think most air lines are 1/8"

Glad I can respond on this now, Awesome stuff man......but you already know that!

Thanks Brian & yes everyone works on a different level out there. I will say if you do plan on going back to the rock (driving) keep me in mind I've never been there & plan to change that maybe next year. Yes I love the family "vengeance" stories about Meat Cove, not much of a chowder guy but the beer is always cold. Ya chain pic's are small pike and have seen many of them rotting on the banks just never been lucky enough to bag one. If you've never been to Shag Harbour I recommend it for its oddity could swear there was a place similar on PEI but can't recall the name. Yes sir will text you sometime this weekend Indeed it is, I also had which is a cracker as well Thanks for the replies guy's I appreciate them. If you've never been do yourself a favour and go, but don't plan on seeing everything in one shot. It maybe a small province but there is so much to see & do,

It is quite nice Sinker, highly recommend a tour of that distillery if you're ever out that way. The range has grown leaps & bounds since my last visit, still can only buy 2 of their line & the LCBO. But they have the standard 10 yr & Ice wine cask finish, have added a slightly peated 13yr (I bought a cask strength similar to that 22yr old) a 14yr, 18yr, 19yr, 21yr, 25yr all of different cask finishes & they have 2 casks your bottle gets filled straight from, a 13yr & 22yr (66.7% on the 13yr & 63.5% on the 22yr) not sure if these are rotated to other yrs or stay the same.

This year marks a special anniversary for me, 30 years as a honorary Blue Noser. It has been some time since my last visit, roughly 4 years but as things tend to do out east, rarely change. I had a simple game plan, drive out with my canoe, visit friends for a few days then for the rest of 2 weeks hit the roads & paddle lakes & rivers for the remainder……..the problem with plans like this is family tends to get in the way . I was told that I have access to a canoe out there so leave mine at home, awesome news however the day before I was to leave a good friend blew his back out & would be heavily medicated for my arrival & it would be 4 days into my stay before I would lay eyes on the boat…but what a boat it was. Hand built cedar strip canoe made by a legend around those parts. It was the last canoe he ever built, made in 1977, he died in 1983 & it has been barely used since, I felt quite honored to be able to paddle it. However until I got the canoe I would make do with shore fishing. A few lakes around had limited shore spots but SMB were plentiful to keep you busy, nothing of great size but 2lbs were common. I’m beginning to think the Chain Pickerel stories are a myth as I’ve yet to catch one. This one lake is named as ground zero for their invasion (Shortts lake)& the public access point can be busy (boat launch). Every morning I’d head there after my Tims stop to wet a line & talk to the folks. One guy would hit the place before work every day & he looked at me sideways when I said I wanted to catch a Chain Pic as we don’t have them here in Ont, “well you’ve hit the right spot, they’re here in big numbers” ….sure they are, nada sniff. It became a bit of a joke when he would ask each morning if I caught one yet & I would so no then he would say after I left he or someone else would nail a few, myth I tell you! Also part of the plan was to do some ocean fishing with someone a friend knew, another unfortunate set back as this mans wife fell ill a few weeks before my arrival, not a big deal as now I have a boat I can explore areas on my own. However this man feeling bad for not being able to take me out told me of a nice, hardly fished area (because of the trek in)where sea run trout can be caught & a great spot for Brookies of good size (3-5lbs) in what he called “the last great spot for them” that maybe true, maybe not. This trek would consist of paddling 1 smaller lake, portage 2km (roughly) to another larger lake (still small), take the river off that lake for about 1km & portage around the “wolves den” rapids to where a feeder creek joins that river (about 1 km) ditch the canoe and walk the creek to the first hole. He did ask me if I had a gun as moose, bear are very common but more so for the coyotes which are becoming a huge problem out there. I said no, I’m not licenced he suggested I take one anyway to be safe. Now almost everyone out there has a rifle of some sort so obtaining one would be very easy however not being licenced it would be my luck to get caught so I opted out of the gun thing. My plan was to camp overnight & the gun thing had me slightly worried but to hell with it. It was a good drive, about 2 hrs to the dirt road in, another 45min on this dirt road to the first lake. I had the person I was staying with come with me to take my car home & pick me up the next day (car theft is quite high in those parts I’m told). Now I’m not going to lie, this is my first solo trek in a canoe & I’ve only owned my canoe for 2 years so not overly experienced but I was talking with Borger in the spring about his solopaddler days & he inspired me to take the leap, very glad he did. I went in very light plus it was only a one night trip so no back tracking for gear, first lake a breeze, first portage a breeze (atv trail) second lake a breeze, the river was easy but there are 3 sets of rapids, the first I wouldn’t call rapids but whatever, the second & third though, these are what is called the wolves den. If you are a experienced kayaker/canoeist you might be able to make short work of these but me….prefer to arrive alive so I had to portage around. The river carved out this valley forever ago but man was it pretty, hard slug around but pretty. I would make 2 trips here because there was supposed to be a portage path but I either missed it or the earth reclaimed it, maybe I was on it but wouldn’t call it a path. Put in on the other side & make my way down to the creek. Very skinny water here leading into the river. It has been a fairly dry season, so water levels are way down, I was beginning to think this big deep pool might be a puddle. Walking the creek for about 10 min I hear a crash in the bushes & I need to change my shorts, damn dear about 100 or so feet from me crashes through, I only catch the ass end. Just beyond the dear is where the pool lays. I happen to be fishing this pool on the last day you are allowed to use live bait & are allowed to keep Brookies if you wished. A few drifts in float drops & the fight was on. Nothing big but it was a start. From there they would become much bigger & more often. I would think the biggest I caught that day would tap out at 3lbs. I originally planned to camp near this creek but that damn coyote thing messed my head up a bit + I can see where if you didn’t have your head about you , you could get yourself into some trouble so I would hike it back to the second lake where I saw what looked like camping spots for the night, may have been hunters or fisherman that made this one spot, fire pit & a falling apart thunder box, slept like a rock that night. Next day I would head back to the creek for a few hours then the long paddle back to be picked up around 4. My pick up had been waiting for awhile for me to show as I bumped into 2 canoeists that were going to be tripping down that river all the way to the coast, very knowledgeable folks as they have done that trek many times . I know it was only one night but there is a sense of accomplishment, will definitely extend the overnights next round. I would travel around for the next few days testing any river I passed over, with limited success. There is no other river for me to fish than the Margaree. I may be a honorary Blue Noser but my heart is pure Cape Breton! From the Gaelic language to the Acadian French, the gutters of Sydney to the cliffs of Meat Cove I love it all. Like everywhere out there the rules for fishing change on September 1st (most inland fishing) from any gear/bait to FLY ONLY & all Brook Trout must be released (again most places) I am not a Fly Fisherman by any stretch, I attempt to cast but stick mostly to roll casting with a spot of spey. I have a 5wt rod that I use for stream trout but would be easily overpowered on the Margaree so I brought my float rod this trip. There were 2 Fly guys where I choose fish & as soon as they saw my gear they knew I was from Ontario as float rods/reels aren’t that popular yet, but are gaining traction. I was really hoping for a Atlantic just to check that off the list but that will have to wait till next time. I do own a bunch of fly’s but really I couldn’t tell you the names of any of them outside of a few, so I drift a few with a little success for smaller Brookies. The purists are probably going to give me crap for this but I tie on a Zoo Cougar (one of the few I do know the name for) & chuck it out. A few drifts in the float drops & the fight was on. This thing peeled line faster than I could stop it. 4ft leaps out of the water, I thought it was a Atlantic, bright silvery thing possessed & it was at this moment I found God or at least praying I would land this demon. All said the fight was probably less than 5 min, maybe less than 3 I’m not sure but as I was reeling it in to land this bright silver thing started to look like a Bow, beach it & damn it is a steelie. I was in shock both because of the incredible fight & the fact it was a bow. I know they have stocked lakes with them around but hadn’t really heard of Steelie fishing out there. I received a few history lessons from the fly guy’s on how these fish came to be out there, & they told me there are a few rivers that have them but seem to be rather hush hush among the fisherman. Although my guy was quite small (4lbs max) the fight in it was 3x that of any great lakes fish I’ve caught. I now have to travel to the west coast and try my hand in their natural environment. I wouldn’t need to fish the rest of that day as the high stuck with me. I would round out the rest of my vacation traveling around sightseeing with the odd cast. Round trip I put on 6km shy of 7000km. Info for anyone interested, my google-fu might be weak but I could barely find any info on Crown land for Nova Scotia until I contacted the government & was provided this link https://nsgi.novascotia.ca/plv/ This one was easier to find but I’ll add it anyway http://www.ckns.ca/canoe-routes-ns-handbook http://www.ckns.ca/ckns-canoe-route-maps

Like the app a lot man, please tell me you plan on staying add free.

I echo what aplumma has said, for a first bike get something small. Your not a tiny guy but not big either, I'm not sure if Honda still make the Rebel but something akin to it would be a perfect beginners bike. Lightweight so you can learn to ride properly (counter steering is a thing to wrap your head around) & if you lay it down easy enough to pick up. You can always move up in CC's when you have a good feel for riding, If the wife wants to ride it would be better for her to ride her own machine instead of being the monkey (sidecar racing term) especially if you're a new rider

Besides the summer Marvel movies I quite dug Atomic Blonde, not as action packed as the trailer would lead you to believe & a good editor could cut some of the fluff out but solid art direction,score & fight choreography puts it on the must see list for me.