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Here is our fall newsletter. We apologize for the repeat of our spring letter that was sent out yesterday. Happy Thanksgiving!
 Another season has come and gone here at Amik Outposts in Northwestern Ontario and it was great! Northern Fishing was spectacular and the Walleye Fishing was as awesome as ever! This year we have the pictures to prove it! All of us here at Amik Outposts would like to thank everyone who made the trip up to Red Lake to visit this summer. We appreciate your business and strive to show you a First Class Flyin Experience.
2008 Weather was Very Pleasant! We had a late spring this year but once the weather turned around the rest of the summer was very nice. We had more than our fair share of rain at times but the temperatures were quite enjoyable. Fishing is stable when the temperatures remain constant, and this year it did not get too hot or too cold. On some lakes the water was higher than normal but nothing extreme. One advantage of having lots of rain is that there are very few forest fires! The forests needs to replenish and clean itself from time to time and it makes good moose hunting habitat, but it was nice to not have that problem to contend with this season. We had a nice fall as well, contributing to a Successful Moose Hunt and some Great Fall Fishing. John was able to take his time closing camps and was able to spend more time at each camp doing extra work.
We want to thank all of our guests for sharing their Photos with us for our Photo Contest. One Lucky Person will be coming fishing for FREE in 2009. Please respond with your vote for your favorite picture. There was hundreds of worthy entries but we had to narrow it down to 39 of our favorite ones. Click here and cast a vote for your fav. Voting will conclude Dec 15th with the winner being announced in our holiday postcard. We will be hosting all of our submitted pictures online and linking them to each respective lake from our website. They are open to everyone to share with family and friends, for Bragging rights of course. We only recieve a portion of our Guests Photos but it definately proves the Quality Fisheries we are able to fish and protect with our Industry Leading Conservation Policy.
 Northern Fishing
Monster Northern were very abundant during our 2008 Season! So many Trophies caught and released over 40 inches! If there was a week when John showed up at the dock somewhere to pick up another happy group of fishermen and they said that they didn't catch a Northern over 40 inches, there was usually a 39 inch Northern or two caught. This year the Largest Northern caught and released at Amik outposts was an enormous 48 Incher by David A. from Great Britain on Loree Lake. There were 3-47 inch, 6-46 inch, and tons of 42-45 inch Trophy Northern caught at all our camps through out the summer. 40 inch Northern are common place but still a fish of a lifetime!! The Big Ones were quite active all summer long, as many Walleye fishermen this season could tell you! The McDaniel Party this summer had 5 walleye throughout their stay get eaten by some Shark-like Northern Pike on the Cobham River while they were bringing them in, landing a couple walleye with Northern attached and thankfully getting some excellent pictures.
Walleye
What can we say about our Walleye Fishing? Two words.... World Class!!!!! With every group of fishermen who came back from the bush to tell us their tales of hundreds of walleye each day caught and returned to the lake. Stories of days where "Every Walleye was over 20 inches! At times the average was 22 to 24 inches. We caught them like that ALL DAY!!!" We have the perfect makings in all of our lakes to breed Big Walleye. Deep water, lots of weedy bays, moving water, good genetics, and the will to enforce a strict Conservation Policy. There were 2-32 inch Walleye caught this summer, one from Jeanette Lake and one caught on Findlay Lake. Also measuring in this summer were 3-31 inch, lots of 30 inchers and way too many Walleye to count that measured 25-29 inches!
Lake Trout
Anyone who finds the knack for catching Lake Trout knows how much fun it is to catch those heavy fighting fish from down in 80 feet of water, bringing them to the surface only to have them take a run and head right back down to the bottom. Sometimes you can still be at it 15 minutes later, still hoping to get a look at the beast! Fishing for those Lakers can be fun but you need the right equipment and most importantly you need a depth finder to target the right depth depending on the time of year. Cherrington and Springpole are our two lakes in which we have Lake Trout and this summer they each produced some Big Lakers. Springpole's biggest was a 36 inch Hog! It would have weighed in the 30 pound range! Cherrington Lake had a 34 inch Lake Trout landed and would have been well over 20 pounds!
Moose Hunting
 The 2008 Moose Hunt was a Success!! We had a total of 12 hunters this fall, 8 Guided and 4 Unguided Hunts. The Unguided Hunters from Tennesse were not successful in harvesing a Moose but were oh so close many times during the Hunt. The Canadian Moose is a huge animal and it is True Big Game Hunting. It is not an easy task to take on. These guys were up to the challenge, hunting hard!! Early in the week they had a Cow Moose on one side of the lake and a Bull on the other calling back and forth but they were not lucky enough to see them. Another day they were so close to a moose that they could hear it's feet pulling out of the mud and the sound of leaves being stripped off the trees right in behind the willows but again, no Moose. After having a few encounters during the week, it was the last night of the hunt and Mark and his Dad just came out of the Bush and were getting back to the boat, wet after walking through the thick brush. Mark looked up and there was a BIG BULL!! He pointed it out to his dad and put his gun up.... and his scope was foggy and full of Pine Needles from walking in the Bush. By the time he had it cleaned off, the Moose was gone. You never know when the time will be when you see those Moose. You always have to have your eyes and ears open.
 It's a good thing that one of our moose guides, James, had his ears open. He had an encounter of a different kind this fall during the 2nd week of the hunt. When we are calling, it is nice to lay down on a comfy rock and just listen, there is less body movement and you can just hear better. So one day James was calling away amongst some small Birch trees, leaning his head on a log, when he heard some rustling leaves near him. He turned his head.....and there less than 3 feet away was a WOLVERINE! He jumped up faster than he had ever moved and yelled!! The Wolverine didn't like that and took off in the other direction, James got a good look at him as he went away, his heart coming through his chest!
Our Guided hunts did quite well this year, taking 5 Moose for 8 Hunters. The Biggest Bull Moose was an impressive 48 inches. A Beautiful Trophy. It was a long drawn out exciting affair but it took an hour for this Bull to finally show up. There is nothing more exciting than having a 1200 pound animal coming straight at you! This Bull was not an easy one to bring in. He answered right away but would not come right to the lake. The brush along the shoreline was really thick. With a rack the size of a sheet of plywood on your head, you wouldn't want to walk through the brush either! He left 2 times after getting frustrated with the tangled brush but John called him back each time. Finally he got angry enough to come the last 100 yards! There was no mistaking where he was coming from...Grunting all the way and trees shaking back and forth, heart pounding action! Just as they could see his feet in the bush, he stopped...waiting for what seemed like an eternity but was only about a minute before he made those last fateful steps out into the open. Staggering like the Big Ones do! John and Ben had discussed previously on what to do....Ben took his shot exactly when John had told him to. The Moose was hit hard and stumbled forward and exposed the other shoulder. Wham! Ben put another round into him, he was still standing! After 2 good shots! If a moose is standing right there and you know he is hit, you can't risk him getting away, so Ben gave him a third round! That was the Kill Shot. An Awesome hunt! Here is the Video of Ben's Moose. Turn up the Volume when you watch this one, you can hear him grunting all the way in!
Our hunters Jerry and Dave from Wisconsin hunted Shearstone the first week of the hunt an did extremely well. Both hunters harvesting nice Bulls and even passed a number of moose up before taking a shot.
 We were excited to hunt Loree Lake again since it had been 3 years since the fire took most of the west end of the lake and it did not disappoint! James was able to call a nice 40 inch Bull right out for a 20 yard shot for Ron early in the Hunt. Now to get Mike a shot! Later in the Hunt as they were coming home, James decided to stop and call in a new spot. Right away he heard an answer! Over and over he grunted, the lowest sounding Bull James has ever heard. By the sound of his grunt and the hollow sound of his antlers on the brush,they knew he was BIG. He went in figure 8's, back and forth it sounded like, back in behind some really nasty brush. They called with him until well after dark but he would not come out. The next morning they went back nice an early. He was still there with a number of cows who called back as well but he was getting further away and eventually was gone. At least Mike got to experience the excitement of having a bull answer, that is Heart Pumping Action.
John accompanied some veteran hunters on BlackBirch during the second week of the hunt, Mike Z. and Dick S. With higher than normal water levels the hunting is done away from the lake on the Ridges and most times the Moose are in the most unlikely of places. On the second last day of the hunt Mike and John were able to call a great Bull in! He was a long haul from the lake but well worth it. That makes 3 hunting trips with Amik Outposts for Mike...and 3 Moose! His friend Dick did not get an opportunity to fill his tag this year but his record now stands at 6 Hunting Trips...4 Moose, and they have all been very Impressive!
Two of the 3 hunters who did not tag a moose were extremely close. Franz who hunted with Ben the first week had a Bull within 20 yards but the bush was so thick they did not have a shot before he winded them. Overall it was a successful hunt and we are looking forward to next Hunting Season already! To read some of the other Moose Hunting Stories click here.
Improvements
John spent a lot of time up north this fall doing many projects at the camps. Some needed dock work was not completed due to high water at some lakes but we'll hopefully have an early ice next spring to take care of this.
Shearstone Lake had a face lift on the interior of the cabin this fall. It was a huge improvement. We moved the sink and cupboards into the front room creating a nice kitchen work space. We also put the picnic table out on the deck and moved the kitchen table into the front room. A second fridge will be added to this camp next spring to accomodate larger groups and it is always nice to have a "beer fridge". There are now 2 futons in the bedroom/living room area for lounging. We hope to put up curtains between the rooms to create a more private bedroom/changing area. The space in the cabin will be much appreciated I am sure.
Springpole Lake had a complete new boardwalk installed in front of the cabin. It is 4' wide and makes it much safer going to the boats or back to the outhouse.
The Cobham River has seen many improvements over the past few years since we added it to our company 3 years ago, and this year it is slated for a new stove. In the past couple of years we have made many improvements, adding a 12 X 12 gazebo, a new BBQ, new 15 hp Yamaha Motors, and a new Outhouse.
 Cobham Morley had some work done on it as well this fall. John built a new deck beside the shed which is used for gasing up the boat tanks and was large enough to put a new fish cleaning table there as well.
Findlay Lake, John has been wanting to get the shed moved at Findlay for some time and this fall it got done! The beautiful view from the cabin now is totally unobstructed. The shed is further west and has a new heavy duty boardwalk going over to it. All of the boardwalks had new stringers put under them so they will last for many more years. A new fish cleaning table was needed here because a big wind blew down the trees in front of the cabin. The boat ramp was re-decked to make it more solid and a little safer.
We made and installed 4 sets of New Bunk beds this fall at Findlay Lake! Solid 2x6 constructed with safe wide stepped ladders to get to the top bunk. They were installed on either side of the window so there is a lot more natural daylight able to get into the room. Findlay is now a great 8 man cabin.
Cherrington Lake had some dock work done at The Bay.
Cobham Daniel is slated to get 3-New 14' Lund Boats in the Spring. We plan on having new boats for Cobham Morley next!
Blackbirch Lake had some boardwalk stringers replaced. The rough, rocky terrain in Ontario can be slippery when it rains and these boardwalks make it much safer and easier to go back and forth to the dock and to outhouse.
John has been doing the maintenance at all these camps for 15 years now and with advice from Bruce, jobs done now are being done better than ever and so they can last a long time.
Sportshows
This winter we will be attending the Toronto International Boat Show Jan 9-19 2009. This is a new market for us, and we encourage anyone from that area to come on down to the show and visit with John. It is always good to see familiar faces! Since we are not doing any sport shows in the United States this winter please make sure and check with us for dates, prices, and references if you need them. We'll be happy to send any information to you.
Passports
Starting in 2009, you will need a passport to re-enter the United States. If you do not have a passport and need to apply for one, here is the link. U.S. Passport Website We find that groups of fishermen who are organized with all passports ready when you get to the Border, crossing is usually fairly easy. Birth Certificates will be sufficient for anyone under 18 years old. Please remember to apply right away and ask the members of your party if they have a passport! It would be a shame to miss out on a season of fishing at Amik Outposts!
2009 Bookings
Bookings at our Deluxe Outposts for 2009 are flooding in, so please act quickly to ensure you have the best opportunity at the dates you want. Just simply reply to this newsletter if you would like to get some available times for your Flyin Fishing Vacation! If we are holding dates for you, please send in your deposits ASAP so we can secure your dates.
We would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and as always our thoughts and prayers go out to the U.S. and Canadian soldiers serving overseas. All of us here at Amik Outposts appreciate your business and will continue to strive to show you the best Canadian Flyin Fishing Experience possible. Please forward this newsletter to other members of your party as we do not have everyone's email addresses. Keep an eye on John's Blog to see how things are going with Amik Outposts in the off-season.
Sincerely,
Bruce, Debbie, John & Rená |
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