Burbot to Main Lodge

As a child, growing up, or becoming an adult, means to know what you are doing. It means you have become someone who has all the answers. What you don’t realize as that dumb, innocent little child is that even adults don’t really know what the hell they are doing. You continue to learn and grow all your life, because sometimes life throws challenges at you that will leave you stumped. While starting this season challenges and laughs seem to be our reoccurring theme. After our long journey, and 4 hours at the border we arrived at the landing ready to get the water running and have a nice hot shower. Boy were we in for a surprise when we fired up the pump and discovered it was leaking. So we did what desperate people do: we went to town and bought a new one. We decided after getting back that instead of fixing the pump we would head into camp, shower, and return later. Fast forward through the VERY cold voyage to camp, we turn on the solar without a problem, and we hook up the water pump also without any issues. Everyone was thrilled until we encountered surprise 2. The pipes in the shower house had burst, and the pipes to the lodge were still frozen. Broken pipes and frozen water lines meant no running water, and no showers for 10 days! Imagine meeting your boss for the first time then learning you have to live with him for a few days, and then not being able to shower for 10 days (sorry Colin and Jody). We all made it through and opening the rest of the camp went fairly smooth. Well, until we had a boat break down and we spent over 4 hours towing it back to camp.

Our first week went very well. Fishing was good, as usual. The walleye weren’t quite biting yet, there were fish still spawning out, and the trout were favoring 3-5 feet of water. The water may have been down about a foot, but the number of fish caught was not. I lost count of how many pike over 40 inches were caught! There was a 40 inch lake trout caught as well! It was a wonderful week with great weather, great fishing, and great people. Thank you for a great start!

For the second week, the weather decided not to cooperate. It was cold and rainy, but per usual it didn’t stop the fishing. The sun came out finally, just in time for tournament day, and we were able to enjoy some ice cream in the nice weather. We had our first bear hunter last week as well, but unfortunately he had to go home empty handed. Everything happens for a reason though, and this week we have two more. We will see what happens!

Even with all the challenges we have had this season there has been no shortage of laughs, jokes, or fun. Colin and Jody are wonderful. In the first three weeks, it was rare to have a dinner without someone laughing till they cried, or spitting out their drink. I will leave you with this: no matter what challenges are thrown at you, or whether or not you know what you are doing, never for get to have fun along the way. Sometimes you just have to laugh it out.

Winter Wonderland

Written by : Nick Karakis

Edited by : Maddie Karakis

Well here we go!  2017 is off to a great start.  We just completed ICE CUTTING and I wanted to share some photos and stories of how it went.

This was my first year cutting ice on my own as last year Herb was still the "General" and, naturally, he made it look easy.  I figured out pretty fast this year that I had a lot to learn.  As far as our working conditions, ice was 7 inches thicker, and our temperatures for the week averaged 40 to 60 degrees warmer than last year.  We even had a day that hit a toasty 45 degrees.

We left the trucks behind and took off into the bush via snowmobile on Saturday. The group arrived at camp, and they were laced with excitement as everyone got settled in. Now, what many people don't realize is that with 20 inches of snow on the ground nothing is easy. Getting into camp seems like the hard part, but really it is just beginning. After arriving the real chores begin. You have to shovel out the outhouses, and the doors to get into the lodge before you can even unpack.  On top of that, we had to make several trips into the camp as somethings are easier to bring over the ice, ie..bunk beds, generator, wood burning stoves. It is a long, tiring process to get into the camp, and it is not long before everyone is ready for bed.

On Sunday we got up and went right to work. We take an entire day building the ice ramp and laying out the ice field. Then of course, it wouldn't be a proper trip without a challenge. This year we had problems with the snow blower, and we soon ended up with the grueling task shoveling off all the ice ourselves.

Monday morning we were once again up bright and early to begin cutting ice.  We worked from 7 am until 6:30 pm cutting and stacking the Ice.

This year one of my buddies even built us a new ice cutting saw.  The saw was made so it could be attached to a sled so we did not have to bend over. Of course this helped tremendously with our old backs.

Every year you must learn to adjust for the changes in the ice cutting crew. This year Todd, who had been cutting the ice with Herb for over 20 years, retired from the ice crew. We knew replacing him would be difficult, but after some learning curves the new crew seemed to work together really well.

One day we had a unique visitor in camp.  It was a Pine Martin.  He decided to make the top part of the boat house his home. It wasn't an easy task for Mr. Pine Martin as he felt it needed some redecorating. He ate a 5 inch hole through the door and totally destroyed the inside of the boat house. The little guy made sure there will be plenty of fixing up and cleaning to be done in the spring. 

We did get to have some fun exploring and Ice fishing.  We caught some trout, walleye, perch, burbout and pike.  I had the largest pike of my life on for over 20 minutes.  We had him at the ice hole for over 5 minutes but could not figure a way to get him through it.  We are estimating the fish at 50-52 inches long and well over 30 pounds.  After stripping down, reaching through the hole and water the fish took off and cut the line on the ice.  Although it was upsetting we still caught plenty of walleye, and even in winter had a fish fry with onion rings.

The scenery as always was amazing.  The way the light hit off the snow and sunsets were 2^nd to none.  We headed out early Saturday morning leaving us wanting more, but knowing spring is coming and we will be returning soon. On the day we left it was over 40 degrees, and water was starting to lay on top of the ice.  Even though there was no threat of falling through it was nice to be off the lake as it was changing quickly. As you all know, Wine Lake has this beauty that draws you in and makes it hard to leave. It is why many of you come back year after year. It is also why I am sure you can believe we were starting our count down before the camp was even out of our sight.

Of course we look forward to seeing all of you and opening week. We can expect lots of work between now and then, but the memories make it easier. 

I hope you all enjoyed getting a closer look at this timeless tradition!

For those interested, here is a link to last years Ice cutting video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIz5Nqaw7BY&sns=em

See you all soon!!!!

Lots of love -Maddie and Nick