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!!
That is the first time I have seen a canoe cover like that, really cool. I now might practice alittle canoeing on Lake Nipigon. Aways drive by, now it's on my schedule. Thanks
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, 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.
a 21 ft Whitehall. Old, traditional wooden row/sail boat. If you want to see some history of the Whitehall, here's a video: th-cam.com/video/gcNhCQMa9eE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=bTO2F8IOxvUgEHWf Or do a search for 'Whitehall boat' on TH-cam or internet.
@@EricREvans that’s amazing how many batteries and what brand of batteries?btw I loved the video,I fished lake Nipigon a few times in a 22 foot trophy and it was intimidating at times,that’s amazing how you navigated around in your skiff,I loved the video,I’ll be sharing it with my fishing buddies!
@@richarddear2568 Tim, my trip partner says the storage or “house” battery is a Dakota Lithium LiFePo 24V, 50Ah. That company has a more current model that is 55Ah, he thinks. Motor has its own battery. Storage batter is a separate “Dakota” battery that is shown in the first few minutes of the video. Solar panels charged the Dakota Lithium battery and motor battery charged with combination of current from solar panels and Dakota Lithium battery. With physics and electricity working, faster boat speeds consumed much more power (power vs boat speed NOT linear). Going 1-2 mph, we could almost go forever with panels up. Going 5 mph, we drained batteries (motor and Dakota storage/house battery) pretty fast. We generally cruised around 3.5-4 mph most of the time. Of course, wind and bigger waves had effect on efficiency of the system as well.
We were there prior to walleye opener, so did not really target walleye. Did not catch one either. Next time would like to get to Rea Lake on Shakespeare and a few other spots for walleye during season.
We were mostly trolling 3-4 mph with floating or shallow lures running 3-12 feet deep. Saw a LOT of fish we think were lake trout on our fish finder at 80-120 feet deep on clouds of bait fish.
Never caught a laker of the right size at the right time of the day, so we did not dine on any. As non-Canadians with a Conservation license, we were not allowed to keep/eat any of the brookies/specks. And, we were there before walleye opener, so did not really target walleyes at all. So, whole trip was catch and release. Next time....
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 TH-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.
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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!
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!!
Can almost imagine being there! The scenery, narration, music, really great!
That is the first time I have seen a canoe cover like that, really cool. I now might practice alittle canoeing on Lake Nipigon. Aways drive by, now it's on my schedule. Thanks
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.
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.
awesome solar panels 👍
I talked to you guys the night before you launched! Nipigon really is an amazing place and it looks like you guys had an amazing time!
I remember you. Hope your trip was good too.
Nipigon is an amazing place. BIG water. Hope to get back there sooner rather than later.
Your boat's capabilities amaze me!
This was fun to watch guys!! We’ll have to get together and compare trip notes 🤙🏽 Kaz
Great trip and the weather could not have been better... Amazing you didn't have any storms...
Awesome boat set up!
What kind of boat is that? freighter canoe ?
a 21 ft Whitehall. Old, traditional wooden row/sail boat.
If you want to see some history of the Whitehall, here's a video:
th-cam.com/video/gcNhCQMa9eE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=bTO2F8IOxvUgEHWf
Or do a search for 'Whitehall boat' on TH-cam or internet.
Awesome thanks!
What an amazing trip and a fantastic way to enjoy it all!! That was just so cool!!
Nipigon is single barbless hooks only.
Did your solar panels keep up to charge the batteries your whole trip?
Yes.
Enough juice to charge motor battery (and make coffee in electric pot every morning).
@@EricREvans that’s amazing how many batteries and what brand of batteries?btw I loved the video,I fished lake Nipigon a few times in a 22 foot trophy and it was intimidating at times,that’s amazing how you navigated around in your skiff,I loved the video,I’ll be sharing it with my fishing buddies!
@@richarddear2568 Tim, my trip partner says the storage or “house” battery is a Dakota Lithium LiFePo 24V, 50Ah. That company has a more current model that is 55Ah, he thinks.
Motor has its own battery. Storage batter is a separate “Dakota” battery that is shown in the first few minutes of the video.
Solar panels charged the Dakota Lithium battery and motor battery charged with combination of current from solar panels and Dakota Lithium battery. With physics and electricity working, faster boat speeds consumed much more power (power vs boat speed NOT linear). Going 1-2 mph, we could almost go forever with panels up. Going 5 mph, we drained batteries (motor and Dakota storage/house battery) pretty fast. We generally cruised around 3.5-4 mph most of the time.
Of course, wind and bigger waves had effect on efficiency of the system as well.
Great cinematography, I cant believe you Iowegians couldnt catch a walleye on Ontarios premier Walleye Factory....
We were there prior to walleye opener, so did not really target walleye. Did not catch one either. Next time would like to get to Rea Lake on Shakespeare and a few other spots for walleye during season.
love it, you guys must be college professors.
Awesome job on the lakers! Were you just pulling stick baits or did you have anything else to get the lures deeper?
We were mostly trolling 3-4 mph with floating or shallow lures running 3-12 feet deep.
Saw a LOT of fish we think were lake trout on our fish finder at 80-120 feet deep on clouds of bait fish.
I sure hope you ate some of the small Lake Trout and the best any Brookies!
Never caught a laker of the right size at the right time of the day, so we did not dine on any.
As non-Canadians with a Conservation license, we were not allowed to keep/eat any of the brookies/specks.
And, we were there before walleye opener, so did not really target walleyes at all. So, whole trip was catch and release.
Next time....
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 TH-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.
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.
Why didn't they show how trout was cooked?
Did not cook/eat any. Catch and release.
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.