By Madison Karakis
The greatest self is a
peaceful smile, that always sees the world smiling back.”
-Bryant H. McGill
My
Favorite part about being here at Wine Lake Camp is getting to see how happy it
makes people, and the huge smiles on everyone’s faces. This week the smiles
were endless. Let me start by saying I am so excited to be back. The new season
is finally here, and I am really looking forward to all the excitement waiting
to happen this year. We had a very interesting start to the year. For starters,
the ice did not want to leave. By the time it was gone, we had a week and a
half to whip this place into shape for opening week, but we did it! Not only
that, but it seems we skipped spring this year. It went from 40-degree weather
to 80-degree weather in a matter of three days. The leaves on the trees seemed
to appear over night! A very interesting start to the year.
With
a new year comes new staff! For those of you who remember Colin and Jody were
supposed to come back. Well, bad news for us is really good news for them! They
are expecting a baby later this year! Unfortunately, that meant they were
unable to come back this season, but we wish them the best! In their stead come
Andrew and Justin. Look out campers, these two are an impressive pair. We are
very excited to see what they add to the camp experience in these coming
months!
We
could not have asked for a better group to start the season this year, so thank
you everyone! The water is very low, but they were troopers. By the end of the
week, those with enough determination (aka Bubba and Mike) were able to make it
into Mud.
As
I mentioned, the smiles were endless. We had sunny days filled with beautiful
trophy fish! If you follow our Facebook page, you may have already had a taste
with Mike's outstanding 46-inch Northern Pike! What a beauty. His hook
didn’t stand a chance!
Oh, and his partner caught a nice Walleye I guess....
As
usual we had our boys from Michigan with an impressive haul. I believe between
the four of them there were about 40 Lakers caught this week. Unbelievable.
They
caught trophy fish from every species this week, as well as a couple beautiful
Whitefish!
Oh,
and they still had time for a shore lunch and some fish tacos!
Even
I got in on the action this week and went out to catch some perch!
The
smiles got bigger and bigger as the week went on.
Families
got to spend quality time together.
Our
newbies did fantastic as well.
My
favorite picture from the week is of the first large Northern the Perri’s
caught. They were so excited and giddy taking pictures and laughing that they
realized after they released the fish they forgot to measure it!
It
is okay though, the picture is great, and they celebrated later with a shore
lunch.
I
do have some sad news. Unfortunately, Ontario will no longer be doing their
Angler Awards. As you probably remember, we would have you write your fish
down, we would enter the information, and then the program would send you a
certificate in the fall. The program had a great run, but all good things must
come to an end. We are grateful for the program and are sad to see it go. On
the other hand, we will still be doing pins, the brag board, and the drawing to
win a free trip, so don’t forget to keep track of your fish!
Now
with that, we have changed the drawing a bit to increase your odds. This year,
we will draw one name from each week that will be put into the drawing for the
free trip at the end of the year. We will announce the winner at the end of the
week, and will have the official drawing at the end of the season.
This
week’s winner that will be entered into the final drawing is Nick Perri from
Wisconsin with his 36-inch Northern Pike. Congratulations!
Thank
you all once again for a perfect start to the year. Can’t wait to see what is
in store!
