A 46 inch pike - a huge handful.

This has been a good week for huge pike. The master angler minimum is 41 inches - this one beats that by 5 inches. This 46 inch pike is a handful. Some great weather for fishing.

Radio show featuring our lodge on CJOB.com

Craig Stapon just finished 3 days of fishing at the lodge. He's going to feature us on his program tonight on CJOB 68 radio. You can listen on line at www.cjob.com if that works better for you. It's on at 8 pm tonight. If you miss it, they will have it in the audio archives if you join the Listeners' Club.

The radio show was fantastic! Craig and Jason mentioned all the staff they worked with by name and they really had some fabulous fishing. I always tell people that the fishing was even better than we thought it would be when we bought the lodge. Craig and Jason were pleasantly surprised I think! It's great to see good fishermen, that really enjoy the sport, discover the bounty of Gods Lake.

Jim's first visit and a trophy walleye to remember!

This is one of the best pictures I've ever seen of one of our walleyes. This master angler measured 31 inches! Pretty nice trophy for Jim's first visit to the lodge.

What happens when the beer arrives before you do?

I can think of a number of things that could happen. Most of them resulting in no beer for you! We've had some extra steps to do this year. We have to notify the airline when we are shipping beer - no biggie, but they don't seem to have any control over when they actually ship the stuff. A few days ago, they shipped a bunch of beer on an early flight, after I asked them to send it on the later flight. The airport we land at is next to a dry reserve - where no alcohol is allowed. When no one was there to claim the beer (although we would have had MANY volunteers) the band constable put it in the jail. Good thing we have a good working relationship with the band - didn't cost us too much to get the beer out and we were able to take it to the lodge with no further problems.

No wonder beer is so expensive in the north...the original price of the beer, driving the beer to the airport, bagging and labelling the beer so it's "in disguise", the flight to ship the beer (which is $1.41 pound), the truck ride from the airport to the boat, the 20 mile boat ride to the lodge, and last of all - it gets carried or taken in a trailer up to the lodge. What a trip for a little 'ol can of beer. I think we should charge more - it's a well travelled can of beer by the time it gets put in the cooler at the lodge. I don't even like the stuff.

Happy Brook Trout fishermen...

I got some more pictures to work with. This group of fishing buddies went on a day trip down the God's River. They had a great time - caught a bunch of fish, and they all got at least one master angler brookie. Just the trip down the river is a thrill of a lifetime - taking rapids in a boat with a motor, going into a wilderness area that is pretty remote and miles from any settlement. Catching master angler brook trout in one of the top 5 brook trout streams in North America is just the icing on the cake. What a great experience!

Low water levels

This year is certainly not following the normal pattern. The ice was gone at least a couple of weeks early. The water levels are lower than we've seen in the last 5 years. That means that a lot of the bays we normally fish early don't have deep enough water in them. Good thing it's a huge lake with lots of habitat. Just a matter of keeping up with where the fish are moving and hanging out NOW. And look out for the rocks! 3 more props to pick up from the repair guy...

The start of the great fish pictures...and all kinds of pictures

I've always had fun with the pictures and we've made a conscious effort, since buying the lodge, to get some great pictures. We use them for the website and for brochures or other advertising. And I guess I'll have to add blogging to that list. Most of the lodge guests are willing to share their shots and there have been some phenomenol pictures captured.

One of my favorite ones that we just got is a picture of our winter guy Neal and his house. And I suppose I better share one of the fish pictures too - somehow most of our website visitors seem to love those! Thanks for sending them Tommy!

The first fishermen arrive...

A great bunch of guys coming in this morning. One guy that has been fishing with us for a few years, and 3 of his friends that are "first timers". They are going to have some great fishing.

On the business end of it, it still staggers me how much it costs to fly groceries in to a lodge. We could buy locally, but that would be even worse. A gallon of milk is close to $12. The US economy is not recovering nearly fast enough!

The walleyes are biting!

The first guests are coming tomorrow. It's been a great week getting everything ready to go. A few more broken things than normal, but overall - nothing that couldn't be fixed or finessed. The water levels are down 2 or 3 feet, but that hasn't stopped the walleyes from biting! You can usually see only the tip of the breakwater, or maybe a few boulders on top. There's a whole beach there. Everyone will have to be careful with fires this year...