What To Bring

Currently

35 °

Sunday

13°/29°

Monday

6°/17°

Tuesday

4°/25°

Wednesday

-2°/18°

Thursday

-7°/11°

What you should bring

Basics

Things everybody needs.

  • Passports and other necessary border crossing documents (see Border Crossing).
  • Ontario Outdoors Cards and Fishing Licenses, if you have them. You can also purchase licenses and an Eagle Lake map at the lodge.
  • Hunters bring a license from the previous year, or a hunter’s safety certificate.
  • Cash for gratuities for guides, kitchen, housekeeping, and dock staff.
  • Cell phone, or camera, watch, alarm clock, and headlamp.
  • Sunblock, lip balm, and insect repellant.
  • Toilet items and any necessary medications in original prescription bottles for the Border Crossing.
  • Each person of legal age may import 24 cans of beer or 40 oz. of liquor, one carton of cigarettes, or 20 cigars.
  • No handguns, pepper spray, or radar detectors are allowed into Canada.

Clothing

The appropriate gear obviously depends on the season, but here are general guidelines about things you will want.

  • Comfortable, casual camp clothing.
  • Layered fishing clothes, preferably in fast-drying fabrics. Even in summer, you will experience cold mornings and evenings and potentially hot days, and serious rainstorms, so come ready for anything. For spring and fall trips, you must be prepared for real cold, as well as stormy weather.
  • Hats to keep you warm and to keep the sun off. Sunburn is a real issue when spending all day on the water. Consider bringing a buff to protect your face and neck.
  • Quality raingear, with a hood, and pants, or, much better, bib pants with suspenders to keep your torso dry in a moving boat in a downpour.
  • Waterproof shoes or boots. Having wet feet all day is not fun.
  • Gloves to keep your hands warm and to cushion your hands from holding the reel and handling line all day.
  • A waterproof boat bag to store the clothing, camera, snacks, and other essentials you don’t want to get wet.
  • The lodge provides all bedding and towels, but if you come in spring or fall, you might appreciate having a quilt to throw over your bed at night.

Food

If you are on the American Plan, your breakfast and dinner will be served in the lodge and your lunch will be waiting for you at the dock each morning, packed in a cooler. If you have a guide, water, and soft drinks will be provided (be sure to check with the guide about your preferences); but if you are on your own, then you will want to be sure you have plenty to drink. Getting dehydrated on the lake will spoil your day.

If you are on the Housekeeping Package, you supply your own food. Vermilion Bay and Dryden have several grocery stores and liquor stores for your convenience and you’re always welcome to join us in the dining hall if you desire. Every Wednesday evening is a fish fry for everybody in camp, so you don’t need to plan dinner that night. The Housekeeping cabins have fully equipped kitchens and outdoor grills. Bring dishwashing supplies. Note that you should bring a cooler large enough for your lunch, and any thermoses you might want for hot drinks or soup on a cold day. Also, bring sealable plastic bags to keep food dry in the cooler on rainy days.

Gear For The Boat

For many people, stocking up the tackle box and gear kit is one of the pleasures of anticipating their trip. Without going into the endless possibilities for fishing gear, here are a few important reminders about gear everybody needs in the boat. If you are with a guide, you will already be provided with most of this gear, but it never hurts to check. If you are using a camp boat yourself, this list is important.

  • Polarized sunglasses. This is first for a reason: you are fishing blind without them.
  • Headlamp and batteries for it. Unhooking a fish in low light is difficult and dangerous.
  • An Eagle Lake map marked up for you by the camp staff.
  • A long enough rope to tie the boat up to an island for a pit stop.
  • First aid kit, with waterproof bandages and antibiotic cream, at a minimum.
  • These are mandatory and provided in guide and camp boats. Make sure there is one for every member of your party and that they are worn or easily accessible in case of emergency.
  • Every camp boat also contains the required emergency kit. Consider supplementing yours with screwdrivers and pliers, and you might be able to make minor mechanical fixes, like fixing a loose battery cable, that could save a day.
  • Camp boats also should have a net appropriate to the species you are fishing for. You don’t want a walleye net for a muskie, or vice-versa, so make sure you have the right one before leaving the dock.
  • Tools for safely unhooking fish, to protect them and you. If you don’t know, ask the guides about how to handle the fish before going out on your own.
  • Here at Andy Myers Lodge, we will provide you most of what you need for your fishing or hunting trip. You may bring night-crawlers into Canada, but no live leeches or minnows. We have licenses, a tackle shop, and live bait available at camp. There are not many other places that can provide you with pretty much every kind of fishing gear that you’ll need. Our guests are only responsible for their own personal belongings.
  • Those who have not chosen the upgrade boat, guide days, 4WD excursion, or fly-in options should consider doing it. These will greatly enhance your Canadian adventure, especially if you have not been to our waters before, or only fish a few times a year.