End of another fun week!!

As the following pictures will prove, it does not take a seasoned veteran with 5 tackle boxes full of lures to catch quality fish on Red Lake. This week had a lot of  returning guests who know this lake extremely well and they caught a lot of fish. However, the younger anglers in camp did not let that intimidate them. They not only caught a lot of fish, they caught some of the bigger fish of the week. I was also quite impressed with the high school kids from Princeton, Ill.. They were super nice and showed that they were more than capable of running the boats, and finding, catching and cleaning their own fish. Sure hope to see that group next year!

I also would like to say thanks to the entire Princeton crew for giving us yet another great week to remember! Jillian and I appreciate all of the extra effort and genuine kindness you always bring to our camp!

We can't wait till next year. 

Preston with a big walleye

Preston with 2 more lunkers

Mckenzie showing off a nice pike for the "girls team"

Here is Logan's monster pike. It was 41.5 inches!!!
He landed the fish entirely on his own. It will probably
hold up as the biggest fish of the year...
...proportional to the fisherman that is. 

Sometimes the fish are so big it takes 2 people to hold it!!

Preston can catch pike as well!

Mckenzie showing that she is truly in her element up here.

Dick with yet another monster laker!

Ron hoisting up another big laker!

Medicinstone Fire!

It does not take long for things to swing from one extreme to the other here in Red Lake. It was not even a month ago when people in town were complaining about how much snow and ice there was, and now there are forest fires popping up! Yesterday a fire started at the southeast side of Medicinstone lake. As the crow flies, it is only 5 miles from our camp. It is the closest a fire has been to us since we took over 9 years ago. I drove the ATV up to the top of an adjacent hilltop (our hunters know it as North Wall) to get a better look as to how dangerous it was. I watched for 20 minutes as the smoke rose high into the air. There was 2 helicopters, a spotting plane and 4 water bombers working on trying to get control of the fire. You can see th bombers in a couple of the pictures below.

According to the fire headquarters, the fire has grown from 55 hectares to 95 hectares (approx. 250 square acres) over night. Fortunately for our camp, the wind is in our favor and as of right now there is no immediate danger to us.  But with no substantial rain in the forecast, it will a tough job for the fire crews to get the fire out. We will try to keep everyone updated. The link to the active fires map is  http://www.ontario.ca/law-and-safety/forest-fires.

This is looking East towards Red Lake. Suffel Lake is just over the hill on the left side of the picture.

It took the squadron of 4 water bombers less than 5 minutes to pick up water from
Red Lake and return to drop it on the fire.  

 

More fish pics...

Well the guests this week have definitely had their ups and downs where the fishing is concerned. I have heard of some tough stretches where boating  5 or 6 six fish was the norm, and the next day the catches where closer to 30-40 fish. A couple of boats have reported catching close to 100 walleye in a day! And as the pics below show, there have also been quite a few big ones landed as well. This afternoon the Kirgans set their sights on the lakers and they sure did a good job finding them. If my math is correct from what I heard, I believe the boys caught something like 8-10 trout in the last 24 hours. The biggest one was caught by Dick, it weighed in at a staggering 28 lbs 3 oz. and approximately measured over 42 inches long!!!

Dick with a 25 lb laker

Ron with a nice laker

Dick with his 28 lb laker

Dick with another laker

Dick with another laker

Carl with a nice pike

John, Don and Carl with a nice stringer of fish

This is how we should start everyday!

Because the fishing and the weather was so good, almost all of the groups had a chance to take some time out and enjoy a tasty fish fry. There is no such thing as a bad shore lunch. Josie added to the meal by offering drinks and donuts to the groups. The donuts were made by deep frying small jelly and bread sandwiches. They are delicious!

The boys hanging out in the main lodge playing cards

Josie and Jeremiah dressing like dad. 

Sorry for the delay...

Sorry for the delay in getting this post out. If you can imagine, with 50 guests in camp this week, things have been keeping me quite busy...don't forget about the 18 month and 5 year old that Jillian and I are trying to keep pace with. 

First things first, thanks to all of our guests from last week! Jillian and I had a great time with all of you! I am glad everyone got home safe. For those following the blogs, fishing picked up at the end of the week for may of the boats. We saw much improved walleye numbers as well as bigger sizes. Also, the pike machine in the lake continued to produce a bunch more "slot sized" fish along with a few more 40's. I sure hope everyone has filled out the fish charts in the main lodge, because I can not keep up with who got what anymore. Below is a few more nice fish from last week. Anyone who has fish pics from last week, feel free to send them my way. 

This week started off with nice weather and slow fishing for most. There were still some nice fish though. Logan (10 yrs old) already has a 41 inch pike to his name. It was almost as long as he is tall. I am still waiting on the picture. I am also waiting to get pics from many other guests as well, because I  have heard stories of quite a few large walleyes in the 25-27 inch range and many more large pike over 36 inches. No lakers yet. 

Bill Griffin boated a 42 inch pike yesterday and Stockton got his 41 inch pike today.

Stockton is here at Black Bear for the first time, while his dad Richard and his grandpa Dick are returning back after a long hiatus. Richard's last trip was 1977 and Dick's last trip was 1952!! Dick's dad actually owned and ran Black Bear Lodge for a couple of years, which I was not even aware of. Needless to say, we have already shared many stories, pictures, and memories. Dick says that the camp looks different, but the lake still looks like he remembers it. The last time Dick drove to Red Lake with his dad, highway 105 was all gravel from Vermillian Bay to Red Lake. And yet we complain about a few pot holes and 11 miles of gravel. 

Stockton with a 41 inch pike!!

Last side note: the new cabin (Newfy) is officially open. We have guest staying in it this week!!

Fishing update May 28, 2014

Well the fishing report around here is...the numbers are smaller but the fish are big. Everybody is catching fish, but just not in super big numbers. We are still seeing some really nice sized fish, though. Many walleyes in the 23-27 inch range and more BIG pike. Seems like everyday someone tells me a story about another 40 incher that was caught. Eater sized walleye have been a bit slow, but the boys caught enough to have a great shore lunch today. Also, walleye omelettes have been a tasty treat this year, YUM!

I promised to post some of Dave's big pike that he caught the other day, so here we go. I am also including some of the other recent "big boys" that were caught in the past couple of days. I should also note that Dave, Lee and Joe all fish in the same boat! Yep, that is one hot boat.

40 inches

41 inches

43 inches

Joe with a 40 incher

Lee with a 27 inch walleye

Lee with another big "eye"

Joe with a huge walleye

Joe with another 40

Sylvain with his monster 43 inch pike

Swimming in May

With an unusually HOT day in May, the only smart thing to do is go swimming. Jeremiah and Josie spent much of their day splashing around in their pool. Unfortunately for the rest of us, we had to endure the surprise hot day.

The kids running over mom. 

Start of week 2...

With roller coaster weather and the arrival of 5 new groups, things have been quite busy the past 2 days. The guests are settled in, and after a slow first day, are starting to catch some nice fish. They have also got a chance to experience the ever changing Canadian weather. On Saturday the temps soared into the mid-80's and today we will be lucky to break 65 deg. Add some heavy rain, fog and wind, and you get the idea of what Spring is like in Red Lake. But that does not stop our fishing troops from finding quality fish.

The biggest story so far comes from Dave Wiggins. Yesterday he landed 5 pike over 40 inches. Yep, I said FIVE!! He just missed the double hat-trick because he had a sixth fish that measured in at 39.5 inches. I don't remember exactly what all the sizes were, but I believe it was something like...40, 40, 41, 41.5, and 42. I will update that tonight along with some pics. Also, all of the fish were caught with out a leader, hand landed and released.  Awsome job Dave!!!!

The others in camp are also catching some quality fish as well. Cameron is our first 27 inch walleye member for 2014. He, along with his dad Brian and boat partner Frank, caught plenty of quality walleyes yesterday. Many of the fish were over 18 inches along with a few in the 24-26 inch range. 

Cameron with his 27 incher

Brian with a nice over

Frank with one of his big walleyes