December 27, 2007: It's been a busy fall for Jodi and I! We built a new garage on our property at home near Winnipeg in order to store stuff for the lodge and to make room for some of my ice fishing gear! We made some time to take a vacation for a week in Cuba so we'll have some cigars available at the lodge this year. We had a great Christmas with a lot of family visiting and Jordan really liked seeing her grandmas, grandpas, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends.

Tom and I will be doing the shows together again this year, please check out the dates and locations on the following link (sportshows) and be sure to notice the location change for Indianapolis! We've had a good off season of hunting and fishing, I landed a large 29.5 inch Walleye on the Red River and Tom shot about a 150 score Buck! I had a shot at a nice buck but missed it clean. We're fishing for Crappies tomorrow, should be fun!

Bookings for 2008 are looking great! We're working on collecting some more deposits before we hit the shows or while we're down in the U.S. just so that we know that a spot is sold for certain and we don't turn away any potential guests. Thank you to all those who have sent in their deposits already!

Enjoy the Holiday Season, we look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

October 16, 2007: The lodge is officially shut down for the season! The bear and moose hunt was very successful this year, and we're excited to show some great pictures! The hunt started off with Tom and I going to Aswap Lake to practice calling, see what the moose were doing and to see if we could take a nice bull or a calf for meat for the winter. We spent 4 days running around the lake looking for tracks and attempting to call a bull out. We found incredible amounts of tracks and other sign showing that they were in the area but we couldn't get them to make a sound. One evening we went out to a spot where we had found some very fresh tracks. Tom called a cow and a calf to the waters edge and waited to see if a bull was going to come out, but it never did. The next night we went to another spot with some very fresh tracks. We did a bunch of calling but we did not get any replies. We were a long way from camp, so we decided to pull out a bit early and after we rounded two bends in the creak a bull, cow and calf were standing on the edge! I killed the motor and drifted to shore as Tom let out a couple of calls so that the moose wouldn't leave right away. I took 2 shots at the bull moose and he went down. Tom was thinking about taking the calf but we decided that we had a full night of moose cleaning ahead of us already! It would have been nice to hear the moose call back to us, but at least we knew we were getting through to them and they were coming towards us.

Once the guests arrived at Bolton Lake Tom took the moose hunter out and Jotham (guide) took the bear hunter out. The bear hunter (Marty) sat in the tree stand that first evening for about 3 hours before a nice bear came out. He took the 350 pound bear in 2 shots, but the first shot was all he needed from the wounds we found. The moose hunter (Jim) traveled the lake for a few days from dusk til dark, he sure put in a great effort. The weather was switching around quite a bit so it was not easy to be out there all day. Winston (guide) and I went out one evening to see if we could help them spot a moose and report back to the guys so that they would have more of a chance. We cruised around the lake and tried calling in a few places. We came around a bend in Moose creek and there was a cow on the water's edge. We killed the motor and started to call so that she wouldn't leave again. The cow ignored us and just kept walking the shore line and eating. I tried calling for another 10 minutes and she barely noticed us. When she looked up at us at one point after calling her, I took my paddle and made it look like I had a small rack on my head. She really took notice of that and started to come towards us. The next thing we knew she was coming across the river to us. We didn't quite know what to do, so we just kept quiet and hoped she'd go back to her side of the river. I was really just trying to get her to call back or get a bull who might be nearby to give us a grunt to let us know he was there. After she went back to her side of the river, we quietly left the area to find Tom and Jim to let them know about the cow.

We met up with Tom and Jim about 5 miles away and I jumped into the boat with them to take them back to the spot where the cow was hanging around. We got back and found the cow just a bit further up Moose creek. We called to her again but she still would not reply. After about 5 minutes of watching her we let out a couple more calls and then heard a bull grunt back. He was further up the creek and he was angry! He grunted, raked his rack in some bushes, broke a lot of branches and let us know he was coming for a fight. It was getting darker all the time, but we still had enough light to see well enough if the bull would get to us soon. He was getting closer and closer and we spotted him along the creek edge about 500 yards ahead of us. It was very intense hearing the bull come towards us and making his threatening sounds. Eventually he was right across the creek from us but there was just not quite enough light to get a clear shot. Through some very expensive Zeiss binoculars we could see him clearly, but without them he disappeared into the background. The bull knew something wasn't quite right so he eventually left our sight. We heard the cow call him and heard him call back to her. We had been grunting like a bull to challenge him to a fight over the cow and when he left us he would no longer reply to that call. After about 10 minutes we tried a cow call and got him coming back towards us, but we knew it would be impossible to get the shot. It was just exciting to try the different calls to get the bull to respond.

The next morning, Tom and Jim went back to the same area to see if they could get him out again. Tom could hear the moose back in the bush and they did not seem interested in coming back out. They came back in for lunch and then back to the same area again. Once again Tom could hear them so he moved to the area he thought he'd be closest to them. After waiting around for half an hour he tried calling again. Right away he heard the reply and knew the bull was coming towards them. He told Jim to get ready and steady himself for his shot. A couple more challenging bull calls (we called them "I'm going to steal your girlfriend" calls) the bull and cow came right out on to the shore. Jim took his shot and the bull ran about 50 yards and dropped into a bit of a hole. Another nice moose down! The rest of us were called out to help get the moose out of the hole and skinned out. It was a great afternoon of celebration and moose cleaning.

For the second week of the hunt we had Dan and Tom come up to try their luck. Dan teamed up with Tom (the guide) and they hunted with a rifle. Tom (the guest) teamed up with Jotham and Tom hunted with a bow. The moose were much more vocal this week, the guys were hearing them in all corners of the lake and they were getting great responses. I went for a jog to our gravel pit about 2 miles from camp and climbed to the top of the gravel hill. From there I spotted 2 moose in the back of a bay. When the hunters got back I told them of the moose and that's where they started the next day. Tom and Dan spotted a cow moose near the area, and they called to her for a while. There wasn't much going on until all of a sudden a bull answered back. Tom told Dan to get ready and steady himself for a shot. A small bull came out into view on the shore. Tom asked Dan if he wanted to take this one and Dan said absolutely! He took down the bull while Tom was calling him towards them, even after a couple of missed shots, the bull kept coming to Tom's calls! Jotham and Tom were not far away in another boat so they came along to help the guys clean the bull and get it into the boat to bring back to camp. Dan went back out that evening after buying a bear tag and sat in the tree stand for a few hours. Dan took a nice bear that same evening! Tom and Jotham worked hard every day trying to get another bull moose to come out for a shot with the bow but never had any luck. They had some calls and knew they were in the right spots, but the bulls were not as aggressive and wouldn't come out of the thick bushes. Every other tag sold this season was filled this year, so this was our best year yet! Tom (the guide) played a huge role in getting all 3 moose, Jotham (the guide) did a great job with the bear baiting, cleaning the animals and trying to get Tom his moose with a bow and Cindy's cooking was great!!

Here are the pictures from the fall, the fishing was pretty good too:

		Marty with a 350 pound bear taken on the first night of the hunt. Jim with a great moose with a 46 inch spread across the rack!
		Dan with his bull and bear shot on the same day this fall!
		Trevor and Tom with a great bull from Aswap Lake.   Winston with a 45 inch Pike caught in mid September on a great fall day!
		Dan and Marty with Lake Trout at the East rapids both about 33 inches.

September 5, 2007: The outposts and the lodge are just about done for the season. Tomorrow we take out the last group from Joint Lake and do the shut down, then on Sunday we take the last group out of Aswap and shut down that cabin.

We took the boats and motors out of the Brook Trout River and here's a link of some of the fun we had that day: It's myself, T2 (Trevor the pilot) and Tom is running the boat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evX3GecfClw

The last group to come out of Aswap did quite well; 9 trophies, 2 40 inch Pike and 20 - 30 more that were 35 inches and bigger. Not bad for a group of 4! Here are their pictures along with a picture of a lynx that the chef and I took while cruising down the north channel:

		Paul with a 42.5 and a 41.5 at Aswap in September.
		Paul with a 41.25 and a 42 from Aswap!
		Larry with a 40 and a 43 inch Pike at Aswap, they figured the 40 inch Pike weighed over 25 pounds!
		Jessie with a 42 inch Pike followed by the guys enjoying the new deck on the cabin at Aswap.
		The Lynx swimming across the north channel, who said that cats don't swim?   Tom with one of our many 18 - 20 inch Brook Trout caught and released that day!

August 16th, 2007: Things are starting to wind down at the lodge now, we still have about a week left before the lodge is emptied out, then the outposts empty out by September 10th and then the moose and bear hunters come in for a couple of weeks at the end of September. The weather has been a bit cool and windy for the first half of August, but the weather is supposed to start improving tomorrow and stay sunny for a few days. I've had a few guides off the water for a few days and we've been able to get some projects completed. The new deck on cabin 1 is complete and we've expanded the deck on cabin 2 and 3. We have more lumber coming in to build a deck at Aswap and we've spent a couple of days at Joint Lake painting the floor, fixing a leak in the roof, fixing some boards on the dock, fixing the front step and doing a bunch of other maintenance. We're also going to paint the exterior of the cabin at Joint Lake when the new stain comes in later this week.

Here are a few pictures from the past week or so:

		The new deck on cabin 1 and the expanded deck on cabin 2-3.
		Cole and his two biggest so far, a 38 and a 41, but I'm not sure which is which.
		Don and Tom with Don's trophy Pike. Followed by the Johnson brothers who brought a lot of life to the camp while they were here. Thanks guys!
		A 45 inch Pike caught at Joint Lake this week followed by a cow and a calf swimming near the old lodge site.

August 9th, 2007: We've had another great run of trophy fish lately, but for early August the weather has been very unpredictable. Normally we can count on warm days with the occasional thunderstorm, but we've been weathered out for flying already twice this month and the forecast is calling for rain almost every day this week. Fortunately we were still able to move all our guests, but there were some delays and some missed flights departing Winnipeg. Some guests even opted to stay in on a couple of windy/rainy/cold days and I don't blame them! We had a group of 12 guys come in who lost some fishing time on the first day because the flight was delayed due to weather, then they stayed in the last day due to weather so they only had about 3 and a half days of fishing. On the bright side, when they went out, the fish were biting!! They landed 13 trophies during their stay and I lost track of the number of fish they landed that were just under the trophy size of 41 inches. One of our best days of the season was just last week when we landed 7 trophies in one day!

Another group of 5 who were here at the same time landed 4 trophies in 3 days, so it's been great lately!

Please send in your pictures so that I can get some more posted on the site! Here are a few of the trophies we landed within the last week or so.

		Andrew and Yvon with one of Andrew's trophies. Followed by Jan with her trophy Walleye.
		Duff and Willie with Duff's trophy Pike. Followed by a sow waiting for shore lunch. Her cub was not far behind.
		Paul and Scott with a trophy Pike followed by Greg with his trophy Pike.
		Paul with 2 of his three trophies!
		Bill and Tom with Bill's trophy Laker, followed by Steve and his trophy Pike.
		Steve and Tom with a trophy Pike. Followed by Steve and Tom with Steve's 20 inch Brook Trout.

July 30th, 2007: It's been a hot couple of weeks with the weather and the fishing!!! So many big Pike, so little time! Today alone there were 4 trophies and one 40 inch Pike, and the day isn't over yet! More great family stories to be told. Robin and her husband Bob along with her parents Ed and Leonora came up and landed a bunch of trophies. Robin had 2 trophy Brook Trout and a trophy Pike. Bob landed 2 Brook Trout and 2 Lake Trout trophies, Leonora landed a trophy Walleye and a 44 inch Pike but Ed was not as lucky :(

The father and son combo of Lou and Craig landed 6 trophy Pike, Lou with 5 and Craig with one. This was at least the 6th trip to Bolton for Lou, but Craig's first so it took him a bit of time to catch on.

The temperatures reached high into the 90's last week, and it was miserable! At night the temperatures were dropping into the 70's but it took a while to get the heat out of the cabins. Luckily we're now running the generator 24 hours and we've put fans in every cabin. The ice production slowed considerably but I had just enough with the emergency stock I build up in my freezers. It's supposed to be about 90 degrees again tomorrow but there's a breeze and some rain expected later in the day so I'm sure it will be more comfortable than last week.

More pictures:

		A couple of Bull Moose spotted this week. Moose hunting season is looking good!!
		The cinnamon bear hanging around near a shore lunch spot. Craig and Winston with Craig's first trophy Pike!
		Lou and Craig followed by Winston and Lou with 2 of Lou's trophies.
		Winston and Lou with 2 more of his 5 trophies!
		Bob and Tom with a trophy Brook Trout followed by Robin and Tom with her trophy Brookie!
		Bob and Tom with Bob's 36 inch Laker followed by Robin and Tom with Robin's trophy Pike!
		Jodi and I with Jodi's 25 inch Walleye, followed by Regi and Jerry with Jerry's 42 inch Pike!

July 16th, 2007: The weather has finally turned to summer here, it's about 75 degrees and sunny with just a little breeze! They're calling for nothing but sunshine all week, so everybody is happy, especially the guides who have been out in a lot of nasty weather this year. There have been a bunch of trophy Pike and a few trophy Walleye caught over the past week including 2 more 45 inch Pike. Last week I reported about a few families and some husband and wife teams who were doing very well in the trophy department. Tim and Rick were here with their wives and showed them how to catch big Pike. The wives were quick learners, Pam landed a 39 inch Pike and Ginny got a 41 before the 5 day trip was up!

We had our best day of the season on the Brook Trout fly out last week. The two guests landed 18 Brook Trout and 3 were trophies! This time last year we were getting similar results, so I'm sure the next few groups will do just as well.

Here are a few more pictures from the past week:

		Rick with his 41 inch Pike followed by his wife Ginny and Cedrick with her 41 inch Pike!
		Joe and Jim with Joe's second trophy of the week. Followed by Mike and his trophy Pike.
		Jeff with a 28.5 inch Walleye followed by his fishing partner with a 29 inch Walleye.
		The cinnamon bear that's been chasing the guests away from shore lunch. Followed by Regi and Earl with Earl's 45 inch Pike.
		Tom and Jerry with a 21 inch Brook Trout followed by Jim and Tom with a 20 inch Brook Trout.

July 10th, 2007: The weather has been pretty good lately, we're still getting a fair bit of rain but the temperatures and the winds have been good. The fishing has been quite good lately, there have been a lot of trophy pike and a few Walleye, Lake Trout and Brook Trout mixed in as well. Not to mention, yours truly was blessed with catching a 21 inch Sucker!!

Last week we had a group of 3 fishermen who wanted a fly out for Pike. I told them the only lake I had with boats was Kitchi Lake but I wasn't sure what the fishing would be like since it has been untouched since 2005 because of a forest fire which shut the fishing down. They were happy to take their chances and see some different waters, and they made out quite well. The 3 of them fished from about 8:30 a.m. until about 5:00 p.m. and they landed over 200 fish and the largest was 42 inches!! They found some spots completely full of Walleye and others that had a bunch of Pike, so they were quite pleased with their fly out and so am I since we're planning to reopen the camp in 2008!

Over the past 2 weeks there have been some great stories of families fishing together and getting some great fish. Judge Buffy and his son caught 2 trophy Pike one after another on the first night that they arrived. Yvon was their guide and they landed a 41 and a 42 inch Pike, the younger generation with the 1 inch lead! Then the three Terlep brothers came in and each landed a trophy Pike, Peter with a 44, Tom with a 41 and Mickey with a 45! Unfortunately, dad was beat out again, but I'm sure he was happy to see his boys with their huge northerns. Joe Danes Jr. and Joe Danes Sr. also caught trophy Pike on the same day but this time the older generation came out ahead by half an inch with a 43 compared to a 42.5! Then Ron showed his son Jeff how to land 42 inch Pike and 20 inch Brook Trout, a father's work is never done!! But it's not just the fathers and sons with all the glory, there have been a few husband and wife combinations getting in on the action as well. Shannon showed Mark how to catch a 28 inch Walleye, Tim and Rich showed their wives Pam and Ginny how they come to Bolton Lake every year and land 41 inch or bigger Pike!

Here are a few pictures: Unfortunately Ron's Pike and Brookie are not here, Judge Buffy and his son's Pike are not here, Tim and Rick's Pike are not here, and Mickey's 45 inch Pike picture was lost. If any of you are reading this, please forward me the pictures, thanks!

		2 Great looking fish from Aswap Lake! The Walleye are getting bigger over there!
		Peter, Tom and Tom with 2 of the Terlep boys' trophies! The 44 is the one on the left.
		Joe Danes Jr with Jim and Joe Danes Sr. with Jim with their trophies, one from the morning and the other in the afternoon on their first day!
		Kip and Trevor with a 23 inch Brook Trout followed by Ron and Kim with Ron's 41 inch Pike!

June 26th, 2007: Sorry for the lack of updates, it's been suggested that I call them bi-weekly updates! The weather and the fishing have been up and down lately. We seem to be getting rain every other day which I guess keeps the grass green and the forest fires away so we can't complain too hard. It's a bit cooler today with a north east wind and it's suppose to rain at some point in the day but it hasn't started yet. We've caught some really great fish lately including a very healthy 45.5 inch Pike and Manitoba's third largest Whitefish ever at 27.5 inches. This also beat out our earlier records of 26 inches at Bolton and 27 inches at Joint Lake.

I have heard lately that if you're in the process of getting a passport but you have not yet received it, you'll still be allowed to travel! This is mostly unconfirmed, but I've heard it from more than one source so I believe it's true. There are massive delays with passports being processed so that's why they're allowing people to travel.

Here are some more great pictures!

		Kevin with a 45 inch Pike caught on the fly at Joint Lake. A hungry bear chases the guys away from shorelunch a bit early and gets a free lunch.
		Cody and Chris with a couple of nice Pike from yesterday, a 39 and a 41.
		Jotham and Dave with Dave's 42 inch Pike followed by Devon and Jim with Devon's trophy!
		Eric with his record setting 27.5 inch Whitefish followed by his wife Karen and her trophy pike.
		Karen and Eric's son Joel with his trophy followed by Cedrick and Don with a 45.5 inch Pike caught on Sunday.
		Steve and Yvon with a trophy Pike followed by Steve and Trevor (pilot/brookie guide) with a trophy Brook Trout.
		Eugene and Cedrick with a trophy Lake Trout followed by Cedrick and Judith (Eugene's wife) with her trophy Walleye.
		Jerry and Robin with a trophy Walleye followed by Dave with a 28 inch Walleye!

June 12th, 2007: The fish are really starting to bite now. Last week we had huge success with Pike, Walleye, Lake Trout and Brook Trout! The big Pike were really feeding hard despite some rough weather and quite a bit of wind. One angler managed to land 4 trophy Pike himself using the big Bulldawgs! Normally I use smaller lures at this time of year but they were hitting the big stuff right away.

The weather has been fairly typical for this time of year. One day it's cold and raining and the next it's warm and the winds are calm. Today it should be in the 80's and we're likely to get a couple more thunderstorms.

The chef has been getting very good reviews from the guests! His muscle appetizers, home made apple pies and prime rib have received the highest compliments, and his ribs are great too! The staff is working out quite well this year, all the new guides are learning our lake quickly and implementing some of their own experiences to help our guests catch fish. We're excited to be getting Cindy back on Thursday to waitress and bar tend.

Perimeter Airlines is working out quite well. Their Dash 8 is comfortable and they're well set up for handling guests, gear and freight at their terminal in Winnipeg. Other than some weather issues, (which I'm working on controlling) things have gone very well with the planes we've chartered this year.

Here are a ton of pictures from the past 10 days.

		Yvon and Al with his 37 inch Lake Trout and turtle cheese cake for dessert.
		Yvon and Mitch with a trophy Lake Trout and Al with a trophy Walleye.
		Willie and Joe with 2 trophy Pike
		Joe with 2 more trophy Pike, yes, he's the one with 4 in the same week.
		Charles with a trophy Pike followed by Scott and a 27 inch Walleye.
		Tom and Cora with a near trophy and Willie and Suzy with a 41.5 inch Pike.
		Robin with the T-Bone Pike on Walleye and Tom and Steve with a trophy Pike.
		Tom and Tom with a 22 inch Brook Trout followed by Tom and Robin with a near trophy Laker.
		Tom and Robin with a 42 inch Pike followed by Tom and Linda with a 41 inch Pike.
		Robin and Tom with a trophy on the fly followed by Bert with his 28 inch Walleye.
		Pat and his son Brady with a 26 inch Walleye and a 44.5 inch Pike caught at Aswap Lake.

June 1st, 2007: Less than 2 weeks into the season and we're already settled into a nice routine! Our new chef is getting very high praise and we were very happy to hear more compliments from the 2 new groups we had in last week. Most of them couldn't believe how friendly our staff was and how they had never had better shore lunches.

Our first ever spring bear hunter was landlocked with a nasty storm of snow and wind for nearly 3 days, but he was still able to shoot what he estimated to be a 300 pound bear. I won't post the pictures of the snow because I don't want to scare anybody off! We're continuing to bait the sites to get the bears used to finding easy meals in the spring so that we can have a successful spring hunt again next year.

The fishing has picked up quite a bit since the snow storm and we're averaging 4-5 trophies per day now. There have been some trophy Walleye, Pike, Brook Trout, Lake Trout, Whitefish and even a Sucker caught already this season! The guys at Joint Lake have 4 trophy Walleye and a trophy Whitefish so far. Between the 2 different groups at Aswap so far, they've landed 5 trophy Pike, one trophy Walleye and a trophy Sucker. Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks:

		Harold and John with a couple of nice Pike, one from Bolton and the other from Joint Lake.
		A cow and calf walking near the shore. One group spotted 5 moose that day!
		John with his bear taken from the West River and brought back to the lodge for some pictures. Followed by a 35.5 inch Lake Trout caught by Richard on Bolton Lake last week.
		John with a nice Brook Trout caught on the fly last week. Followed by Winston with an early spring Pike in Mink Creak.

May 22nd, 2007: We're officially under way with our first guests!! On Sunday 6 guys went into Aswap, 4 into Joint Lake and 7 guests came to the lodge. Tomorrow we have a full camp! The weather has not been cooperating as it did in April and early May, but we're still making the best of it. We've had some cooler temperatures and some rain over the last couple of days so the fishing has been okay but not incredible yet. We set up the Brook Trout flyout yesterday and I had to train the pilot and another guide (Willie) how to run the rapids and where to catch the Brookies....it was really nice to get out and have a bit of fun for a few hours. That was the first time that I wet a line since the ice has come off the lake, it's been tough looking at that open water and not getting out fishing, but there was a lot of work to get the camp ready and there wasn't any time for fishing.

As mentioned in a previous bulletin, we have some very nice St. Croix rods and reels to rent at the lodge this season. If anybody would like to rent just the rod but use their own reel, that's certainly an option. All the rods are spinning rods but if I get enough guests who would like to rent baitcasting rods, I can order some of those as well. Please let me know your opinion on this.

We have our first spring bear hunter in camp right now. Our timing has not worked out very well to meet the bear at the bait site, but the bear has been captured on the trail camera at least 5 times now. There are a couple of bears hitting the bait site, one that's estimated to be about 300 pounds, the pictures are below. With some patience and some luck I'm sure by Sunday he'll get his shot.

May 7th, 2007: The season is off to a great start!! All our fuel (almost 10,000 gallons), all our freight including beer, pop, beans, corn, water, canola oil, propane, outboard motors and miscellaneous supplies have been flown into the lodge. We also passed a runway inspection, although that was no surprise since the Hawker was landing at over 42,000 pounds and he came in 9 times with all our supplies. The runway inspection was required in order to ensure that we'd be able to use a new air service this year because Voyaguer Air with their Dash 7 will no longer be in Winnipeg to service our lodge. In stead we have Perimeter Air now lined up to transport most of our guests with their Dash 8's, below is a picture.

The ice is just about gone off of Bolton Lake! It really opened up with a big south wind the other day and the weather really was unseasonably warm over the past 4 weeks. Hopefully we'll get more of the same during the fishing season to make it easy for the guests and planes.

I've bought some very nice St. Croix Rods and good reels to match in case any guests would like to rent some equipment from me at the lodge. The airlines are getting more and more strict about bringing extra bags and oversize items like rod cases. I'm renting the rods and reels for $12 per day so you can have a light St. Croix rod and Fluegger reel and a medium heavy St. Croix rod and reel for a total of $24 per day. The line will also be included with the rod and reel combos.

Here are a couple of pictures from the lodge. I just got back yesterday and took the aerial shot as we left from the lodge.

		A view of the ice from the plane. This shows hole #2 and beyond that is the main body. The black ice can be driven through with a boat but the ice on the main body looks like it will be there for a couple of days. The second picture shows the open water in front of the lodge towards the airplane dock. My best indication of water level is this dock and the water level should be normal or even a bit high if it continues to come up.
		The first picture shows the ice from the deck on the lodge. Plenty of room to land a float plane but we won't be able to access the rest of the lake until Friday I'm guessing. The second picture is the Dash 8 that we'll be using this summer. It's as nice as the Dash 7, but it's just a bit shorter and has 2 fewer engines. We'll be able to take 29 guests and their gear with this plane which means we'll have to put some outpost guests on another plane to get to the lodge.

April 27th, 2007: I'm at the lodge right now working on the new cabin and packing the runway for the Hawker to come in with our freight and fuel for the season. We're expecting the fuel and freight haul to go quite well next week as long as the weather continues to be as nice as it is right now. The forecast is looking very good so we're very optimistic.

There have been some major changes in the ice and snow since I was first up here 2 weeks ago today. There's a fair bit of open water around the shore and the rivers and streams are all open. I expect that there will be almost no ice left here when I leave next Saturday. I'm sure there will be a good chunk of ice out in the main body of the lake but we should be able to access most of the lake by then.

Unless the forecast changes quite drastically, we should have a normal or even a bit of an early ice out. I'll post again when the fuel and freight is done late next week.

April 17th, 2007: I just returned from a trip into the lodge over the weekend and have a few things to report. There were 8 foot high snow drifts around the camp and at least 36 inches of solid ice in just about every place we augured holes. On the bright side, since we arrived on Friday afternoon at least 16 inches of snow has melted and there isn't much snow left on the ice. The weather report is very good for the next week and the runway is almost clear of snow already. Yvon, Winston and Tom are at the lodge finishing the new cabin and giving me daily snow and ice reports. There's a lot of melting that needs to take place but if the weather stays warm like this then it won't be a problem. Another cold snap or snow fall may delay ice out, but the weather looks good for a while. Once all the snow is off the runway and the sun has had a chance to dry it up a bit then we'll get on there with the packer to make it a bit more solid for the bigger planes to land and bring in all our supplies. Our new motors, pop, beer, furniture, siding for the new cabin and 12,000 pounds of other miscellaneous items are all in Thompson waiting to be flown into the lodge when we have the runway ready. The fuel will also be flown in around the same time as the freight.

There was a group of 15 Caribou on the ice near the lodge that we spotted with the ski plane that flew Winston and Yvon in and took me out. That was the first time I've ever seen something like that before! Tom took some pictures after I left so I'll have to get them from him next week when I go back to work on the airstrip.

Here's a picture of the lodge on Sunday April 15th. Hopefully it will look very different in a month!

April 4th, 2007: I've been told that it takes up to 10 weeks to get a passport now, so please do not wait any longer if you're flying to Canada this year and you still do not have a passport. We're going to have our busiest season since 2001 so we're very excited about this season. In 2008 we're planning to reopen Kitchi Lake provided the cabin, boats and fishing are all still good at the camp. We'll be taking groups into Kitchi to test fish it throughout the season so that will be a new fly out available to the guests this season.

It's looking as though it might be a late spring this year. It's a bit early to call but there's a lot of snow and ice up north so we need warmer temperatures than we're getting right now. The weather is supposed to improve next week but the long range forecasts are a bit of a guess. We'll be going up to the lodge next week to attempt our fuel haul on the frozen runway. Last season we waited until the end of April and the frost had already come out of the runway when we were there so it needed a lot of packing before we could bring in the Hawker which delivered 1600 gallons of fuel on each trip. When things go well we can get up to 5 trips in one day which would give us enough boat gas and almost enough Av gas for the season. We're also planning to bring in all our freight including 65 large propane cylinders, pop, beer, beans, corn, a new fridge, more building supplies, all the new motors, a few barrels of used canola oil for bear baiting, and a bunch of miscellaneous purchases we've made throughout the season for the lodge and outposts.

Jodi and Jordan are doing great! Jordan crawls and makes a lot of baby noises and she likes the dog better than any of her toys. Poor Niko is taking a lot of abuse from Jordan, but she's very good with the baby. It will be great having the girls at the lodge with me again this season, I know I wouldn't survive without them there.

If you're not already booked or if you're looking for a second trip this year, please check the rates page for the updated open dates.

February 13th, 2007: Well most of our sport shows have come and gone with only one left in Cleveland and another in Minneapolis. It's going to be a very busy season this year so we're really hoping for great weather and great fishing! Our new motors are on order, most of the staff is hired for next year (it's easy when you treat them right and they come back year after year), the lease for the float plane will be signed next week and we're going to be working on ordering the building supplies to finish up the new cabin and to put a couple of new decks on some of the cabins. I've bought a bunch of Lowrance X96's locators for the guides this year and I'm going to be sending the older units to the outposts so if a group doesn't own a locator, they can have something to give them their depth.

It's cold as heck in Winnipeg, too bad there are no shows in Florida for me this month! It's supposed to warm up this weekend so I might be able to take out my snowmobile and go ice fishing somewhere nearby. Please check the rates page for updated availability at the lodge and the outposts.