jayess

Dude, forget anything else and just get a Platypus filter. If you've got a larger group, go with the larger size. Keeping it brief, the Katadyn gravity-fed offerings always clog. They're simply not worth the hassle and expense of more filters. The Platypus can easily be backwashed to unclog. Just make a sincere effort of filling the 'Dirty bag' off-shore (away from the 'floaties'), and be sure to keep at least a bit of clean water in the 'Clean bag' to backwash the filter from time to time. Bring some Aquatab pills (also available at Sail) for on-the-go water purification, and you're good as gold.

What platform for trading are you guys using? Without a significant amount in holdings, TD charges for their Web Broker. It's not a huge amount, but I hate fees in general.

Spent a lot of time on Baptiste and surrounding lakes. If you're looking for good fishing, stay away. Hammer handles all day... Bass used to be great but that was 15+ years ago. Some decent backwood lakes around but they aren't the easiest to access at certain times of the year by your standard vehicle due to flooding and lack of maintenance. If you're into adventure and 4x4 into lakes, you'll have a field day. BUT there are cheaper cottages to be bought for this purpose -- look for a cottage on a smaller lake and you'll save yourself at least $50000 and still have access to these 4x4 trails. That southern Algonquin entrance is so over-used and abused that it's personally not an attractive backcountry canoeing destination. That's my 2 cents solely from a fishing perspective. The lake is beautiful albeit more crowded these days than when I grew up on it. But it is not a fisherman's paradise, nor are the attached Benoir and Elephant lakes.

I'd go for a spinner tipped with a worm, myself. Bluefox vibrax in blue is a go-to speck and rainbow spinner for me.

Gravel road, easy traveling. Some of the roads in the area are dicey, just use your best judgement when you get to each. In particular, Swordfingal Lake Trail has some areas that would make one turn back, but my brother has driven it in a Cobalt. V Lake trail has some dicey sections, but it is walkable if you need to halt your travels. You can get to Mayo Lake through Crooked Trail off of Spruce Lake Trail. Cool little gravel pit on the way in. Also, consider Mephisto Lake Landing. Check your regs, too. I can't remember which lakes are stocked or not, but should be ample opportunities around there.

On HWY 28 south of Bancroft in Apsley is The Swiss Bear. Time your lunch or dinner to end up there, or at the very least stop in to get a tart or two. Their schnitzel is the bee's knees, and hospitality is second to none. Many times after a long day of solo ice fishing in that area, I'd come in towards the end of their night and they'd really fix me up with something to warm up with... throwing in a free dessert, as well. Awesome people. Burleigh Falls gets old pretty fast. I guess it's worth seeing once, but it's really just a bunch of rapids. Egan Chutes is a nicer, more natural waterfall. If you shoot up HWY62 towards Combermere, there's a beautiful public beach on Lake Papineau. But that's a bit out of your way.

I've done a lot of the aforementioned techniques for getting down deep with minimal equipment, and by far the easiest I'd recommend is using a clip-on snapweight by Offshore Tackle. http://www.offshoretackle.com/snapweights.html Clip on a 1-2oz weight about 10-15ft above a Williams 1/2 & 1/2 or a Vibrax in-line spinner and I'm golden. I tend to use the latter lure more these days because eventually I tend to get line twist with Williams, but YMMV. The beauty behind this setup is you can reel in the fish as far as you'd like without a secondary line (3-way swivel or bottom bouncer) getting in the way. I don't bring a net in the backcountry, so having the fish 10-15ft away from the boat and trying to land it can be a pain. As for the lake, it wouldn't be my first choice. It's July and you're on highway 60. If you're willing to put a short portage behind you, you'll get more action. A longer portage -- even more action. If you're cool with just trying it out, don't let highway 60 ruin your feelings towards mid-summer laker fishing in the park, and be sure to enjoy your time! EDIT: Sorry -- some alternatives should you be interested: Westward has seen some nice specks and even a surprise laker come out of it. I've seen pictures of nice splake coming out of the Norway-Fork system, but I've not personally fished them.

Tough lake. I've had better luck in other nearby lakes, most of which are only accessible by canoe. If I recall correctly, they stopped stocking splake in Centre several years ago and switched over to brookies instead. If your luck is different, please do share. Sorry if I bursted a bubble.

Got a link?

Funny this thread should pop up, I'm in the process of building such a thing inspired by this video: Are the pumps at Princess Auto driven by a change in pressure? http://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/12v-marine-utility-pump/A-p8171118e

+1 on Louisa. There's a great island site with a "natural" rock table... real nice. Try trolling around the northeast side of the island (I know this is poor reference as there's more than one island... just troll anywhere and you're bound to hit a laker!).

And thanks for the congrats! OK, based on what you've said, maybe write off the Skerwink trail... I'll try to iron out some recommendations below based on areas that we visited. Gros Morne National Park Seeing the tabl lands in Gros Morne Natl Park is worth doing. They do provide guided tours as well. The terrain is as rough as you want it to be in that there are some really smooth trails that you can walk, or you can also go off the beaten path. The attraction here is the geology of the area. The rocks are unique to this region ("the Earth's mantle turned inside out" is one way they describe it). Up to you if that's your cup of tea. Western Brook Pond involves a flat-ground walk of a few km to the boat tours. It's a must-do for a guy who's curious about fishing. You buy your tickets at the actual pond (at the end of the walk). If you do find yourself up Gros Morne way (which you should!), check whether the Gros Morne Theatre Festival is under way. We went to a play in Cow Head in this small, 100-seat theatre that was absolutely fantastic... Very, very well done. Further north is L'Anse aux meadows. We didn't go there because it sound like a stale attraction (we wanted hiking and that sort of activity), but that's a way up the coast from Gros Morne proper. Take a peek at the map and plan accordingly because that's the only thing up there, really. Another area we visited was Trout Creek in Gros Morne. There was a restaurant recommendation out that way and I'm a sucker for chowder. The restaurant was meh but the added history to that trek is its the site of some whale beachings a few years back. I believe the ROM paid for one of these carcasses to be shipped back to Ontario and it's currently buried underground in southern Ontario to get all of the gunk off and get down to the bones for proper display. In Rocky Harbour, there's this little restaurant/store that advertises "the best fish cakes" on the island. From our tastebuds, they were. There's also a large fresh water lake with public access just outside the town (ask a local). There are specks in the lake but I think you'd need a boat to have much proper luck. We went for the swim which was nice. Grand Falls-Windsor As stated, consider the Carriage House. Gordon Pinsent stays (or stayed?) there frequently. The owner is lovely and the rooms are nice and at a decent rate. St John's - Johnson Geo Center in Saint John's: A must-do if you're at all interested in science. LOTS of geology stuff with great tours. They also have a big exhibit about off-shore refinery, tar sands, and so on. I can't remember what else is there but our only regret is that we didn't think it'd take so long and were under-packed for lunch. - The Rooms: Google search it for the best description, but it's kind of like a museum on NFLD people and culture that's largely being stitched together by the public's own contribution of memoirs, ancestry, and artifacts. Pretty cool if you're into some short stories, but not terrible if you miss it either. - Restaurant recommendations in Saint John's: Raymond's if you're looking to treat yourself (friends gave us a gift certificate, we other couldn't afford such eating), Get Stuffed if you're looking for a solid restaurant with great prices and good on the palette - Check out George St... Even if you're not the bar type, there's something for everyone. My wife and I hit a blues bar and it had some solid talent. Ask to get yourself screeched in -- it's a tradition out there that's kinda funny, depending on your tolerance of silliness. Bonavista Peninsula If you drive through this peninsula, here are my thoughts: - Trinity is a nice little town with a great chocolate shop (Aunt Sarah's) and a nice little cafe restaurant. You can walk right into the old village buildings (the church, in particular). They also have the Rising Tide Theatre, but there were no shows playing on the day we were there. There's also a mussel farm clearly visible as you drive into town. - Lockston Path PP was our favourite park to stay at. Up the road is some private resort called Paradise something or other... stay away. - In Bonavista proper (on the tip) there's an old-fashioned movie theatre that's a lovely little experience. If you continue driving outside of town, the Dungeon is really worth checking out again from a geology perspective. It's a cool spectacle! Twillingate You can see icebergs year round, no matter what people say. The bergs get stuck in the harbours around this area of the island. As you're approaching Twillingate, stop at the tourist information centre and ask them for recent spottings. Driving down some dead-end roads, we were able to get great shots. If you go to the Twillingate, you have to see Melvin's Museum in Durrell. Me telling you more about this guy will really take away from the experience, but he's a great guy who can tell you all about the cod fishery in the early days. Bring a small memento for his museum and if there's an iceberg in the area, he'll gladly take you out in his boat. Many famous folk have visited his museum and they all have left photos, mementos, etc. Do it! There's a small clubhouse kind of like our Rotary clubs in Twillingate proper that does old fashioned shows (dancing, singing, silly comedy). Not a bad little date night to soak in some local culture. Misc. Tips Be sure to pack a rain jacket. When it rains, it may or may not pour, but it definitely "misty rains" which is notorious for the coast. Good to have some waterproof breathables. In St John's, consider staying at Memorial University if you want cheap, but book early. They're basic dorms with thin mattress so again, only if you want cheap. We're convinced every winery is a berry winery. I don't think the climate permits grapes, but the berry wines in Durrell/Twillingate area were excellent. The moose warnings are to be heeded, but we didn't see many roadside dangers at all. The roadside is generally cleared a fair distance, too. Just be cautious if you do any night driving as the roads fog up too. Depending on where you're going, gas up regularly. Along the main stretch of highway, you shouldn't have any issues. But if you offshoot for a local's recommended sight-to-see, make sure you've got the gas to get back! Here's a map i made that guided us along the way. I haven't updated it since we got back, but theres some good stuff there. https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zYbZOnucl3rE.k03Rys_IXggs&usp=sharing

My wife and I honeymooned in Newfoundland. Ten days, landed in St John, rented a car and drive the bonavista peninsula up to twilingate area, up to gros morne, and back. We're very active, lots of hiking and talking to locals about the local hidden spots. Here's some of my thoughts based on what you've said: - camping? The provincial parks are the cheapest at around $12./night and great accommodations (washrooms and showers) as most people are RVing. Private campgrounds are hit/miss in quality. The national park is expensive in comparison. - in grand falls Windsor there's a great bed and breakfast called the carriage house. It's an excellent stop between at Johns and gros morne. - I hope you will consider some hiking. Nothing epic or crazy in elevation changes, but bare minimum I recommend getting out and walking the tablelands and the brief walk to the Western Brook pond. Take the boat tour as you'll Anjou some of the Marine history and fishing studies in the pond. -consider the skerwink trail on the bonavista peninsula. It's not grueling and gives some great coastal views without any crowds. I can't comment on fishing or other types as we did things in the You may be surprised how little advertising there is once there despite all of the tourism ads here. Aside from St John's, people generally aren't trying to sell you things... And it's great. I have to run for now, but one last thing -- book your Gros morne and St John's stays in advance. Edit: apologies for tense and grammar errors. Typing on phone with baby in one hand!

+1 to the above recommendation... but also grease up the shaft for easy removal of the auger head if you're taking it off for easy travel.

For what it's worth, I appreciate the published results of studies. I was extremely disappointed when results from the angling surveys for Algonquin Park first became limited in content (namely, the removal of comments) and then the entire study became limited in distribution/collection (only running out of Opeongo). I don't know where it's at now, but it's certainly not as story-telling for me as it used to be. Just to be clear, no hard feelings on the folks running such surveys and studies. I understand logistics, funding, etc. get in the way of intentions.