HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS BEFORE PACKING FOR YOUR CANADIAN FLY IN FISHING TRIP

WEIGHT LIMITS:

We have a weight limit of 125# of gear per person. This weight limit includes everything that will go on the airplane with you. So it will include your personal gear (clothes, fishing gear, tackle box, poles, cameras, and whatever else you bring with you) food, all beverages (consider 19# per case of pop or beer...CANS ONLY. We do NOT fly glass bottles, due to the mess of breakage) cases or gallons of water, liquor bottles (Preferably plastic bottles, if available) REMEMBER: all that goes in the airplane with you is included in the weight limit of 125# per person.

It does not matter if there are 4 or 6 or 8 people in your group. The weight limit is the same. If all seats are not full on account of the number of people in your group and there are empty seats in the plane, we will take out the extra seats and use that room for taking in whatever supplies is needed to go in for use at the cabins. You are paying for 125# per person, and that is no matter the size of your group.

Here are some suggestions to consider to help keep the weight down to the weight limit allowed.

FOOD:

Make a menu and stick to it.

Have 1 person in charge of buying the food .

Otherwise, items get duplicated or even tripled.

Fishing is very good, so you don’t need to pack extra food for “just in the case the fish aren’t biting.” You will catch fish for dinner.

When shopping, do you really need a monster bottle of mustard or ketchup or mayo or cans of vegetables?

Don’t bring and pack bottles or cans that are far too large for what you will use during your trip.

Freeze any foods and beverages that can be frozen. This can be used as ice in your coolers, such as freezing bottles of water or jugs of water. Use frozen concentrated juice containers as ice while it is thawing for breakfast drinks. If you are bringing frozen french fries or bags of frozen vegetables, use those as ice in your coolers for travel. This can save you a large amount of unnecessary weight.

Plastic or glass?? If you have a choice between purchasing plastic or glass bottles, go with plastic.

Plastic is much lighter and can be burned and does not have to be hauled back out with the garbage. We don’t appreciate glass breakage at the camp site or on the airplanes.

BEVERAGES:

Water: If you are wondering about the lake water-----it is perfectly safe to drink. There is NO need to haul all of the cases of water into the lake. We are required to post signs to boil the water at the lakes. And if that makes you feel better about drinking the lake water, do that. We drink only lake water and after you try it, I think you will agree it is some of the best tasting water you will ever drink. It makes great coffee, too. Of if you want, bring water purification tablets for the water. They are surely not going to put you over your weight limit.

Remember, there is LOTS of water in the lake. The lake levels might be a bit lower than usual, but they are not dried up. One thing the pilots will leave behind if there is not room in the plane, will be the unnecessary cases of water.

BOTTLES OF WATER OR SODA: Why not pack packet's of kool-aid or lemonade or tea and mix with water? Those take very little space and add up very little weight to your limit.

BEER OR SODA: If you are big beer drinkers or soda drinkers and do want to order them, (cans only, we will NOT fly cases of bottles) call those orders in ahead of time (at least 3 to 4 weeks ahead of time) and we will get them flown in to the cabin before your arrival. We will not charge you for that flight. We will work it in on another flight that has spare room. We can also get your cans of nonperishable and have those hauled into the cabins for you too. We are happy to have this done for you if you give us enough notice on the orders.

CLOTHES:

Check the weather forecast before you pack for your trip. You can find the forecast on our cover page of this website or go to your own weather website and check out Dryden and Sioux Lookout Ontario weather. And remember, you are out in the wilderness. You don’t need to have a clean pair of clothes for each new day. Some of our guests have told us they bring their oldest clothes to wear out fishing and when they are heading home, they burn the old clothes or shoes so they don’t have to haul them back home. Good idea.

You can leave your travel clothes in your vehicle.

You don’t need to haul those out to the lake with you and add to your weight.

You can change at the airbase before you head for home.

Dress in layers. That helps you in packing your gear, too. You don’t need to have parkas if the forecast is 70 degrees or more.

FISHING GEAR:

Sort your tackle box before you pack for your trip.

You don’t need to carry your musky lures if you are going walleye fishing. Or you don’t need to carry your walleye lures if fishing for small mouth bass. Pack accordingly. Bring what you need. These lures are heavy and count towards your weight fast.

Also, the medium size to smaller tackle boxes are the best. You can still have all the lures and line you need and they are easiest for loading in the planes. The Monster Tackle Boxes are not necessary nor are they appreciated.

FISHING RODS AND TUBES:

We ask you put your fishing rods in rod tubes. (Rod tubes only. NOT SEWER PIPE) Leave that at home. Some people use sewer pipe for rod tubes. Leave those at home, please. It is too heavy and clumsy.

Please try to keep the size of the rod tubes as short as you can. No longer than 6 foot is the best.

Your rods are safer in tubes and they are easier for the pilot to load without hurting himself.

Make sure you have all lures OFF the lines.

Please try to condense your rods in rod tubes. All you need is a lightweight, cheap tube.

A group of 4 or 6 do not need to bring 4 or 6 rod tubes. Condense your rods and put as many in one tube as you can. The less tubes the better. It is your head that might get clunked by too many tubes in the planes.

Bring some ROPE. Many of our guests have told us before that they use rope to bundle their beer and soda cans and sink those to the bottom of the lake and use it as a cooler.

Another good idea. So bring some rope.

GENERAL PACKING:

Soft sided duffel bags are the best and DO NOT need to exceed 50lbs. Rather have 2 smaller bags than one large bag. You can still carry as much with you in the smaller bags and they are MUCH easier for us all to handle.

DO NOT USE tupperware or hard sided baggage. They just DO NOT form into small places or areas in the planes.

Cardboard boxes work good for packing food. They can be bent if necessary and you can burn those when you are finished with them at the cabins.

COOLERS:

Maximum size we like to see is 48 quart size. The larger ones are like the tupperware tubes----just TOO HARD to get them to fit into the planes and they are just TOO HEAVY to handle and to HARD to manage. The pilots and dock workers really appreciate you using the size we recommend

GROUP MEETING:

Have a group meeting and discuss all of these suggestions.

It will really make it easier for you to pack and easier for us to load and unload the airplanes.

Be sure to NOT DUPLICATE.

Think WEIGHT, SIZE, DUPLICATE, SATISFACTION.

Email us (lm@lmflyin.com) if you have any questions about anything you read here or give us a call 888-867-3335 We are more than happy to help you to prepare for your trip with L & M