December 13th, 2004: There’s not much to report other than we’ve been busy putting together next year’s schedule, printing new brochures, finishing the new video and putting it on CD Rom. We also had our annual general meetings with the majority of the other fishing lodges and Outfitters in Manitoba and I was elected Vice President for our association again. Jodi and I had a chance to take a week off for some time on the beach in Mexico, it was a great trip with beautiful weather at a very nice resort.
I have updated the rates page now that the new brochures with the new pricing has come out. Unfortunately we lost 30 points on the exchange rate this year, which means we lost our entire profit margin and then some so we had to increase the rates for 2005. Fortunately things are looking great for 2005 in the booking department, so we will have a great year as long as we don’t lose any more points on the exchange rate. Surprisingly I still have a couple of prime spots at the outposts in June 2005. If you’re thinking we’re sold out as usual for June at the outposts, you’ll be as surprised as I am when I say that June 19 – 26 is available at Joint Lake and June 26 – July 3 is available at Aswap Lake. Not surprising, is this is the last week available at Aswap for the 2005 season.
The new motors have been ordered for the 2005 season, a new quad has been ordered and the plans to update the cabin at Joint Lake are still in the works. The workers have already agreed to go in and land on the ice at the Joint Lake cabin, and we’ll get the supplies to Elk Island on the winter road so that we can fly them over when the workers arrive. We hope that the work goes as well as it did at Aswap last spring.
We’re looking forward to the sportshows and getting supplies up on the winter road. It’s amazing how many different things you have to know when you run a lodge. From marketing, websites, computers, scheduling, transportation, to work at the lodge including building, plumbing, heavy equipment, mechanical and my favorite, sewer and water systems ;). It’s a great job to have if you like to do something different every day, and you get a bit of time off in the fall and winter when you’re not at the shows or on the winter road.
I have been ice fishing twice here in Winnipeg so far this year and managed to catch a few Walleye, Sauger and Goldeye. One of the Goldeye’s was a trophy and if you don’t know what a Goldeye is, there’s a picture of it below. I fished with 3 of the guides who worked at Bolton this year, Chris, Aaron and Albert all got a chance to show me how it’s done. I had the lead until Chris landed a trophy Walleye also pictured below. I’ll post a picture of the fish I caught in Mexico as soon as I find it.
Have a great Holiday Season! We’re excited to see you at the shows in January, February or March!