The BEST Fishing in Ontario!

Canadianflyinfishing.com

2011-10-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

Our Blog is now hosted on our website canadianflyinfishing.com. Click here for for John's Blog.

canadianflyinfishing.com

2011-04-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

My blog is now incorporated into our main website canadianflyinfishing.com Our website has been reworked and all of the videos, pictures, and John's blog are now under one roof. So keep checking, our website will always be informative and entertaining. canadianflyinfishing.com

The Bush

2011-04-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

I came across a book recently, Alaska from A-Z. There are many funny and true definitions in there but the first one I looked at was in the B's

Bunny Boots
Bunny boots, also known as vapor barrier boots, are white, insulated footwear designed to protect feet in sub-zero temperatures. They take their name from the Arctic hare, which has large hind feet and a white winter coat.

The Bush
Originally used to describe large expanses of wilderness inhabited by trappers and miners, now "the Bush" is generally considered to mean any part of Alaska inaccessible by road. A community accessible only by air, water, sled or snow machine transportation is considered a bush village. The Bush is home to many of Alaska's Native people and to many Alaskans who live on homesteads, operate mines or work as guides, pilot, trappers or fishermen.

The term "Bush" has been applied to the small planes their pilots who service areas that lack roads or developed airports. Bush planes are commonly equipped with floats or skis, depending on the terrain and season.

Alaska and Ontario are very similar indeed, except for the mountains! I am glad to not have those in my area I fly!

Manitoba Rednecks 2011

2011-04-05T05:27:00.000-07:00

Spring in Canada can be long depending on the weather, hockey is over and there is lots of energy to be burned off. It is kind of funny to see my nephews doing the exact same things my brothers and I used to do, crazy stuff that could possibly end up disastrous but are so much fun!!

The weather has been so sunny and warm. The last storm went south of us again as it has much of the winter so spring has gotten off to a good start, lets hope it stays nice.

Amik Outposts on Facebook

2011-03-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

If you are on Facebook, add Amik Outposts here.

Amik Outposts also has a page for you to like and share as well, click here Amik Outposts

We are also attending the Northwest Sportshow in Minneapolis Mn from March 30th to April 3rd at the Minneapolis convention center. Come on down and see Rena and John. They can answer any questions you may have, give you available dates, or book your remote fishing vacation for 2011. We have a new brochure featuring 150 of our best pictures from our guests of nothing but TROPHY FISH!! Come on down and pick one up to see the quality fishery we offer you to experience.

Champs!!

2011-03-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

It was a roller coaster season for our Bantam Hockey team. Made up of 14 boys and 4 girls aged 13 and 14 year olds. Our season got off to a less than stellar start winning only one and tying one in our first 9 league games and were in 9th place in a 10 team league. Many of those losses should have been wins but we made many mistakes which ended up in our net. Then after the X-mas break we had to play the top 2 teams right away! 2 more loses. There was many positives in those loses as I could see we were gaining confidence. Since the 2 losses in early January we did not lose another game! Beating every placed team, 7 straight wins to finish the season in 6th place. The league then split into 2 divisions, A and B. We then had to complete 2 best of 3 game series to claim the league banner. Half of the players on our team have never won a championship while the other half winning only one in their short hockey careers. It is fulfilling to see how they have all improved and grown as hockey players throughout the last 5 months.

Here is my daughter Maija and my nephew Trent with the banner we worked so hard to win!

In the playoffs, we continued our winning ways, taking both series 2 games straight. Here is our 2010/2011 Interlake Bantam Regional Champs!

Here is Trent, having a seat in a place I have spent hundreds of hours in.....The Penalty Box!!!!

Only a few exhibition games left and that will be it for this season of hockey. Just like deer season, when it is over, you begin looking forward to next season!!!

Amik Outposts Classics

2011-02-26T14:16:00.000-08:00

And today the fishing has not changed! Our lakes have had a strict conservation policy to give you the best possible chance to catch your trophy fish of a lifetime!

Big swings in the temperature!

2011-02-22T04:58:00.000-08:00

Perch fishing remains and we are in pursuit, pulling unproductive nets out and re-setting them into "hopefully" more productive spots out on Lake Manitoba. Fishermen have not fished perch much in the last couple of years and there seems to be many big perch this season like this one.

We have had some very warm weather but also some 30 below weather. Here is what happens to the crack when this kind of thing happens. One day it can be 10 feet wide...

And 2 days later you cannot even get close to it, as the lake expands it crushes 4 feet of ice together with incredible force!!

We had a line of nets almost get eaten by the crack. Most people would be a little nervous to be standing beside a 5000 pound machine 20 feet from some open water and a huge crack in the ice, but not us. We have been on the lake since we were toddlers Jamie and I.

There was no school yesterday so my nephew Trent came out for the day. Teenagers are always messing around!

Rena and I went to one of our old Dockhands wedding this weekend in London Ontario. Jay(middle one) is well on his way as a commercial pilot since spending 2 seasons working for us 6 years ago. Flying now with a regional airline and gaining more valuable experience before making the next step into flying the large airliners. It is great to see a young man going for his dream and succeeding.

There is an important building also in London, THE LABATT BREWERY!!! I just had to stop and get a picture outside the beer store attached to a well respected place.

Some video to get you through the winter.

2011-02-02T15:37:00.000-08:00

Here is a clip from the first years Amik Outposts existed. Crazy Northern Pike!

And today nothing has changed. Our conservation policy has ensured that there will be great bloodlines in both Walleye and Northern since the big ones have always been put back. Truly a resource that is being taken care of for future generations.

Catching fish and winning hockey games!

2011-01-30T11:44:00.000-08:00

January is flying by. No time to get cabin fever or the winter blahs since I spend all my time outdoors or in a cold rink.

Our Bantam hockey team has had a good run since the X-mas break winning all 3 league games versus teams we lost to in the first half. The most recent was yesterday against Gimli/Riverton Eagles. We lost 4-2 in December and trailed 3 to 2 yesterday as time dwindled in the 3rd period. We had 2 times the scoring chances but could not find the net. We continued to swarm and tied it up with less than 2 minutes left. I left the same line on the ice and within 30 more seconds they had scored the game winner! We have been playing good hockey as of late and look forward to every game.

Fishing is going well. We are fishing hard and being rewarded for our efforts. Not the all time best fishing but not the worst either, just like old times, the other fishermen are trying to figure out where we are fishing. A true fishermen never gives a definite answer!

This is the second year in a row that a pair of Eagles has not gone south. They sometimes follow us out for a meal of fish, or should I say follow the Ravens. The Ravens are tough, waiting for us even in the coldest of weather.

Checking to see how wide the crack is.

Sometimes we have to travel miles to find a split or place where it is narrow enough to jump across. Good times.

If you eat fresh Perch in a restaurant in the Midwest, there is a good chance that it came from us. An excellent meal, just glad I do not have to fillet them all.

The Tournament of Champions

2011-01-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

Our Bantam team went to the Tournament of Champions this last weekend. We did not fair too well. We won the first game and put ourselves in the A side. Our next game was against the host Minnedosa, a much bigger and faster team than ours. They did show us up on the scoreboard which is acceptable. But they did not let off after getting ahead by a wide margin. Hitting us harder every opportunity they had, especially our girls. (we were one of 2 teams with girls on the team) As in any contact sport, when play like this occurs, stuff gets out of hand. I have been involved in plenty of these kinds of games in my career. A long story short, there were lots of penalties and one suspension. Not the way I prefer to play but you need to look after your teammates. If nothing else, it brings a team closer to take a beating on the scoreboard and fight your way out of the rink.

Other than that, we went bowling and had a great time. The kids bought some sleds and slid down the hills of the town we were in, while the parents had a few!

Here is my form. Tough spare out there.

Here is part of my bunch of Bantams. I love coaching.

Perch Season Begins!

2011-01-16T11:09:00.000-08:00

It is time to try our hand at chasing the schools of perch around the lake. We have not made too much $ as of yet during the part of our season where we use a larger sized net to catch mainly walleye so yesterday we started setting nets which are smaller and fish different areas to catch perch. Hope we find some...

Here is a video from a few years of some of the good times and dirty weather. I think the Dirty Jobs show should come and fish with us on Lake Manitoba in January!!

2010 Photo Contest winner!

2011-01-06T04:49:00.000-08:00

Here is the winner of our 2010 Photo contest!

Congratulations to John Stanley. We are looking forward to hosting him and his band of merry men again in 2011.

Here are just a few of the honorable mentions. Thank you to all of our guests who shared and submitted photos. It is great to see people having such a good time with us in such beautiful country.

Thank you and enjoy.

Fishing by myself

2011-01-04T17:18:00.000-08:00

My brother went away for a week on vacation so I am fishing all by my lonesome....almost. My brothers dog Jess is staying with us this week so she is my fishing partner. She rides in the Bombardier nice and quiet looking over my shoulder, she walks back with me to each hole to tie each net down. It is nice to have company out there, she even puts up with my complaining of crappy fishing. The temperature is quite cold up here but I am not complaining, when you do the work of 2 people you get pretty hot, it was -20 with no wind and I never wore my hat all day, actually I sweated for most of it.

Here is Jess, the fishing dog. She jumped once when the ice shifted and rumbled and she is kind of afraid of the glare ice patches, but she stayed close barking at any distant ravens who followed us 8 miles out for a meal of fishguts.

The Last Falcons!!

2010-12-30T23:18:00.000-08:00

The Annual Recreational hockey tournament in Lundar was held the last couple of days. There was 5 teams this year making for 4 games for each team in two days for 50 or 60 local guys. A good amount of hockey, a game in the afternoon, a few wobbly pops and then one more game before more festive brown bottles..... how can life get any better. Men and a few girls from many ages and walks of life participated, good times were had by all except for a couple of my old team mates Stewart and Philip who drew some blood, Stewart with a puck in the chin and Philip with a puck in the nose. They hardly missed a shift. Nothing like blood on the ice!

The Last Falcons went undefeated again! 2 of the 4 games were very close but we (10 of us) prevailed and turned it on enough to win each game. We still talk about the glory days of the good times, dirty plays, fights, and the odd biting during a scrum but they are still entertaining. I miss the atmosphere, the teasing and just the, being with the boys. Good times indeed!

Christmas Time

2010-12-22T16:28:00.000-08:00

We are approaching Christmas now and fishing has not been very good at all. The only upside is that we are seeing good sign of Perch in our larger walleye nets. So if we want to make any $ this winter, perch fishermen we will have to be. That season does not open until January 15th. We will fish until then but not be setting any new sets.

We laugh, sometimes we are the suckers!

The kids have been out with us a couple of days. It is nice to see teenagers actually getting outdoors for an entire day! The only drawback is that they ate our entire lunch and the extra we leave left over in case we get stranded out there!

And as always, the Crack! The water was higher this year with no big ice piles on the reefs so the cracks are in different places due to different pressure points on the huge slab of ice know as Lake Manitoba!

Lots of ice!

2010-12-15T17:51:00.000-08:00

There was 13-15 inches of ice last week which is plenty for a Bombardier, so our jobs out on the lake have gotten a lot easier. The net puller in both directions sure saves the shoulders! We are still searching and waiting to find the big schools of fish but we have heard a few fish stories, usually other fishermen are chasing our stories. So tomorrow we are in setting mode again farther from home, we could end up 12 or 14 miles from home tomorrow, I hope the weather is nice and the ice is smooth!

Even with eleven inches of ice in the middle of this slush hole, it makes your heart sink when you feel the Bombardier slow down and sink. Not as scary as crossing ice cracks but when you get stuck in the slush it is almost impossible to get out without help. We would have to call Uncle Jack for a pull again.

2010 Deer Head Party

2010-12-12T07:06:00.000-08:00

It is 30 below up here and that is the way it is most years for the deer head party. Here are a few of the nice ones.

And the winner!!

Stormy!!!

2010-12-01T19:08:00.001-08:00

It has been blowing for days and sometimes you have to fish when the weather is less than ideal. Which translates into....unless it is minus 50 we are probably going to go. We are tough or stupid I guess but you can't make much money if you wait for the bluebird days!

Yesterday the wind was blowing up to 60 km/h after we had a few inches of snow. It was one of the most awful days I have had on the lake in awhile!

And today it was a great day, cold and calm. Good working weather.

It is always a cool sight to see how the wind sculpts and carves the snow on the lake. A coyote had walked on the soft deep snow and the tracks could not be blown away by the wind!

It is very hard to describe or explain how cold it can be if you are standing still. Jamie and I do not stop moving all day, if you stop for 5 or 10 minutes you are cold and it takes harder work to become warm again. We wear 3-5 layers of clothes with waterproof boots, special mitts, and rain pants to shed the water. Experience has shown us the way to keep warm in extreme circumstances.

We recently met some Young German guys who are traveling across Canada. Peter and Tom. They are staying with friends of ours and wanted to experience what it is like to fish! At first they were just observing us and then they effects of the cold began to take hold. We had to put them to work or it would not be a very memorable experience. We had them pulling nets out and pulling nets back under the ice. Within a couple of nets they were warmed up and having a good time experiencing the beauty of the lake on a calm day, you can see for miles and the air is as clean as it could be. It is always nice to be able to show someone how things are done out on the lake, as we have for 3 generations.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-24T06:27:00.000-08:00

All of us here at Amik Outposts want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. If you are traveling, please travel safely. Our fall newsletter is being emailed out today with a few dates for 2011, please let us know if you are interested in any of them or forward the email to anyone who may. Thank you.

Here is the link to read our newsletters

Back on the Lake

2010-11-23T09:41:00.000-08:00

We have had a harsh taste of winter here in Manitoba. Lots of snow and cold! It has been minus 20 Celcius and with the combination of snow and cold it equals 6 inches of ice in a hurry. The only problem is that there are pockets of slush that are impossible to set through. Having trouble when you are setting makes for a few choice words in a place where no one can here you!

We take turns being the one to find the jigger and testing the ice. Luckily I am lighter than my older brother! You can see the fog over the open water in the distance.

Here is what our nets look like. This one is a shallow net used close to shore. The thick blue line opposite the orange floats has a a weighted line that sinks it to the bottom.

Here is how quickly the shoreline disappears in a half mile in the snow.

Deer season is still open until this weekend. I hope to still find myself a huge whitetail!

First win!

2010-11-17T04:42:00.000-08:00

Our Bantam team has played 3 games so far and it looks just like old times. We are starting slow but I see we have potential and are going to be contenders by the end! Our league, once we reach Bantam, joins all of our region so we play teams we never used to from farther north. There gets to be some big boys in Bantam so the 4 girls on our team will have to be tough as a Bantam Rooster!

We took a beating in our season opener 10-1 against Arborg who look like they will be very strong, and lost to Lake Manitoba 7-4 in a game we should have won, we will not lose to them again, and then last weekend we were fortunate enough to lay a beating on Peguis 17-5 in a game where our team worked and fore-checked perfectly. It will be a wild season, I can see the rivalries beginning. I absolutely love it!!!

I have been enjoying the beautiful weather up here, great for hunting. Calm and temps in the 30's good deer hunting weather! I have let many 120 class deer go and continue to wait for a shooter. Winter just showed up last night, there is a strong north wind bringing it in and the temp is dropping fast as I type. I am going hunting.

The depth finder story

2010-11-09T18:51:00.000-08:00

John,

It's been two-three years since we scheduled a trip with you, but I still check your blog every few weeks. I started laughing when I saw your recent update on Loree Lake. We (I) lost my buddies depth finder on Loree Lake and never imagined it would show up again. We had transfered his depth finder into my boat that morning, and I forgot to tie it down. About 150 yards from the dock, the tranducer came free from the back of the boat, caught some water, and pulled the entire unit from the boat! Needless to say, Scott D. was not very happy with me. The depth right there was around 20', so we never even tried to drag the bottom to find it. I am guessing the current moved it closer to the dock over the past couple of years making it easier to snag.

We have not been able to get back up to fish the last couple of years, but always talk about next year.

Andy

Here is the original story

Beautiful November Again!

2010-11-07T18:02:00.000-08:00

The summer may be over but you can always go to our You Tube Channel to watch and listen through out the winter to get your fix!

Here is one of my favorites!

Liberals vs Conservatives

2010-10-26T05:18:00.000-07:00

Rena, the girls and I are back in Manitoba and getting settled in for the winter. The weather is changing and I am getting deer stands put up as I find the deer sign. Hockey is underway with our first game this weekend. I will keep you up to date on how we fare. Bantam (13-14) hockey is when our whole region is in one division so we will be playing more games and playing against some teams we have never played before.

I got this from my father in-law. I think it explains a lot!

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be very liberal, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favour of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch conservative, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harboured an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs.

The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, “How is your friend Audrey doing?”

She replied, “Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over.”

Her wise father asked his daughter, “Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.”

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, “That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!”

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, “Welcome to the conservative side of the fence.”

If anyone has a better explanation of the difference between conservative and liberal or progressive or neocon I'm all ears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you ever wondered what side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test!

If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.
If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.
If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.
A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it's a foreign religion, of course!)

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.
A liberal will delete it because he's "offended."

Moose Hunting Pictures

2010-10-20T08:09:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures from our 2010 moose hunt. It was a good year, enjoy the videos on You Tube!

The Otter is put away for the season!

2010-10-19T06:14:00.000-07:00

I took the Otter to our mechanic for the winter the other day. Rena and I are heading back to Manitoba at the end of the week. If anyone has any questions or would like dates for next year. Of course you can still contact us at any of our email addresses or phone numbers over the winter.

Here is the old girl having a much deserved rest.

Then my ride back to Red Lake. It always feels weird to be a passenger sitting in the back.

My next blog will most likely be from some arena in Manitoba, Lake Manitoba, or the bush, hopefully with a huge whitetail!!!

I hope everyone else has a good fall and hunting season.

The last moose of 2010!

2010-10-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

After getting David's huge bull back to camp Bill and I elected not to hunt that evening and get ready for the next day, it was still really windy anyways. Moose meat was on the menu that night!

The next day we woke up to wind, Bill and I went looking for some new sign in another part of the lake. We spent the day near the rapids coming in from Findlay but the wind would not give up.

The next day brought calmer weather, some wind but better for calling. I had a feeling that we needed to go back to the end of the lake where we got David's moose, so that's where we went. We arrived early and began calling. The animals were active... that is usually a good sign. Bill witnessed a pine marten chasing a rabbit 10 feet away from him. But the rabbit got away and the pine marten left hungry. I continued to call as it approached 9:30 am and was just repositioning myself to get more comfortable and watched the far shore of the lake. Then I saw a huge black spot moving towards the shore, straight downwind of us. Bill and I watched, waited for 30 minutes coming up with a plan to either wait for him to come to us or go try to get close to him by crossing the lake. As we walked down to the boat, out popped the rabbit. After watching the bull and seeing that he was headed along the shore out of our wind we paddled with the now very strong wind to put the sneak on him. Once reaching the other shore, we snuck along the shoreline to a nice big rock for a rest. The moose was less than 100 yards away and I gave him a couple of grunts. I could see his horns pop up and he turned and came right at us, staggering, showing off his impressive rack! Bill sunk 2 shots from his 300 win. Short Mag and down he went. Bill has shot a number of moose in his life but nothing like this one. A huge 51 inch bull moose. Tons of long sharp points, I would bet that he is the one who put the hole in David's bull, shot less than 2 miles away. Guaranteed they knew each other.

2010 was a pretty good year for moose hunting, every party but one harvesting at least one moose if not 2. Now I have to wait another whole year to have this much fun again.

Here is the video. Enjoy.

Moose Fever!!!

2010-10-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

In 2010, we hunted into uncharted territory, hunting a third week, beginning on October 3rd. I know that the rut continues for some time into Oct and last year when Bill and David left after their hunt with us, they indicated that they would be interested in hunting that week with me. I was up for it and the plan went into action.

During the 2nd week our hunt went quite well, our 4 unguided hunters bagged 2 bulls and had another opportunity to take a cow but could not get a shot, the hunters I was guiding went 1 for 2, and our other guided hunters, Jerry and David, shot a nice 40 plus inch bull and saw a number of other bulls but as you have heard me say before, moose hunting is tough. Here is a picture of a nice one,

The weather was great the day all the hunters had to move which is nice, happy hunters out and only Bill and David headed back north with me to Loree lake. We had calm weather but it was quite warm and the blackflies were awful! We had a couple of bug nets but had to make a couple of more from some mosquito netting out of the Otter, but it would take a lot more than that to deter us! After calling in a couple of spots the first night we headed out for the first full day of hunting.

As I was getting to the spot where Bill had been calling the night before David whispered "moose!" We could just barely see against the sun....ears. I continued to call and we could hear them moving through the bush ever so quietly. Then....just as it was getting light, a bull! Just a spike bull and not one that we were going to take on the opening day. It was very cool to be able to watch him stare at us and try to figure out what was happening. What had happened was that a cow came to Bill's calling overnight and the small bull just tagged along following the cow. The bull walked into the bush quietly and I left Bill on the rock as David and I headed up the lake to where we were the evening before.

We called. And the moose called back. Calm weather felt so good. I could here 2 cows in opposite directions and was quite sure I had heard a couple of bulls but nothing for sure. After awhile I left David to watch from the ridge and went to look at some other spots on the lake to see what was going on. I went directly across the lake and was having trouble getting the boat to plane out so I was moving stuff around in the boat to level it out, making a bunch of noise as I was only a couple of hundred yards from the shore where I was headed. I looked up....and there stood a 40 inch bull! He was coming to my call across the lake. He looked at me, I looked at him for 2 or 3 minutes as I drifted. What to do... the moose turned and started to walk away and I was off like a flash to go get David. After retrieving David we got up to another spot to try to call the 40 incher back. The wind had picked up and it was getting difficult to hear. We remained there for a couple of hours with no action. I left David again to look for more moose sign. The first spot I checked, I saw a another moose! This was the day. I saw him from a great distance because he was SO BIG! Again, which made me laugh, I had to quickly run back and get David a second time. It was time to try to stalk amongst the match sticks, (small trees) left over from the burn. As we got back to the spot, I hoped he was still there....

We were witnessing a show that few in this world people ever get to see. We were walking, trying to get closer and we could see this huge Canadian moose wagging his shiny antlers from side to side flashing his horns in the sun, standing like a statue, up on a high cliff over looking the whole end of the lake. This Bull had very flat antlers like an Alaskan moose. He was sending a message to the rest of the world that he is THE BOSS! A sight I hope to be able to witness again, but feel fortunate to be able to have seen it once. He was not going anywhere. The moose heard us through the wind and was facing us and looking mad. I want to describe the rest to you but the video I was able get says it all. Imagine how hard our hearts were pumping during it!

Watch this one full screen.

The hunt is not over yet, keep watching for the finale of 2010!!

First moose video is complete!

2010-10-14T06:48:00.000-07:00

Here is the first of a number of moose video's I was able to capture this season. I hope you enjoy. It was lots of hard work and a long haul but worth every step!!

The camps are closed, moose hunting is done!

2010-10-13T05:26:00.000-07:00

This year we had 12 hunters, 4 unguided guys and 8 that were guided. Yours truly ended up with three weeks of guiding in 2010 and was able to get my hands on another experienced moose hunter/guide from within our family to guide the other 2. It was pretty cool to be spend 3 weeks in the bush at 3 different lakes doing what I enjoy...hunting!

Let me start by saying that hunting North America's largest animal is not an easy undertaking. You can't just simply head out anywhere on the lake and see moose standing there just waiting to be shot. It takes long days and time to look at many areas, the bogs, the ridges and high ground if you want to be successful. You need to be rested when you get here because you may be tired when you leave. Moose hunting most of all takes patience, calling all day in one spot is not uncommon, watching and listening for many hours, waiting to here the bush move or a stick break or the best sound in the world, a grunt from a bull!

The first week we hunted Shearstone with 2 guys from Missouri, Kevin and Ken. We hunted hard the first couple of days, finding some fresh sign, seeing one cow and hearing a couple of single grunt answers from bulls but I was not able to get them to come to us. I know from experience that you can never give up until the hunt is over but the guys had some work commitments and had to head home and we had to come out on Saturday. I am certain we would have been successful on Shearstone if we would have been able to stay the entire week, and it is disappointing, but in Big Game hunting, sometimes you come up empty handed.

From Shearstone I moved to Blackbirch, the lake I have spent more time on than any other. The hunters this week were Gene, who has spent more time on Blackbirch than me and one of his Mule deer guides from Nebraska, Josh. 21 years old and full of energy. We were in for an adventure. Throughout the week I was able to show Gene some areas on the lake that he had never seen before in his 90+ days spent there, and every afternoon Josh and I would head into the timber, calling, looking for sign and hoping to have a monster come and fight us. We saw some very interesting country up on top of the hills, down in the valleys and in the heads of the bays. We did find 2 of the coveted "wallows". A wallow is a pit, like a scrape for a deer, and if you find one, you need to spend some serious time in that area calling. The bull urinates in a hole he has dug and rolls in it to give a musky/piney smell, a smell you never forget.

On Tuesday of the hunt I was calling from a ridge, about a 1/4 mile from Josh when I turned my head to my left and standing 30 yards from me....a spike bull! He was staring right at me and coming closer. I was trapped. I waited until the bull went behind a bush and I was off, sprinting through the thick alders, and pines trying to get to Josh so we could get another look at the moose. After getting Josh in hand, we headed back to try to call him to us. We spent a couple hours trying to coax him back to no avail, he must have smelled us. The next day I looked in the bush in that area and discovered he was just yards away but quiet as a moose, standing there motionless, by the tracks and droppings I found.

Thursday rolled around after much wind, the worst thing to have when moose hunting, and just at dark as the wind dropped, it happened....A grunt! Right near one of the wallows I had found. Then another. And another. He was coming! The wind had just gone and it was flat calm, perfect. Grunting, breaking bush, coming like a freight train towards us, it was awesome. Josh was shaking like a leaf and so was I! The moose walked through some water, we could here every step as he got closer and closer. It sounded like he was right on top of us but I knew we would not see him until he was standing right in front of us. For 15 minutes he came, grunting, breaking trees with his antlers, crushing trees while he walked, grunting with every step. As he got closer to the shore I could see trees moving back in the bush a little ways, Josh was ready....Then just before he came out in the open I felt a slight breeze from the south, at the time I did not notice it and concentrated on the moose, He continued to rake the brush, you could hear he was big by the hollow sound of his antlers on the trees as he came to the opening I had envisioned, it was going to happen. Then... HE STOPPED! Right in line with the direction the breeze I felt 5 minutes earlier. We waited for an eternity but I knew. He was gone, the next branch we heard break was 50 yards back in the bush, then 100 yards a small stick broke and a weak grunt. GONE. Such excitment and disappointment all at once. All we could do was keep hunting. Josh had never shot a moose but was able to experience the best part!

Our time for the hunt was starting to dwindle as Saturday approached, now is when the patience pays off, it was windy once again which frustrates me to no end but there was nothing I could do to change it. Fate had pushed us to one of my favorite spots on the lake and the wind went down, finally, and hour before dark. I continued to call to the best of my ability, not to loud, waivering like a cow really in need of a bull! We were up on high ground, a great vantage point, we could see across a beaver pond and the far shore of the next small lake. I continued to call and watch. I noticed a black spot on the far ridge....then as I watched it, it disappeared!! Turned up tree stumps don`t do that. As I walked over to Josh to tell him what I saw, there it was, a bull standing on the far shore of the next small lake looking right at us. I gave him a soft sensual call, hoping he would swim right across the lake. Instead he opted to walk around. I hoped that he would not take too long and show up after dark... Lucky for us moose walk fast, it was very rewarding to be able to watch a bull moose walk over a mile right at us. When he walked into the bush to navigate the shoreline, we moved closer to where we could get a better, closer shot. We were going to meet him half way, down the rock we went, Josh being so excited slid on his butt down a 20 foot rock to get there as I found the old man way down. Getting to the spot right by the other wallow we found, we were in position. The moose was in the first bay of the other lake and grunted once quite loudly as I called out to him. It was going to be 300 yard plus shot for Josh, but he had a great rest and was ready and waiting. This whole ordeal took 20-25 minutes so we had some time to settle down as he came to us.

Then there he was, he rounded the corner and stood there looking in our direction for a few seconds as I whispered instructions to Josh. The moose continued to come closer..."when he quarters, give it to him" BANG, the moose never moved..."again" BOOM...Whack! an awesome sound of the bullet hitting. The moose staggered into the water as I shouted at Josh to keep shooting, Boom...whack, Boom...whack I told Josh beforehand to shoot until he falls, and he did. One last Boom...whack, and down he went. Josh`s hunting partner Gene was a half mile away and heard it all. He could even hear the celebration from Josh and I, so elated after 5 days of 14-15 hours each day, hunting our butts off. We were screaming and cheering like like we had just scored a big goal in a hockey game. It was awesome!! 21 years old, a hunter his whole life, and got an opportunity to harvest a trophy bull moose. Satisfaction. It was a long haul back to the lake but worth every drop of sweat.

I was able to capture this adventure on video and hope to have time to work on it soon, keep watching.

Also there is still more stories to tell from our last week of hunting, stay tuned....

Moose hunting!

2010-10-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

Here is just a preview of what went on during the last 3 weeks! Keep watching for the stories and video of a very tough but rewarding hunt on some of the roughest terrain hunting North America's largest animal. It was awesome!

To view more of the pictures from the hunt, add Amik Outposts on Facebook, click here.

2010-09-18T05:40:00.000-07:00

Fall is making itself pretty comfortable up here....it was snowing yesterday. Heavy snow showers and high winds came through our area again, I hope the wind goes down before we start hunting on Monday. The Moose should be rutting like crazy.

The Kralowetz party made the annual trip to Lorre lake and came out yesterday. The catch of the week.... A depth finder! Just out from the dock Keith caught this monster, transducer, cable and the screen! I don't remember off hand anyone telling me they lost one or got so mad they threw it in the lake! Fishing was good, plenty of numbers and lots of 20 inch walleye. Here are a few pictures.

The boys just finished saying they have neverr seen a moose on any of their trips and 10 minutes later...
A 2.5 year old bull, probably 36-40 inches across. Hopefully I will run into this one in a couple of years.

Moose hunting next :)

New roof on Daniels!

2010-09-15T15:58:00.000-07:00

Fall has showed up and has done so with a week of relentless wind! It has been kind of rainy and windy and cool for awhile now and the moose should be right on the edge of the rut! Geese continue to fly southwest constantly, riding the strong northerly flow. My favorite time of year. Before I turn my attention to moose hunting there is plenty of work to be done at the camps. The last couple of days have been spent putting a new roof on the Cobham Daniel cabin. A metal roof and done forever, also safer in the event of a near miss by a forest fire... The putting up 15 foot sheets of metal in a wind is not much fun and hard on the hands handling the sharp metal.

The scenery at this time of year from the air.

On Sunday I will be headed to the bush for 3 weeks of moose adventure. Keep watching for updates and video. I will be in tune with the moose soon!!! :)

Identifying your moose.

2010-09-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to some great moose information from the province of Ontario. Check it out.

Identifying moose

Remember to take the quiz to see if you would shoot or not shoot to fill your tag.

Two 40 inch pike!

2010-09-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Sam T. from Minnesota of a couple of very healthy northern pike on Cherrington Lake in July. They measured 40 and 40 and 1/2 inches!
Thanks Sam, see you next year.

First Frost!

2010-09-05T05:21:00.000-07:00

Sitting in the office waiting to go flying....foggy and frost on the wings. The 2 things that slow you down at this time of year in the bush! The seasons are changing, the geese are moving and the temperatures have cooled off. The fish are still biting though. I was up at Morley on the Cobham last week again and rebuilt the walkway in front of the shed and closed it down for the season. While we were there of course we had to catch a few fish for supper.... although some of the ones I caught were too big!

The Conaway/Hiscocks party came out of Jeanette Lake yesterday and had a blast. 80's to start the week and 40's to finish it off. Typical weather in our part of the country for this time of year. They did catch many big fish, walleyes were caught up to 29 inches with a 28, 27, and multiple 25 and 26 inch fish to go along with those big boys. Fish went from 10 feet to 30 feet throughout the trip depending on the weather. Here are some pictures,

Here is a huge 42 inch northern pike. Great fish!

It is always good to see these guys, I know when I see them that the season is almost over!

Time for me to start spending time in the bush!

2010-08-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

Fall is slowly setting in up here, I even saw 2 small flocks off geese flying south yesterday in some crappy misty weather. The boys and I spent the last couple of nights at Morleys and took the boat over to fix the dock at Daniels. Here is the end result after finding and cutting at least 20 eight foot logs for a new crib and many boat loads of rocks! A nice solid dock!

The fish were easy to find on the way home on the Cobham and we had fish for supper both nights! Keeping the burgers for when we are weathered in for an extra day!!!

This was last week when we were up at Cherrington, the last couple of days have been windy and rainy, not clear like this. All this wind of late has to be the changing of the seasons.....

Cobham River Giant Pike!!

2010-08-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from another group of happy fishermen. This time it is from the Cobham River. Randy D. and his group caught 6 northern pike that week over 40 inches and 30 over 30 inches. They worked hard for these trophies, working the bays numerous times and hundreds of casts later they were rewarded and the giant pike are back in the water and growing bigger!

A hook in the hand is not the end of the world!

2010-08-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

I recently received the pictures from the Pfeiffer party when Todd had a bit of a mishap. A small northern on one hook of a lure and your hand attached to the other. When grabbing ANY fish you have to be careful, remember you are on a flyin trip miles away from the emergency room. This has happened a few times throughout the years, most of the time if the hook cannot be removed at the camp buy the fishermen and depending on how long they have left on their stay, the hook can sometimes stay in there until you fly out. It is a good reminder to look online for instructions on removing a hook in the wilderness. All I can suggest is that you do not think about it for long, just get it out! Tie a line to the J of the hook and hold down on the front. Then with a fast jerk, pull the line while holding down on the hook and it should come right out with minimal tearing from the barb.

Here they are!

Ouch! And the culprit is there to watch!

I think I know who got the last laugh though!

And there you go, out with minor damage. I saw Todd's hand on the way out and you could barely see where the hook had been!

This video shows how you should do it. They don't mess around, they don't even cut the hook off!

Findlay, Cherrington and Loree.

2010-08-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

It has been very windy up here for a couple of days which makes it hard to hold the boat in the spot you want to be but fishing has been good enough that it didn't matter. Findlay lake continues to produce huge walleyes! Here are big ones that speak for themselves. These guys just came out this morning.

This sure looks familiar.....Here is last years post. They catch these quality of fish each year!

Cherrington had the Halepeska boys there for 8 days and they saw many types of weather and caught a lot of fish. The biggest northern were caught in a short period of time. In 4 hours Mark and Don caught a 39, 2-37's, a 36 and 30 inch northern pike. The walleyes had to be hunted with the ever-changing weather but they caught mostly 20-22 inch walleye.

Loree has the widest variety of visitors from around the globe! Austrians, British, Danish, Canadian and American fishermen have come to fish the waters of Loree lake this season and last week we had some more Danes from Toronto. Never had they been on a flyin before but were prepared and ready for their adventure. They learned plenty and said they caught lots of fish during the last week. Smiles from ear to ear! It is great to see someone who was not sure what they were getting themselves into on the way in to the bush and then so happy when they return.

End of August and still warm...except for those 3 days last week!

2010-08-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

The seasons are poised to change. We had a cold front come through last weekend and it lasted for 3 days. If you were tough enough to fish in it, fishing was great! It was windy, temperatures in the 40's (one day only) and the rain and mist pelted you. The Doverspike party returned to the Cobham River after a 6 year absence and caught many giant northern pike during their stay through the bad weather. 6 northerns over 40 inches and 30 over 30 inches! They fished all the bays and worked the shorelines with a variety of lures but a 2 bladed spinner was the best, hammered gold.

This is also good weather for staying in the cabin reading a book, playing cards or opening the bar early and having a few cocktails. All of the above were done in the north on Sunday, Monday, and part of Tuesday. Then the sun came back and the temperatures are back in the 70's and 80's. It took the fish a day or 2 to return to normal routines and fishermen had to find them but things are right back on track with nice stable weather in place again.

The Kusmerz party went back to the Cobham last week for their bi-annual fishing trip! Some exciting times have been had on this water system involving these guys and a huge forest fire in 2006. A wildfire that had been smoldering miles away had the right combination of dryness and a huge northwest wind to spring to life and leap and bond its way across the Cobham. Good thing they had friends at the Daniel cabin where they spent the night. I came in the next morning and moved them to another lake that we had open for the remainder of the trip. That was a close one with the fire creeping within 20 feet of the outhouse! This year they were in for what seemed like 3 seasons. Warm the first day, then cold and windy for 2.5 days and back to warm and calm to finish the week off. Fishing was good but there was times where it was better than others with the huge temperature swings. They caught and released a number of nice fish though: Everyone caught at least one 35 inch or bigger northern pike! Sean 38 and 39 inch northern, Tom 37 inch northern, and Dan took the prize with a 42 inch big pike and a 38.5 inch northern that had a huge head and big shoulders.

When I said that you had to be tough to handle the rough weather we sometimes get up here, I was talking about 3 little fisherladies aged 9, 11 and 13 years! Jim S. from Wisconsin has 3 tough little girls and wife. They also were up north during the less than perfect weather. They swam the first day and needed a jacket 2 days later. The girls had a great time and were nothing but smiles on the way home, drawing pictures of the pilot and giggling. They caught alot of fish and had lots of good times where ever they were, in the cabin or out on the lake! They had no concept of time either, the only watch they had quit on the first day so they ate when they were hungry and fished when it was light outside.

September is not far away and it will be time to start closing camps soon and get some of the jobs and improvements done around our camps... and catch a few fish.

Cherrington Lake walleyes are big!

2010-08-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some new pictures of some more trophy sized walleyes, this time from Cherrington lake. I wrote about the S. Arnie Safari and here are a few pics and a little note from the boys who are headed back to Jeanette in 2011.

Dear John and Rena

Here are some pictures that made up the great safari (fishing) we had this year. To bad Arnie was missing in action. You may want to put a couple of these on your revolving picture show or John's Blog. By the way, the fish was really good eating. Sorry I did not get a picture of any of Ed Benka's fish. We are looking forward to next year on Jeanette again. Thanks for all the work you put into these camps that make our adventures so successful.

Hockey players love to fish too!

2010-08-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

My old buddy Dick Hoene was back last week and brought some friends with him. A bunch of old and young hockey players. Dick is a great fishermen and had his work cut out for him with a few novice fishermen in the group. When the first fish was caught one of the new guys pulled a pair of channel lock pliers out of his pocket to remove the hook. Not exactly your ideal tool to remove a deep lodged hook from a fish. But by the end of the week that same fishermen caught the biggest fish of the trip! Is it the guide or is it the fishermen?

Here are some pictures of the great time they had:

How would you like to face off against these 2 monsters?

A couple of young wingers from Minnesota were in the group and were pretty excited to start catching fish. They caught a lot! Here is a nice walleye!

It was very hot at times last week and the best way to cool off is just like this! Please make sure the water is deep enough before attempting the cliff jump though!

There were hundreds of fish caught this size. Dick alone caught 850 fish for 7 days of fishing!

A giant pike is the sure way to ensure a return customer. This is a very healthy fish. Head the size of a shovel!

With the young guys along there was lots of exploring to do! This is up in the old burn from 4 years ago.

The rookie with a beautiful golden walleye. A fat 26 incher! Great fish.

There continues to be thunderstorms every few days. This one in the distance is almost done. You can see the anvil shape at the top as it blows out with a nice "red sky at night, sailors delight!"

Good times had by all, and good for the boys to spend some time in the bush.

First Northern Pike!

2010-08-12T04:40:00.000-07:00

It is nice to see first time flyin fishermen joining some of our veteran groups. They are brought along and are shown the way to catching big fish with someone who has been there before. Here is a picture of a young man with his first northern pike ever! A 36 inch fat one! He looks very happy. This one was caught and released on the Cobham recently with the Pfeiffer party.

The Trophy walleyes are active!

2010-08-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

Findlay Lake was living up to its reputation last week! Curtis, Tom, Bill and Billy fished there for 7 days and caught a lot of BIG walleye! They had 1-29.5, 3-28's, and more 27 inch walleye than they could remember. Numbers were spectacular in 12 to 16 feet of water where the fish ran somewhat smaller but out in the 20 foot depth they caught the trophies! Not quite as many but the quality was awesome! I do not have pictures from all of the guys but here are a few. They had been talking about going back to their old haunt, Blackbirch lake for 2011 but after this last trip they rebooked Findlay Lake for next season. Here they are:

We had a very busy stretch lately with lots of fishermen changing over and here are some of the highlights:
The Cobham River had the Joyce/Sander party fish there last week. This is an every year adventure for these guys and they got off to a great start. One of the new guys in the group caught a 42 inch northern in the first hour! Northern fishing was very good overall with 5 northerns for the group caught over 40 inches with many 39 inch trophy northerns. They had a 32 inch northern attack a 12 inch walleye, landing both fish, that is always exciting! Numbers were crazy, with most boats catching well over 100 fish per boat each day, 137 was the highest for 2 people for the trip!

The Willows party fished Cherrington Lake for their first time. These guys fished Jeanette lake for many many years but have tried their hand on some new lakes, fishing Findlay in 2009 and Cherrington this year, always doing very well. As I always say, fishermen always catch fish! Size was awesome on Cherrington last week. So many walleyes caught between 23 and 24 inches! The largest was a 26 incher caught by Bruce and Richard had the biggest northern at 34 inches. But it will be back to their old stomping grounds next year....Jeanette in 2011! They were 5 guys this year, missing Arnie J. Are you gonna make the trip with your buddies next year Arnie?

Blackbirch had some Indiana boys fish there this past week, part of a large group of friends who have made Blackbirch their vacation destination with various groups since the cabins were built by Charlie Weyerhaeuser in the 80's. I will be hunting with another part of that group later this fall on Blackbirch! We appreciate the good word of mouth. This week was great for fishing everywhere including Blackbirch. These guys caught fish until they were sick of it. Depths ranged from 3 to 18 feet of water. Lots of 20 inch quality walleyes and 24 was the biggest.

Cobham Morley had some new guests fish there who enjoyed the peace and serenity the north has to offer. Anders E. and his family fished 7 days on the Cobham and caught a lot of fish. Grandpa (Ramiro) caught the biggest northern for the week measuring 40 inches and fat and Sebetian caught the biggest walleye at 23 inches. No depth finder for these guys, it is old school, go find the fish! They were very happy and plan on returning in 2011!

Cherrington also had some other fishermen return after 5 years absence. Patrick G. brought his Dad and Father in-law to Cherrington and had a great trip. Herb caught and released a 29 inch walleye and Denny caught a 37 inch northern. I hope to see these guys again before 5 years next time.

Time really flies. It is August already and in a few weeks we will be slowing down and starting to look to the end of the season. Plenty of fishing left yet but we are getting closer to hunting season everyday!!

Quality Time.

2010-08-05T13:31:00.000-07:00

You can tell John L. really enjoys the north! He was on Blackbirch last week and came out for one day and went right back into the Otter and took his son, son in-law and his grandson up to Vee lake for another trip. They took many amazing pictures and we are fortunate enough that they shared them with us. I can only post so many because they caught a lot of trophy sized fish! These pictures tell the story of an amazing vacation with your family!

When you get a giant pike on the line, sometimes they will be lost when you use the net. This is the way I chose to land them and so does John.

You need to wait until the fish is ready to be landed, trying to bring him in too early will result in losing possibly the fish of your life. Then bring him along side the boat so that your partner can get a hold of the bottom jaw firmly...don't put your fingers in too far, near those razor sharp teeth or even into the gills. If you are the fishermen who is holding the rod, be sure to help keep the boat level during the landing of your trophy.

Then with both hands lift him out of the water making sure to support the body weight, keeping the monster level and not lifting him totally by the head. That hurts the fish and they will become immobile eventually, even though they may swim away afterwards.

Then the photo, measurement, and the release...there for someone else to catch. Only to get bigger! Eric's smile says it all. Happiness. Thanks Dad.
Shorelunch and a break from the lake. Time well spent.

The walleye fishing was phenominal on Vee lake. The largest was 27 inches caught by Walker but there was a lot of walleye caught from 23 to 25 inches! Here are just a few pictures of some of the good ones.

Then it has to end sometime and this guy comes to pick you up. :)

It has been pretty good flying weather lately. It sure makes my job easier and also makes our fishermen happier. Fishing is always great but sunshine cannot be replaced.

Thanks for sharing your pictures, we appreciate it. See you next year!

Findlay Lake Pictures

2010-08-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

The pictures of the Big fish in our vault from 2010 just keep coming! These are from the Weber party who fished Findlay Lake in July. They had a blast and caught some big fish, especially the leader of the group Gary. Here they are:

Gary held the lucky hand that week! Nice walleyes Gary!

Vee Lake Monsters!!

2010-08-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

Would fish like these put a smile on your face? Especially if your wife had you beat for the largest walleye and northern for the entire trip! Frank redeemed himself in the final hour. This monster walleye was the last fish of the trip!!
Jane was so happy when I picked her up! It was awesome. She is not afraid of the giant pike! You know they are BIG when their head looks like the size of a shovel!!!

I came across another happy customer from Shearstone Lake. The Berg family fished there recently. As per most of the trips, the youngest guys catch the biggest fish!!

Cobham Morley Pics!!

2010-08-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures from the Morley trip last week. A nice peaceful one and one of a huge northern pike caught by a happy teenager!

People are happy, weather is great...most of the time.

2010-08-02T07:50:00.001-07:00

It has been quite warm up here in the north, but not too warm. Temperatures have been in the 80's at times but most nights have been cool and good for sleeping. Every morning the weather has been picture perfect but by the afternoon the clouds build and we have had showers and crazy thunderstorms. The Langeland group got hailed on as they were racing back to camp one day on Blackbirch. Water levels are staying at a good height and I saw the first leaves beginning to change yesterday at Vee Lake and Cherrington. You know what that means....Moose Hunting is getting closer!!

Here are some pictures from the Birdsong party who fished Shearstone last week. They had a great time, mostly stable weather and caught quite a few fish. Their first flyin trip so they learned a lot and got the hang of catching fish up here. They are already looking forward to their next trip! The largest walleye was 26 inches and the largest northern was 39 inches with many in the mid 30's. They had many northerns attacking their stringers attached to the boat and even had a 48-50 inch monster pike come right out of the water and totally rip a fish off the line just as it got to the boat! And not seen again! These guys fished hard. Although in this first picture Randy and Cody seem pretty relaxed.

Back at'er after the rain. It is great to get back out fishing in the evening after a storm. The air smells so fresh.

Get the net!

I love these pictures when the fish did not want their picture taken!

Randy with a nice walleye.

And Randy with a future trophy! Unless someone eats him first!

It seems that I see the same face holding the biggest fish! Ryan caught some nice ones.

Here is another trophy northern pike from Blackbirch lake last week. Jack W. is 17 years old and showed the old guys how it is done with this 41 inch Pike! The Patnode party tries a new lake every year and this year they were quite happy on Blackbirch! Young Bob caught a 27 inch walleye and numbers of fish were nuts!

The Pfeiffer party made their bi-annual trip with us and had their first experience on the Cobham River system. It was a great success! Tommy caught a 43 inch monster pike just outside of a nice weedy bay in some deeper water. It is nice to hear that for his graduation present next summer, Tommy wants to come fishing with us! Spending time in the north is something that has to be experienced to appreciate. There was a fish hook incident during their stay involving a fiesty northern pike and alarge treble hook! I never heard about it until we were back in Red Lake but the hand that was hooked looked very good and only had a small wound! I will post those pictures when I get them. Make sure you have pliers that can cut a hook!

The Toft Party fished Cherrington again recently and caught lots of trophy fish. Fishing on the big lake was very good. Jim was the walleye master catching 6-24 inch walleyes ans Sam was the northern pike King, catching and releasing a 41, 40.5, 36.5 and a 33 inch northern. They will be back next year to see if they can better those numbers!

The Cleave party came out of Vee lake and had some Big fish stories! Jane who is a tiny woman caught a 42 inch huge pike! Her husband Frank said it was comical to see her trying to hold such a big fish for the picture, I will post that one when I get it. Jane was holding onto the big walleye title too until the last night, last fish...Frank`s last fish of the entire trip on the last night was fat 29 inch walleye!! What a way to end the trip.

The Haldrup party fished Findlay last week and had a great time and great fishing. They commented on how many walleyes they caught between 20 and 23 inches. It was an awesome trip with some unbelievable walleye fishing. Findlay is a very easy lake to fish with not very many rocks. The largest was 26 inches.

Fishing report coming soon!

2010-08-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

Fishing has been great at all of the camps and I will get a report up soon but here is a video we recieved from Cherrington Lake last August. They will be returning in 2011, back to Cherrington.

A New Video

2010-07-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

Andrew W. from the last group to come out Morleys on the Cobham put a video together from their trip. You can't get much more recent than this! Enjoy.

It is nice to see the next generation having a good time

2010-07-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

The Tupy/Novotny party came out of Cobham Morley recently and as always it was a great time. 4 young guys, younger than me anyways, maybe I am getting older, and a couple of the Dads as chaperone's. They made their second trip to the Cobham and had another good time. Nothing extraordinarily big this year, 24 inches on the walleye and a 39 inch northern I think was the largest last week, but the number were of fish they caught was totally nuts!! They commented on the large number of 20-22 inch walleye. They saw a moose and got some great scenic pictures in addition to the fish pictures.

Andrew, who had a 31 inch walleye on Findlay a few years ago had the biggest walleye and biggest northern this trip.

Mmmmmmmm

Doug, the smallest guy, is always the last one into the Otter, pictured here with a nice one.

These guys love beer so there is no room on the Otter for bringing in bottled water. There is no need for it if you buy a filter and go get it from the lake. We have never had an issue with people drinking lake water.

There has been plenty of great weather this summer, it is nice to get back closer to a normal summer.

And then the dreaded last day.....until next year!

Loree Lake!

2010-07-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

We recieved some pictures recently from the Frazer Party who fished Loree Lake in June. Here are some of the best ones.

The leader of the group with a nice walleye on the first day.

Walter with an eater! Someday I am going to go squirell hunting with Walter in Wisconsin and see his confesional made out of Jack Daniels bottles!

I will be looking for this monster soon enough!! He will be BIG by fall!

With some outfitters this is a highlight, with us, doubles are quite common.

There must be pot of gold at the end of the dock.

A Trophy Northern.

The measurement before releasing him to get even bigger.

This is the biggest reason to make a trip to an outpost, uninterupted time with your buddies, just easier when you have a nice place to sit.

Another nice black average 20 plus inch walleye.

It is always great to see these guys, same time next year!!!

Norseman Days!!

2010-07-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

The weather was awesome for the 2010 Norseman Festival in Red Lake this weekend. We were able to get all of our fishermen moved in and out of the bush on time and this allowed us to go to town for awhile each night of the festival. Good times were had and I got to see some of the veteran bush pilots I only get to see once a year and hear some stories!!

The Amik Outposts crew entered into the Special Olympics Fundraiser Bellyflop contest. It was a good time on a hot July day. Here is the video of our flop.

In this picture is a dockhand, Jay who worked for us 7 years ago and is flying in Sioux Lookout now and doing very well. On my left is Joel who is a young pilot working hard for us and hoping to find himself a flying job in the area next summer.

With the good weather, I like to come back from up north at some higher altitudes. My buddy Rob flies the Hawker, similar to a DC3 and hauls freight and fuel to the Native reserves in the north. If you have ever been to Findlay or Loree lakes you would have seen this plane flying over.

And on Sunday was the flyby. I love the sound of a radial engine!

Things are pretty normal in the North.

2010-07-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a video from the Berg family who fished Shearstone recently. 4 brothers and their sons spending some time in the bush. They had a great time and are looking forward to the next one!

We continue to give our guests memorable vacations as the summer seems to be flying by. The end of July is fast approaching and it is Norseman Days this weekend. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and Rena and I will be able to go to town for a few hours Saturday night to enjoy the festivities. :)

Fishing has been great lately, numbers have been as good as ever with a few big northerns being caught on all of the lakes. The trophy northerns have been caught on light tackle mainly, when walleye fishing, of course. It makes for a better story when you land a 40 plus inch northern on 8 pound test, no leader, on a jig!

Here are some pictures from the Parke party, from California. 3 years ago they made a once in a lifetime trip for Alex`s graduation.... They loved it so much, they have been back every year since then and hope to return in 2011. This year they drove to Calgary Alberta and flew to Winnipeg, then rented a car and drove the rest of the way to Red Lake. There are many ways to get yourself to Amik Outposts for your "once in a lifetime" trip!

Fishing Report

There has been a lot of happy people as always fishing our lakes, here are a few highlights:

Weber party, Findlay Lake. These guys try a new lake each season and had some good luck on the walleye factory called Findlay Lake. Gary, the leader, schooled all of his buddies... one day alone he caught lots of big fish! 22, 23, 23.5, and a 24.5 inch walleye. He also had the largest walleye of the trip a 27.5 inch fat walleye.
Hundreds of walleyes were caught by everyone in the 20 24 inch range. They were really impressed by the fishing on Findlay.

Rizzo party, Cobham River. These guys are very easy going and love the peaceful serenity the north has to offer. They never elaborate in much detail how many big fish they catch but this year they reported catching at least 5 fish in the 40 plus inch range. This group has fished all over Canada but have been our customers since the very beginning, since Rena and I were at the original Amik Lodge on Deer Lake.

Van Houweling Family, Cherrington Lake. Don from Iowa is another customer whom we have gotten to be close to since he has been with us since the Deer Lake Amik days as well. Fishing a number of our lakes but falling in love with Cherrington and those big walleyes it has to offer. Don always brought up a company trip for years but has begun bringing his sons and more recently his wife and his daughter in-laws as well. Last year was the first time for the girls and as many of our customers know, last season was cold and wet. I hoped they would have better luck with Mother Nature in 2010! I was thinking a lot about these guys and girls this week as it rained off and on for 3 out of their 4 day trip this year. The saving grace this time around was that the temperature was a lot warmer and the rain was not so hard that they could not fish out in it. So many things play a factor in a vacation in the outdoors, the weather being the biggest, but Don and his family experienced some of the best fishing they had ever had. Walleyes were BIG, at least 50 walleyes were 4 pounds or better and the numbers were awesome! I was happy to hear that! Hopefully the weather will be nicer to them in 2011!!

Springpole Lake continues to be one of our Hidden Gems. Fishing has been awesome there. The Rigalto party came out recently and like every other group that fishes there commented on how round and fat the walleyes are! The fishing was the best they had ever seen and hope to be back in 2 years. The biggest walleye was 26 inches but they had at least 30 that were 20 to 24 inches. The largest northern was 38 inches and they had 3 lake trout on the line but were not able to land any after getting them to the surface.

I always enjoy my early morning flights and get to see some awesome sights. Here is the view from a few days ago.

More pics from the Peters on Loree Lake

2010-07-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

Every once in awhile we get reports of the thought to be extinct "Blue walleye". They are most commonly caught on Loree and Cobham lakes as well as in some of our remote moose hunting lakes. Here is a picture of these "Extinct" fish!!

And as always the Big ones! Fishing on our lakes is always good to us and to most people, it is the best they have ever experienced! Trophy fish at Amik Outposts are the norm not the exception.

July is the time for the whole family!

2010-07-13T13:19:00.000-07:00

The Lammert family fished Vee lake last week and had a blast! We see these guys and girls every 4 years but when they were leaving this time they said they may not be able to wait that long this time it ws so much fun! Brekken was my co-pilot on the way north and was nothing but smiles all the way, even though she had one eye swollen shut from a mosquito bite. Here are some pictures from some happy people on a great trip!

How would you like to be stared down by this guy!

2010-07-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

The Rockford party has been with us many times as I have written about before, but this year they had a new visitor visit them in camp! Have a close look.

They saw this old looking wolf a number of times but none more closely than the first time. 6 feet away. He was headed straight for the fish guts, except they were still being filleted! Everything and everyone gets old, even the wolves. I suspect this wolf was a loner, pushed from the pack or could not keep up with the rest. Poor old guy. He never bothered anything, just went and licked the rock where the fishguts were dumped, looking for something to eat, probably never to be seen by human eyes again.

The reason these guys love Springpole Lake....

Thats right. Lake Trout! Right in front of the cabin.

3008 fish, 8 people, 7 days!!!

2010-07-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

The Peters party came out of Loree the other day and had some good times, good weather, and no Bugs! Oh yea, they caught 3008 fish for the week! This group sure knows how to catch walleyes. They started a tradition last year with a sign and this year they had one ready to go. All they had to do was fill in the number.

Bernice and Ed saw their first moose last year and this year they saw 2. A cow and a calf this time. Betty and Jim were also fortunate to see a moose.

The big ones were not as willing as they were last year but they caught lots in the 20 to 24 inch range.

Jeanette Lake! The big ones were willing there this week!

The S. Arnie Safari came out of Jeanette this morning and had some great luck! Arnie has been with us since 1983 and had countless good times with his buddies and in the past number of years, with his sons. They were fishing in 20 to 35 feet of water for the big fish and shallower for supper sized fish. Using jigs and tails on the windy days and just a snell hook with a crawler on it when it was calm. Experience is a very valuable thing when it comes to catching trophy fish.

How would you like your first fish of the trip to be a.....

A 29 inch Walleye! Chad J. knows how that feels. In addition he caught a 27 inch walleye too.

The whole Johnson Family did very well on Jeanette. Here are the largest fish:
Chad J. 29 and 27 inch walleye
Charlie J. 26 and 25 inch walleye
Chris J. did the best on this trip catching a 23, a 25, 2-26 inch walleyes and a 28 incher!
Dad on the other hand could only muster a 22 inch walleye but I am sure he takes pride in seeing his boys catch trophy fish.

A 26 and 22 inch double header was one of the many highlights of the week. The Johnsons did bring Uncle Phil along for his first trip to Jeanette, pictured here in the double header. He surpassed his largest fish record of a 5 pound northern. He will be welcome back next time to break that record again.

We have been very busy lately and had lots of good pictures shared with us. Here are a few from Cobham Daniel when the Connaughty Party spent some time there recently. Enjoy!

An Awesome Gift!

2010-07-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

We have a guest who is an artist who loves the North, especially Loree Lake! Jim Peters is an artist and has given us a print of some of his work in the past but this year he has really out done himself. When I dropped him off last year at Loree he was taking pictures of the Otter as I left Loree, nothing unusual, but during the winter Jim made us a great gift and gave us the original.

Thank you so much Jim. It is the best painting on an Otter I have ever seen!

Here is last years post from their trip on Loree! Click here.

Fishing is steady, walleyes beginning to move out a bit.

2010-07-05T14:49:00.000-07:00

It has been mostly sunny and warm up here recently, but not to hot. The fishing has been quite good with the walleyes in 6 to 12 feet of water. I fished for awhile on Shearstone last week and caught lots of walleyes in 9 feet on a overcast day.

I brought the Weston party out of Daniels today and Larry, the leader of the group was ecstatic! This was their first trip with us, although he has been fishing Canada for 40 years, he had never caught a northern over 40 inches. Many 39's but never breaking the 40 barrier. Well this week on the Cobham, he not only broke the 40 inch plateau, but caught and released a fat 43.5 inch northern. His boys said he did not fish as hard after that satisfying feat that was a long time coming. Troy caught a couple nice fish as well, 38 and 39 inch northerns and walleyes were nuts right in front of the cabin by the fish gut rock on the last night. What a perfect way to end the trip!

Here are some pictures from last week on Vee Lake. Mike W. and his buddies fished there for their first time and caught some big fish.

Walleyes with shoulders!! Big!

I love it in July when the best lure for walleyes is a 5 of diamonds!!

New Video

2010-06-29T06:31:00.001-07:00

It makes us feel good!

2010-06-28T07:52:00.000-07:00

We are fortunate to be close to so many great people. This business is very rewarding if you are the type of person who gets satisfaction from seeing people have a good time. All I can say is that we care. Here is a letter from our friend Jack Darsnek. We have shown them around Northwestern Ontario and they have seen all kinds of weather, fishing, bugs and bears. Thanks for the kind words Jack. See you next year.

Dear John, Rena, Bruce and Debbie,

A few pictures to capture our June trip. This was the best trip we've
had, of the 10 or 11 we've made. Everything turned out well, with the
exception of two of the old guys unable to make the trip this year.
The fishing was fantastic !! Tony said he caught more fish the first
day than he usually catches in a week. Russ got a white fish, in the
pictures. I won the big northern T-shirt on the first day, first 1/2
hour, in sight of the cabin. While it may not be be the biggest fish
in the lake I got a 33" on an ultralight, 6 lb test line, no leader,
and put it in the boat, since I was the odd guy, fishing alone.

Walleyes from 20"-24" were ordinary, it took a 23" to raise eyebrows
and everyone got a few that size. Happy got Mr Big with a 25", took
home his t-shirt to show off. We awarded Russ Best in Show for his
superior skills in the culinary arts. We left full of fish and full of
memories.

Oh, did I mention that the weather was wonderful, we had a heavy rain
one afternoon, about 4:30 PM so we didn't lose any boat time. Best of
all, John must have said something to the bugs, there were NONE. Zero,
nada, rien, zippo. No even in a mosquito out back. It was a great
experience and I hope all your clients get the same.

Had a bear in camp, the boys saw a wolf and a moose. As usual, I saw
nothing, only walleyes coming in over the side. We'll see you at
Loree, come 2011. Thanks for everything, Jack

Shearstone Lake pictures of a few big ones!

2010-06-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

The big ones were quite active last week at Shearstone. And as the way it is intended... the kids catch the Trophies! Here are some pictures from their annual trip to Shearstone.

Tom is 12 years old and caught this 28 inch walleye as well as another 27 inch one who decided he did not want to get his picture taken.

The little brother Andrew (11) kept close pace with his older brother catching and releasing these 25 and 26 inch black walleyes. The color difference from lake to lake is cool. Shearstone fish are very dark.

Fishing has been awesome and so has the weather!

2010-06-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

Fishing has been great on all the lakes and the weather has been nice and sunny for the most part. The Mayflies hatched last week pretty much everywhere and all but one lake said that the fishing improved when the hatch was on. The walleyes were gorgeing themselves in the windblown bays, sometimes in the weeds and sometimes not but the numbers were incredible!

We have had many first time flyin people lately and even a guy who went to Springpole had never flown in his life! I was happy to give him his first ride in an airplane and show him the best fishing he had ever seen.

Here are some pictures from the Brown Party who fished Loree lake last week. Their first time with us and had a blast, they will be returning in 2011!

Findlay Lake had the Jias party fish there last week and had some pretty good fishing. It slowed down some during the mayflies but overall it was very good. Some guys in theis group have been fishing Canada for 46 years, so they have a good gauge on the quality of fishing. The largest walleye was a 27 incher caught by Dan but there was a number of 25's caught by Tim and lots of 24 inchers caught by everyone! They commented on the many different sized fish they caught showing the health of the lake, from 8 inch walleyes and northerns to the great number of large fish they caught and released.

The Laska party came out of Blackbirch today, their second trip there and said fishing was better than last year because they knew where to start looking for the fish. Bill caught this 42 inch monster!

Jeanette Lake continues to impress people with huge fish! The Krall party came back the other day reporting a 28 inch walleye, 2-27's and many more from 22-25 inches with a 40 inch northern put in there for good measure. The group previous to them had pretty much the same report only having caught a 26.5 inch walleye and adding 40 and 41 inch northerns.

We have had alot of happy customers fish recently and it is hard to get them all on here but here are a few of the BIG ONES caught recently.

Cobham Morley Ben caught a 44.5 inch Northern, no picture cause it was raining cats and dogs. but had a witness.LOL

Loree lake Al caught a 39 inch northern and Peter a 37 incher. They saw a few moose and one was a nice big bull in full velvet!

Springpole lake-Porter party. Fat fish, 25 inch walleye the largest but many 23 and 24 inch strong walleyes with shoulders.

Cherrington lake-Hoffman party. First time flyin fishermen who got the hang of catching walleyes, the youngest Teddy caught a nice 24 inch walleye.

Vee lake-Hamre party. Karl caught the biggest fish of his life last week on Vee lake, and big 26 inch walleye!

Shearstone lake had the Hanson family back again. Walleyes ran big this year for them. Thomas and Dan each caught a 28 inch walleye, Andrew had a 25 and 26 inch walleye, Dick and Thomas each caught a 27 incher! Those are some big fish! The Northerns were slightly smaller than normal with a 37 inch northern being the biggest.

Some BIG Walleye pics!

2010-06-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the Huge Walleyes caught recently at some of our lakes that haven't been posted yet.

Cobham Lake
Same group, same week.

One for the Blog,

This year at Findlay I caught a lot of bigger walleyes in the 25” range – several 24” and a 26” & pic of a 29”. Of course, I usually win the walleye contest – The other’s can have their northern (I did catch a 38” earlier pic). I will continue to retain my title of “Walleye King”… As John said during the ride up, I will catch a lot of bigger walleye’s this year and I did. He referred to “Jigger” will do it again. Also, some of the 24” & 25”’s were huge football shaped walleyes, never felt them that heavy before, sure put up a nice tugging fight. Findlay is getting better (for me) on them walleyes, also this year I caught more on rapalas, then leeches. I purchased a new hot rapala, with my unique technique - worked for me. Thanks for your hospitality.

Nick C

Blackbirch never disappoints.

2010-06-21T06:03:00.000-07:00

When ever the is fishing... there is fish stories. The only difference when you are fishing with us? They are almost all true! With the great quality and ease of use of todays digital cameras, we have the proof!

Here are some pictures from a family trip recently on Blackbirch. Enough can ever be said for the quality time you get to spend with someone in the remote wilderness. These pictures speak for themselves.

Skills need to be shown and taught.

Then practice!

A good time. They are already looking forward to the next trip! One member of this group said to me on his way home "I might have to start coming 2 times every summer"

Loree Lake Pictures!

2010-06-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

John and Rena:
Best trip EVER in my 21 years fishing your outposts. We caught well over 1200 fish and no one used a jig. Biggest Northern was 41 inches with lots in the mid to upper 30's and our biggest Walleye was 24 inches. We all wore out a lot of Rapala's this week. We even went swimming in late May, can you believe that one? Thanks for all you do to make this trip so very special for our team. This truely was the best ever!

Check out the picture of the moon with the haze of the forest fire from 50 miles away. You will also see some bigger northern and the littlest one ever caught on a 4 inch Rapala.

Thanks again,
The Seals and Hansens

The Seal/Hansen party is one of our longest running groups of fishermen and have seen many different springs with us. From cold and snow with frozen water lines to a year like this where swimming was even possible. The water was cold but at least the air temperature was nice. They always catch some nice fish and this year was no exception. Here are a few pictures from May on Loree Lake.

These guys will grow up one day and turn into.....

This!!

Daisy looks like he is going to eat well tonight!

Chris could not let his brother steal all the glory. He knows how to catch them too!

Everyone is thrilled with the quality of fishing!

2010-06-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

Another weekend has come and gone. The weather made it interesting once again. Delays and lots of waiting people. One consolation, on my arrival at each camp I saw big smiles and got to hear stories of great numbers of fish, big ones that were caught and some that got away. With the weather delays we did not get many pictures this weekend but will share them as they come in the email.

Orin S. pictured here caught this 40 inch Monster on Vee lake last week on a Lindy Rig. He was very excited when I finally got to Vee to pick them up a few hours late due to the weather. He fishes with the Evans Party who have fished Blackbirch for as long as I can remember but really loved the fishing on Vee this year and will be back on the Vee water in 2011. 50 walleyes over 20 inches in 4 days!

We have another group with the name Evans who named a spot on Vee "Penis Cove." Fishing in Penis Cove was awesome this week. :)

Here are some of the other fishing reports:

Springpole lake doesn't get as much attention as the some of our other lakes but the fishermen who come out of there are always very happy. Football shaped walleyes in that lake. The Bunt/Alesch group loves Springpole and this year they had the best fishing they have ever experienced. Chad caught a 25 inch walleye and Chad Pat and Doug each caught a 38 inch northern during their stay. The comment on the waleyes was "they are fat...right to the tail."

The McConnell party fished Blackbirch last week and had "fantastic fishing." One day they had over 200 fish after 2pm for 2 boats, and the leader of the gang, Gary caught a 38 inch northern.

Jeanette lake had some new fishermen visit for a 7 day trip last week. No northerns were caught over 40 inches but the biggest one was caught off the dock by Cory and Vern caught 2- 36 inchers. Doug and Don had one exceptionally good day on walleyes, they caught many fish but there was a half dozen walleyes that were bigger than 24 inches. Good day eh! The biggest walleye was 26 inches for the trip.

Shearstone lake had the Olsen party beat the water last week. Dave set the bar very high for the biggest fish early. In the first hour of fishing he had caught and landed a huge 41.5 inch northern! Al caught the biggest walleye of the trip measuring a hefty 27 inches. They commented on the beauty of the lake and the choice of location of our cabin. It is a great spot amongst the big tall spruce trees.

The Stroup party who venture from Ohio to come back to their favorite vacation spot on the Cobham River had another great trip! Everyone in the group caught at least one northern over 40 inches. I love seeing the changed look in peoples faces from the beginning to the end of their trip. These guys looked like they were very content when I picked them up. Spending a week in the bush will do a world of good for anyone from the high pressure executive to a pain in the neck teenager. No Internet, No Cell phone, just the great silence and the sound of the wind and the loons.

Vee Lake

2010-06-09T14:31:00.001-07:00

The Rother Party came out of Vee today, their second year fishing that lake and like I tell our guests, the more you get to know a lake, the more successful you will be in catching trophy fish. They were ecstatic last year with the fishing on Vee lake but 2010 turned out to be even better. Del pictured below shared a few pictures with us of his catch of the trip, a 29 inch walleye! He also had a 30 inch northern take his bait even before he could cast it out. The fish on average were quite a bit bigger than last year with 10 walleyes being 22 inches or bigger. They will be back at Vee in 2011.

And remember to add Amik Outposts on Facebook by clicking here and suggest your friends who would like to fish the best lakes in Ontario! Amik Outposts Facebook

New Pictures!

2010-06-08T14:25:00.000-07:00

Fishing has been as good as ever on our lakes, and here are some pictures of some good times.

The Davis Party came out from their annual Cherrington Lake trip and caught tons of fish and most of them were BIG! Cherrington is known for having a huge average walleye, and these guys have seen them get bigger every year.

When you fish with us, don't always rely on your partner to get the net for you....he may have his own big one to land.

These two 22 inchers must be brothers.

I had to put an Otter pic in today.

This made Dean's trip!! A huge 29.5 inch walleye. A quick picture and back she went.

Enjoying the last Blue's waiting for Johnny to pick'em up.

These pictures were from the Daniel Cabin. The McCarthy party came out on the weekend and had a great time as usual. A 41 inch Northern and plenty of walleyes to go around. Same time next year.

Tom and his 41 inch Pike.

Other fishing reports:

Jeanette Lake. A. Knauf and his crew fished Jeanette lake last week and had some great fishing. A 28 inch walleye and 2-46 inch Northern Pike. These monsters were caught in the same area, 30 minutes apart. Those are really big fish! Anton had caught his 46 incher before lunch and then they went in to eat. On their way back out they looked at that same spot, thinking a few more casts... Dave's first cast... a 46 inch northern! Anton had the hot hand for the whole trip too, landing a 28, 26, 25, and a 24.5 inch walleyes during his stay at Jeanette. The fish were a little deeper than normal but they were biting hard on even the smallest piece of minnow.

Blackbirch Lake had some nice young fishermen in their 20's visit this week chaperoned By B. Hendricks(dad), they had a great time and some good color on their faces. They caught lots of fish and some nice ones to boot. Matt caught a 41 inch northern and fishing right off the dock was great. They had 2-22 inch walleyes and a 32.5 inch northern off the dock!

Springpole Lake, the Rockford Party. Pat, Bill and Jim like to fish Lake Trout. Luckily the Lakers are literally right in front of the cabin. They caught a number of Lake Trout the biggest being 16 pounds. They too had some action right off the dock catching walleyes and northerns when ever they fished there. Most fishermen head to the other side of the lake to fish. They also had a visitor in camp, a wolf. Jim was cleaning fish one day when he turned around and saw a big grey wolf 5 or 6 feet away. He yelled and off he went but they saw the old looking wolf every day, down the shore where they took the fish guts. Not many predators when you are the top of the food chain.

Veterans!

2010-06-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

We have many return customers and have become friends with lots of people, but it is good to hear some stories from guests who have been fishing some of our lakes for almost as long as I have been alive. Jim B. has been fishing the Cobham and Pat R. has been fishing Springpole since the 70's! These guys have been through a number of outfitters throughout the years and have many stories to tell.

Jim who hails from Iowa has brought many a fishermen to the granite rock we call Northwestern Ontario specifically the Cobham River System. The cabin we purchased 6 years ago was originally erected in the 70's and Jim began fishing there then. (Morley and Daniel were built on Cobham Lake in 1992) The Cobham is a lake of extreme water levels. It goes from being as high as it ever was last year to quite low this year, 4-5 feet lower than last. Jim told me he has seen it so low one spring that they had to physically carry the boats in the rapids going down the river. Alot has changed since then, from coleman lanterns to propane lights, to bright solar powered light. The running water has gone from running to the lake to get it to simply turning on a faucet in the cabin with the aid again of solar power. He now makes Cobham Morley his home for one week each summer with his crew and I wonder how many 40 plus inch northerns he has caught on that body of water in 30 years.

Pat has been with Lac Seul Airways since the original owner John Hannaway back in the 70's and loves to catch Lake Trout. And Springpole has some Huge Trout. I have heard a ton of stories about John and most of them have alot to do with him being grumpy and giving gruff orders to people around the dock. Pat's brother Bill joined the group in 1986 and figured he would have a laugh during the weighing of the gear before the flight to Springpole. As it was being weighed, he lifted on the cart, making it look lighter. John Hannaway did not think it was very funny. They went from being the first flight out that morning, to flying in late that night, waiting around all day for John to send them out.

It is good to see all of our regulars and hear the stories of past trips and good times!

In my last post I did not have all of the pictures from the group, Tom C. sent us this one of a great looking 41 inch Trophy! Thanks Tom, you will have another picture on our wall again! Keep it up and we will have to create a section for you and your family!

Northern Hunting!

2010-06-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

If you want to catch Big Pike, you need to come fishing in May! More often than any other time of year we have 40 plus inch fish caught and released at all of our outposts. This year, even with the early ice out the big ones were still up in the bays sunning themselves. The weather is always a question in May but you just have to be prepared for every type of weather if you want to catch numerous Trophy Fish!

The Collins family went to the River for the first time and had a great trip! They have been fishing with us for 10 years and have fished a number of our lakes, and I think they have found a new favorite! Everyone in the group caught at least one northern over 40 inches, and 15 more from 36 to 39 inches. Walleyes are a pest to these trophy fishermen but they were aggressive and hit some of their biggest lures in the box! They always say they catch enough walleyes by accident to eat!

Here are a few pictures from their trip.

Other Northern Hunters last week included:

Cobham Daniel had the Millhollin party who usually come to the Cobham as close to ice out as possible but this year came the second week. They caught 3 northerns over 40 inches an absolute ton of wallyes. A good trip despite a few windy days which made it hard to fish where they wanted. Mike K. is coming on a moose hunt with us in 2011 and getting very excited already. Hopefully I can coax a big one in for him!

Cobham Morley. The Mirick Party. One good doctor and his tough Pike Hunting boys. This year Mats and Patrick brought along a couple of new guys to experience the Cobham. They had an awesome trip catching two 40 inch northerns and 20 over 36 inches. The Rookies caught the biggest fish with Mats catching the most. They will be back next year loaded for the big ones!

Vee Lake has Northern Pike that are as big as a Sturgeon! The Johnson party came back as usual to fish their favorite lake, Vee. They are experienced fishermen and always do well. This year was no exception! Walleyes in 2010 were crazy! Catching over 200 in one short day for 3 of them. Barry who has fished with us for 21 years, was fishing by himself one day and hooked a big one! So big he did not even attempt to try to put it into the net. It would not have fit! He had it up to the boat a few times but could not get it tired out enough to attempt a grab. Barry estimated the length by noting where the nose and tail were adjacent to the boat. It was 57 inches!!! We have heard stories every year about the fish seen but not landed and this was a good up close look! Maybe we will see this monster again!!

I spoke to soon!!

2010-05-29T06:26:00.000-07:00

Today I am sitting in the office delayed with weather. It sucks but that is the way it goes. Mother Nature dictates when we go. The flying will get done and the fishermen moved as quickly as possible.

Another note, crossing the border.... Some of our guests have had some issues at International Falls/Fort Frances as far as delays and getting searched. There is no guarantee that it will be easier at Baudette/Rainy River or Thunder Bay but it may be worth crossing there. It takes a little longer but I would suggest the Baudette/Rainy River crossing. When you get to International Falls turn west and go 45 minutes to Baudette, after crossing the border, the highway will then take you north to #17 which is west of Vermillion Bay. Head towards V-Bay and the 105 to take you to Red Lake. It may take you a little longer but will save time in the long run with delays. We have not had anyone come that way yet so we will keep you posted.

The Seal party who fished Loree Lake came out yesterday and caught more fish than they had ever caught in the 20+ years they have fished with us. Walleyes were on all the shorelines and the bays were filled with lunker northern pike! Fish of note was Chris S. caught a 41 inch northern on his first cast! Mike said he will send some pictures so I will put them up when I get them.

Mother Nature has been very kind so far!!

2010-05-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

The weather continues to be great here in the north. Warm temps in the mid 70's and sunshine. After the last couple of colder than normal springs we started booking our fishermen 5-7 days later than usual and then 2010 comes along with a beautiful spring! Oh well, we have the camps in good shape for the season. If you are interested in making a trip this summer, contact us at 807-735-9968 or email amik@frontiernet.net for availability.

Many vacation memories and pictures are being taken as you read this. Fishing reports coming soon!

You can bring Potatoes into Canada Again!!

2010-05-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

The silly rule of no American potatoes allowed into Canada has changed. You are allowed to bring store bought potatoes in but potatoes from your garden are not. The border gaurds will have to go buy their own this summer. :)

I had a bet going during the Canada vs USA gold medal game with an one of our regular guests, a case of beer to the winner. And I happily accepted my winnings today! Mike and his group are headed to Loree Lake in the morning for another good time.

I went to Ear Falls today and saw lots of wildlife. 3 moose and something I may never see again. I saw a wolf walking in the ditch beside me, which is not that rare of an occurance, but this time as I slowed down, I could clearly see he was proudly carrying a new born deer fawn! It was a gruesome site. His face was covered in blood and I could clearly see inside the young deers chest cavity. I tried to stop in time to get a picture but the wolf was gone like a flash when I started to back up. Here is one of the Moose I saw today.

We are over the hump of camp opening as well. The weather has been great, we have accomplished alot of jobs at each place with lots having taken place last fall. It is nice not having Mother Nature on our side. Warm and sunny everyday. A few bugs which is to be expected but better than wearing your parka!!

Here are a couple of pictures from the opening so far.

Don't forget your Ontario Outdoors Card

2010-05-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

If you fished in Ontario last season, you would have received a Ontario Outdoors card in the mail. If you are coming up fishing this summer be sure to make sure you have this card with you. I would suggest putting it with your passport, that way you will have it with you when you come to see us in Ontario in 2010. Otherwise the all mighty Government will want $9 once again from you to replace it. We do not agree with the implementation of this card but you need a license to experience the awesome fishing we have to offer!!

The last of the new boats at Cobham Morley was taken up the other day. The water is on the low side up north but better than being up in the bush. There is still some ice in the shady spots up there and even some snow in the bush.

It is nice to have my Wheels back!!

2010-05-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

It feels good to see a familiar face! The Otter is back in Red Lake and ready to go for another season. We will be heading up north to start getting things ready at the camps. The water is low since the spring came early but we had some rain in the last few days and even some snow. Great. But the fire ban is off and the water should come up a bit and the forecast is for sunshine once again this week, so I am feeling ready and set to go!

Look at the wings on that one! LOL

No Fires Allowed!!

2010-04-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

It is been very beautiful in the north for a long time now. Sunshine and warm temperatures everyday. The Ice is out in Red Lake but not up north yet. It was snowing there yesterday and it was 75 in Red Lake.

Rena and I will be making the move this week and things will only get busier. We are ready and looking forward to seeing all of our friends again and showing our new ones the best vacation experience. I took a load of supplies to Red Lake the other day and saw some graffiti that made me feel good.

There is a lot of exposed shoreline. The water is low and the fire ban is in full effect. No open fires allowed.

The beaver ponds that broke out last summer during the heavy rains we had are all dried up.

The Otter will be back in my care next week and I can't wait!

Turbine engines vs Round engines

2010-04-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

I got this in an email from my Father-in-law who is in the Canadian Air Force. He really enjoys riding in the Otter any chance he can get!!!

Maybe one day we will get a Turbine Otter but for now I love the Round engine on the front! It sounds like a real bush plane doesn't it.

Hi John

This Kind of brings tears to your eyes.....

TURBINE ENGINES VS ROUND ENGINES

We gotta get rid of these turbines, they are ruining aviation. We need to go back to big round engines! Anybody can start a turbine: you just need to move a switch from” OFF to START" My desktop computer is harder to start.

Cranking a round engine requires skill, finesse and style. Turbines start by whining for a while, then give a small lady-like toot and start whining louder. Round engines give a satisfying rattle-rattle, click-click, BANG, more rattles, another BANG, more rattles, another BANG, a big macho fart or two, more clicks, a lot of smoke and finally a serious low pitched roar. (We like that. it’s a guy thing.) When you start a round engine, your mind is engaged and you can concentrate on the flight ahead.

Starting a turbine is like flicking on a ceiling fan: useful, but hardly exciting.

Turbines don't break often enough, leading to aircrew boredom, complacency and inattention. A round engine at speed looks and sounds like it's going to blow at any minute. This helps concentrate the mind. Turbines don't have enough control.

Turbines smell like a Boy Scout camp full of Coleman lanterns.

Round-engined planes smell like God intended flying machines to smell.

No late ice out this year!

2010-04-07T07:48:00.000-07:00

It continues to be sunny and dry up here in Canada. If this keeps up we will be having a pretty early ice out. Mother nature is unpredictable and could smack us with a late snowstorm yet. The sun is gaining more power each day!

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Spring has settled in...but anything can happen yet.

2010-04-02T12:38:00.001-07:00

It has been sunny and dry since February up north and quite warm. Things are quite dry in our part of Manitoba and it continues into Northwestern Ontario. It is amazing how we can go from record high water levels last season to potentially low water this spring. The snow is all but gone in a few places and the ice on Lake Manitoba is getting uglier every day. The sunshine has been great but sure eats up the ice. Ice out should be near the end of April this year but can change a lot depending on how many snow storms we get.

The birds continue to return every day and continue northbound. We have trophy sized Gulls in the north that sit in trees!!!

Lake Manitoba is a little low. The first sand bar is out which is pretty normal for this time of year.

Our trail through the Cattails will need to be cleared again next fall.

The creek is full but doesn't have much to drain this spring. If it continues warm and dry the run off will be done in a few days.

Some spots in the open fields take longer to thaw and hold back the water.

It is raining and windy here today changing to snow over night. Lets see what Mother Nature has in store for the rest of the spring.

The most competitive tournament I have ever seen.

2010-03-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

We hosted the Provincial Bantam(14-15) Girls Rural Hockey tournament this weekend and saw competition so evenly matched, our team went from thinking we were eliminated in the morning needing a win, to seeded second in our pool of 4 teams by that afternoon. Our team consisted of players from or in the neighboring towns, some who play with the boys, some who have played in the past but were not playing this year, ages ranging from 13-15 with the exception of our goaltender who was the ripe age of 10!!! She is a great goalie, as good or better than most of the older girls there.

Here is the link to the Hockey Manitoba website. Two pools of four teams from all over Manitoba. We started the tournament on Friday at 9am and played our second game at 7pm that night. Not the best draw. We started the tournament with 2 loses, both by one goal. A 3-2 loss to Portage La Prairie, a game in which we dominated but were still experimenting with line combinations. Remember, we are playing against teams that play in organized leagues and we are a team with a dozen practices and 2 exhibition games under our belt. We spotted the Terriers a 3-0 lead and almost came back in the third but still there was a great sense of heart in our team. It was a tough one to lose and our opponents only were to get tougher.

Our second game was against Carberry, a town with a rich hockey history and who I have had fairly good luck in beating in my lifetime. Before we knew it we were down 3-0 again and had a hard fight back. We scratched and clawed our way back to tie it at 4 in the second period when we had a face-off in our end with 15 seconds to go. We tried to keep the puck to the boards but Carberry got a shot at the net and the ref called it a goal but I swear I could see the puck in the air as I heard the horn sound, those ones generally come back to haunt you. It did. We fell behind further early in the third but had totally taken over the game. We resorted to an old style of hockey that works. Dump and Chase. When we dumped it in and made the Carberry defense turn back, we took back the puck and created scoring opportunity's. We finally beat their goalie with 4 minutes left and had enormous pressure for the remainder of the game but could not beat their netminder again. A 6-5 loss.

On Saturday we had to win, our backs to the wall, and a tough opponent, Minnedosa Bombers. They had 2 players that could really giver. I needed a strong checker to pester them and knock them off their game. Many times in my career, that was my job. During the game I tried to use a couple of different players to accomplish the task but we were again down 2-0 after the first period. Things looked bleak but I had hope, we needed to keep with the simple parts of the game and I needed a fast checker who could put pressure on their best players when they had the puck. Maija was that player, my kid. She told me she could do it and she did. I then had to keep the lines matched so that our best were out against their weaker line and our checking line was out there whenever possible with their best. Maija created many turnovers and wore down our opponents so our older girls could score. We fought our way to a 3-2 win and better goal average than everyone but Carberry who had 3 wins in our pool, a 3-way tie for second with one team going home. We had a .006 better goal average than Minnedosa!

Good enough for a spot in the semi-final, against another undefeated team, the Neepawa Natives. The favorite coming into the tournament and had 3 lines of fairly even players with 4 very good hockey players. I stuck with the same lines, our 3 strongest players on one line and Jerrica, Maija, and 2 left wingers switching off flanking them on our checking line. An excellent game we played in front of a loud home crowd but had some bounces go against us and had a crushing loss to the eventual gold medal winners, 3-2. Another game we looked stronger again and had all the pressure with our dump and chase hockey.

Carberry lost in the other semi-final and it was a rematch for Bronze! We were ready.

We played solid and disiplined in our style, not our play. We took the play and the body to them. Although there is supposed to be no contact in girls hockey we had a number of penalties but were dominating the game. Then with a 2-1 lead after 2 periods, we were down 3-2 within one minute on 2 fast goals by Carberry with 12 minutes to go in the game.

We tied it up at the 10 minute mark and it was a game. End to end hockey, plenty of bodychecks that the ref let go, scoring chances for each team at both ends. Carberry struck first with 4 minutes left. No panic was felt on our bench. All I kept telling them, dump it and be the first one to get it. We continued our pressure and took the play away from Carberry. Evening the score with 2:12 left! The roof was almost coming off the rink it was so loud. After the draw at center ice, Carberry took a blatant tripping penalty and we had a power play with 2 minutes left. We smelled blood and went after it. Paige scored her third goal of the game with :54 seconds to go. We had the crowd and momentum on our side and held on for a 5-4 win. The best finish our girls team has ever had! What a great way to end the season.

My buddy Floyd who was a very intense player has taken up refereeing and is very good at it. Strange to see a guy who beat another player with his own helmet keeping the peace.

Last day on the lake!!!

2010-03-11T12:51:00.000-08:00

Today we finished pulling our last nets out of Lake Manitoba. We have had some very unseasonably warm weather lately and the snow is almost gone. Sure wet and gross out on the lake.

There is still over 3 feet of ice left out there and solid as can be. It takes quite awhile for the ice to leave. As long as there is snow cover, it will last much longer.

Fishing is over. Next time I write about this massive fresh water lake, we will be walking on top of 2 inches of ice!!!

This weekend we will be hosting a Provincial Bantam (14-15) Female Hockey championship in our rink in Lundar. We put a team together from Ashern, Eriksdale, Lundar and St Laurent. I think we should have a shot this year at playing for a medal. A small number of players but quality and experience rich. I am the coach, Maija is playing for us and Rena is the tournament chair. A real family affair, not too different than our summer months.

And just like that, It is over.

2010-02-26T15:00:00.000-08:00

Just as quickly as it started... it is over. We lost 2 games straight to the Stony Mountain Flames. Both games were similar, we played 2 good periods and 1 bad one. Playing against the first place team requires that you make less mistakes and when we made mistakes or gave the puck away, we got scored on. When we were playing the simple dump and chase, we dominated but could just not score enough to compensate for the mistakes. It was a good season and is not over yet. We will play a number of exhibition games and practise for another month.

It was a successful season. These kids all grew and matured as hockey players and are better people because of the game. I am happy.

Now to focus on the Olympics. As of this moment, USA is in the gold medal hockey game and Canada has yet to beat the Slovaks but I am hoping we get a shot at the gold! I know what I will be doing on Sunday afternoon!!

Moving on to the next round!

2010-02-20T15:47:00.000-08:00

We didn't bring our best game to the rink but had enough to get the job done. A 3 to 1 win over Warren in Eriksdale last night moves us into the "A" side for the league championship. Our first round is against the first place team, Stoney Mountain Flames. A very good team but slightly smaller than us....we will need to make that apparent early in the series.

Playoff Time!!!

2010-02-18T20:27:00.000-08:00

The Lakeside Peewee's are ready for another playoff run. We won 3 of our last 4 games, beating the second place team 7-3 in our last regular season game! A team we have never beaten in our hockey lives. Sitting in fourth place in an 8 team league, we play a one game playoff tomorrow night against the fifth place team. Warren Wildcats. We beat them in a close series 2 seasons ago.The winner of tomorrows game moves to playoff for the "A" division banner and the loser plays for the "B" banner. Then we will have to win 2, best of 3 game series to clinch a league banner. Our team has had playoff success in the past and have been growing into a very well rounded team. I am looking forward to it!!

Nothing ever stays the same on the lake!

2010-02-06T08:01:00.000-08:00

It has been a pretty good year for my brother and I fishing on Lake Manitoba. The walleyes have been around but we have had to chase them to keep catching. Here is one that is probably the biggest we have ever seen, 35 inches!

As the temperatures warm up and cool down, the lake breathes a lot. There is a small rocky island under that mountain of ice. At freeze up, all of that area was perfectly flat.

The ice will not even break sometimes and bend.

Our nemesis, the Crack, pushes together and goes down at times, making it too deep to cross and too dangerous. Getting stuck in the crack or worse, putting the Bombardier to the bottom and having to go swimming. It would be a long walk back to shore if you are wet and getting hypothermia. We crossed here the day before.

We found a place to cross but after crashing our way across decided that we would not cross here again.....There is ice under there but it has 5 feet of water on it.

We recently had a foot of snow and a huge wind along with it making the road near the lake high with drifts and even the old Bombardier could not make it through. We had to get the tractor to get us out.

Hard travelling comes with all the snow. And following that is breakdowns. The 1953 Bombardier has seen some metal fatigue jumping cracks and crashing over rock hard snow drifts. Our back axle broke. Seven miles out. It was a nice sunny day so my nephew Trent and Maija jumped on the snowmobile and followed our tracks out to get us. We tore the Bombardier apart, and left the kids out there while we went home to weld.

Back in action, at least it was not a stormy day and 40 below.

Hockey Day in Canada!

2010-02-01T17:41:00.000-08:00

Saturday was Hockey day in Canada. There was thousands of hockey games being played in every corner of our vast country. Both of my girls were involved as well. Taina played at the same time as Maija so Rena and I were in 2 different places. Taina's team tied 2-2, and she had one goal for her team. Maija's Peewee team played an exhibition game against a new rival. The Oakville Seals. We were playing in their arena but it was a nice small ice surface, perfect for a first meeting. Both teams had many chances in the first two periods but Oakville held a 2-0 lead on us after the second period. We had many chances but not too many quality shots on their net. After the intermission, we came out and scored in the first minute of the 3rd period. We were taking the body and had a strong forecheck going. I knew we were coming back! Halfway through the last 20 minutes we tied the game, shorthanded! Our kids were gaining momentum each shift. Then we let their best player get too much room for one shift. He is a strong player and found the back of our net after getting his own rebound, finishing off his hat-trick with 4 minutes remaining. We held them in their end for the rest of the game but could not find a way to tie it up even though we pulled the goalie to make it 5 on 5 since we had a player in the penalty box. A good game. They want to return the game so we will be playing in our rink next time....

2009 Moose Hunt video

2010-01-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

Winning. So much better than Losing!

2010-01-10T18:18:00.000-08:00

Our Peewee team was off to Dominion City this weekend. A small farm town in Southern Manitoba. We knew none of the teams there, just that they were from towns similar in size to ours and knew we should be competitive. These kids have been playing very well since X-mas and it was a pleasure to coach them.

The weather gets a little white on the prairie, but hockey people will travel in almost any weather to play.

A perfect style of arena for us to play in. Cold and crisp. The last time I was in this arena, I was involved in a bit of a scuffle and ended up biting someone's finger when I was playing junior hockey!

After winning both of our round robin games, 2-1 close one over Iles des Chiens and 9-0 over Lorette we were in the top position with a spot in the gold medal game. Our opponents were the Landmark Blues. A team similar to ours who liked to play rough. Our kids were pumped and ready to play. We had a 4-0 lead right away and played very solid in holding on for a 6-1 win. As it happens sometimes in hockey, the game started to get ugly when the score is one sided. Landmark was getting frustrated because we were playing very well defensively and started to run our players. We gave it right back and made an entertaining final in the tournament. A few penalty minutes later we had done it! Gold!!!

2 Shutouts to strart the year!

2010-01-03T16:49:00.000-08:00

We opened the second half of the 2009/2010 season with 2 shutout victories. Our peewee team played very well, positionally and very aggressive! Taking the game to both Stonewall and St.Laurent.

We tied Stonewall 3-3 in the first half and played them at our barn on Saturday. Just so you know, our rink is one of the coldest around....and Saturday was a cold windy day. I over heard a Stonewall player coming of the ice in the first period saying, "I don't know if I can play in here" Our kids had no problems with it, a few hand warmers to hand to them when they get off the ice between shifts and we were good to go. We hit them enough we stayed warm anyways. A 9-0 win!

Today we were in St. Laurent to face the Sharks. A much bigger team than ours but we can generally beat them. They improve as the year goes on like ourselves.

The only time I remember I have a camera is before the game. Once the game starts, I am too involved to be taking pictures.

There is a constant giggle coming from this corner!

It was a good rough game versus St Laurent but we prevailed. 4-0 They have an awesome goaltender. We carried the play for most of the game but could not finish as much as we should have. I can see the pace of each game picking up, it should be a fun second half.

Some recent pictures from the lake

2010-01-02T21:21:00.000-08:00

The deep freeze is here to stay for awhile it seems. The best thing for staying warm is catching fish! We have been doing pretty good lately and hope to continue to do so for another couple of months.

The coyote population is getting a little out of hand in our area. They are everywhere, but rarely seen.

This one made a mistake of heading to the lake in the daylight!

Hockey season is half over already!

2009-12-22T16:11:00.000-08:00

Hockey so far for the Lakeside Peewee's has been played with a few less games than normal up to this point in the season due to us having artificial ice problems early in our arena. We are 3 wins, 3 loses and a tie in the first half of the season in our league....we should have a great opportunity to win our league. We have always been slow starters and finish strong. We are also entered in a couple of tournaments in January, so there should be lots of hockey to write about. My best memories in life were from the tons and tons of tournaments we played in in every corner of Manitoba. It was always great to play new towns who did not know how rough we like to play here in our little town! :)

Keep watching to see the highlights.

Photo contest deadline is 2 days away!

2009-12-18T09:45:00.001-08:00

Click Here to view the Amik Outposts 2009 photo contest. There are only 2 days remaining to vote for your favorite photo from our past season. Simply scroll to the bottom of your favorite picture and comment! Thats it! Thanks to all of our guests who submitted entries. It was great to see all of our customers again this summer.

If you are on Facebook, add Amik Outposts as a friend here.

The Deer Party 2009

2009-12-13T16:54:00.000-08:00

It was a good year for big bucks in our small corner of Canada this year. Nice weather, dry and not real cold during deer season. Great hunting weather. No snow made it difficult tracking a hit animal. The new Manitoba record typical was found dead not to far from where we live. I will post some pictures of that monster soon. Our club is small and local. Here are some of the heads.

Not many Non-typical deer around but there was 2 this year.

This was the winner. Scored 158 and change.

Here was my entry this year, 133 and change.

So up it goes on the wall. No matter how big it is it will have a home.
Big whitetails are usually a cagey animal

Now we have to wait another 11 months for my favorite time of year.....Hunting season!

The Lake!!

2009-12-04T15:56:00.000-08:00

My brother Jamie and I have been fishing hard lately and it feels good to be out on "the lake" again. The ice in the bays in our area is nice and smooth. Great for setting on. There has been lots of wind too though which is normal for freeze up time. Mountains of ice are forming daily on some reefs in the distance off shore. We are just starting to take the snowmobile out to fish our nets. We walk many miles a day in the beggining but it only gets easier as the winter goes on.

Today we were going out to set inside of Long Point. A place you always have to be careful around all winter long. The current, when the wind blows, whips around the point making the ice unreliable at times. We always give it a wide berth. We took the snowmobile along the shoreline out to the inside of the Point, staying close to shore in case we fell in.

Today we had a first for us! We went in....the whole outfit. 1 snowmobile, 2 sleighs, 20 nets, all of our pegs, weights and the Jigger went in the lake! Jamie and myself too.

We stay close to shore for the shallow water but the ice can be thinner there as well. Which was the case today. We were almost to where we were going to walk out to set when I yelled at Jamie because it was cracking alot. Some cracking is very normal but I knew this was not! He did not here me over the sound of the snow machine. We were driving on top of a snowbank as well. The ice is usually thinner under a snowbank because of the insulating factor. When he looked back I yelled again and he could read my lips....It is cracking a lot!

No sooner did he steer for shore, in we went. Thankfully it was only on 2-3 feet of water. The snow machine went in first with both sleighs full of nets and gear coming in right behind and spilling into the icy water. Jamie hit solid ice before me but we were both scurrying like rabbits to keep dry. I ended up with wet feet right after impact getting out but Jamie did not get wet until he went back in to tie onto stuff so I could stand and pull our gear out. I was totally expecting to fall in. It was a lot deeper where I was pulling the stuff to. In all we only lost 45 minutes of time and went right back to work. Wet feet in the Arctic boots we wear are not an issue. They are designed to keep you warm even if they are full of water.

This is a Moto-ski Spirit, more commonly known as the Elan by Bombardier. Not made any more this was the best snowmobile ever built and used by thousands of trappers in Canada. One cylinder and very light, this awesome machine threw water off the belt and started to grab when Jamie giver the throttle. It was not quite deep enough to drown it so we just broke ice until it climbed up onto the ice. One tough machine! Here she is. It was built in the 70`s.

Fire and Ice

2009-11-30T12:43:00.000-08:00

Deer season is over and the timing is almost perfect for fishing to start. Freeze-up is quite late this year. It has been winter for awhile up north but we have had some awesome stable weather here for a long time. But I think winter is right around the corner.

Would you walk on this much ice?

Close to shore.

But alas, we could not set any nets today. We run the jigger out and as I was walking out to cut a hole and pull the net in when the ice cracked right beside me and I was sinking. Quick feet not taking too hard of steps and I was away from the crack and heading back to shore!! We will try again tomorrow. It is no fun falling through the ice.

Here is Jamie going out on his belly to retrive the box of nets I was dragging behind me when the ice cracked. Looks fun eh!

Since we couldn`t set nets we decided to clean up some of the wild hay on my brothers property that could not be taken off this summer due to the wet conditions.