Good times out on the Lake!!

The Old Jigger!!!

The Battery died on our electric Jigger so we thought we would bring out "The Original" We come to realize fairly quickly that technology has come a long way. It is a lot more work setting nets the old way. We finished off the day on some good ice but will be buying a new battery for the electric Jigger so we don't have to use the Board any more!






This beautiful ice is great for skating on!! So clean it is almost scary. It has been Minus 20 Celcius lately so the ice is making really fast with no snow out there.



My Brother Jamie with a nice Walleye!

Lake Manitoba Freezing Over!

The freeze up is a little late this year but most of the ice in Long Point Bay on Lake Manitoba is perfect. My Brother and I set a bunch of nets and hopefullly the wind does not break it up. There was about 2 inches of ice and it was perfect for setting. Here are a few pics. The next ones will be of fish, hopefully.


There was some open water 20 feet away from where our net ended up. This would make most people nervous!!!! I've been doing this since I was 10 years old. Just be careful and make sure you and your partner don't fall in!




Then after one more cold night, there was lots of good ice, No open water.... except out in the big lake. It takes awhile to freeze that big body of water.




This is the Jigger. It travels under the ice to take the line out for pulling our nets under the ice. There is about 2 inches of ice here.



I have been hunting a lot lately but haven't seen any bucks worth shooting. They are there but just haven't hooked up yet. Hunting slows down a lot when fishing starts:(

Hockey well under way!

Rena and I are back in Manitoba now and settling in. Hockey is well under way and I am happy to report that Maija's team started out with a win!! Most years we get a beating in our first game of the season but these kids are going to be contenders this year!! This was also their first game of Body contact and they took to it like naturals. After each one on the team(only 9 skaters) got nailed at least once. My daughter Maija got nailed on her first shift. The team we were playing had a few 2nd year PeeWee's on their team so they really took it to us right off the hop. We were down 3-1 at the end of the first and it did not look promising. After having a talk with them to settle everyone down, a new team came out. We scored 3 unanswered goals in the second to take the lead after 2 periods. The biggest thing was that we were taking the physical play to them! Our team looked like they had been playing hitting hockey for years. We totally dominated in the 3rd period getting one more goal icing the win at home. With not many skaters, they will have to get in shape and be tough as nails. Ironman Hockey I call it!! Lets hope they can keep it up.

The Bucks have just started scraping here in Manitoba and it is snowing here today and getting colder. This will definately get them fired up and next week should be good hunting. My stands are set up and I am ready for the rut. Maybe this is the year.......

New Pictures!!

Things are winding down here in Red Lake. Spending some much needed time in the office with Rena! Here are some new pictures from 2 couples who were at Blackbirch this summer.

It's Official!

The Otter is up on Dry Land and is going to get some much deserved rest! Our season is over. Still a fair amount of work left to do around the base in Red Lake but it is nice to a get the Otter put away before we get a big snow storm!!



Smokin a Big Cuban on our last night in the Bush!



We did a lot of work around the camps this fall. Here is just one of the projects. Morleys had a new fish cleaning table/deck. I will tell you the rest of the projects and improvements in our Fall Newsletter. If you haven't been receiving it, just sign up on the right hand side of my Blog.



Rena and I should be back in Manitoba soon. My Senior Hockey team has taken a year leave of absence from the league due to lack of players. It's very sad, the first year I have not played organized full contact hockey in 29 years! I hadn't thought about how long I've played until just recently but this would have been the 30th season. It looks like I will be skating a couple times a week though. Also I'm coaching Maija's team again and it looks like we will have 8 skaters and a goalie, first year PeeWee's, first year of body contact. There will be no whining about ice time this year:) They are going to be a great bunch! I've coached all of them since they were Squirts and they all want to win!!! With a small bench, they will have to learn to play smart. My Oldest daughter Taina is playing Girls Hockey exclusively this year on a regional Bantam AA Team. Rena will be travelling with her most of the time.

I know Deer Season is coming also so keep an eye on my Blog for any Big Bucks I come across!

Another Good Moose Video!!!