Saugeen River Kayaking

We kayaked part of the Saugeen River during our June camping trip at MacGregor Point Provincial Park. We launched at the docks in Southampton and paddled up stream as far as we could. The end result was Denny's Dam. Just before the dam, the current became to strong to paddle up, so we turned around and drifted back down. We weren't really able to fish this portion of the Saugeen due to the current.  The scenery along the river was beautiful with lots of purple phlox and birds!

 We drifted back down the Saugeen River towards it's mouth at Lake Huron and fished all the way. Past the launch but before the Hwy#21 bridge the current slowed substantially. The drift was very slow as was the fishing! Lake Huron looked a little rough, so we didn't paddle all the way out. It was a fun trip but I wish we could have gone closer to Denny's Dam and maybe portaged above it. As well, it would have been nice to paddle into the lake. Another time I'm sure!

There are many places to launch and paddle along the length of the Saugeen River. We covered only a short distance. No fish caught, but another beautiful day on the water!

Lake Huron Kayaking - June 2014

 We spent an evening in June kayaking on Lake Huron. I water was calm and very clear. My depth finder was showing 20 feet and we could still see bottom. The water was still very cold.  We didn't catch any fish, in fact not even a bite, but it was a beautiful paddle.

 Our launch was at the park we camped at which was Inverhuron Provincial Park. The beach beside the boat launch is also suitable for launching a kayak or canoe. This was our first time kayaking on Lake Huron and it won't be the last. It's a big lake to explore!

Pinehurst Lake Kayaking - May 2014

Pinehurst Lake is a 23 acre kettle lake located within Pinehurst Conservation Area. We camp here often and usually kayak too. The lake is fairly small and contains some bass and black crappie. The sky and water made for some really pretty photos!

Beautiful Pinehurst Lake

Fiesty Black Crappie

Pinehurst Lake

Fish On!

 The fishing was slow, with only a couple black crappie ending up on the end of my line. Our day kayaking was beautiful, but didn't last long. Pinehurst Lake is a very small lake, so it can be kayaked in a short amount of time. It's still worth a quick paddle!

Boat Launch

Happy Kayaker

Update

Well, here it is a long overdue update to my kayaking blog and a promise to keep it up in 2015! With that said, please stay tuned as I will be reviewing our kayaking adventures from last season - 2014. Our kayaking is usually planned along with camping destinations and fishing destinations since both hubby and I are big into kayak fishing! So, without further adieu, I will start getting caught up on destinations we kayaked at last year!

Kayak Fishing in the Grand River!

This weekend we leave for a camping trip at Byng Island Conservation Area in Dunnville, Ontario. It's one of our favourite places to go for kayaking! There are two boat launches that take you out on to the Grand River near Dunnville. One launch is above the dam and one is below. If you launch below you paddle out a channel and into either marshes that eventually connect to the Grand River or take a more direct route out into the river. We usually try fishing below the dam and usually catch something. There are all kinds of fish in the Grand River, but pickerel is what everyone is hoping for. This River connects to Lake Erie about 10 km from the lower launch at Port Maitland. I'm looking forward to getting back on the water again to do some kayak fishing and exploring! It's been awhile! The bonus here is that we are camping as well!

Kayak Fishing at Valens Lake

This past weekend we camped at Valens Conservation Area near Freelton, ON. While there, we kayak fished on Valens Lake, which is really a reservoir created by a dam placed on Spencer Creek. The maximum depth I registered on my fish finder was 14ft. The water temperature was around 82 degrees. This lake is known for it's great bass and pike fishing. The park is diligent with keeping the bass fishery healthy. The last time we fished at this park, I caught my first pike. Beautiful! This time around we were hoping for some bass. Here are some photos of Valens Lake:

 

The fishing was slow, with the only catch being a very small perch for me. Otherwise, we caught nothing. Lot's of bites, but they seemed kind of small. 

The scenery is really pretty on Valens Lake and it's a nice paddle even without the fish. The lake covers a lot of territory and to paddle from one end to the other is a nice journey. The East side is deeper and where the small dam is located. The west side of the lake is shallow with lots of tree stumps and structure. Can you say "lost tackle"? Here are some more photos of our time on the water:

I'm not giving up on Valens yet! I'm thinking maybe another camping trip this September and another day fishing too! 

This park is very nice for camping. It offers both unserviced and serviced sites in a nice forested setting. Some sites are large pull thrus to accommodate larger trailers. There are over 10km of hiking trails as well. Here's a link to the page on my camping blog that reviews Valens and shows more campground photos:

http://sdrvadventurers.blog.com/valens-conservation-area/

Kayaking the Trent River\Trent Severn Canal

We stayed at Ferris Provincial Park during the last week of our holidays. It's located on the Trent River/Trent Severn Canal by Campbellford, ON. We were really looking forward to launching at the park and doing some kayak fishing. The launch was nice and put us in the Trent River near Lock 13, below Ranney Falls. We tried to paddle upriver to the base of the falls, but the current was too strong so we turned around at the suspension bridge. Here are some photos of our first trip out:

We did catch some fish while we were out, nothing large. Here are some photos:

While we were out, a yacht locked through at Lock 13. We watched the process from our kayaks. It was pretty cool and a totally different perspective witnessed from the seat of a kayak on the water!

And here are some other photos from our time kayaking the Trent River:

 

We didn't have much time at Ferris Provincial Park, so our time out kayaking went by pretty quickly. There are other public launches in the area above Lock 13, so we found out later. Both of us would love to come back here and kayak more in the future. If we do, I'm sure we'll camp at Ferris again. It was a lovely park. 

To see more photos of the park and a quick review, visit my camping blog at:  http://sdrvadventurers.blog.com/ferris-provincial-park/  

As well, you can find more photos of this park and the our trip to Campbellford at my Picasa web albums site:

https://plus.google.com/photos/116741237613027767021/albums/5900924560601556337?banner=pwa