New Boardwalk at Springpole Lake

Today Brett and I ended up at Springpole to finish building a new section of boardwalk in front of the camp. It was another fantastic day in the north...80 degrees and a 10 mile an hour wind from the south. Perfect for working.......


Maybe we should go for a boat ride....



Maybe a little Fishing too....

Here was the first fish, a nice 18 incher. Actually of the 30-40 fish we caught, only 2 or 3 were under 18 inches. It has been awhile since I fished Springpole and it felt good to reaffirm some of the spots I mark on the map for guests.


Notice the color of my Jig and Tail. I like the bright colors.

Northern lites have been Awesome!

The days are getting shorter quickly now. One advantage of this is that it actually gets dark at night.....really dark if there is no moon. Some guests in the past few days have commented how beautiful the lites were a few nights ago. I should be getting some pictures of some good ones soon. With no light interference you can see absolutely everything up in the sky.

It seems that we are still getting a lot of first timers up north! With the weather we have had lately combined with awesome fishing, I can say that we have sure opened a lot of eyes here at Amik.

The Hagen Party came out of Daniels today and did not want to go home. Grandpa was the saddest one to leave today. They caught oodles of walleyes with the biggest one measuring 24 1/2 inches. Almost all of this 3 generation trip were first time fly in fishermen and really enjoyed themselves. Excellent people, I hope to see them again.

Blackbirch had some new fishermen on it recently as well. Bryan H. and his sons have been here before but brought along some "new blood"(with all of the mosquitos around, pardon the pun) to catch a few hundred fish. The guide must have done his job because everyone that came out of there the other day was smilin! There was 3 Tim's in the party and they caught the biggest fish! Tim caught 2-26 inch walleyes in the narrows east of the camp and Tim had a 26 incher and 2-24 inch walleyes. Bryan had the largest northern, a Fat 39 incher. It is sure nice to see lots of younger people coming and experiencing the peaceful North.


Here is Ty. He spent a week on Vee Lake recently with his Dad, Grandpa and some friends. Fishing was excellent! Ty had a 26 1/2 inch walleye pictured below, and overall these guys said that this is by far the largest walleye on average they have ever caught. Tons of those Fat 20-24 inch fish. Lots of sun lately has kept those big ones down in 15 to 20 feet of water.

Walleyes moving out to their summer haunts!

It is the end of another busy weekend and the weather was perfect, light winds and no clouds. Fishing slowed down slightly but was spectacular during the week. One day of rain and the rest was sun! Walleyes are being caught more consistently in 15 to 20 feet of water with all of the sun we have had but the big ones seem to be givener! Here are some of the highlights:

Loree Lake had the Cadman Party. They have the biggest northern of the year so far, caught on the first day by David. They said the head was Enormous on a huge 48 inch Northern. Pictures to follow!!! David also caught a 37 inch northern. There was some young men in this group as well and they are becoming quite the veterans, this was their fifth year with us. Jack had a 27 1/2 and a 28 1/2 inch northern, George had 400 fish for the trip, and Harry had a 33 inch northern. Giles(dad) had a 28 inch walleye and a 8 Foot Stick! No picture of that though:) They said the Northern Lites were awesome last night along with a great show of falling stars!

Vee Lake had the Patnode Party this week. This crew has fished a few of our lakes and were very impressed with the quality of fish on Vee. "The walleyes were so thick across the back" is what I heard from some of the guys. They even caught a bunch of walleyes throwing northern lures on their last day! Many times when it was time to catch lunch or supper, the walleyes were to big to eat. Not a bad problem to have....Bob had a 28 inch "Fat" walleye being the biggest.

We have had lots of first timers recently and their faces are always lit up a little more when I get there to pick them up. The River had the Sander Party back for a second time this season and had mostly first time fly in fishermen in the party. They had some good guides along though with lots of experience, Tom and James were heading up this party of 8. The rest of the group were a bunch of hard working guys,(I can always tell) and they were all smiles on the way out! Some 42 inch northern were caught and released as well as James "the guide" catching a nice 28 inch walleye.

Denise and Jeff A. were in Jeanette with their boys and her dad on our family plan for the past 4 days. They had a blast. Catching lots of fish and eating plenty! They even heard wolves howling one day! On the last night it was just Jeff and one of the boys in camp relaxing when at the same time Jeff was headed for the Outhouse he saw a bear with his head in the door of the outhouse! Once he heard and saw Jeff, he hightailed out of there and wasn't seen again. Right after that he heard his son hollering from the dock that he had a big one.(there are many trophies caught there) A great fight and they did see it once.... but then it ran and then it was gone. Denise also went out with her boys one night. They proceeded to catch a nice 32 inch northern. The Boys did not want anything to do with that toothed beast so guess who had to pick up the ball,take out the hook and put him back.....MOM! I hope to see them again, the boys Really enjoyed the time in the Otter.

Summer seems to be here for awhile so I hope it stays.

The Competition was Fierce on the Cobham this week!

This past week I flew the Brad H., Brent C., and Micheal B. Party into Daniels. During their orientation, Brad proceeded to present James with a card stating that he was a member of the 40 inch club. James and Brad are the only members, and this is a pretty exclusive club. The holder does not have to do dishes and other various chores around the camp! The others in the party thought that it kind of sucks since they all have had Northerns that have measured 39 inches in the past! They also have a plaque for the largest walleye and northern. This year Heath took the walleye award with a 24 and 1/2 incher, caught in the first hour, and Peter had the largest northern measuring 36 inches. The Northern prize was a heated competition, with the lead changing hands many times, but Peter held on for the win. They will be back next year looking for their "40 inch Club card"





I don't mind Spiders but these monsters give me the Willies!


This Little guy I took to Jeanette the other day was Really excited. Him and his brother were swimming before I left while Grandpa got the fishin gear ready. It has been good swimming weather lately.



This is how you should pack!! Brent C. flew from Chicago to International Falls and had everything in one big suitcase(which he left in Red Lake cause it weighed 14 pounds) and repacked his clothes into a smaller bag before going on the Otter. Not his first trip thats for sure! Most people wear the same clothes almost all week, only changing underwear and socks(I hope) so you don't need too many changes of clothes.

Pictures of a Cherrington Gator!

Here are the pictures from the last group who fished Cherrington.

This one speaks loudly for itself!



Adam made sure the old girl was in good shape when she went back.



The Cutest teacher in Wisconsin, she could out fish any guy!!



The Northern who bite his tail like a dog!



Here is a nice Lake Trout.

Springpole Football Sized Walleyes

Today the weather was perfect! About 75 degrees with a nice west wind and a few clouds. I had one milk run today, Shearstone and Springpole changing over and people were smilin.

Springpole had a nice young family in there this past week and they were very impressed at how heavy the walleyes were compared to some other lakes they had fished in the past. Everyone who goes in there seems to notice how thick and fat they are. The food base in some Lake Trout lakes is very rich. A regular 22 inch walleye will fight and weigh considerably more than in most lakes. Jerry P. and his 2 sons caught an amazing amount of walleyes, the largest being a football shaped 28 incher! Many caught and released between 22 and 24 inches as well. They found that the majority of them were in 12 to 15 feet of water with some good numbers of smaller ones still in the rapids where the Crowmarty river flows in. Northern fishing was also good up in the river, the water is still quite high so getting up there is fairly easy yet. Largest Northern was 38 inches.

Shearstone lake water levels are normal when everywhere else is high. Kind of weird but that is fine with me. Phil P. and 3 of his buddies were there for the past 4 days and had a blast! Walleyes seemed to be on every windy point and sometimes right up against the weeds. Biggest walleye being a 25 inch and largest northern 39 and a half incher. They tried but could not stretch it to 40 inches.lol

Newsletter Emailed Out Yesterday

Here is a link to our latest newsletter that was sent out yesterday. If you did not recieve it and would like to get it in the future, please sign up on the right. Check it out!
2008 mid-summer newsletter

Another Huge Northern!

The Sanders Family have been fishing Cherrington Lake for a very long time, since Rena and I used to live there back in 1996. Adam was only 7 and Kimmie was 11. They are both adults now and very seasoned fishermen. (Sorry Kimmie) Still fishing with Mom and Dad every summer. Their oldest son Mike is getting married and was not to happy that they were up here having fun and he was at home working. Poor guy. He brought up his fiance Abby last year and they will return next summer! I am sure Kim and Adam will not rub it in how good the fishing was.

Now for the fishing report. I tell many guests that the more time you spend on a lake, the bigger the fish you will generally catch. This was true this week. The Sanders said that of all the years they have fished Cherrington, this was by far the biggest on average they have ever caught and way more northerns than usual. 25 inches was the largest walleye but there were an absolute ton of 23 to 25's. A number of them coming from the depths of the Big Lake in 60 feet of water! They were lake trout fishing and caught a couple nice trout but caught way more walleyes than trout. Scott said they almost looked like another species of walleye they were so fat and wide across the back. He said his forearms were getting really sore from bringing up those monsters from the deep!

Another funny story from this week was when Adam was bringing in an average 31 inch northern he went and jumped right out of the water, which makes for some excitement in itself. But this crazy fish decided to go and bite his own tail in the process! He bit it hard and could not let it go!

The fish of the week was caught by the Big guy who foots the bill! Kind of fitting I think. Scott and Adam were casting for Northern in Walleye Alley and came up Big..... "46 inch Big" They said it was an absolute crazy big fish. I hope to get a picture or two of that Hog!

The weather is very nice so far this week and hopefully it will stay that way for awhile. The water levels are still a little high and we could use some dry weather.