Fish Lake Manitoba Narrows

The first month of a new year can mean only one thing for Hoosiers planning a 2008 fishing or hunting trip to Canada — a flicker of light at the end of winter’s tunnel.

Joel Prunty and his pals who bring the All-Canada Show to Indiana each year know that timing is everything, so they capitalize on a cold weather-captive audience.

This year’s 25th anniversary event, which includes a Canadian-style shore lunch and a brew at the Labatt Blue summer area to set the mood, is Jan. 14-16 at The Fountains, 502 E. Carmel Dr., Carmel.

Show hours are: Jan. 14, 5-9 p.m.; Jan.15, 3-9 p.m., and Jan. 16, 3-8 p.m.

Admission is $9 adults; $8 for seniors and children age 13-16; with free admission for children age 12 and under. For a schedule of seminars and events and a $2-off admission coupon, log on to www.allcanadashow.com.

Show director Rodney Schalfer said the key to any successful fishing or hunting trip is planning. Bringing Canada lodge owners and outfitters to people’s home state allows folks to make a better decision on their vacation destinations.

“And what show guests really like is the ability to talk, face-to-face, with the people they’ll see on the trip, eliminating any confusion,” Schalfer said.

Case in point: Some pals and I took a fishing-trip-from-hell to an Ontario camp not represented at the All-Canada Show.

The resort dining room and cabins were rundown and overrun with mice. A wooden dock and steps leading to our A-frame cabin were rotted and broken.

One of the guys approached a woman working at the resort office to ask for tips on fishing hot spots. He spread a colored topography map of the lake on a counter and asked: “So, where would be the best place to fish?”

“Fish the blue parts,” she replied sarcastically, referring to water shaded in blue on the map.

End of conversation.

A couple of years later, my wife and I booked a vacation with a resort that often travels with the All-Canada Show. It was a vacation from heaven.

Shortly after we arrived at our clean cabin, the owners — a man and his wife — took us on a four-hour tour of the lake in their boat.

They marked locations on a lake map where fish likely could be found and took us to a cove where we all caught our daily limit of walleye.

A few minutes after we returned to our cabin, the owners invited us to the dining room and there, on a table with our favorite cold beverages, was a heaping platter of hot walleye filets — fish that we had caught only a couple of hours earlier.

It has been my experience that the people who run the All-Canada Show do an excellent job of bringing to Indiana first-class resort exhibitors.

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