This is my third trip to Canada in the last three years, and this time we crossed the border at Baudette on Rainy River. We got there mid-afternoon on Saturday and had only one car ahead of us. Coming back on Friday was also no problem. Given the state of the world at the time that I write this, I would recommend having a passport with you, but we weren't checked for that. The other alternative is to cross at International Falls at Fort Frances, but that tends to be much more crowded and at times the lines are an hour or more.

Red Wing Lodge is about 45–minutes from Baudette, and maybe a couple of hours from International Falls. Morson is just a few miles away, and has a small grocery store but not much else. Red Wing itself and many of the other nearby marinas offer various repair and associated services.

The following web sites have much useful information on Canada.

• http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/main_e.htm
  This connects you to the Canadian Coast Guard page for rules and regulations. It can get tricky; pay attention to these. They do change, and the Canadian authorities don't take kindly to violators.
  
• http://www.travelinx.com/Ontario.asp
  A number of useful links to general travel info on Canada.
  
• http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/pubs/pubmenu.html
  This gets you PDF files of all kinds of interesting Canada literature, including the Ontario fishing regulations. The regs used to be totally inscrutable a couple of years ago, but maybe they've cleaned them up by now. However, they have replaced that Trout on the cover with a very nice shot of a Muskie.
  
• GPS
  Don't even think about going to Sabaskong, or anywhere on Lake of the Woods for that matter, without a GPS. There are a million islands and they all look alike.
  
• And, of course, you can't forget the link to Red Wing Lodge,. on beautiful Sabaskong Bay, Lake of the Woods, Ontario Canada:
  
  

  Summer Address: P.O. Box 26 Morson, Ontario Canada POW 1J0 Phone:     888-488-5601
  Winter Address: Box 3526 Omaha, NE 68103-0526 Phone:     712-347-5569

Magazine Articles

• The September 1999 issue of Musky Hunter has an article by Doug Johnson, "Slop Success," with a bit of a different slant than I've presented here. But you're far better off paying attention to Doug than to me – my Muskie catching record doesn't even remotely compare to his.
  
• Finally, Doug Strange and Mark Windels wrote what I submit is the finest Muskie fishing article ever in the August or September 1983 In–Fisherman, "Muskies Have No Virtue." Windels repeated much the same material in the July 1996 Musky Hunter, in "Runnin' and Gunnin' with Mark Windels." There is keen insight in these two articles.
  

Books

• Babe Winkelman wrote a book in 1983, The Comprehensive Guide to Fishing Canada that still seems to be available though Fishing Facts magazine, although not at amazon.com.
  
• However, The Canadian Fishing Trip : A Guidebook by John Harschutz, 1993, is available at amazon.
  
• One of my favorite books, not so much specific to Canada but one that covers a whole raft of useful (?) information about muskie fishing and muskie trips is Muskie, Muskie, On the Wall by George Sandell, 1986.
  

Muskie List

Finally, some quite handy tidbits pop up occasionally on the Muskie List on internet, sponsored by Muskies International. As an example, recent reports and discussion on Canada boat regulations related specific experiences and were useful in providing a feel for the situation, which is murky. Contact moderator Mike Butler at: mbutler@trentu.ca