Into the Wild...

In addition to some great fishing this season, we've been fortunate to enjoy plenty of wildlife around the lodge.

A ruffed grouse hen has been running around camp since we have arrived and now has a large following of chicks. She gets pretty defensive when Cosmo gets too close to investigate. Mother grouse pictured below.



Here is one of the chicks making a break for it.



We have also enjoyed watching two baby eagles grow in the nest on Parker Lake. This is the 3rd season for the new nest and the 3rd season for two eaglets to hatch out. They are now learning to fly which is really fun to watch. The nest and young eagle can be seen in the lower part of the picture below and notice the mature eagle in the upper right.



There are also several bunches of ducklings on both lakes. A few have fallen victim to Northern Pike as snacks, but several have survived and they are growing fast.



Several loon nests have been spotted on both lakes. Here is a picture of the nest on the island closest to the lodge on Parker. Both eggs have since hatched and the chicks have already more than doubled in size.

Double Smallmouth Surprise!

Whitney continues to dominate the leaderboard, this time adding a nice 17" Smallmouth Bass caught on Parker Lake within a stone's throw of the dock. The next night Riley O'Dell wrangled a 16" Smallmouth Bass just a few yards away. If you've visited us before, you probably know how rare it is to catch a Smallmouth on Red Lake or Parker Lake so needless to say, we're pretty excited about these two fish.



Whitney, Riley, and I made the short trip down the highway to Flat Lake to chase Muskie and Smallmouth Bass. While we weren't fortunate enough to land any Muskie, we did catch two more Smallmouth Bass.

We are finally seeing an end to the drought with plenty of rain in the forecast this week. There are several forest fires burning in Northwest Ontario so hopefully the rain will aid the fire fighting efforts. Just a reminder - we are currently under a fire restriction so no open fires are allowed.

1st Annual Parker Classic

Last week we organized and hosted the first fishing tournament ever (to our knowledge) on Parker Lake. The tournament was held during the few hours between breakfast and dinner. The 1st annual Parker Classic was a single day, two category tournament with prizes for the best four Walleye lengths and best four Northern Pike lengths caught and released per boat. There was no official weigh-in since we were working off the honor system. We also threw in a rock bass bonus although no one was able to take advantage.

Jeff and Andy Zwieg topped the Northern Pike division with 95" of fish and there was a tie in the Walleye division. Carrie and I tied Team Mercer consisting of my sister Mercer Mack, Matt Dillon, and Heather Cottle-Dillon with 74" of fish. The big Walleye of the day was the 22" fish (pictured below) that I caught right off the point from the lodge where we dump the food scraps. Carrie and I fished close so we could also handle some dinner prep duties.



We are still catching plenty of fish on Parker in 6'-12' of water. The fish on Red Lake are being caught in a variety of depths although some are starting to move deeper. Last week our guests had the best luck in 10'-18' of water. Forecasts are calling for temps in the upper 80s this week so the fish should continue to move to deeper water.

Until next time, tight lines!

New Walleye Leader!

This week my sister Whitney broke the stalemate atop the walleye leaderboard with a massive 28" fish! The exciting thing about this fish was that it was caught on Parker in sight of the lodge.



Water levels have been dropping due to the extremely dry weather we have experienced over the last two weeks, but fishing has still been good. We haven't seen as many lunker fish this year as some years, although total fish counts are as good as ever. We still have over half the season remaining to find some more.

Hope to see you here soon!

Introducing....

The NEW BOAT SEATS!

For those of you who are still counting down the hours until you get to spend a week fishing with us, we thought we would give you a little sneak peak of what you will be riding in around Red Lake & Parker Lake. Oh yeah, those are high backs baby. Thanks to Cabela's, and your loving hosts, you will be sitting in Pro Fishermen highback boat seats this year. Boy are they nice!


We also added another new member to the Eagle Falls Lodge boat fleet! It has a flat deck in the front of the boat, with walk through seats in the middle and back. I wish it came with a trophy fish guarantee - but you can't have it all I suppose. This new boat still needs to be named - any ideas are welcomed!

We just dropped off our last group and town is pretty quite up here on Canada Day. We wish everyone a Happy Fourth of July and hope that anyone traveling to family and friends does so safely!

More Lunkers!

This week Carrie and Nick Mateja both caught 27" Walleye, creating a logjam on the leaderboard for biggest walleye of the year. We now have four anglers with 27" fish. Ryan Rote added a nice 25" Walleye out of Parker. Carrie's fish is pictured below.



Kari Marquardt also took the lead on the Muskie board with a nice 37" fish. See below. She also caught the first smallmouth bass of the year although we don't expect to see too many more.



The past two weeks have been dry and temperatures are gradually increasing with highs now in the upper 70s. The lake levels are finally dropping back down, but there is some rain in the forecast for the coming week.

Big Fish Record Extended

The big fish records have been extended for the 2011 season. John Milkint edged out Bill Ray's 42.5" Northern (pictured above) with his own 42.75" Northern. Both fish were caught on Parker. Mary-Jane Owen and Neal Sympson are tied for the lead with 27" Walleye both caught on Red Lake.

We dried out last week and have a few rain showers passing through today, but then expect another dry week. That should help water levels average out again. Talk to everyone soon!

Camp Update

Hey everyone!

A recent picture of Cosmo hard at work, good grief. At least he keeps himself entertained.




Our second week just wrapped up and it was great! We had a full camp and several kids that had a blast getting out on the water and catching fish. The weather cooperated for the most part and I managed to get out on the water and get a nice sunburn on my face. Travis' family was up this past week and they had fun exploring and did lots of portages onto some of the smaller lakes.

Yesterday afternoon I portaged into Coin Lake with Travis' dad and sister and we tried our hand at catching a big Muskie. No luck there, but nice eater sized walleye and a big perch. Looks like it will be warm this weekend, and the last few days the water temperature has been steadily rising on Red Lake. Guys have been marking it in the upper 50's out on Red Lake. The water level is high right now as well, with all the rain we got in the last 10 days. We have another big group headed in tomorrow morning, so I guess I better get my town supply run wrapped up and head back out to camp.

In other news: We had a surprise visitor in camp last weekend. A black bear wandered into camp! We didn't see any last season, and haven't seen this one since he came by last Thursday. Since Cosmo has turned into a lazy old man, he missed the whole thing because he was in bed. Never a dull moment out here. We can't wait to see you during your visit and are having a blast so far during the 2011 season!

June Hailstorm

We welcomed the month of June with a tremendous thunderstorm that produced pea-sized hail. Two heavy storms have slowed the fishing some, but we expect a quick rebound as the weather outlook looks good for the next week.



My brother Carson landed a 23" walleye off a point near the lodge on Parker Lake shortly before the hail started. Visibility was poor, but he was able to make it back to the dock safely.



As a reminder, please be sure each person has a life jacket in the boat at all times. This is not only a law, but a very good idea. Seat cushions do not substitute for life jackets. We highly encourage you to wear your life jacket when underway, especially through any rough water. Knowing how to swim won't help if you are left unconscious in a boating accident. We have many life jackets available at camp if you don't already have a favorite or are trying to save some packing space.

First week fishing update

Hello from Red Lake! Our first guests this week are already catching several nice Walleye in the 22-26" range on both Red Lake and Parker Lake. Also five Northern Pike between 35-42" were caught yesterday alone. Both species are biting shallow in 5-8' of water. We weathered a large storm last night and the lakes were very muddy today from all the runoff.



We know many of you traveling north like to stop at the Village Corner in Vermilion Bay right before turning north to Red Lake. Unfortunately the entire strip of businesses suffered a fire last fall so you'll need to find an alternate stop. Try filling up before crossing the border or stopping in Dryden where there are several restaurants and gas stations. You can also still get gas at Bobby's or eat at Buster's BBQ in Vermilion Bay both of which are located a short distance west of the turn to Highway 105.

Until next time...tight lines!