gear & gadgets
Just some gear I have experience with...
Sleeping bags
Bags, because I have two for the different seasons in the north. I currently have a Marmot Trestles mummy bag for the colder spring/fall trips and I find it excellent. I realize that mummy bags are not for everyone but I find them warm and comfy and lightweight. Marmot does make a few rectangular bags for those that don't like the confines of a mummy. My summer bag is a rectangular ...
Water purification
Meet the Platypus GravityWorks water filtration unit. After an exhaustive bit of research, I settled on the Platypus unit about 6 years ago, and to this day have no regrets. The Platy is small, light, easy to operate and most importantly, it filters the nasties out of lake water making it drinkable. It should be noted that the Platy will not turn the Tea stained water of most Nakina area lakes into crystal clear water, but with the help of a charcoal filter in addition to the regular filter, you will have safe slightly discoloured water to drink without lugging heavy bottled water into camp. You can also boil the lake water before running it through the Platy (let it cool though) or add a water purification tablet to the finished product after filteration if you have any doubts about drinking lake water. The Platy will remove bacteria, protozoa and particulates but like its competion, it will not remove all viruses.
I maintain the Platy very carefully as soon as I get home, with a good washing, a little chlorine added, brush through the hoses and a through rinse. It is critical to air dry the Platy or any bag type filtration unit until it is completely dry before rolling it up and storing until the next trip. Although probably not needed, I typically purchase a new filter every 3 years and a new charcoal filter every 2 years.
Here is a link to the Platypus GravityWorks: https://www.platy.com/ca
action cameras
Fishing & Gopro's go together like beer & chips. I have used an older Gopro for a few years but just updated to a Hero 11 for 2024.
Fish finder-power box
Well after many years of wasting money buying heavy 6 volt lantern batteries to power my fish finder for a week, I discovered a video on Youtube of how to make a "power box" to power fish finders with lead core or, an even better option, lithium ion batteries.
Below are some photo's of two boxes I built, both utilizing Dakota Lithium 12V 10AH batteries. Both boxes are HDPE camo boxes c/w a water resistant O-ring seal under the lid and both are cheap and lightweight. The larger box is a 50 cal. ammo box and it was designed to have a full sized fish finder screen mounted to it. It is roomy enough to store the battery, cable and fish finder screen for transporting.
The smaller box is a Plano ammo box, very compact and light. Although I could mount my Garmin Stryker screen right on the box, I chose to mount it on a small flat plate, separate for the power box. One of the great features built into these boxes is 2 USB outlets allowing for the charging of phones or other electronics. Additionally there is a digital volt meter to inform you when the battery is needing a recharge. Little features also include low voltage LED lights which are great when tying on lures at night, or simply illuminating the path to the cabin after dark. In my experience, while using the fish finder all day, every day, I get about 5 or 6 days on a charge from the Dakota battery. The box is reasonably easy to build, most of the materials are available from Amazon and some basic electrical knowledge is all that is required. I am considering building a few more over the winter and perhaps even selling a couple. If you have any questions, drop me a line and I will try to help.
Additional tweaks
Nothing outrageous, new or shocking...
One of the little things we have discovered over the years is another Platypus product. As we do like to take a bottle or two of wine on our trips to enjoy on pasta night, we were apprehensive taking heavy, breakable wine bottles. I know...boxed wine, but there is absolutley a crappy selection of boxed wine in Canada. Solution...Platypus Platy Preserve, a fully collapsable, lightweight, air tight, flexible 800ml wine "bag". This little bag weighs nothing, stands upright, pours easily and is 100% BPA, BPS & phthalate-free, containing no polycarbonates.
I can attest that the Platy Preserve does not add any flavour to your vintage and in my opinion a great product for fly-in fishing trips, hiking or camping.
Another simple addition to a fly-in trip is a Pool Noddle. I prefer the Jumbo hollow core variety which can be simply slit length wise and installed over the gunnel of the boat. The noddle serves two purposes for me, one it provides a soft cushion for my rods that are leaning against the side of the boat when not in use. The rods don't rattle and more importantly they don't get damaged. The second benefit is the ability to hang some favorite lures on the noddle to have them handy for quick changes. The lures are very easy to remove from the closed cell noddle and as a bonus, they don't rattle around when going full throttle down the lake. The noodles are inexpensive and easy to cut to size...a definite plus in every boat!
