Many people choose many options when heading to Canada to fish. You can show up with just money in pocket and pay for all the amenities you need - a boat, guide, food, bait and lodging. Another option, the one our group has chosen, is to do a self-guided trip at the wonderful Smith Camps in the Kenora, Ontario, region. Al and Joani and family at Smith Camps (www.smithcamps.com) just do things right, as many outfitters and lodges do in Canada. From very livable cabins, complete with all the amenities of home, docks with power and fuel for sale, great fish cleaning facilities, entertainment, swimming beach, and much more. They really do treat you like family.

We like the body of water we fish on because of its potential. Thirty-inch walleyes, 20-inch smallmouth, 40-inch northerns, and 50-plus inch muskies can all come out of this lake, sometimes on the same day. Big water, big fish. But also the Ontario Game and Fish Department and the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) have set respectable and reasonable slot limits and possession limits on fish species on Lake of the Woods, and other bodies of water. The quality and health of the fish because of these management decisions is second to none.