We take great pride in doing our best to show you an excellent fishing vacation. Here are a few tips for your consideration when planning your trip.
GAS is much more expensive in Canada. Remember to fill up your vehicle in International Falls before you cross the Border where it is cheaper. This should be enough to get you to Red Lake and in some vehicles, back to Dyden where the price is somewhat cheaper than Red Lake. If you are coming from the west and travelling through Manitoba, fill up in Prawda, MB where the price of gas is generally 10 cents less per litre than Ontario.
Weight: Flying an Otter, we try and accommodate every group and the gear they require for a great fishing trip, which should be no more than 100 pounds per person. We do have some flexibility regarding weight but if you and your party show up at our base hundreds of pounds over your allowed weight, you will be asked to get rid of a hundred pounds or more of gear, which is harder than you think. Plan ahead, weigh your personal gear before you buy groceries. You should have no more than 60 pounds of personal gear, including your tackle, depth finder, batteries, sleeping bag, clothes and anything that isn’t food. Have and shop from a menu. You do not need to buy large quantities of anything and it helps to keep your weight down. This should allow ample room for the food for your trip. We see a lot of people over pack on clothing, remember that when you are in camp, you will most likely wear the same clothes for most of the week. Another tip is to pack a seperate bag for travelling and leave it in your vehicle in Red Lake with your travelling shoes etc. Leaving anything unneccesary behind. We do our best to utilize our aircraft and your party is entitled to 100 pounds per person. You need to be close to your allowed weight so that the supplies needed can get to the outpost camp and so we can send a cooler of ice with you.
Travel insurance When ever you are travelling outside of your home country, you should have travel insurance. A visit to the doctor for any reason, could add up to big $ if you are not prepared, even in Canada for a simple fish hook removal. If you are injured at the outpost and need a flight out for medical attention immediately, we will arrange for an aircraft to take you out but YOU are responsible for the cost of that special charter. If you have insurance, it may be worth a call to verify that you are covered in Canada.
Ontario Outdoors Card and your fishing licence If you have a green or blue Ontario Outdoors card, even an expired card, make sure to bring it with you when you come to see us. If you have not fished in Ontario in the past or do not have one, we will issue a temporary Ontario Outdoors card here at our base for you. We can renew your card at our base as well and also issue you your fishing licence here in Red Lake. If you have renewed your Outdoors card online be sure to bring a copy with you when you come.
Groceries and Bait If you need us to help with getting groceries, bait, or beverages for your trip, please remember to get your orders into us at least 2 weeks prior to your fishing trip.
Water Being that water is very heavy, we are suggesting to our guests to bring a good quality water filter to cut down on flying in bottled water. These filters are lightweight and can be a gravity feed system or a UV light system. The water in the North is all natural water on deep moving watersheds. Please look into this and keep it with your Canada gear to use each year.
Lifejackets We supply lifejackets at our outposts for our fishermen. But we suggest that if you are a large person and require a bigger lifejacket, please bring your own. Also, if you have children coming with you, please bring a lifejacket for them as well.
Your phone and Photos. We love to get photos from our guests of their trip. We also worry about our guests dropping their phone in the lake or losing it somewhere on your trip. We would like to remind everyone who makes the trip north to back up their contacts and empty the photos to provide you with plenty of room for the picturesque vacation you will be on.
Times in and out We do our best to get all of our fishermen in and out of the outposts as quickly and efficiently as possible. We are the only outfitter that will give you a time that you are flying in to the camp and a time that we will be at the dock to pick you up. Barring weather, we are on time 90% of the flights. There are a few things to remember that may affect our time schedule. Here they are starting in the morning.
-We operate on a river and there are times where we have localized fog which backs us up for the day.
–Bad weather When flying on floats, we have to be able to maintain visual contact with the ground. Our aircraft are not equipped for flying into or above the clouds like other commercial jets. Rarely, but sometimes we are a day late getting you into camp and someone has to stay an extra day in the bush. We can only do what Nature allows us to do in regards to flying safely.
–Problems at a camp. If there is a problem at the camp with anything, John must take the time to repair it. It affects the rest of the day slightly.
Please remember that we offer personal service for your fishing vacation. We have 24 years of experience in the tourist business with Amik Outposts, almost since the companies inception. Rena is excellent at helping you pre-plan every aspect of your trip, right down to the last detail. Her experience is a great asset and she will do her best to ensure you have all your bases covered. John with 25 years of flying in the bush knows the country in which you will be flying like the back of his hand. Thousands of hours logged, all in the same area, showing people great vacations. Around the camp, he has been maintaining the equipment since day one.
In order to offer you this personal service we schedule our trips throughout the day. We cannot fly everyone at 5am but we do not send you out with a pilot who is new to the area and has no clue as to how to fix anything around the camp.
We are looking forward to seeing you this summer. We hope these tips help. Remember, you are on vacation. Enjoy it.
