Finding a place to fish in the "old days"?

[Northern Exposure]

The amount of information on here amazes me, someone has a post on here to just about anywhere you could go. I have been going to Canada fishing for about 10 years and have always researched my destination using the internet. I am curious how you guys that fished pre-internet times found places to go? Without the internet I would not have a clue.

[MN_Moose]

The amount of information on here amazes me, someone has a post on here to just about anywhere you could go. I have been going to Canada fishing for about 10 years and have always researched my destination using the internet. I am curious how you guys that fished pre-internet times found places to go? Without the internet I would not have a clue.

Word of mouth. Neighbors went there. Grand parents history. Friend of a friend.

ah, back in the simpler days

[Glenman12]

Word of mouth. Neighbors went there. Grand parents history. Friend of a friend. "

Pretty much the same here..my first trip to Canada was to Cedar Lake Lodge in Perrault Falls in 1981..we had no idea where to go...turns out one of the guys who was going, his dad had stayed there for during a moose hunt in the early 70's and recommended it...got the phone number and called up there..they had room for us the week we wanted so we booked it...have been going there ever since..had this guys father not have brought it up who knows where we may have ended up

[Outfitter17]

Lots of people found and booked trips at the sport shows when they came to town. You hear stories from some of the older resort owners talk about shows in the 80's and early 90's and it is unreal to hear about the volume of people going to/through a show. At the Chicago Rosemount show in the 80's and early 90's it 10 days and they put 800,000-900,000 people through in those 10 days. Now it is only 5 days and this past rosemount show in late Jan. only put 22,000 people through. I guess tons of people went to the shows because if they didn't get a resorts info at the show, there was no other way to get it - because there was no internet to search on.
Sport shows are a fraction of what they used to be, mainly due to the internet and also more recently due to the economy.
Also, as mentioned above word of mouth, was very strong when picking a place years ago - as well as it is still strong today.

[Mike Kansas]

My first trip to Canada was in 1955. That's right 55 years ago. We were told about it from a friend of my Dads who told us he caught tons of Walleye on this new hot bait called a French Spinner. We loaded up with our friend and our new fangled reels (spinning) and headed north based on info from a friend.

I was only 10 at the time and we caught fish like crazy. Been going every since and doing 2 to 3 trips since 1980. Would guess I have been there right at 100 trips, a week at a time. Thats 2 solid years of fishing and I wouldn't trade a day of it...all based on an old friends recommendation.

Mike Kansas

[hoosiercanadian]

My parents started going to Canada in 1954, i would have been 6 months old on my first trip, Dad got his information from articles and ads in Field and Stream and Outdoor Life, but back then all destinations were going to have good fishing. It got tougher in the late 60's and 70's as southern Ontario lakes suffered from over harvesting and pollution, it was time to head deeper into the bush, in 67 and 68 we even made a trip to Jan Lake Saskatchewan, absolutely incredible fishing, and quite an adventureous drive back then from southern indiana, about 1,800 miles one way. By those early trial and error adventures , and running into other fisherman along the way is how we have found our spots.

[eyemike]

I went with my dad in 1983 when I was 26. He had been going since the 60s. It started a passion. Now If I don't get to go for some reason I have this empty feeling. Like a dog who can't find his bone. My dad was a great fisherman. The two of us did a lot of trips together. I can't think of one trip that was bad in all the years. Mike...

[adempsey]

We just went up to the same rundown resort for 10 years with my father. As a kid I had a great time. As I got older I realized how bad the fishing really was, but I never remembered it that way as a kid. Later, through world of mouth, we got educated on a lake closer by that had great fishing and nice cottages. We started going there for the next 5 or so years.

Now, I plan our trips and do extensive research on the internet, attend the sporting shows and talk to folks at the local tackle shops. It's actually overwhelming at times, lol. As you can see from some of my recent posts I had a hard time narrowing down a location. However, I now have 5 to 10 destinations that I would love to go to.

[Obabikon]

I was born there :)

[Mike Kansas]

i was born there :)


no fair!!!!

[Knot Tellin]

Same as today. Networking!! You get a couple of close friends and share info so that you are always on fish. This is just one giant network and is pretty awsome from what I have seen so far. Most of the people are just trying to help out their fellow fishman and get some info in return.

The amount of information on here amazes me, someone has a post on here to just about anywhere you could go. I have been going to Canada fishing for about 10 years and have always researched my destination using the internet. I am curious how you guys that fished pre-internet times found places to go? Without the internet I would not have a clue.

[PIKEMAN330]

When I made my first trip to Canada,it was 1959.My Dad said he would take me fishing anywhere I wanted to go.I wrote to seven or eight ads in the back of my beloved Field and Stream.We went to a small walleye and smallmouth lake and fell in love with Canada.What a wonderful country! Good fishing Pikeman

[Obabikon]

no fair!!!!

Spent my first night at the camp when I was 2 days old! :) Hopefully I get to spend my last night there too (some day a long time from now).

[Rich B]

Great posts.....it would have been early '80s and a good friend at work told me about the
good walleye fishing, beautiful wilderness, etc in Ontario and I headed up north with him the next year (to Lady Lake Evelyn).

It was a frustrating first several days in the boat.....fished off the bottom (hooked crawler and split shot dragged on the bottom) and the bite was soft to say the least....finally got on to the pick-ups, and started catching a few eyes....got me hooked on northern fishing and
shore lunches - ha, and then a few years later I was able to talk my Dad into coming along one year (we had a good time that week).

Yea, after that I'd head up to the Cleveland Sports Show (caught it a few years when it was still downtown) and followed it out to the IX-Center....back then it pulled in the crowds....sad to say this year it was truly a shell of it's former years....but look at what is now available to us.....the numerous websites and information on the net, and Walleye Central's Canada board !

Times are a changing on how we get our information....though heading up north for 3 weeks this year with family and friends....not all bad.

Faith, Family, Friends......and Fishing.

Rich B

[Ruddiger]

Howdy,

Sports show….....? I thought that was a Flea Market that they had a few weeks ago at the Great Lakes Expo Center:)!

Take care,

Ruddiger

[celticbass1]

I started going to Canada in the early 90's when the internet was still pretty young so we did it all by word of mouth and fishing shows. I have since tried the internet search experience and prior to finding this website I was never really satisfied with my results. We've now found a couple of spots we really like and stick to them on kind of a rotation basis.

[Kevin R]

1960

[Kevin R]

Just love this system I wrote many paragraphs only to be timed out.

Great

[Obabikon]

Just love this system I wrote many paragraphs only to be timed out.

Great

highlight, and control copy anytime you spend more than a couple minutes on a post. I've had that happen to me lots, and it's very frustrating.

[Golden Eagle]

Back '59 all we had to do is find a tree to hide behind so fish wouldn't break into our tackle boxes and swipe lures.

[Larry Mac]

My first exposure to the greatest freshwater fishing on the planet was on the old TV when I was a young man. I have always dreamed about going North to the land of many fish LOL. Many years ago a friend invited me up with him and his Dad to Manitoba. To this day it was the worst weather (even by their own accounts) they have ever experienced. I did not know any better LOL (Bread bags on my feet, PVC raingear, cheap fishing equipment, but boy did I catch the fish. I have never missed a year since. Now I love the All Canada Show and the Internet for information. Walleye Central has also been an invaluable resource. Have a great year.

Thank you,
Larry Mac

[Bill Krejca]

Dad's first trip in 1936 to LOW, after 9 years of camping in N. Minn, was due to a story in a magazine (believed to be Sports Afield). The first trip to N. Minn., in 1926, was a result of zigzagging the woods until the guys had breakfast with a preacher, who recommended a lake. (They figured the preacher wouldn't lie.) :) After I was born, I sorta went along with.

Bill Krejca

[cspierings]

A bunch of folks from my home town went there. Then grew tired of that spot and heard from others at the camp about another neat lake. Tried that and so on.

Its all word of mouth in a sense. Now though the folks you can get in touch with are greater due to websites like this one.

[Knot Tellin]

I generally end up in Word because I can splel to svae my lfie.:smirk: I need sepll cehck relaly bad. Numbers are much easier.

highlight, and control copy anytime you spend more than a couple minutes on a post. I've had that happen to me lots, and it's very frustrating.

[Kevin R]

highlight, and control copy anytime you spend more than a couple minutes on a post. I've had that happen to me lots, and it's very frustrating.

I will try that, just that when you get your attention taken away & come back zap its gone its like when bother.

[phishfearme]

been going up to canada fishing since the late 70's. back then the only info you could get (other than word of mouth) was from the northern ontario tourist outfitters (NOTO) book that i think still exists if you call 1-800 ONTARIO.

phish

[Wall-i-Lama]

Way back we simply used smoke signals!

[tly]

You could win fabulous prizes!! Burlington WI has an annual contest for a Liars Club. The winning entry each gets fame and fortune (well maybe this is all a lie too) but your hiding tackle behind a trree should get some recognition. Google em and see.

BTW, we started going to Lac Suel in 1983 and camping all because of a friend's dentist telling him of it. Robbins had just begun Ojibwa Outfitters about then and got pointers from him on camping sites.

[lenray]

I have been getting information from a couple of OLD guys in western Pennsylvania. They tell me where to GO and I stop about 50 miles away and do alright.

lenray