travel section question

now just to get it out there now I'm not wanting to argue...I'm just giving my thoughts...maybe you see things differently and with a postive response I may see your point...I'm on this site to learn and grow and help others where I can.
so when I think travel section I think B.C. sturgeon fishing....or peacock bass in the amazon....florida tarpon....fly fishing trout in ireland....marlin in Costa Rica! ...not really driving 5 hrs from toronto!....not that thats not worth asking or reporting...I just think anything out of ontario should be in this section and anything in our awesome province should be in the general fishing or ice fishing section....again I'm just thinking out loud and wanting to keep it positive.....what are your thoughts?
thanks.

My thoughts are that this site is called "Ontario Out of Doors" for a reason. If you want to travel to Tahiti, by all means do so and feel free to share your story, but we don't need a special section for it?

so the fishing section would cover ontario and travel for everything else?...or should the travel section be removed as theres no point in having it?

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Originally Posted by Bushmoose

My thoughts are that this site is called "Ontario Out of Doors" for a reason. If you want to travel to Tahiti, by all means do so and feel free to share your story, but we don't need a special section for it?

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As stated...Ontario Out of Door.

If you drive 5 hours from Toronto to somewhere in ONTARIO to fish, it is still Ontario Out of Doors...It doesn't matter if you drive 2 hours or 15 hours to fish in Ontario...it is still Ontario.

Thus, it is not "Travel"...but Ontario. So those report goes into Fish Tales section for Ontario reports.

Think about it this way...If someone from Dryden drive or fly to Toronto to fish for Steelhead...is that consider "travel" and "exotic" then? Not to much for the GTA members here. To them it is just backyard fishing. So on the flip side, if a GTA member drives to Temagami to fish, to the Temagami members here, these GTA anglers are just fishing in the backyard.

And even with a 15 hour drive to Northern Ontario, people are still catching the same ole Walleye, Bass, Pike, Musky, Trout...etc...same ole Ontario species. After you past North Bay, much of the fishing is the same anyways. I can count on both hands the number of most commonly targeted species in "Northern" Ontario. Certainly, where Moosebunk used to live and fish is a whole different story with the James Bay watershed and all. And Southwestern corner of Ontario has some really cool fish species where that corner is the extreme northern edge of their range...things like Spotted Sucker, Orangespotted Sunfish, Spotted Gar, Warmouth...etc. But most members don't give a damn about those fish anyways. I don't see anyone posting about traveling and targeting the unique Spotted Sucker...or most people don't know how to identify them anyways and simply said they caught suckers.

Do we have Sailfish or Roosterfish in Ontario? Do we have Tigerfish in Ontario? How about Saratoga? Those are truly exotic and truly travel worthy reports.

It's all about perspective...

* Yes, I do realize some people hardly, if ever, leave their 200km home range...and traveling 500km is consider a "trek"...but there are members, like Jay and I here, who considers a 400km drive a typical weekend trip...and nothing is even truly worthy to be considered as "travel" until you start heading outside of Ontario...of course unless you are talking about unique Ontario experience like James Bay. But then Moosebunk may just laugh at us getting all giddy and silly fishing in his old backyard. :D

I tend to agree with the other posts, this is Ontario out of doors, I recently completed a 2,500km hunting trip (I know we're talking the fishing travel section, but it could of just as easily been a fishing trip), all within Ontario, I would think that would be "travel" Sure, that's 200km short of Timmins to Edmonton Alberta, but as you said, this is a great province, and I don't need to leave it, although I do travel it.

My random, disjointed thoughts. Aka my 2c. Thoughts from someone who has quite literally spent my life "travelling" to different parts of Ontario with the goal of being able to say. I've fished them all. I grew up as a kid, whose father did it that way. It's what I still do, love to do. When I plan weekend get always, or 7 day get always. My first priority isn't a species, or type of fishing (fly, trolling, deep water, shallow). Nor is it "reported" quality (aka catch them blindfolded by the dozens).

i go somewhere I've yet to fish. I can honestly say after a lifetime of doing that (50 years). There's really only two systems I haven't dipped in a toe in, or wet a line in. They are James Bay and the artic ocean.

Despite having been and fished pretty much everywhere. There are still thousands, thousands of specific lakes/rivers I haven't. I've really just scratched the surface. I will go to the grave and not get everywhere I might want to.
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in this forum a person who like myself might want to go somewhere new every time. Can easily get ideas. "Hey I've never been there".
in the general forums, any post would quickly get lost.

Bucket list trips.
Even though traveling to Belize to fish the flats for Bone and Permit are on my bucket list. If I had to choose between ticking Belize off, or ticking off the Artic or even a bucket destination within CDA, I'd opt to see all of Ontario first, then CDA.

With soooooooooooo much to see in Ontario I've never felt or understood the desire to go "far from home". And despite spending 50 years trying to tick them all off, I'm going to fall short.

While reports from abroad are nice, as as the commercials and adds say.

Ontario: yours to discover.
most people won't even scratch the surface

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Originally Posted by JBen

Ontario: yours to discover.
most people won't even scratch the surface

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no truer words have been spoken, them's there :)

I have sisters that can tell you every aspect of Cancun...but have never even been to Sudbury on a Saturday night or watched the night train role thru Wawa...they have NO idea what Ontario has to offer, and they're not alone.

Mike one of the very few gems I know and I do mean very few...I can count on one hand the number of places I've returned to for a repeat be it back to back years or 30 years between visits.. even after 45 years of always going somewhere I've yet to be...

Gems. Ive been there 3 times.
Ive spoken with the owner/operators about clientele, repeat business, etc,etc, etc.

95% of his clientele is out of province.
Go figure, the entire world list trips to Ontario for this/that....Yet, we Ontarians have little desire to discover Ontario.

Hopefully, before I kick the bucket I'll dip my toes in James Bay proper and the Artic. They are really, the only two systems Ive to to put a pin to.....But there are still literally thousands and thousands of rivers/lakes I wont make it to.

Even if I went somewhere different every single weekend and lived to 75.
75*52 = 3,900

I wont even scratch the surface.

Just personally speaking...

There are few regions in Ontario that is truly unique in terms of geography and biome.

You can travel 15 hours in Ontario and still end up in the boreal forest over Canadian shield rock...basically the same type of geography.

For example, I don't see a difference between Muskoka and Temagami. Personally, to me, that's boring. Take me somewhere new...somewhere different...somewhere I can be exposed to different geography, different ecosystem and most important different CULTURE. I don't want to be fishing the same types of shield lakes with the same number of species that I can count on one hand (smallmouth, lake trout, brook trout, walleye and pike...there...one hand)...and speaking with the same Ontario folks.

If I have a week off, I would rather travel to somewhere else. This world is huge and there is a lot to experience...life is short as JBen said...so go explore!

After fishing in the Haliburtons, the Kawarthas, the Muskokas, and up near Timmins, it's very much the same. Really, how much exploring and UNIQUE new experiences are there? A shield lake is a shield lake...doesn't matter if it is in Kenora or in Ottawa...a tannin lake surround by granite cliffs topped by pines. That's why it is a typical Ontario scene...because it is everywhere from an two hours north of Toronto all the way to James Bay (although the pines past Timmins definitely get shorter).

Again, that's just me personally. I would take Florida or California or Arizona in a heart beat if I have a week of time and the budget to spend...and that's a short quickie trip. If I have 2 weeks or more, than 99% of the time it'll be international. It's actually not hard to save and spend as long as I limit the amount of weekend travel and fishing within Ontario to the minimum. Things like Haliburtons and Kawarthas are just areas to fish on a weekend to scratch the itch...nothing really "special". Fishing in the Zambezi is "special"...and we certainly don't have Nile crocs and hippos by the boat while fishing here.

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Originally Posted by MuskieBait

nothing really "special".

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Don't tell that the the thousands of tourists that come from "Florida or California or Arizona" to fish our Ontario lakes...:)

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Originally Posted by MikePal

Don't tell that the the thousands of tourists that come from "Florida or California or Arizona" to fish our Ontario lakes...:)

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Yes, but to Floridian residents, catching a snapper or grouper is "nothing special". To Ontarians, it is "something special".

It's all about perspective. When you live and fish all your life in Ontario, bass, walleye, musky, trout...etc is really "nothing special". If you come from other regions of the world that do not have these fish as resident species, then that's a whole different story.

If I live in Belize on the barrier islands, I just take a 5min walk to the nearest water and there's probably some bonefish or tarpon swimming around the docks. "Nothing special" to Belizean...they see it every day and can catch them regularly. We acted like giddly little girls when we saw them for the first time and the locals laughed their heads off.

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Originally Posted by MuskieBait

Yes, but to Floridian residents, catching a snapper or grouper is "nothing special". To Ontarians, it is "something special".

It's all about perspective. When you live and fish all your life in Ontario, bass, walleye, musky, trout...etc is really "nothing special". If you come from other regions of the world that do not have these fish as resident species, then that's a whole different story.

If I live in Belize on the barrier islands, I just take a 5min walk to the nearest water and there's probably some bonefish or tarpon swimming around the docks. "Nothing special" to Belizean...they see it every day and can catch them regularly. We acted like giddly little girls when we saw them for the first time and the locals laughed their heads off.

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I can relate to this very very well. Up in my neck of the woods many ppl from down south and the states come here to fish walleye and pike while myself I go south to fishing different species and get many funny looks and replys from ppl. Travelling to different areas of Ontario for both hunting and fishing its amazing how lucky we are here in Ontario to have such an amazing diversity. There is so much more to fishing then the traditional walleye, pike, trout, bass everywone fishes for, many of the 'non gamefish' deserve a lot more respect and are a great deal of fun to pursue after (espaicially the gar and bowfin). I will have to disagree about fishing north of north bay being all the same haha :p Up in the Timmins area (and east towards Matheson, Cochane) there is unique fishing oppertunitys for species that are not overly common in Ontario, have limited distribution or limited seasons such as Goldeye, Mooneye, Sauger, Freshwater Drum, Lake Sturgeon catch and release only season and Aurora Trout.