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 28^th,August 4^th

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 4^th 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.

Rain Rain DON'T Go Away!

The water level is falling!  Though we had a bit of rain the week of July 21^st, the lake level dropped about 6 inches.  Our lack of water for the past 13 months has been incredible.  At this point an inch of rain in one day does not even stop the lake level from lowering.  The fishing remains pretty good.  There were many walleyes over 25” caught this week and a great number of fish in the 15-16” range.  While we have had many days in the 80’s and low 90’s this year, during the week we got a break and had highs in the mid 60’s for a couple days.  It was a nice change and we will take what we can get.

This week we had the Biselx family in camp.  They had 3 generations spending time on the lake and enjoying each other’s company.  For most of the family it was their 1^st time at Wine Lake.  I know they truly had a great time and could not believe how good the fishing was.  Don the Father of the group said he wanted to always bring his entire family to Wine and he finally had the chance.  He  had a smile on his face the entire time.  They were a great family and enjoyed having them in camp.

Last year we had a couple Sam and Chase who decided to get engaged here at Wine.  They returned this year a married couple.  Congrats to the both of them and wish them nothing but the best.  The rest of their family spent most of the days on the lake and ended the week with 3 walleyes over 25” on Friday.  Way to go guys.

Is there a Doctor in the house?  Lucky for one camper we had a ER Doctor staying in camp as he was easily able to stitch a deep cut in Bills hand.  Always need to be careful in the fish house.  Thanks for the good work Tom.

We also got to enjoy several other Wine Lake Faithful’s during the week while sharing stories as we sat around the campfire eating smores and just plain chocolate at time.  It was nice to catch up up with everyone.  The mosquitos were not bad at all which allowed everyone to enjoy the evenings.

If you are getting rain down south please send some our way.  We may have to start doing rain dances a couple times a week.  We are still able to get into Beaver, and Ghost and Turn around, but Mudd will probably be out of the question in the next week or two.  Right now you have to pull the boats in.  We shall see what the future holds.

See you all soon at the Lake!   

Mark Mcgeiy is the winner this week!

Can't Beat the Heat

This week we actually had a couple days relief from the heat.  One day during the week we actually had a high temperature of 65 degrees.  Have to love the north. 

The mass of flies we had been experiencing has subsided to a normal level.  At one point they were so bad you could not stand outside during the day without pants and socks.  I do not know if it was just a large hatch this year or the hard winds blew them out of the woods, but I have never seen so many flies.  People believe that these flies that look just like a house fly, but bite, are black flies.  These flies are called stable flies.  Up hear we call them ankle biters because that is where the tend to bite you and let me tell you it hurts.   Black flies look more like a gnat than a fly.  They are most prominent in the spring.  During the summer they are mostly in the bush looking for cool and wet areas.   The only thing  that seems to work is 100 percent deet bug spray.  Another trick is to go to your local tractor supply or farm and fleet and get a spray bottle of fly spray made for horses.  You can spray the inside of your boat down and it will keep them at bay.  The best thing to do is wear a pair of pants and socks, but hard to do when the temps are in 80’s and 90’s.

This week the fishing really started to pick up again.  We were catching lots of walleyes in the 20 to 24 inch range.  The smaller eater walleyes are really grouping up.  We are catching good numbers of fish in that 17 inch range and going deeper we are finding the bigger fish.  When the wind is blowing and the clouds block out the sun they seem to move a little shallower and bite a little better. We caught several walleyes in the 25 inch range as well as a 27 and a 271/2.  The big pike we had been consistently catching seem like they took a break.  The biggest for the week was a 38” fish caught in Turn around.  Perch were continuing to bite well and even a few lakers were brought in.

We had 3 different groups in camp this week.  One group was 3 generations of family.  All first timers to Wine except for Chris and Mike,  struggled early to catch fish but enjoyed throwing the frisbee and spending time together.  The 4 grand children that were here enjoyed the fishing but enjoyed the back yard playing just as much.  As the week progressed they began to get a feel for the lake and started catching fish pretty regularly.  Mike, the dad and grandfather, told me it was awesome to spend so much time with his children and grand kids.  He hoped that they would take to the outdoors like he has and enjoy the time in nature.

Another group was made up of some buddies that were always competing to catch more fish than the others.  They spent lots of time exploring all parts of the lake.  When it was too hot or they tired of catching fish they would play cards in their cabin or on the deck for hours.  Everyday you could see them racing down the lake to see which boat was the fastest, though not always a fair race!

The 3^rd group consisted of 6 people whom have been coming to Wine for many years.  They had a routine of getting up, eating breakfast and taking their time getting ready to go out.  Once they left they would spend the entire day out fishing and then come back in the evening to enjoy a big dinner and some libations.  The truly had their system down and it showed with great food every night.

It was a great week and all that came enjoyed the time here.  Even all the ladies who had never been here before said it was better than they thought and very comfortable.  Looking forward to seeing all of you again soon.