Big fish club

Good evening!

Just finished a whole mess of dishes - lots of happy plates tonight!  Travis did a great job on the barbeque chicken, like always.  We have been busy this week with a mix of old and new guests at the lodge.  Everyone is having fun and we have enjoyed some excellent fish stories.  Weather wise we have had lots of rain during the evening and overnight.  Sunday night we had a HUGE lightning storm with thunder and heavy rain.  Thankfully there was no storm damage.  We did, however, get some surprise guests trying to avoid the storm.  Three couples from Red Lake had been out on the water that evening and got caught in the storm, so they decided to get off the water and come up to the lodge.  They ended up staying for a few hours and didn't attempt getting back to town until close to 11pm.  We were happy to have them seek shelter with us and it turned into a huge Olympic viewing party with everyone hanging out in the main lodge.  Super fun!  It has been interesting to watch the Olympics on some of the Canadian networks, because they focus much more on the Canadian athletes.

Anywho, back to big fish.

This first picture is one from when Travis' relatives were up a few weeks ago.  Megan caught this 26.5" walleye on Red Lake on our Muskie rod, of all things.  We had every rod, reel, net, and piece of tackle loaned out that week.  We may need to get some more back up equipment, it was the first time we had to equip about 20 people at one time!

Next up is a 19" smallmouth caught off Parker by a first time Eagle Falls guest.  Very exciting to see such a nice smallmouth come out of the lake up here.

George is up here this week and caught a nice 38" northern yesterday off of Red Lake.

His fishing partner, Dave, caught a 42" northern on Red Lake earlier in the week.  That puts him in a four way tie for biggest northern of season - 2 caught off Red Lake, and 2 caught off Parker.  I better see if I can go fishing with them in their boat before they leave - it must be lucky!

We will be back this weekend with more pictures of big fish from this past week.

Take care,
Carrie

End of July camp update

Hey everyone!

We just had another great week out at the lodge with two large groups.  One from Missouri (very close to our old stompin' grounds) and the rest hailed from Wisconsin.  All of them talked about how hot and dry it is back home.  Here we are thinking we have had a warm summer, but we are definitely not experiencing the heat levels that most of our guests are trying escape.  We had temperatures in the 80's  this week, but it dipped into the 50's at night which is AWESOME!  We also had some rain on Wednesday which was much needed.  We even mowed, ah-hem Travis mowed, on Thursday.  The camp looks super nice thanks to that sweet husband of mine :)

Here are some photos, most of which are from this past week.  They all had a great time and caught some nice fish as well!

All those nice looking fish were caught and released during this last week.  Thanks again to everyone who practices catch and release angling!  

These guys below were up two weeks ago and the guy in the middle is actually a co-worker of Travis' in the winter time.  It was great to have them up and Travis got to get out on the water with them a bit - tough job, but someone has to do it, right?  They emailed us these pictures once they got home.  A BIG thank you to everyone who remembers to email us photos.  We LOVE getting them and sharing them with everyone else.

We only have six weeks left of the 2012 season.  How is that possible?  It goes by so fast!  Please remember to let us know your preferred week for 2013, as we start to look forward and schedule for next season.

Have a great weekend and stay cool.

Maple Creme Cookie Caboodle

Many of you know we have a pretty serious addiction to Maple Creme Cookies at Eagle Falls Lodge.  We always have a jar filled and judging from how frequently we refill it, some of you have an addiction too. 

After taste testing every brand of cookie we could find, one was far superior - Manning's Cookie Shop. They are made by a company called Commercial Bakeries out of Toronto.  The problem we run into is the only place we have been able to find the cookies in Red Lake is the Bargain Shop and they aren't stocked regularly.  After going without them for the first three weeks of the season we decided it was time for action.  

Commercial Bakeries politely declined to sell cookies directly to us after contacting them.   A list of distributors lead to a series of dead ends as it seemed no one could keep the cookies in stock.  Finally a tip from a company employee on an internet forum lead us to Great Lakes Wholesale in Michigan.  

They had the right brand in stock and the only hang-up was it would take 17 cases of cookies to fulfill their shipping minimum and they didn't ship to Canada.  A little funny considering these cookies are made in Canada.  With the help of our customs broker we were able to eventually get them shipped to Red Lake Marine after only a month.  Well worth the wait if you ask us!  

Yes, that is me posing with all 6,528 cookies.  If you haven't made the trip up yet this summer we'll send some cookies home with you.  

Shore Lunches & Limits

There seems to be some confusion this year regarding shore lunches and how they affect your limit.  We thought we'd try and help clarify some of the questions that come up frequently.

The most important thing to remember is that your limit whether it is a sport license (4 fish) or a conservation license (2 fish) is a daily limit AND a possession limit.  That means if you have a conservation license you can only kill 2 fish each day and never have more than 2 fish in your possession.  At the end of your week if you choose you are allowed to take home your daily limit of either 2 or 4 fish depending on your license.  For the purpose of this post let's say we are specifically talking about Walleye although the same things apply to Northern Pike as well.  

When you eat fish for a shore lunch they are no longer in your possession so you are permitted to go out and replace those fish provided that you do NOT exceed your daily limit also.  Where some guests seem to be running into trouble is doing a shore lunch on the last day of the week (Thursday) and then trying to catch take home fish after lunch.   

Let's try an example to help.  Say I have a conservation license and I have one fish in the freezer from earlier in the week to go home.  It would be ok for me to keep 1 fish, eat it for lunch, and then go and catch another fish to take home.  The last fish would be my 2nd fish to take home.  As long as that fish was caught after I ate the first one I would be fine because I never exceeded my possession limit (2 fish) or my daily limit (2 fish).  Any fish in camp in your name + any fish on your stringer count against your possession limit.  

So what if you already have two fish (Walleye) in the freezer and you have a conservation license?  You can continue fishing provided you immediately release all Walleye you catch.  You could NOT keep any Walleye for lunch on the last day if you already have your full limit in the freezer.  If you kept any other Walleye you would be exceeding your possession limit and could be fined.  

Now let's say you have no fish in the freezer and it's Thursday.  You have a conservation license and decide to keep 2 Walleye for lunch.  That's great, but since you killed 2 fish and hit your daily limit you can NOT keep any more fish to take home after lunch.  

If you're still confused please ask and we'll try to help.  If you're thinking no one will know what I ate for lunch think again.  Conservation officers can check lunch sites and issue a ticket if you exceeded either your daily limit or possession limit.  An average fine is $250.00 so it's worth being informed.  A shore lunch is a great way to enjoy fresh Walleye, but plan your lunches accordingly if you plan to take fish home too.  

Fantastic Family Fishing Week

Last week we hosted a full camp of family & friends.  Walleye fishing was terrific.  Most in the group had never been fishing in Canada and all together twenty-six walleye measuring 20" or greater were caught and released.  The biggest fish of the week was a 26.5" walleye caught and released by my cousin Megan.  Not bad for a bunch of rookies!

The fish were surprisingly shallow for mid-July.  We did the best in 7-11 feet of water and caught big fish in areas that we usually target in early June.

Here are a few pictures from the week - we have several more to collect yet that we hope to post later.

Claire's 22.5" Walleye 

 Erin's 22" Walleye

July Fishing Update

Happy Canada Day and 4th of July!  We can't believe it's already July.  The rain finally ended and the lake is high, but it has stabilized.  The mayflies hatched out on Red Lake last week and on Parker Lake the week before that.  Combined with some sunny, windless days the fishing was the toughest we've seen in several weeks.  Despite all that though, several nice fish were caught and released toward the end of the week.

Austin Katzfey landed a 37.5" Northern Pike.

Rick Smith landed a 39" Northern Pike.

Deano Kunze tied the Parker Lake record set in 2010 with a beautiful 18" Smallmouth which was the first of the season.

Make-A-Wish

Good afternoon everyone,

Just wanted to check in and say hello!  This is a little bit of a different post for us, but something we are really excited about.  This winter Travis contacted the Make-A-Wish Foundation to see what steps needed to be taken to be included on their "wish-granting work" lists.  The mission of the Make-A-Wish Foundation is to "enrich the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions by granting wishes for those kids."  Even though most kids probably have more interest in going to Disney World, meeting their favorite athlete, or something more mainstream and grander in scale, we found out that there have been some hunting and fishing trip wishes in the past.  We are officially on the list and will be able to grant a wish for someone in the future!  How cool is that?

If you would like to learn more about the Make-A-Wish Foundation, you can visit their site here.

Anyway, we were excited to share that with everyone.  We will be back at the end of the week with a fishing and weather report.

Take care!
Carrie

Week Four Update

Hello everyone!

Isn't this a good looking bunch of guys?  

We got this group packed up to head home to Wisconsin, Missouri, and Arizona this morning and thankfully the rain has FINALLY stopped for at least today.  These guys battled some wet weather during the last 7 days.  They caught loads of really nice eater sized fish this week and had fun fishing below the falls now that it has opened back up.  We had another nice walleye come off of Parker Lake - 27 inches!  

We also celebrated Father's Day with a bunch of great guys this past weekend and made these super tasty fish cookies to celebrate.

We are hoping to get out on the water ourselves this afternoon while the sun is shining (YEA!) before our next crew arrives tomorrow.  Can't believe June is almost over!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Big Fish Bar Inches Higher

Last week we endured rain almost every day.  The new battery powered bilge pumps came in handy since the boats were filling up with water about as fast as we could pump it out.  The rain cooled the water off significantly.  We saw surface water temps drop from the mid-60s to about 59-60 degrees and the water level came up almost a foot.  The guests (which included several family members) enjoyed an excellent week of fishing.  

The big fish bar was pushed higher thanks to their efforts and all of the fish mentioned and pictured were released!  My uncle Terry tied Brenda Holiski with a big 42" Northern Pike.  My sister Whitney came in just behind with a healthy 41.5" fish seen below.               

My dad Tracy landed a nice 28" Walleye seen below.  

My brother Carson caught another lunker Musky - this one measuring 42" seen below.  

Carrie celebrated her 26th birthday with a key lime pie (her favorite, and no - she didn't have to make it).  Also, I handled breakfast duties to allow Carrie to sleep in for a change.  She says thanks for all the birthday wishes!  

  

Water, water, everywhere...

Hello everyone!

We welcomed our third group to camp yesterday in the midst of some wet weather.  The fish must have been thirsty because we had 18 walleye measuring 20+ inches yesterday afternoon alone.  I am happy to say that all of those fish are on the catch and release board!  We celebrated tonight with a special turkey dinner.  Travis' uncle Terry from Iowa deep fried two turkeys and we had all the fixings to go with them - including pumpkin pie!

Last night we had lots of heavy rain, along with thunder and lightning.  Lets just say we spent a fair amount of time dodging raindrops as we pumped out all our boats this morning.

In other water news (is that cheesy enough for ya?) we got our first water sample results from our new fancy water system a few days ago and we passed with flying colors.  Woohoo!  You may remember that we upgraded our system earlier this spring to better match what is recommended by Ontario's provincial health unit for lodges, camps, & outfitters.  We will continue to get the water tested on a regular basis throughout the summer.

This is excellent news for three reasons.  First of all, we can now use water straight from the tap out at camp for everything without any worries.  Secondly, our fancy new water has a much improved taste.  Third of all, we can (and will!) strongly encourage people to leave their cases of plastic water bottles at home.  This will help cut down on our recycling shuffle.  So consider this your official invitation to bring a canteen or reusable water bottle during your stay at Eagle Falls Lodge this summer.