Lake St.Peter Kayaking!

We stayed at Lake St.Peter Provincial Park for six nights. Of course we brought our kayaks and fishing gear along with us. The park is really nice! There was a beach where we could launch our kayaks and a boat launch located close to our campsite. In fact, we locked our kayaks up near the launch and just walked there whenever we wanted to go out kayaking - perfect! Here's a couple photos of where you can launch:

Boat Launch

Main Beach

So our first trip out kayaking we marked a few fish, usually in shallow water, but only Dave caught a fish. A smaller bass. Lake St. Peter is a deep lake in some spots with areas a hundred feet deep. Here are some photos of our first trip out on the lake:

Dave's first bass

 

Most of the time we were at this park, it rained. Everyday, at least once a day. Either in the morning or the afternoon, then it would clear out. We still made it out kayaking a fair bit. Here are some photos of a typical cloudy morning paddle:

We spent as much time as possible on the water at this park. Almost everyday we were out kayaking with the exception of our golfing trip to Bancroft one day and our trip to Eagle's Nest Lookout in Bancroft another day. I caught a couple smaller bass and Dave caught a couple more smaller ones while we were here. The one day we went out, we knew a rain storm was forecast, but no thunderstorms so we headed out anyway. The sky was menacing and we knew we'd end up wet, but it was refreshing considering how warm it was. Here are some photos taken from our kayaks. We only made it out about 1.5 km then it poured so we headed back. 

 

The weather the next day was nice, so we headed out again. Dark clouds blew through and it looked like it could rain at times, but there wasn't rain in the forecast. It wouldn't be the first time we'd been poured upon anyway! 

Lake St.Peter was a great place to kayak! We caught a few fish and really enjoyed our time on the water. The shoreline is dotted with cottages and there is not a lot of "wild shoreline" but it's still pretty. The motorboat traffic was not too heavy at the end of the lake where the Provincial Park is located but it's busier on the weekends. During the week it was typical to enjoy a peaceful paddle. 

We really enjoyed kayaking and camping at this park!

You can find a review for this park on my camping blog site: http://sdrvadventurers.blog.com/lake-st-peter-provincial-park/

and more photos of the park and our stay here in my Picasa album for Lake St.Peter:

https://plus.google.com/photos/116741237613027767021/albums/5900878520886090497?banner=pwa

Lake Erie Fishing

 This past weekend we kayak fished on Lake Erie. We went out Saturday morning in the light drizzle and had a fantastic few hours catching bass! It was a little choppy on the water and the weather did not improve as we'd hoped. It was still a great time out on the water. Here are some photos:

Decked out and ready to go fishing!

Choppy Lake Erie

Dave kayak fishing

Dave's bass!

My beautiful bass!

My second beautiful bass!

My third beautiful bass!!!

We had so much fun on Saturday, we decided that we would get up early on Sunday morning and try fishing from our kayaks some more! The weather was so much nicer! There was a small amount of cloud cover that cleared out and allowed the sun to shine brightly. It warmed up nicely and the water was calm. The fish however weren't biting this morning. I joked around that it must have been my earrings, my pineapples didn't bring me any luck this time! We spent a couple hours out, then it was time to head in to pack up camp and head home. Here are some photos of Sunday morning fishing. What a great time out!

Beautiful sky

Dave fishing

Calm Lake Erie

Beautiful reflections

Lake Erie

Sue fishing

Dave kayak fishing

This was our best time out so far in 2013. We were hoping to catch some perch, but instead caught some beautiful bass. Lucky us!

Long Point Provincial Park Kayaking

We just got back from a kayaking trip at Long Point Provincial Park. It was a weekend away camping for us, but we brought our kayaks to launch at the park and try some fishing. All weekend we had a strong North wind, but we managed to get out on the water Saturday afternoon for a couple hours. It was windy but manageable and with the sun out in a clear blue sky, it was actually warm. We were fishing with worms but didn't catch a thing. I suspect we were pretty shallow but we couldn't confirm since neither of us used our depth finders. We didn't think it wise to go too far out since it was choppy. On the return trip back to the launch, I paddled a little bit through the marshes looking for wildlife while trying to avoid the evil swans which seem to like attacking my kayak. Must have something to do with nesting season LOL. Anyway, it was a beautiful time out on the water and we enjoyed ourselves. The launch at the park is really nice, complete with  a fish cleaning station. Here are some photos:

Heading for Lake Erie

Boat Launch at Long Point

Set up for fishing

Dave kayaking

Dave's kayak

Kayaking through the marshes

Long Point Kayaking

Heading back to the launch

First Trip Out in 2013!

Welland River - May 2013

I finally made it out kayaking last week. At long last my days off work fell during nice weather!!! I launched at E.C Brown Conservation Area in Welland and headed West upriver. I hadn't paddled this direction before. It was a beautiful day with a weak west wind which was forecast to increase towards noon. Having that in mind, I decided without doubt to head west upriver then I'd have the wind at my back after I turned around. I left the launch at around 8am and returned around 11am. My trip was a total of 13km as per my GPS.
Here are some photos:

While I was on the water, two animals swam across the river in front of me. I couldn't get close enough to see what they were, but both looked to be beaver. I seen three herons and quite a few hawks with their young coasting on the wind. By far the coolest wildlife encounter was when a large carp jumped out of the water about three feet into the air in front of my kayak. It was only about 10 feet from my kayak! Very cool! It was a wonderful first trip of the season. The weather turned very warm by the time I got back to the launch but the west wind kept things nice enough. My plan to come back with a tail wind didn't work so well, as the Welland River turns so much, sometimes I was actually heading into the wind on my return trip. I can't wait to get out again!

Happy Kayaking!