Rena and I are heading up to Red Lake this week.  The weather has been very nice but almost too nice.  We need some rain to help speed up the ice out.  Ice out is proceeding along normally, so I hope things continue on this coarse.

Early spring is the time the Northern Hunters come to Amik Outposts.  Every year our guests catch and release hundreds of monster pike and this year  with the  sunshine we have had the BIG ONES should be plentiful.  Every year is different, but on the years when we have lots of sun, there seems to more trophy fish caught than on the years where it is cloudy and rainy.  One of my favorite lines is “I can control a lot of things, but the weather is not one of them”  There are lots of huge fish in our lakes you just have to hunt them!!!

I recently received the pictures from the Pfeiffer party when Todd had a bit of a mishap. A small northern on one hook of a lure and your hand attached to the other. When grabbing ANY fish you have to be careful, remember you are on a flyin trip miles away from the emergency room. This has happened a few times throughout the years, most of the time if the hook cannot be removed at the camp buy the fishermen and depending on how long they have left on their stay, the hook can sometimes stay in there until you fly out. It is a good reminder to look online for instructions on removing a hook in the wilderness. All I can suggest is that you do not think about it for long, just get it out! Tie a line to the J of the hook and hold down on the front. Then with a fast jerk, pull the line while holding down on the hook and it should come right out with minimal tearing from the barb.

Here they are!

Ouch! And the culprit is there to watch!

I think I know who got the last laugh though!

And there you go, out with minor damage. I saw Todd’s hand on the way out and you could barely see where the hook had been!

This video shows how you should do it. They don’t mess around, they don’t even cut the hook off!

Here are some new pictures of some more trophy sized walleyes, this time from Cherrington lake. I wrote about the S. Arnie Safari and here are a few pics and a little note from the boys who are headed back to Jeanette in 2011.

Dear John and Rena

Here are some pictures that made up the great safari (fishing) we had this year. To bad Arnie was missing in action. You may want to put a couple of these on your revolving picture show or John’s Blog. By the way, the fish was really good eating. Sorry I did not get a picture of any of Ed Benka’s fish. We are looking forward to next year on Jeanette again. Thanks for all the work you put into these camps that make our adventures so successful.

My old buddy Dick Hoene was back last week and brought some friends with him. A bunch of old and young hockey players. Dick is a great fishermen and had his work cut out for him with a few novice fishermen in the group. When the first fish was caught one of the new guys pulled a pair of channel lock pliers out of his pocket to remove the hook. Not exactly your ideal tool to remove a deep lodged hook from a fish. But by the end of the week that same fishermen caught the biggest fish of the trip! Is it the guide or is it the fishermen?

Here are some pictures of the great time they had:

How would you like to face off against these 2 monsters?

A couple of young wingers from Minnesota were in the group and were pretty excited to start catching fish. They caught a lot! Here is a nice walleye!

It was very hot at times last week and the best way to cool off is just like this! Please make sure the water is deep enough before attempting the cliff jump though!

There were hundreds of fish caught this size. Dick alone caught 850 fish for 7 days of fishing!

A giant pike is the sure way to ensure a return customer. This is a very healthy fish. Head the size of a shovel!

With the young guys along there was lots of exploring to do! This is up in the old burn from 4 years ago.

The rookie with a beautiful golden walleye. A fat 26 incher! Great fish.

There continues to be thunderstorms every few days. This one in the distance is almost done. You can see the anvil shape at the top as it blows out with a nice “red sky at night, sailors delight!”

Good times had by all, and good for the boys to spend some time in the bush.

Every once in awhile we get reports of the thought to be extinct “Blue walleye”. They are most commonly caught on Loree and Cobham lakes as well as in some of our remote moose hunting lakes. Here is a picture of these “Extinct” fish!!

And as always the Big ones! Fishing on our lakes is always good to us and to most people, it is the best they have ever experienced! Trophy fish at Amik Outposts are the norm not the exception.

The Peters party came out of Loree the other day and had some good times, good weather, and no Bugs! Oh yea, they caught 3008 fish for the week! This group sure knows how to catch walleyes. They started a tradition last year with a sign and this year they had one ready to go. All they had to do was fill in the number.

Bernice and Ed saw their first moose last year and this year they saw 2. A cow and a calf this time. Betty and Jim were also fortunate to see a moose.

The big ones were not as willing as they were last year but they caught lots in the 20 to 24 inch range.

Jeanette Lake! The big ones were willing there this week!

The S. Arnie Safari came out of Jeanette this morning and had some great luck! Arnie has been with us since 1983 and had countless good times with his buddies and in the past number of years, with his sons. They were fishing in 20 to 35 feet of water for the big fish and shallower for supper sized fish. Using jigs and tails on the windy days and just a snell hook with a crawler on it when it was calm. Experience is a very valuable thing when it comes to catching trophy fish.

How would you like your first fish of the trip to be a…..

A 29 inch Walleye! Chad J. knows how that feels. In addition he caught a 27 inch walleye too.

The whole Johnson Family did very well on Jeanette. Here are the largest fish:
Chad J. 29 and 27 inch walleye
Charlie J. 26 and 25 inch walleye
Chris J. did the best on this trip catching a 23, a 25, 2-26 inch walleyes and a 28 incher!
Dad on the other hand could only muster a 22 inch walleye but I am sure he takes pride in seeing his boys catch trophy fish.


A 26 and 22 inch double header was one of the many highlights of the week. The Johnsons did bring Uncle Phil along for his first trip to Jeanette, pictured here in the double header. He surpassed his largest fish record of a 5 pound northern. He will be welcome back next time to break that record again.

We have been very busy lately and had lots of good pictures shared with us. Here are a few from Cobham Daniel when the Connaughty Party spent some time there recently. Enjoy!

It has been mostly sunny and warm up here recently, but not to hot. The fishing has been quite good with the walleyes in 6 to 12 feet of water. I fished for awhile on Shearstone last week and caught lots of walleyes in 9 feet on a overcast day.

I brought the Weston party out of Daniels today and Larry, the leader of the group was ecstatic! This was their first trip with us, although he has been fishing Canada for 40 years, he had never caught a northern over 40 inches. Many 39’s but never breaking the 40 barrier. Well this week on the Cobham, he not only broke the 40 inch plateau, but caught and released a fat 43.5 inch northern. His boys said he did not fish as hard after that satisfying feat that was a long time coming. Troy caught a couple nice fish as well, 38 and 39 inch northerns and walleyes were nuts right in front of the cabin by the fish gut rock on the last night. What a perfect way to end the trip!

Here are some pictures from last week on Vee Lake. Mike W. and his buddies fished there for their first time and caught some big fish.

Walleyes with shoulders!! Big!

I love it in July when the best lure for walleyes is a 5 of diamonds!!

We have many return customers and have become friends with lots of people, but it is good to hear some stories from guests who have been fishing some of our lakes for almost as long as I have been alive. Jim B. has been fishing the Cobham and Pat R. has been fishing Springpole since the 70’s! These guys have been through a number of outfitters throughout the years and have many stories to tell.

Jim who hails from Iowa has brought many a fishermen to the granite rock we call Northwestern Ontario specifically the Cobham River System. The cabin we purchased 6 years ago was originally erected in the 70’s and Jim began fishing there then. (Morley and Daniel were built on Cobham Lake in 1992) The Cobham is a lake of extreme water levels. It goes from being as high as it ever was last year to quite low this year, 4-5 feet lower than last. Jim told me he has seen it so low one spring that they had to physically carry the boats in the rapids going down the river. Alot has changed since then, from coleman lanterns to propane lights, to bright solar powered light. The running water has gone from running to the lake to get it to simply turning on a faucet in the cabin with the aid again of solar power. He now makes Cobham Morley his home for one week each summer with his crew and I wonder how many 40 plus inch northerns he has caught on that body of water in 30 years.

Pat has been with Lac Seul Airways since the original owner John Hannaway back in the 70’s and loves to catch Lake Trout. And Springpole has some Huge Trout. I have heard a ton of stories about John and most of them have alot to do with him being grumpy and giving gruff orders to people around the dock. Pat’s brother Bill joined the group in 1986 and figured he would have a laugh during the weighing of the gear before the flight to Springpole. As it was being weighed, he lifted on the cart, making it look lighter. John Hannaway did not think it was very funny. They went from being the first flight out that morning, to flying in late that night, waiting around all day for John to send them out.

It is good to see all of our regulars and hear the stories of past trips and good times!

In my last post I did not have all of the pictures from the group, Tom C. sent us this one of a great looking 41 inch Trophy! Thanks Tom, you will have another picture on our wall again! Keep it up and we will have to create a section for you and your family!