New for 2011: Whether you are flying or driving to Canada this year it is mandatory to have a passport in order to get back into the U.S. Please take the necessary steps to acquire a passport if you haven't already got one for your trip with us! It takes a few weeks to get a passport, so do not wait until the last minute! Past indiscretions could prevent you from entering Canada including DUI's or other charges. If you believe there may be an issue getting into Canada, we recommend Canada Border Crossing Services in Winnipeg to help you resolve any problems. Their number is 1-800-438-7020 or you can visit their website at www.bordercrossing.ca

October 19th, 2011:  Tom and I headed back up north for the better part of September to check on the lodge again, do a bit of hunting and to try to make a few bucks with the float plane.  Everything at the lodge looked good and we were able to put a few more things away as well as secure a couple things as well.  We didn't spend a lot of time there because there was flying to do out of God's Lake.  I did quite a few flights with locals going for moose hunts and Tom and I had a chance to spend a few days moose hunting.  We took a really nice Bull Moose on our last day of hunting, up until that day we had not seen a single moose, not even from the plane while I was doing other work.  First I spotted a cow and calf on an island, then we spotted another cow, calf and bull by a river.  It took just one shot and we had our moose!  Tom officially took this moose because I officially took the first one but we consider both of them to be ours.  It's a team effort to get a bull moose, especially once it's down!  Check out the pictures below!

The weather is really starting to change here in southern Manitoba, we should be getting snow any day now.  The Whitetail season is only a few days away but I'm not really sure how much time I'm going to have for that this year.  Tom and I are planning to try out a new area so it could be interesting.

The bookings for next season are looking good already!  In late August and early September we were very busy with guests planning for next season but lately it's been a bit more quiet.  The newsletters should be printed within the next couple of weeks so they should be mailed in early November. 

I've updated the sports show page for the January-March 2012 show schedule, please check it out so that you can come visit me at a show near you!

		Tom and I with the moose we got this fall!
		Getting ready to fly on a beautiful fall day!   These other moose were taken by the First Nations hunters I was flying around!  There are 6 bulls pictured here.

August 31st, 2011:  The season has officially come to an end and we would like to thank all our guests one more time for their visits with us this year!  It was a season of ups and downs but mostly ups because the weather and fishing were great again this year!  Some difficulty with getting the tractor stuck in a swamp and a couple of guides spoiling things for the camp were all overshadowed by another great year in the kitchen, at our outposts and at the lodge in general.  I couldn't be happier with my kitchen and cleaning staff this year, they did a great job and had fun at the same time!

Close up went well, we had a chance to get some work done on the equipment again but we saved a few projects for next season as well.  I'll be heading back to the lodge with the float plane in early September to check on things and to take out a bit more stuff that we left behind.  I left my hunting gear at the lodge because Tom and I might spend a few days moose hunting this fall, it just depends on whether or not I can get some extra flying with the float plane out of God's Lake with other local moose hunters.  I'll find out when I get back up there.

The last couple of weeks of the season went very well for fishing.  As per usual, our biggest fish of the season was taken in August, a 46 inch Pike within site of the lodge, as well as a 45 and a 45.5 inch Pike and two 39 inch Lake Trout!!  I love to finish off the season like that!

Here are a bunch of pictures:

		Adam with a couple of late season lakers!  I believe they were both 38 inches!
		Brian and Elias with a couple more big Lake Trout!
		Brian and Elias showing their versatility with a huge Pike and Walleye to round out their trophies!
		Rick with his trophy Lake Trout and John with one of the 39 inch Lakers!!
		Regi and John with a big Pike and a 37 inch Lake Trout!
		Greg and Tom with a couple of big Lake Trout!
		Greg and Tom with a 42 inch Pike!   John and Willie with a 44 inch Pike!
		Kevin at Aswap with a couple of his trophy Pike!
		Kevin with a couple more big Pike from Aswap!!
		Karl and Mark with a 35 inch Lake Trout!   Regi with a big Pike caught while trolling for Lake Trout!
		Ryan and Johnny with the 46 inch Pike!!!

August 8th, 2011:  It's been raining for about 12 hours now so it's given me some time to work on another update.  The weather in general has been pretty good this season, not too many days where guys didn't go out, just 3 that I can think of all season!  We also haven't had one flight delay due to weather all season, we're making up for that one season when every big change over day had some sort of weather issue.  With the good weather we've also had really good fishing this year!  We landed another 45 inch Pike last night within site of the lodge!

Here are some pictures from the past few days:

		Felix with a 27.5 inch Walleye!   Jerry and Tom with a trophy Pike!
		Frank and Tom with 2 of Frank's trophy Brook Trout.   This was the first day that the trophies outnumbered the smaller fish!  16 Brook Trout in total, 10 of them were 20 inches or bigger!!!
		Tom and Luke with 2 more beauty Brookies!
		Roger with a nice golden Walleye in front of the East Rapids!   Another big Pike from Joint Lake this year!

August 2nd, 2011:  The fish are biting!  Ten more trophies at Aswap Lake last week, and that was just one angler!  On Bolton, we've been getting a few trophies every day, slowly but surely we're having another great season with the big fish!  No real big spurts of action where one group catches them all one week and then the next couple of weeks it's slow, so far this year it's been nicely spread out!  We've had a real mix of weather, some good thunderstorms with buckets of rain and lightning shows and some real high winds with those storms.  Luckily they've been short lived, just wait half an hour and the weather will change up here!

Here's another batch of great pictures!

		Charlie and Tom with a couple of trophy Pike!
		Tim with a great Brook Trout!   Kevin and Tom with a trophy Pike!
		Pam, Jessica and Tom with a couple of trophies!  What can I say, Tom's good with the ladies!
		Terry with his trophy Pike!   Frank and Tom with another trophy Pike!
		Kevin with a trophy Pike from Aswap!   Randy and Mark with a huge Pike!
		A couple more trophies from Aswap Lake!

July 24, 2011:  The weather has settled down again and it looks like we're going to have a great week for fishing!  Not too hot or windy and we've had more than our share of hot weather this season.  There's been a fair bit of rain lately so the forest fires in the area do not seem to be an issue any more. 

More trophy Lake Trout and Pike over the past 2 weeks as well as some big Brook Trout at the fly out!  We've been catching a lot of 24 to 26 inch Walleye but the ones over 28 inches have been a bit scarce lately.  With really good Pike and Lake Trout fishing, most guys have been spending their time chasing the bigger species lately.

Here are a bunch of pictures from the past couple of weeks:

		Brian and Regi with 2 of his 4 trophies!
		Regi and Brian with another one of their trophies.
		Grant and Mark, and Randy and Mark with 2 of their 4 trophies in just one day!
		Alan and Don with a 42 inch Pike!   Ira and Rob with a 40 incher!
		Mark and Kevin with a 43 inch Pike!   Rob and Phil with a nice Brook Trout!
		Rob and Fred with a huge Pike!   Rob and Courtney with a trophy Pike on the fly!
		Dave with a nice Laker!   Nick and Andrew with another of Andrew's trophy Pike!
		Jerry with his 2 big fish, a great Pike and Walleye!

July 11th, 2011: We just had our most productive week of the season, the first week of July was a real good one!  There are a ton of pictures from Joint Lake, they landed a bunch of Lake Trout, some really nice Walleye and some great Pike too!  The guys at Aswap haven't sent me their pictures yet but they landed 10 trophies and there were only 2 guys fishing!  At Bolton we had two guys who landed 8 trophy Pike during their 5 day stay!  The big Pike have moved into the weed beds and the patches close to the lodge are really producing some great fish!

The weather has been a bit better for fishing over the past week, not quite as hot and always a bit of a breeze, I'm sure that contributed to the fishing success.

Here are a bunch of pictures:

		Al with a 29 inch Walleye!
		Eric with a big Walleye and his dad with a 43 inch Pike!
		DK and Ross with a big Walleye!   Jerry with a nice Pike!
		Neil and Morry with a a couple of big Pike!
		Rick with a 36 inch Lake Trout!   Trevor and John with a 37 incher!
		Regi and Ray with 2 of Ray's 4 trophies!  Ray's fishing partner was Brian who also landed 4 trophy Pike!  I'm hoping they will email me some more pictures.
		Ray with another one of his trophy Pike.   Bryce with a nice Walleye.
		The guys from Joint Lake with a nice Walleye and Laker!
		A couple big Lakers from Joint Lake!
		The groundhog at Joint Lake will come right into the cabin and beg for food!   A nice Pike from Joint Lake!
		Two more big Lake Trout from Joint!
		A couple more good ones from Joint!
		Marc with a 26 inch Walleye and a 41 inch Pike from Aswap!

July 4th, 2011:  I didn't quite match Tom's numbers on the Brook Trout but we landed 19 Brook Trout and 5 of them were trophies!  The biggest was just over 22 inches, the pictures are below!

It's been a very warm summer so far, today it's cloudy and more comfortable with a bit of cloud cover.  I'm hoping for a real good trophy day with this weather! 

Here are some more great pictures!

		Nick and Andrew with a couple of Andrew's 5 trophy Pike.  His 2 biggest were 43 inches!
		Two more of Andrew's trophy Pike!
		Andrew's dad, Todd managed to catch a trophy too, nice of Andrew to share!   Mark and Bill with a 34 inch Lake Trout...just an inch short of trophy!
		Brian with the 22.25 inch Brook Trout!   Mark and Brian with another big Laker!
		Brian and Mark with a trophy Northern Pike!   Janet and I in the rapids with a real colorful Brook Trout.  I think this one was about 19 inches!
		Kent and I with a big Pike.  It's only 38 inches, so it goes to show you what a good hold can do.   Dave with a 44 inch Pike!
		Steve with a 35 inch Lake Trout and a real nice Walleye!   The Walleye seem to be bigger than usual this year!
		Jon and Ed with Ed's 38 and 40 inch Pike caught on a fly rod in early June!

June 27, 2011:  The weather has been consistently warm for the past few weeks other than today.  Without too much wind lately to stir up the water and the warm temperatures there were a bunch of us who went swimming a few times.  The surface water was very comfortable but if you dove down you could feel the much cooler water just a couple feet down.  There hasn't been much rain lately so the lake is slowly dropping but it's still considered high this year.

It was a great day today because we finally got my tractor unstuck from the swamp!  I spent $15,000 fixing another tractor to help pull the stuck one out but in the end it was my Grader that did most of the work....well my Grader and the mechanics I brought in to fix everything and figure out how to pull the tractor out.  I don't think I'll go back into that swamp with any of my equipment again!

The Brook Trout cooperated much more the last two times we went over.  The guys landed 17 Brook Trout including seven that were 20 inches or bigger on the first day and 25 including nine trophies on the next day!  I think it was a combination of the water dropping a bit and having a couple of really well seasoned fly-fishermen along with Tom guiding who has been on the river more than anybody else.  I'm going to try my luck later this with a couple more anglers...hopefully I can match Tom's numbers!

More great pictures from the past couple of weeks!

		Cam and Mark and then Tom and Colin with matching 43 inch Pike!
		Tom and Phil with a 39 inch Pike.  Pat and Tom with another 43 inch Pike!
		The Hansen group with 2 more trophies from Joint Lake this spring!
		Allison with a great Walleye!   Mark and Bruce with a 42 inch Pike!
		Dan and Trevor (T3) with a trophy Pike!   David with a 36.5 inch Lake Trout!
		Tom and Jim with 2 great Brook Trout!
		Jim and Tom with a 22 inch Brookie!   Mark with another great Brook Trout taken on a fly!
		Mark with a 36 inch Laker!   Jim and Mark with a 42 inch Pike!
		Mike with two huge Pike from Joint Lake.  One is 43.5 inches and the other was 44!!
		Russ with a 41 inch Pike at Joint Lake!   Tom and Tom with a 35 inch Laker!
		Tom and Jim with another trophy Brook Trout!   Bob and Trevor with a very healthy 43 inch Pike!

June 18, 2011:  It's been a bit windy lately but the fishing has been good!  We had one real good rain storm but other than that it's been pretty dry lately.  We'll likely get a bit more rain tonight as a system is passing through later.  The Lake Trout are starting to go a bit deeper, I've had reports of about 30 feet so just a bit of weight will do, one or two ounces as most.  The Walleye and Pike are both feeding pretty good but we're getting a lot of big follows to the boat, so make sure to be standing and watching with your polarized sunglasses.

The staff is getting along really well, the new guys are great (now that I've weeded out a couple of duds) and the kitchen staff couldn't be better!  A couple of familiar faces who were not expected to return this season are back as well, Rob, Dillon and Nick will be helping us out when we have a full camp.  Dillon will only be here for a 5 day group in late June, but I think they will be excited to see him!

I went to Aswap to replace a water pump last Sunday and just like the week before, the guy had already landed a huge Pike within sight of the camp!  This one wasn't right off the dock and it was only 45 inches....right only 45!

The Brook Trout are not cooperating so far.  In 3 visits we only have a total of 10 Brook Trout landed and 3 of them were from Tom and I when we went to set up.  The extra high water level is making it much more difficult to find them, hopefully my fly fishermen coming in next week will have better results.

Here are some great pictures from this past week:

		Ron with a huge Walleye and Dan with his trophy Pike from late May!
		Alan holding a big Pike and Mark with his 41 inch spawned out Pike!
		Rick with 2 of his big Pike from Aswap last week!
		Rick and Craig with 2 more big fish from Aswap last week!  Craig's was 38 inches but it was caught on his fly rod!
		A Bald Eagle watching for any fish that might get too close and become a meal.    Judith with her yearly trophy Pike!
		Ted and Marc with a couple more big Pike from Aswap in May!
		Paul with his 42 inch trophy Pike at Joint Lake.  He said it was caught after 10 p.m. one night!   Chef Rob with a nice Walleye!
		Jordan and Jodi on Jordan's 5th birthday!  We spent the morning catching a ton of Walleye with the staff and then had a great shore lunch with birthday cake for dessert!

June 11, 2011:  The weather has been too nice to be in the office doing a web update, and it takes time to get the camera cards from the guides and guests to get the pictures for the update.  June has been nice and warm with little rain so far.  The water level is slowing dropping but it's still much higher than normal.  With this nice weather I keep expecting a day with 10 trophies but instead it's been consistently just average days of 2-5 trophies.  The big day will hit soon, probably just before a new weather system moves in.

Joint Lake and Aswap continue to produce trophies each week.  Some bigger Walleye, Lake Trout and Pike at Joint Lake and lots of big Pike at Aswap!  We've only been to the Brook Trout River once this season since Tom and I set it up.  The guys caught 4 Brook Trout and missed a bunch more.  The water is high on the river as well and the guys were using flies, spoons probably would have worked better since Tom and I had 3 Brook Trout in 20 minutes using Cleo's.  We'll see what happens on the river the next time we're there, I don't think the 4 fish day was a good indication of how it's going to be.

The Lake Trout are still shallow here at Bolton.  Two days ago 6 or 7 Lake Trout were landed below the East Rapids including 2 trophies and yesterday 6 more were caught on top of the East Rapids and 7 more below the rapids so guys are catching them casting spoons!  The biggest Lake Trout we've seen was on the line a few days ago at the rapids, it was too big to fit in the net so in the end it got away....and we have very big nets!!

Almost forgot to mention, last week while the guys at Aswap were waiting for the float plane, they landed a 47.5 inch Pike off the dock!!!  That's the biggest of the season so far!

		Marcel and Al with Al's 38 inch Lake Trout and 40 inch Pike!
		Mitch with a 36 inch Laker and Herb with his 41 inch Pike!
		Ashley and Cedrick with a trophy Pike and Lisa with her big Pike!
		Bob and Tom with Bob's trophy Pike and Kent with Tom and the biggest Laker of the season (landed) at 39 inches! Tom said it was the heaviest Lake Trout he's ever had in his boat!
		Christian and Theresa with her 40 inch Pike and Tom with a big Pike too!
		Mark holding Ron's big Pike and Ron with his trophy Whitefish at 25 inches!
		Jason with his big Pike and Judith with her yearly trophy!!
		Tom with a 43.5 inch Pike and the Dash 8 on the runway!
		Charlie is having a great week, he has 4 trophies already including this big Whitefish and 35 inch Lake Trout!
		Charlie with his other 2 trophies, a 36 inch Laker and a 41 inch Pike!

May 31, 2011:  A bit of a nasty day today but the weather has been pretty good for May this year!  The fishing has been great too, the guys at Joint Lake have been doing very well, the last group had a couple Lake Trout trophies, a couple big Pike and a couple of trophy Walleye.  The group at Joint Lake this week already has 3 trophy Walleye in the first 2 days!  Aswap Lake is doing well, 10 more trophy Pike for the second group at Aswap this season!  Hoping to get some pictures from the guys who have come and gone already this year.  At the lodge we're getting a nice combination of big Pike, Walleye and Lake Trout.  Nobody has been to the Brook Trout River yet except for Tom and I to set up.  We took 20 minutes to throw a few casts and landed 3 Brookies, 2 of them were trophies!!

		Kent with his trophy Pike!   James and Tom with a very healthy trophy Pike!
		Michael and Christian with Michael's 41 and 39 inch Pike!
		Tom with his 20 inch Brook Trout and me with my 22 inch Brook Trout!!   I think Tom's got the better hold.

May 20th, 2011:  Things are much more under control now!  The weather has been amazing for May, almost too hot for working a couple of days!  There's no ice left on Bolton or Aswap Lake, there's a bit floating around on Joint Lake but I'm betting that it will be gone tomorrow.  The new staff that are here already are bring shown around the lake and are stocking the shore lunch spots with fire wood and all the pans and axes.  The new docks are coming along nicely, we should be ready to push a few into the lake within a few days, we went back to floating docks.

The fish are biting!  The guys at Joint Lake have caught a lot of nice Pike, Walleye and Lake Trout.  We got enough Walleye last night to feed all 17 of us here at the lodge tonight, it was a great meal!  Aswap is doing well if you don't count the fact that I had to replace their water pump, stand the antenna back up for the radio and get the sewer tank working now that the ice thawed enough to put the pump in.  In the 2 days that they've been there they had 8 trophies up to 45 inches and in one spot they caught 250 Walleye! 

All the bugs are getting worked out, the fishing and the weather are great!  The season is on, so come on up!

May 16th, 2011:  Hectic!!  Today is Monday, Saturday we had 10 Caravan flights into Bolton Lake from Norway House with 50 plus propane, plus about 20,000 lbs of other goodies like the beer, pop, water, outboard motors, a new ice machine, beans, corn, canola oil, potatoes etc.  We also had the fuel plane in 11 times between Saturday and Sunday bringing in almost 10,000 gallons of fuel, a mix of Av Gas for the float plane, straight gas for the boats etc, and diesel for the generators.  On one of the last Caravan flights on Saturday I flew out to Norway House and drove like a mad fool to Winnipeg and made it home in the middle of the night.  On Sunday I drove out to Kenora to do my flight training and write a bunch of tests.  This morning, I finished my tests and flight training, picked up some miscellaneous supplies in Kenora and the pilot and I flew to Bolton Lake.  Then we flew into Joint Lake because we have guests coming in tomorrow morning and we needed to get the camp ready.  It's looking good, just a bit more clean up in the morning and we'll be all set for the guests.  When that's done, we'll get over to Aswap to get that camp ready because the next day we have a group of guys going to that camp.  The dock took a beating last fall so I'll need to bring a couple extra hands to get that camp ready.  I could see Aswap on our way to Joint Lake and noticed that there's still ice on part of the lake, the incredible weather we've had over the past few days has really beat that ice up and will continue for the next few days.  Joint Lake still has ice on the main lake but the river is completely open and the water is pretty high so it will be easy to get to the rapids up river.

We can almost land the float plane in front of the lodge, I'm betting that by tomorrow we will be able to as the ice goes out, now we just need to get the dock in good enough shape to handle the float plane, that one took a beating as well last fall.  More staff will be arriving daily as we get our camps ready, boats in, water running to all the cabins, repair the docks, bring wood to the shore lunch spots, mark rocks, train the new guides, and just get everything set up and cleaned for our first lodge guests arriving on May 24th.  Still lots to do, but it's coming along. 

May 11th, 2011:  The snow drifts are shrinking every day and the ice is getting rotten!  We have some open water in the back bay where we should be able to land the float plane by tomorrow I think.  The float plane is expected to be here in a few days so it should work out right on schedule.  I don't know what our other lakes look like right now but when the freight and fuel planes start coming in on Friday, I'll get them to take a look for me.

The water levels are back to normal, you can see debris in the yard from the high water mark left last fall and it's about 3 feet higher than where the ice starts, plus my floating docks in the back bay are up on dry land and I have to push them out with my Cat.

It's raining and miserable here today but by Friday it's going to get very nice again.  We had a couple of days where we were working in just t-shirts, but that won't be the case again for a few days.  All this rain we're getting is going to really beat up that ice, it's getting very sketchy along the shore so we're going to take the snowmobile off today and stay off the ice from now on.  No more ice fishing, darn!  It's funny how the ice in the back bay is so different from the ice out in front of the lodge and on the main lake. 

May 8th, 2011:  This is not going to be an easy start up this year.  We still have large snow drifts in the yard but they've come down significantly since we arrived 3 days ago.  The runway is still wet and soft so I'm probably going to have to postpone my freight and fuel haul unless the forecasted rain doesn't appear.  If the rains miss us then it might still work out.

We spent our first day getting the trucks, quads, heaters, stove, computers, communications, TV, and running water going.  The water gave me a lot of grief so I didn't get it going until the next day.  Our water line runs over the ice and then into a hole that we drilled about 100 yards off shore.  The ice is still close to 30 inches thick on the lake but it's not very good ice.  I sure wouldn't drive a truck on it, but it's not going away for at least another 2 weeks.  The ice in the back bay is a different story, it's not safe to walk on and even if it was in places, it would be hard to get on that ice because there's open water along the shore.  I'm hoping that ice will be gone before May 17th so that we can land our float plane and get to the outposts from there.  All the smaller lakes that we flew over on our way here were either open or had very rotten ice on them. 

I took the snowmobile out to a spot on the lake last night and drilled a few holes to catch tonight's dinner.  It started off very slow and I was getting ready to leave with only 1 Walleye.  I had 2 others but one was too big and the other was too small.  I tried one more hole and caught 2 more Walleye really quickly and I could see on my sonar that more were down there waiting for me.  I then caught a near trophy Lake Trout (I still have to check the stick I used to measure it to see how big it actually was), then about 12 more Walleye in very quick succession.  I was laughing out loud and having a lot of fun!  I brought back 6 Walleye but then decided I needed one more so I tried another hole and got broken off by another Lake Trout.  I told the guys I'd be back by 9:00 so I had to leave, otherwise I would have had a bunch more!  All the action started at 8:15 so I know what time I'll be getting out there again tonight!

April 29th, 2011:  I'm excited to get this season started!  There's a couple of weather issues that I thought I should update, especially for our early guests.  Right now, the ice is still holding strong.  I was at my mom's cabin yesterday about 50 miles north of Winnipeg and there was still ice on that lake.  Normally there's a full 2 weeks from the time that my mom's lake opens up until the ice on Bolton Lake goes away.  It's going to come down to the wire this year whether we get in as scheduled on May 17th or not.  There's always a good chance that the back bay behind the lodge will be open for the float plane to come and go, plus the river at Joint Lake opens up earlier than the main lake and that's plenty of room for us to land the float plane so we should be able to get in, but the whole lake may not be available.  I'll have a better idea next week when I get up to the lodge. 

Also, with flooding in Southern Manitoba, right now the main highway coming into Winnipeg is closed in certain areas.  I-29 in North Dakota turns into Highway 75 once you cross into Canada, so if you're driving to Winnipeg you may have to look into a different route.  I'll update this as the season gets closer.

April 23rd, 2011: It’s been a busy winter and it’s only going to get more exciting as we get closer to the start of the season! I’ve been busy hiring staff, arranging the freight and fuel haul and picking up miscellaneous supplies for the season.

I have chatted with some contacts in Norway House and Island Lake and they say that the ice is still a few weeks away from going out. I’m not worried yet, but I’m starting to really hope for nice weather for the next few weeks. I’ll be at the lodge May 2nd for the first time since last October so we’ll see for ourselves what the ice is doing. Starting in May the updates will happen much more frequently.

As was the case last year, we’re still getting some late bookings to fill in some holes here and there. Hopefully this trend continues so that we have a great season! We have more guests this season than the last 2 years, especially at our lodge on Bolton Lake, for whatever reason the outposts still are not as full as last season.

May is going to be busy! My schedule looks like this right now, May 2nd pick up supplies and staff, drive a couple hours north of Winnipeg to get a charter plane to take us into Bolton. Spend 4-5 days getting the runway ready for fuel and freight hauls and organize the staff to build the new dock system at the lodge. Fly back to Winnipeg on about May 7th, then pick up the freight truck on May 9th, load it with beer, pop, outboard engines, the new ice machine and all the miscellaneous supplies I’ve picked up over the winter (yay my garage will be emptied out again), and then drive it all up to Norway House. On May 10th fly into Bolton on one of the freight planes, help organize all the fuel, freight and supplies coming in while maintaining the runway and making sure everything is working. After all the freight and fuel and propane are in Bolton, fly back to Norway House and drive the rental truck back to Winnipeg on about May 13th. Then drive out to Kenora to get my training done on the float plane and bring it up to the lodge on May 15th, assuming we have open water. May 17th, the first guests arrive. May 20th, most of the new staff will be arriving, train them and get ready for the season! May 25th, our first lodge guests arrive! I would list the things I have to do to get the camp opened up but this bulletin is long enough already.

This sounds like a lot of work, but I really enjoy getting the camp set up and bringing in the supplies and staff to get the season going. The only thing I don’t like is getting to the lodge and seeing what damage has been done over the winter, figuring out what’s missing and fighting with equipment that ran fine in the fall…the long winter takes it’s toll so it’s just part of the game.

Here’s a great picture I took this morning, I counted 14 deer in the yard, our new record! The new house has been great, it’s really nice for visiting our friends and family on this side of town!

February 3rd, 2011: That’s it for sportshows this season! We just finished the show in Phoenix and we’re back in Winnipeg to get ready for the lodge season. The shows were very productive this year, we were able to fill a lot of holes in the schedule and at every show we were able to book at least one group!

We’re getting ready for a busy 2011 season, now I’m going to be concentrating on buying a few things for the lodge like a new ice machine (our good one died late last season), a new chainsaw, new outboard motors etc. The outboards have actually already been ordered, we’re getting 7 new four stroke 30 hp motors for the lodge and 4 more two stroke 15 hp motors for the outposts. I bought an extra bottom end for the F30’s and a new generator for Joint Lake.

I scheduled our fuel haul for early May this season, we’re hoping that the runway will still be half frozen so that it’s not too wet for the Ag Plane, it’s a crop duster that carries about 800 gallons of fuel per load! We’re going to haul propane, beer, pop, water, canola, our outboards, beans, corn, and much more freight in on another plane at the same time.

Give us a call if you would like to book a trip this season, there are still some prime ice out dates at the end of May open and we’re not going to be risking the ice because I’m predicting an early ice out. I’ve seen ice out as early as May 1st and we’ve never had to cancel a group booked later than May 25th in the past so the end of May dates are going to be very good fishing with virtually no risk of being iced out. Here’s a list of dates for Bolton and the Outposts that are currently open:

• May 25 – 29 for up to 14 guests – special rate of $2099 per person
• July 6 – 10 for up to 2 guests
• July 6 – 13 for up to 2 guests
• July 10 – 13 for up to 12 guests
• July 17 – 20 for up to 12 guests
• July 20 – 24 for up to 16 guests
• July 24 – 28 for up to 2 guests
• July 24 – 31 for up to 2 guests
• July 31 – August 7 for up to 8 guests
• August 12 – 16 for up to 12 guests
• Aswap Lake is open July 31 – August 7 and August 21 - ? (shorter trip available)
• Joint Lake is open August 7 – 14 and August 14 - ? (shorter trip available)

Give us a call anytime, our toll free number problems seem to be over and email is working properly again too! info@boltonlake.com

January 28th, 2011: St. Louis, Indy, Chicago and Milwaukee were all great All Canada shows again for us this year! It was great visiting with new and old guests and booking a few trips along the way made it even better!! We still have a few prime dates still open at the main camp on Bolton Lake but our outposts are full until July 31st! There are a few weeks open in August at Joint Lake and we might extend the season into September at Aswap but we'll see how the bookings go first.

Winnipeg has been cold and snowy and the weather up north has been similar. I'm expecting an early ice out because there's not a lot of ice due to the snow covering and insulating the ice. The water will be high at all our lakes next season because it did not come down enough in the late fall and there's about 2 feet of snow up there this winter.

I have a few irons in the fire right now. There are still 3 more shows (Omaha, Minneapolis and Phoenix) left for this season, plus I'm working on setting up a new float plane for next season and I'm working on getting the staff hired. Our chef, Rob who came in mid season last year will be with us again this year! He's the best all around chef we've ever had and we're looking forward to working with him again! Tom, Cedrick, Willie, Regi, Cary, Ray, Trevor (T3) and Marcel have all confirmed for next season and my faithful kitchen/cleaning staff of Glenda and Deane will be back again too!! Willie and Deane's son Stacey who has been at Bolton Lake for the past 3 seasons will get some more time on the water this year, during his first brief effort at guiding last season he helped his guests land 2 trophies!

January 3rd, 2011:  With a hectic fall and early winter behind me, I'm excited to get started on the Sport Show Trail!  Later this week I'm heading down with Tom to St. Louis, then on to Indy, Chicago and Milwaukee.  After these shows, there's a bit of a break and then I do a few shorter trips to Omaha, Minneapolis and Phoenix.  We might try to take a trip into Bolton Lake in between shows by snowmobile but ice conditions are terrible so far this year.  Lots of snow (not good for our high water) and relatively mild temperatures so far has prevented the ice from getting very thick and with the high water last fall some creeks may still be open because of the extra flowage.  We'll have to send out some scouts before we try anything crazy like bringing in a truck with 2 flat tires!

We're settled into our new house that already had a small at home business office ready to go, the only thing I'm missing is my shop and boy do I miss it!  At our old house I had a 24X28 shop for all the lodge supplies (plus my hunting, ice fishing, quad and snowmobile supplies) and a ton of tools.  Right now I only have a stall in the 3 car garage for all my stuff which doesn't leave much room for me to do any work in there.

We're looking forward to meeting new and old guests at the shows, please stop by and see us!