What to do on a hot day...go swimming of course!



Jeremiah loves the water just like his big sister.
He sat, played, and splashed for 30min.





Josie loves to bounce as much as she loves to swim.



Ready...

Set...

JUMP!!!



Thanks for catching me Dad.



Jeremiah has 3 new accomplishments...
he is starting to crawl, he can push himself into a
sitting position, and he can pull himself up to a stand.   




I guess the extra workouts are paying off.
"still holding."





Gratuitous baby picture for the Grandparents
or anyone who needs a baby fix :)



Thanks to Dave, Ray and Fry family

We would like to thank the two groups we had at camp this week. We may not have had a full camp, but we still made lots of good memories. We truly enjoyed both groups. Fishing was a bit tough because of the warm weather, but that did not stop our troops from catching enough walleyes for 2 'cheezer dinners' , a shore lunch and some take home fish. If my facts are correct, I believe the kids walked away with top honors this week...Jenna had biggest walleye and Matt had biggest pike. Dave and Rich earned their guide badges and Pat gets Mom of the Year for winning the trip for her family. Thanks to Pheasants Forever for working with us for the past 7 years.

A tasty shore lunch! The tent was used for shade,
not for rain protection.

Hot and Dry!!

We are under an extreme fire hazard. There were many new fires in the surrounding area including 2 at the north end of Golden Arm. Almost all of the fires are from lightning strikes and many are either out or under control. It is still very scary though. We never like to have the fires be that close to camp. Anyone know how to do a rain dance?

On a happier note, the few guests who are in camp this week are still catching fish. Matt caught a bunch more pike in our bay and this evening Rich and his daughter Jenna caught a bunch of walleyes in our back bay. I also did a little fishing today. I took my mother in law and our friend Mary out fishing after dinner. Mary caught 2 lake trout out by the Islands. She hooked into the first one in about 30 seconds. I never even got my pole out of the rod holder. The second one took much longer, almost 8 minutes. She landed both of them on her light action walleye rod, quite entertaining for us to watch. We then finished the night off by catching a few nice eater size walleyes of our own. Now if only the weather would treat us as nice as the fish.

Mary Wilson 32" Laker

Mary Wilson 31" Laker

Why leave our bay?

While the girls enjoyed themselves on a trip to town to see the museum and have lunch, ect...the boys stayed back to cast for pike. They went no further than our back bay. The results...they boated 25+ fish with many other follows. They casted rapalas, spinners, and spoons and were successful with all of them. Even boated a few walleye to boot. Not bad considering it was in the mid 80's today with only a gentle west breeze and few clouds. Matt had big fish honors with a 36" pike. Here are some of his fish...



Small...



Medium...

Large!!!

Plus a wallye.

In the mean time, enjoy some more fish eye-candy from the Eric Earhart group...

Jenna does it again

Jenna seems to have the hot fishing pole right now. Yesterday afternoon she had the biggest pike and then in the evening, with just a few minutes of fishing time left, she caught the biggest walleye of the week so far. At 26" it is the biggest walleye caught by a female in 2013. Way to go Jenna!



Jenna with her 26" walleye



Earhart Group

I would like to say thanks again to the Eric Earhart group for putting together a wonderful group of guys. Jillian, Josie, Jeremiah and I really enjoyed having you. It was a fantastic group of fisherman who seemed to figure out our lake in a hurry. They caught 4 pike over 40 inches with many in the high 30's. Walleye fishing was equally as successful, they caught plenty for multiple shore lunches and to take home as well. I believe there was only one lake trout caught and the only muskie I heard of was caught by the Mudd group. Please keep sending those pictures boys.

I also would like to say, "welcome back", to Eric who returned back to Black Bear Lodge after nearly 15 years. Eric and I went to the same high school together and we came up to camp in 1985 on our first trip. It was great to talk about the old days and to catch up on where we both are in life now. It is always amazing how, even after all those years, a friendship never really goes away when you have that connection to Black Bear Lodge. It is truly what makes this such a special place for everyone who makes Black Bear Lodge their summer 'home'.  Thanks to ALL of our Black Bear family members!

Brett Chirempes with his 41 1/2" pike.

This fish has a great story to go with it...Brett's
goal this trip was to catch a monster pike. He worked
and worked all week trying to land a big one. He did boat
many decent sized pike but no 'monsters'. That is until the
last night of his trip. Many of the group considered not fishing
after dinner Friday night, but not Brett. He went out to our back
bay and casted for pike. As it turned out, on his last cast of his
trip he accomplished his goal...a monster 41 1/2 pike!!!
Way to go Brett. That will be tough to beat next year.

World Walleye Championship



In case some of you were wondering what that orange plastic cup is that sits in the main lodge,

it is the official trophy of the World Walleye Championship. Jim Castner and Jim Kalina have been

friends since childhood and have been LONG time fishing buddies here at Black Bear Lodge. (Jim

Kalina is actually our longest returning guest with 46 years worth of trips!) Every year they have a 

contest to see who catches the most walleyes over 18 inches. The winner gets to put his name on the 

cup and has bragging rights for a year. This year Jim Kalina won. The good news is that the winner

will always be Jim. They will be returning this August for yet another trip. We always enjoy having 

you boys up here...even after you gave my son a new nickname "beast". FYI, he is not fat he is 

big boned :) 

2013 WWC winner - Jim Kalina



The Fry family get things started



The Fry family had a good first night of fishing.

They all caught fish and between the 4 of them

they boated around 20 walleyes. Pat also lost

a potential big fish of the night when it bit her line

clean off. Most likely it was a big pike feeding on

those tasty little walleyes. Not a bad first night for

a bunch of first timers on Red Lake. Still have a

whole week left, good luck gang.



Rich with one of many eaters he caught.




Jenna had the big fish of the night with this 23" walleye