In 2012 the Junction, a fairly hip Toronto west neighborhood, has seen the opening of a number of trendy stores and cool bars. Of course, a craft brewery will open fairly soon as well. However, one of the most interesting and, in my opinion, most successful additions to the area in 2012 has been Junction Flea, an open air flea market held each second Sunday during the summer months. The last flea market before winter break will happen on October 14, 2012. Junction Flea features a mix of select independent vendors selling antiques, handmade craft and design, food, vintage clothing, records and more....

Read a bestselling novel about salmon fishing in the Yemen. Saw the movie with Ewan McGregor. Went on fishing trips to BC and the east coast. And, just yesterday, came across a board game about a salmon river! Naturally, I was intrigued by “Salmon Run” when I stumbled upon that project on Kickstarter, the crowd funding website that has become so popular with aspiring game designers. If nothing else, “Salmon Run” combines two of my favorite hobbies: fly fishing and board gaming. “Salmon Run” is a board game, designed by Jesse Catron (here is his campaign video),...

Wasaga Beach, Southampton Beach, Sauble Beach, MacGregor Point Beach, Inverhuron Beach, Port Burwell Beach, Long Point Beach… The Great Lakes have some excellent beaches, and many of them earned their blue flag designation in recent years. So when the helpful folks at Ontario Parks offered to put together an itinerary for me to check out a few Lake Erie and Lake Huron beaches, I was ready for a little road trip. None of these destinations are more than a 2.5 hour drive away. Most of the beaches are part of a Provincial Park, and park staff do a great job maintaining these precious natural...

It takes two and a half sun-less days, zero degrees in mid June, and six soaked layers of outdoor “performance” clothing to paraphrase George Costanza for the very first time on this blog. His marine biologist monologue rather nicely describes last week’s trip to Arctic Lodges at Reindeer Lake in Northern Saskatchewan: The sea was angry those days, my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup at a deli!  Reindeer Lake measures more than ten times Germany’s Bodensee (a.k.a. Lake Constance) and is dotted by an estimate of 5,000 islands – this literally means...

One of the first things you learn about in travel writing classes is that your hometown may very well be someone else’s vacation destination. You then realize that you don’t have to travel much to write travel features. That’s a valuable insight offering you an opportunity to build a portfolio without breaking the bank. I still like writing about Toronto, particularly when reporting on something truly exciting like the Edge Walk at the CN Tower. At a height of 356 meters you can walk around the roof of the main pod of the tower. It is the world’s highest full-circle, hands-free...

This Wednesday my first feature for SPIEGEL ONLINE was published. In that article, I am reviewing Lorien Green’s really interesting film “Going Cardboard, A Board Game Documentary.” The documentary is about the growing popularity of strategic board games in the US. These games are often referred to as Euro games or German-style games, and Green tracks how they have become more and more popular in the US over the course of the last 15 years. If you have a chance and like board games, I recommend getting a copy of this documentary. SPIEGEL ONLINE is arguably Germany’s most...

This Saturday Ontario members of the Outdoor Writers of Canada (OWC), which I joined in 2006, met for the annual spring get-together at the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show. Since 1957 OWC has been the premier Canadian industry association for “professional communicators specializing in the outdoor field.” These, however, are not your grandfather’s days. Times are changing. With so much information for writers on the internet, social media and other channels of communication, why should anyone be a member of an industry association anymore? Because the OWC, I would think, is still the...

In a city like Toronto where you can basically do anything, what kind of people would spend their Saturday nights in a board game café? All kinds of people, it seems, from the nerdiest nerd to the trendiest hipster – people who don’t mind waiting for hours to get one of the much sought after tables in this not even fully licenced place. Snakes & Lattes, Toronto’s first board game café and probably North America’s only successful one of its kind, has become a place for everyone to wine (on some tables), dine and play. I guess it’s a great starting point for my...

If you are planning to visit the Canadian east coast to go brook trout or Atlantic salmon fishing, you may now be better equipped than ever when it comes to deciding which lodge to pick. The New Fly Fisher, an iconic Canadian TV show, has recently visited over ten lodges in Newfoundland and Labrador and dedicated an episode to each lodge. The professionally edited and narrated videos are now available online. You can watch the shows on The New Fly Fisher‘s YouTube channel. To my knowledge this is the most extensive video database about fishing lodges in any region of the world. Kudos to The...

Warum gibt es im deutschen Fernsehen eigentlich keine Sendung für Fliegenfischer? Es dürfte doch mittlerweile genügend Spartenkanäle geben, sodass sich bestimmt ein Sendeplatz fände. Übertrieben teuer dürften die Produktionskosten auch nicht sein. In Kanada sagte mir ein Produzent, dass er mit $50.000 zwölf Folgen finanzieren könne. Das sollte doch auch in Europa hinzubekommen sein. Warum ich ausgerechnet jetzt auf dieses Thema komme? The New Fly Fisher, eine kanadische, völlig unaufgeregte Sendung für Fliegenfischer, hat kürzlich die Mayflower Lodge auf Neufundland besucht und...