16 day/15 night trip in May-June, 2024 to Lake Nipigon, Ontario on 20-foot, Whitehall boat with electric motor powered by solar panels. Fishing, wildlife, clear waters and blue skies.
That brings back such good memories!! Seeing Shakespeare Island with McRichies Shortcut was cool. I used to go to Royal Windsor Lodge on Orient Bay. Art and Olga Jalkinen ran the place back then. They owned an outpost camp on one of the Islands east of Shakespeare back then. Went out there when the Lake wasn't too ruff. I loved it there!! Gros Cap, Blackwater River, and the area where you camped the first night was great Lake Trout fishing and just east of there was a good Speckled Trout spot between the Islands. There was access to Tea Pot Lake close by and up a small creek. Thanks for bringing back the memories. I am 75 years old now, but Nipigon lives in my soul!!
Great trip, beautifully photographed and narrated. This is an expedition I have always wanted to do, and it is nice to see there is a road-accessible boat ramp at High Harbour. You nailed the timing just after ice out with the lakers and brookies in shallow water. Your electric-powered Whitehall was the perfect boat for this expedition. i love the "Tyvek tent" with the its gunwale-supported hoops and clear windows. Clearly a lot of thought and work went into the construction of this item. Tenting on board is a good plan, I think, since flat campsites are few and far between on this lake, and this keeps the food out of reach from the abundant black bears. Thanks for posting this wonderful video and trip log.
This was Tim’s boat (the one of us that caught all the big lake trout in the video). I asked him about who built the boat and where he got the plans., here is his answer: “The designer was Bruce King. It’s his adaptation of the 20-ft Boston Whitehall in the Mystic Seaport Museum (or maybe just the plans are there). King gave the keel a bit of rocker and cut back the vertical stem a bit, which makes it easier to maneuver as a pleasure craft. I had a traditionally built 17-ft Boston Whitehall previously from the design in John Gardner’s book. Great boat also, but a bit hard to maneuver. A craftsman in South Bristol who did fine interior cabinetry work on King-designed yachts had the plans and built the 20-ft boat for me about 15 years ago. It’s a lovely design, but you wouldn’t want to go near the guy who built this boat.” Thanks for your question. Hope Tim’s answer helps you.
Great trip but the initial video of this voyage is abysmal. You need to get some gopro equipment that has the resolution to capture the real beauty of this pristine wilderness.
Noted. GoPro12, iPhone and and old Fuji camera at 1080 res 60 fps all used on this trip. I have had issues uploading finished video to UA-cam (very long upload and processing times). Have checked and this video (as is usual with YT) initially uploaded in standard definition (SD) and then took several hours to finish processing to HD (1080). You may have watched this video before the processing to HD (1080) was finished. Also, when watching on my desktop, was not pleased with resolution even AFTER HD processing was completed and found out by checking settings button in YT player, resolution was at 720. Had to change player to 1080 and then resolution was better. In future, goal is to get videos to 4K res. Should be able to do that with the GoPro12.
We had no bear or moose issues. Saw the one moose in Henry’s Harbor on Kelvin Island. Saw no bears. We saw moose prints almost everywhere we went to shore and often moose prints on the bottom in shallow harbors/bays. Saw bear tracks on a sand beach in a harbor on Kelvin Island that were probably a few days old. Never saw the bear, though. We slept on the boat and did all of our cooking on the boat as well, so that likely minimized chances of bear encounters. I think there might be greater chances of meeting a bear if you camp at one of the established campsites on the islands.
That brings back such good memories!! Seeing Shakespeare Island with McRichies Shortcut was cool. I used to go to Royal Windsor Lodge on Orient Bay. Art and Olga Jalkinen ran the place back then. They owned an outpost camp on one of the Islands east of Shakespeare back then. Went out there when the Lake wasn't too ruff. I loved it there!! Gros Cap, Blackwater River, and the area where you camped the first night was great Lake Trout fishing and just east of there was a good Speckled Trout spot between the Islands. There was access to Tea Pot Lake close by and up a small creek. Thanks for bringing back the memories. I am 75 years old now, but Nipigon lives in my soul!!
Great trip, beautifully photographed and narrated. This is an expedition I have always wanted to do, and it is nice to see there is a road-accessible boat ramp at High Harbour. You nailed the timing just after ice out with the lakers and brookies in shallow water. Your electric-powered Whitehall was the perfect boat for this expedition. i love the "Tyvek tent" with the its gunwale-supported hoops and clear windows. Clearly a lot of thought and work went into the construction of this item. Tenting on board is a good plan, I think, since flat campsites are few and far between on this lake, and this keeps the food out of reach from the abundant black bears. Thanks for posting this wonderful video and trip log.
Good fishing, fine weather, and lots of miles covered, thanks for sharing a great trip and cool tent over the boat set up.
Your boat's capabilities amaze me!
Great trip and the weather could not have been better... Amazing you didn't have any storms...
What an amazing trip and a fantastic way to enjoy it all!! That was just so cool!!
Eric, this is a fantastic video. I never get my Dad in too many videos so I love to see him in action on your trip North. Thank you for sharing!
Glad you liked it and got to see your dad in his element.
Did you build your boat from plans? I haven’t seen plans for a 20 footer. A thanks, gtreat video
This was Tim’s boat (the one of us that caught all the big lake trout in the video). I asked him about who built the boat and where he got the plans.,
here is his answer:
“The designer was Bruce King. It’s his adaptation of the 20-ft Boston Whitehall in the Mystic Seaport Museum (or maybe just the plans are there). King gave the keel a bit of rocker and cut back the vertical stem a bit, which makes it easier to maneuver as a pleasure craft. I had a traditionally built 17-ft Boston Whitehall previously from the design in John Gardner’s book. Great boat also, but a bit hard to maneuver. A craftsman in South Bristol who did fine interior cabinetry work on King-designed yachts had the plans and built the 20-ft boat for me about 15 years ago. It’s a lovely design, but you wouldn’t want to go near the guy who built this boat.”
Thanks for your question. Hope Tim’s answer helps you.
love it, you guys must be college professors.
Great trip but the initial video of this voyage is abysmal. You need to get some gopro equipment that has the resolution to capture the real beauty of this pristine wilderness.
Noted. GoPro12, iPhone and and old Fuji camera at 1080 res 60 fps all used on this trip.
I have had issues uploading finished video to UA-cam (very long upload and processing times). Have checked and this video (as is usual with YT) initially uploaded in standard definition (SD) and then took several hours to finish processing to HD (1080). You may have watched this video before the processing to HD (1080) was finished.
Also, when watching on my desktop, was not pleased with resolution even AFTER HD processing was completed and found out by checking settings button in YT player, resolution was at 720. Had to change player to 1080 and then resolution was better.
In future, goal is to get videos to 4K res. Should be able to do that with the GoPro12.
No bear or moose troubles?
We had no bear or moose issues. Saw the one moose in Henry’s Harbor on Kelvin Island. Saw no bears.
We saw moose prints almost everywhere we went to shore and often moose prints on the bottom in shallow harbors/bays.
Saw bear tracks on a sand beach in a harbor on Kelvin Island that were probably a few days old. Never saw the bear, though.
We slept on the boat and did all of our cooking on the boat as well, so that likely minimized chances of bear encounters. I think there might be greater chances of meeting a bear if you camp at one of the established campsites on the islands.