How To Plan & Prepare For A Georgian Bay Wilderness Camping & Fishing Trip

 

Herb Pigg & Duke Dice Camping On Georgian Bay Islands

This is half the fun because it gives you something to do in the off season & you get to play with all your camping & fishing toys & experiment with them.

Each year we would always try to improve on something for the next year.

Maybe a new tent or sleeping bag or camp stove or cooler.

The first thing you need is maps of the area & compass & know how to use it.

Orientating compasses are the best because you can chart courses off maps & then follow that heading to & from various landmarks with your compass.

They have GPS units now but I do not own one & have never used one.

The only time I need a compass is when I go to French River or Bad River or I am out at night when everything looks the same from a boat.

A good tent that keeps bugs out is a must along with foam sleeping pads or cots unless you prefer solid rock & tree roots on your spine.

If you have to be level to sleep you would be better off in a cottage because flat is not to be found in The Georgian Bay unless you bring plywood & a level & do it yourself.

We have found things like that at campsites.

You will know where the flattest campsites are because someone will always be camping there ahead of you.

We always like to bring lawn chairs & a trunk to carry cooking things in & put our Coleman white gas stoves on.

I like the round Igloo coolers because they keep food on ice cold for the whole trip a lot longer than the square ones do because their lids seal real tight.

If you keep them covered with a canvas tarp they will last for seven days even in summer.

I put a narrow & deep aluminum pot inside & put the meat, butter & cheese in it to keep them dry & out of the cold water in the bottom as the ice slowly melts.

We always bring a white gas lantern with us for night time cooking.

We always have a nylon tarp & plenty of parachute cord to rig it over where we cook to break the wind & keep us dry when it rains as it usually does in a weeks time on Georgian Bay.

I always write out a list of all the food we will need for the time we are camped out so we won’t forget anything.

Generally speaking most people will want to eat three times as much food on a camping trip as they would at home.

I never do the gourmet thing camping out & like things that are easy to prepare quickly like peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, lunch-meat, hamburger, hot dogs, bacon & eggs, sausage,potatoes, pancakes, oatmeal, granola bars, pork & beans, canned beef stew, & chili & beans,boxed crackers, bread, canned soup, canned fruit & vegetables, packaged cookies & pudding, etc.

We always eat the hamburger first because it spoils quicker than other meat.

I take a camp stove toaster to toast bread for breakfast.

We always bring a bottle of cooking oil & flour & cornmeal to cook fish once in awhile.

A water filter is necessary & a good tea kettle to boil water fast is a must as it is not always safe to drink water where beavers roam & there are plenty of them in Georgian Bay.

If you go out to the middle of a big clear bay the water out there should be safe if you let a bucket down ten feet or more but you are still taking a chance even though I have done this many times & not gotten sick myself.

We like to take drink mix rather than drink plain lake water.

We drink a lot of coffee & always make sure we have enough with us.

We also bring powdered milk for oatmeal & cereal.

Some kind of minnow trap or net is always handy for live bait fishing along with a minnow bucket that doubles as a bailing bucket.

Make sure you have a fire extingisher & anchor & paddles or oars & life jackets & seat cushsions, whistle & distress flags & all the required safety equipment by law.

You need a good light for night time around the camp & in the boat.

CHECK ALL LEGAL REQUIREMENTS BEFORE YOU GO.

You can purchase your fishing license at the store or lodges at the road & you can also get live bait there.

There is a good supermarket at Parry Sound if you forget anything or run out of food or need to buy tackle or gear.

Wright Marine in Britt can fix any Johnson or Evinrude & Key Marina can fix Mercurys if you have boat motor problems.

The main thing is not to forget anything which is basically everything you need at home also.

Georgian Bay Bass Hole