Friday, September 14, 2018

Hearing About it is One Thing, Seeing it is Another


As you probably guessed I have fallen behind on the blogs (and Maddie has fallen even more behind on posting them, sorry everyone).  The summer has been moving by way to fast.  Over the last couple of weeks the weather has remained very warm and dry.  As of now there is a no burn policy in effect for all of North West Ontario.  What that means is no open fires period.  We are able to use our BBQ grills and that is it.  Shore lunches and evening fires are out.  I hope we get some rain and that changes soon.  The water level in the lake is crazy low.  To quote a guest this week, “hearing about it is one thing, seeing it is another”.  We do have a little rain in the forecast this week but it will take a lot of rain to change the way things are now. 

We will start off with a great visit from my family.  I was able to enjoy a week with 2 of my daughters and my wife.  I also had some buddy’s in camp with their that I have know since we were kids.  I was able to do some fishing and really enjoyed the week.  In the evening, all the late teens early 20’s gang would get together and play cards or some other game until latter in the evening.

We also had the Becks in camp.  They were able to reduce the population of mice in the Duck cabin.  John ran his trapline every day religiously and then took his bounty to the lake and feed Pete the Pike a fresh mouse  each morning.. 

The Steve and his group enjoyed a day up on Halverson where they were able to catch a few smallmouth and pike before the wind got to be too much and they headed back to camp. 

Dion and Dion (Dion squared) did not fish as hard as they usually do, instead they slept in many days and relaxed more during their week.  They spent time talking with Jeff and Donna, and hanging out with the people they have come to know over the years.

Kirk and his gang spent the week learning how to fish the lake better and seemed to better and better each day they were here.

All in all it was a very nice week even though it was very warm for most of the week.

John Beck was the winner for this week!
Maddie's version of the week:
I turned 22 the previously, so this was our time to celebrate. I took it upon myself to recruit the camp to come play drinking games. Early mornings were not the theme this week unless you want to count staying up until early mornings. The Dion's got into the action, and the beer supply had to be replenished quite frequently, oops. Dad also forgot to mention that I entered the fishing tournament with a friend of mine, and won! The majority of my fishing experience comes from the past 3 years, and this was a very proud moment for me!


Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us! 

Last week consisted of hard fishing and evening gatherings.  The Nebraska nightmares were in town and they spent all day on the water chasing the walleyes and trout, and all evening lightening the load home by disposing of lots of food and beer.  The big fish bet they had going was won by one of the 2 women in camp, a 27 ½ walleye.  The same day Chris caught the big walleye, she also got to see a cow moose swim across the lake right in front of camp.  Some people have all the luck.  During the week we had several trout caught, the biggest was a heavy 36’ by Greg.  We had multiple pike caught in the 36-38’ class and many fat smallmouths. 


Ryan and his group spent their days trying to figure out how to walleye fish.  Over the last several trips they chased the pike, and decided it was time to go after the tasty fish.  By the end of the week they had it figured out and caught many fish in the 20-25’ range.  Way to go guys.

Again, the area received little to no rain for the week and the water level dropped over 4 more inches.  We continue to re-adjust the portage ramp and are making it through.  The good news is with lower water the fish have less water to hide in! 


Dave Pabian is the was the winner this week!

Family First


July 28th,August 4th

Well where do I start?

First, I would like to send well wishes out to Butch Lerum.  He has been fighting cancer and had to miss this year’s trip.  He appears to be headed in the right direction and we are hopeful for a good outcome.  Please keep him in your prayers.

His family did come and had a good time and caught lots of fish.  They brought in a couple pike in the 40” plus range and numerous 25” plus walleyes. 


Another guest Marty, lost his father on the day he was leaving.  His Mother told him his father would want him to come up, so with a heavy heart he and his family still made the trip.  Though he was here his head and heart were back home with his family.  As many of you already know this is part of the cycle we are all apart of but still doesn’t make it any easier.  Keep your head up Marty.

I had the pleasure of having my oldest brother in camp as well.  Though he is not a big fisherman it was nice to have him in camp and catch up on all the home happenings, and I was able to enjoy a bit of time fishing with him.  His group had a good week and caught a binch of fish and made sure they caught afternoon naps to recharge their batteries before heading back to the grind the following Monday.


Penny who is part of the larger group of guests won the tournament in a hotly disputed weigh in.  She ended up winning it with 3 walleyes pushing the 18 inch mark.  Way to go. 



Big shout out to Chuck and his group, and Bob for bringing me up some sweat corn.  This is one of my favorite things to eat and I was able to get my fill.  I really enjoyed it.  Thank you, guys.

The winner of the week for the year end drawing for a free trip next year is Addison Kistler.  Good luck





The week of August 4th was a little different.  We had the pleasure of hosting a week for the HVAC company Auer Steel.  The people of Auer brought many customers and enjoyed a great weather week as well as a great fishing week.  The guys would get up everyday eat breakfast, then head out to the lake to fish all day.  They would return around 5 or 6 in the evening and make dinner and enjoy their evening on the decks.  They caught a couple walleyes in the 27” range and the big pike for the week was a 42” slob.  They had such a good time all will be returning next year to try and learn more about Wine Lake.  Mitch the man in charge of the operation enjoyed doing some fly fishing and even came close to laying into a giant pike on the fly rod.  Unfortunately, it was not meant to be and the fish came off and will be ready to fight another day.  I can truly say it was an enjoyable week and I was able to meet many new people that I hope to see come back for years to come.  My highlight was getting to take Cory and Keith out one day and catching so many walleyes the 3 of us went through over 12 dozen minnows.  Both guys said they would never forget the day they had.  That is what coming up here is all about.  Getting away and enjoying some of the best fishing mother nature has to offer.  Now they can be doing there daily jobs and think back at that day and it will help propel them through the grind and dream of coming back the next year and doing it again.  Enjoyed it guys, thanks.



Finally the update on weather and water.  The water is as low as any of you have seen it.  The portage is not easy, but we are still making it.  We have had zero rain in well over a week and none is in sight.  It has to happen soon.  We can only hope for an early fall and some moisture to stop the receding waters.  The last couple of days it has been well over 90 degrees which is hard to handle.  We will keep you posted.  The fishing has been very good and consistent.  We continue to catch a lot of fish in that 20 to 24” range.  I was out the other night and got into a mess of fish in the 6’-12’ range which makes me believe the next couple years the fishing should remain steady. 

Look forward to seeing you all soon.