Foleyet, Ontario, Canada
Sunday, September 10, 2023
This morning we woke up in Wawa, Ontario to some bummer news. The guide Andi hired to take us fishing on a Northern Ontario lake cancelled due to weather. Monday and Tuesday this week (the days we planned to fish) are suppose to be 45 degrees and rain with over an inch of rain expected both days. “If the whole family is wet and cold, it won’t be much fun,” the guide said. He felt bad for cancelling, but didn’t think it was a good idea to go.
Andi and I agreed, but we were still disappointed. The entire reason we drove this route through Canada was to take the kids fishing in Northern Ontario. I felt sorry for Andi who spent a lot of time organizing the fishing part of our adventure and prepping/packing all the gear.
The guide suggested another lake where we could camp & fish, about two hours east of Wawa. We changed plans, and began packing up the RV to leave. Andi and Tory ran into the town of Wawa to buy a replacement cable for the broken Jeep/RV brake and to pickup donuts. They returned about an hour later with all sorts of goodies: Tim Horton’s “Timbits” donut bites, green apple PRIME for Aden (a flavor we’ve never seen in the USA), and sour cream-flavored Doritos. One of our favorite things to do in other countries is try all the different flavors of products we don’t have in the US. Aden was so pumped about the new flavored PRIME and proclaimed it to the be the best flavor yet. Tory was thrilled that she heard someone speaking in a Canadian accent. Back in the RV, she recited the way the Tim Horton’s employee listed off all the donut flavors.
Andi and I spent some time monkeying around with the Jeep brake that connects to the RV. He wasn’t able to find a replacement cable in town, so he fixed the old one and made it work. Once we had it in working order, we filled up with diesel in Wawa and then hit the road for Ivanhoe Lake.
Even the gas pumps threw us for a bit of a loop in Canada. Andi had a heck of a time getting the pump nozzle to insert into our RV. Andi really had to jiggle this one to get it to fit. I was waiting for diesel to spray everywhere, but luckily that didn’t happen.
We drove two hours from Wawa, Ontario to Ivanhoe Lake located in Foleyet, Ontario. The scenery along the way was secluded and picturesque. While we drove, Andi said he wondered if we were rushing too quickly away from the “beautiful parts” of Canada. If we skip fishing in Ontario, we’ll be two days ahead of our planned route. We didn’t want to leave, but we also don’t want to be sitting around with nothing to do if it’s pouring rain the next few days.
By the time we arrived in Foleyet, we were all hungry for lunch. I made something to eat for all of us while Andi handled paying for our camping spot and rigging up our fishing gear. We eat a lot of “snack” lunches in the RV because they’re fast and don’t require cooking. Today I prepared meat & cheese, sliced apples, carrots & cucumbers with spinach artichoke dip, and a pre-made soup vegetable soup.
Aden has been asking to go fishing in Canada for years, and his excitement about going today was overflowing. He helped Andi tie lines on all the rods and then the four of us walked down to the lake to spend the afternoon fishing. Andi arranged to have a 18-ft. fishing boat with motor waiting for us at the dock.
The fishing guide Andi had been working with planned to take us fishing on a different lake in Ontario (called Horwood Lake), but said Ivanhoe Lake would be a good place for us to fish unaccompanied. It proved to be difficult fishing in a new lake we’d never been to without a depth finder though; Andi and I had no idea where the structure was, or if there were any rocks or shallow spots. Andi did his best to identify depth using weights on a fishing line, and keep rods in all of our hands throughout the afternoon. Naturally, it was a bit chaotic at times with four people fishing in a small boat, but it was also fun.
The weather was sunny and beautiful this afternoon — the warmest day of fishing in Canada I’ve ever experienced. If only it could be like this the next two days when we’d planned to fish with the guide!
Around 5:00pm, the sky transitioned from fluffy, white clouds to dark and gloomy ones. We sensed a new weather system rolling in. The wind picked up on the lake and — ah yes — this was the Canadian fishing experience Andi and I had come to know.
The most exciting moment of our afternoon fishing adventure was when a big smallmouth bass jumped off my hook mid-air and did a flip, spin back into the water. All four of us shouted in unison at the live-action.
We continued fishing for another hour, but it was evident by this time that Tory and Aden were ready to be done. When the kids start naming minnows and treating them like pets, it’s a good indication they aren’t interested in fishing anymore. Andi offered to take Tory, Aden, and I back to the dock and asked if the three of us minded if he went back out on the water for just a little while longer. Not a problem; Tory, Aden, and I walked back to our RV parked near the lodge while Andi fished until sunset.
Back at camp, I made dinner for Tory and Aden and took advantage of the downtime to clean the camper. The bad thing about living in a camper with four people is that it gets dirty quickly. The bright side is that it cleans up quickly.
When Andi returned to the RV around 8:00pm, he warmed up some leftovers for his dinner. Tory and Aden decided tonight was the night for their long anticipated KinderJoy USA/Canadian comparison. They’d heard that Canada has “real” KinderJoy eggs with surprise toys inside so they wanted to do a taste test & reveal to see which was better. Surprisingly, they both chose the USA version which has chocolate separated on one side of a plastic egg and a toy separated on the other. The Canadian version (and rest of the world’s version, for that matter) has a chocolate egg shell with a surprise toy inside the chocolate.
Not sure what tomorrow’s plan will bring. We won’t be fishing on Horwood Lake as planned, so Andi and I are going to have to watch the weather and make a Plan B.
