New week, new guests, same big fish

Even though the guests only just arrived and had to get off the lake early because of a pretty good thunder and lightning storm, it did not stop some of them from getting some quality fish into the boat. Hopefully this is a sign of how this week will be.

Rachael with a beautiful 38 inch (approx.) pike
she caught on her first night on Red Lake.

Thanks to our groups for a great week.

The story and more pics on the way....
...Ok, here we go...the Yorkville group finished off the week pretty strong. The numbers and sizes of fish seemed to keep going up as the week progressed.This group of 40+ splits everyone up into 5 teams and every fish caught is counted and tallied up on their boards. At the end of the week the winning team gets special prizes. Also, there are prizes for other categories like biggest fish, most fish, ect. This year the group decided to count both - ALL fish and KEEPER fish. Keeper fish are as follows: perch 8in+, walleye 15in+, pike 24 in+, and any lake trout.  This is how I am able to list such accurate numbers below. So here is how the week ended up...

As a group - TOTAL fish caught = 3604
                    KEEPER fish caught = 1871

Winning Team - Bent Rodz = 835 total and 549 keepers
Most Fish(adult) - Bob Mance 101 keepers
Most Fish(student) - Jake Mance 167 keepers
Biggest walleye(adult) - Paul B. - 27"
                        (student) - Eric B. 26.5"
Biggest pike (adult) - Brett R. - 35.5"
                    (student) - Bob R. - 37"
Biggest Trout (adult) - Bridget S. - 41.5"
                      (student) - Jordan N. - 39"
Most walleye (adult) - Jason L. - 84
                     (student) - Jake M. 77
Most pike (adult) - Jason L. - 13
                 (student) - Jake M. - 4
Most Trout (adult) - Kathi D. - 2
                   (student) - Brad Sherwood - 5

Even though the group did not get anywhere near their best ever total (4800+ fish), they caught lots of nice fish. There were many personal bests for sizes and amounts of fish. Including the monster laker caught by Bridget Spaeth. This 41.5 incher is (to the best of my recollection) the biggest trout ever caught by a female angler at Black Bear Lodge. It ranks right up there with the biggest of all time from our camp. I searched last year for the biggest ever trout from Black Bear, and the biggest I found was 42 inches. There was a picture of a 36 lb trout but there was no length noted. I will continue to search. But for now, Bridget just entered a small elite group of fishermen/fisherwomen who have landed a trout over 40 inches. Way to go Bridget!! I would also like to give a big pat on the back to her brother and boat partner (Billy) who netted the fish for her. Also thanks to the many on-lookers and supporters who watched her land that monster fish and to help get it back into the water quickly. Great team effort!!

Bridget Spaeth  41 1/2" laker!!!!!

This is the side view which shows just how thick
that fish was!!! It had to be pushing 30 lbs.

Nice to have so many boats around when
you land such a nice fish because you
get lots of different pictures of it!

Yep, she catches pike too...
And walleye...
And fillets her own fish...

Derby Day Ends...

Here are some of the pictures I promised, keep checking back as more will be added soon...

Brett with a nice Walleye

Here is Brett with a beautiful pike

Can you name this guy??

Black Bear Lodge Hawaiian style

Our Derby day winners!!

Start of week 7

Just a quick update as things are quite busy around here...The Yorkville school group arrived by bus on Saturday along with the Williams group and Addison group as well. The guests, like last weeks guests, had to battle some weather to start their week. Strong NE winds and rain made it tough for some of the boats. Others had no problem filling limits early. There were also some nice lake trout caught as well (still waiting on pictures). The fishing was good enough for the camp to enjoy a fish fry dinner. Lots of walleyes, potatoes, and doughnuts!!

Today is "Hawaiian day" as well as "derby day". That means everyone is dressed up in Hawaiian  style outfits, lays, grass skirts, ect. Plus, the Yorkville group will be paired up in teams of 2 to see who can catch the most fish by the end of the day. Good luck to all teams. (oh ya, NE winds again today). Pics on the way.

Here are 2 more nice fish from last week...

Terry with a nice Pike

Terry with his first Lake Trout!!