Happy New Year.  We wish everyone a better year ahead than the one we are leaving behind.  We are grateful for many things and are looking towards the future with Optimism, Confidence and Hope.  2021 was better than 2020, so we are hopeful that 2022 will be a better year than 2021. 🙂

We had a great Christmas! Everyone was home and it was lots of fun.  Jack is 3 now and the Christmas Spirit is wild in him now.  George is 1 now and is just getting going.  He was happy to finally tear open the presents he hasn’t been allowed to touch.   Santa was good to us all and laughter filled the house daily.

We have settled into a normal January.  It is -30 Celsius at night and only gets up to -25 during the day.  The ice on the lake has gone down fast and we have about 3 feet already.  We have gotten more snow recently which will slow the ice down a bit.  Fishing is still pretty good even though it generally slows down at this time of year when it gets this cold.  We move some of our nets from closer to shore out to some reefs a few miles out during this time of year.  As spring approaches, the fish leave the reefs and head for shore to spawn and we chase them, hoping for one last run at catching them before the ice goes.

When you fish that far from shore, the horizon looks like this most days.  We live in a small bubble of 200-300 yards of visibility.  Thank goodness for GPS now.  We used to have to mark our trails with spruce boughs every few hundred yards and put up tall markers hear and there to navigate.  Sometimes walking in front of the Bombardier in the headlights to stay on the road to get home during the storms

We also have to compete with an Otter.  Those buggers like fish.  The lake normally has pressure ridges or cracks that work back and forth as the ice contracts and expands with the temperature.  The Otter finds a place near our nets to get through the ice and then swims over and feasts.  Easy picking for him as the fish are just waiting there.  It adds up over time, each walleye is worth $4-5.  He normally gets as far out as 2 nets, eating anywhere from 4 to 10 fish each time.

When it gets this cold, the Otter has trouble finding open water.  We rarely see the Otters, but he made a mistake the other day as he came from behind us in the middle of the day.  It was because he could smell the water we think.  Dustee saw him first and the fight was on!  She got bitten a couple times but got ahold of his neck after I gave him a wallop with a hockey stick!  

Dates for 2022

Our season is looking good for 2022.  We do still have some open dates here and there throughout the season.  Here are a few dates that are available right now:

Cherrington Point July 2-6, 2022 and July 16-21, 2022

Vee Lake July 15-19, 2022

Shearstone Lake July 1-6, 2022

Cobham River August 20-27, 2022

Cobham Daniel August 8-13, 2022

Loree Lake August 17-22, 2022

Click here if you have any questions or if you would like to book one of these dates

Winter has set in and we are back on Lake Manitoba commercial fishing.  Many of the lakes in the north have not frozen over yet but this lake is quite shallow and freezes sooner than lakes which are deep and have current.  

We have 9 or 10 inches of ice already.  There is not much snow on the ice and the ice has been going down pretty fast even though we have not been very cold.  It definitely makes your winter go by faster when winter is late in showing up. Before you know it the days will be getting longer and we will be getting ready for another season in Red Lake.

The Jigger takes our line out and then we have to go find it.  Pretty easy when the ice looks like this.  We were on about 3 inches of ice that day but it is a bit tougher to find through 4 feet of ice covered in snow on a windy day though.  There is a small tapper that helps us find it.

My Great Nephew Brey came out there to help us set a few nets.  Another generation that loves it out on the lake.

We get to see some awesome sights out there.  The sky always seems so big.  But this place can also be like hell during a storm.

It is hard to stand on this kind of ice, so we use snowmobile track screws on the bottom of our boots.  The first day I was out there, mine were wore out and it was windy.  It makes for a frustrating day if you can not move around.

Dustee is a pretty unique dog.  When the ice is smooth like this she will ride on the sleigh over the rough ice just like this for miles.

And this is why we do it.  Walleyes are our main target but they buy pretty much all species of fish that we catch.  These are worth the most and most of them normally head to restaurants in the USA as well as Canada.

We see thousands of fish each day and see some pretty strange variations.  This is a Tullibee, normally a nice silver but this one was very red and a little while later we caught one that was yellow.

At the end of each day we take our fish to town and pack them in ice to ship to Winnipeg and be processed.  

Our family has been fishing on Lake Manitoba for 4 generations.  This lake has been good to us and the surrounding area.  Generating a lot of money for the local economy.  Back in the day, every farmer along the lake was a fishermen.  The number of fishermen has dropped in the past years since there is no guarantee of making enough money.  It is a great place to work in nature and make some money if you work hard at it.  I feel fortunate to be able to carry on the tradition.

Dates for 2022

After the border closure and shortened season this year we have fewer available dates open at this time than we normally would, which is good for us but not always good for getting people the dates or lake that they may want.  We do have openings left for 2022 but just want to remind anyone interested in fishing with us next season to be flexible if possible on dates.  We will do our best to accommodate you.  Here is the link for reservations.

Amik Outposts Gear

If you are looking for a unique gift for Christmas, check out our Online Store.  Anything you order will be made in the USA and shipped to you.  Here is the link to our Shop Amik Page.

Amik Outposts on Instagram

Our Instagram Page has been growing in leaps and bounds this summer.  Taina has been doing a great job capturing the essence of our business and showing it to the world.  Many of our reels and photos have gone viral already.  Check some of them out here.  Amik Outposts Instagram.

It has been great so far.  Our guests have been so happy to see us and even happier to be back in the bush.  

Once the border opened, so did the heavens.  We have had a ton of rain since the beginning of August.  More than 12 inches up north with less towards Findlay and Loree and down south.  The Cobham, Vee, Cherrington and Blackbirch have come up 3 feet!  It has made moving people interesting at times and a few fishermen got some extra nights in the bush because of it, but we got everyone moved safely when Mother Nature decided to let us finish the job.

The fresh water and increased flow have put the fish near the moving water.  They are also still on the mid-lake reefs.  Basically everywhere.  They are very active.  Pike attacks are common on small walleye right now as well.  Many guests so far have said that the fishing has been the best that they have ever had, numbers and size.  Tons of walleyes 25 plus and most groups catching a number of 40 plus pike.  The high water seems to have made them go crazy.  The camps are running well with very few problems.  It feels great to be back in business and to be doing what we were meant to do.  We have gotten lots of pictures from our guests and we will be doing a fishing wrap up soon.

Life needs water and the north is full of it.  There is lots of green already showing up in the burn and there are other signs of life like mushrooms growing already.

Amik Outposts on Instagram.

Taina has been doing a great job on our Instagram page.   We have seen a ton of new traffic and are gaining quite the following.  Some of our videos have gone viral! 🙂 

Here is the link to Amik Outposts Instagram.

Here are some links to some of the Reels:

A day in the life.

Things are looking up.

Jumping into a new week.

This is John.

Jack got to make his first overnight trip to the bush with the boys.  No mom.  He was perfect.  Almost 3, he is a handful at times.  But put him in the bush with just me and Aaron he was so happy.  He helped us rebuild a new outhouse at the Point cabin and caught his first fish on his own!  The fishing right above the rapids at the pullover was awesome in 6 to 10 feet.  He had 4 or 5 on before Aaron and I had 2.  It was pretty awesome to see the light switch turn on when he figured it out.

We are ready for anything.  Including the Reopening of the Border!  Half of our camps are all ready to go and the others are being cleaned up as I move around saving cabins from the fire.  We do have bad news though.  Blackbirch cabin is gone due to the fire.  I will give more details in my story.

 We have been dealing with fires for almost a month and I have not been home very much.  I have been up north almost every night since the end of June, preparing camps for the fire as it gets closer.  The fire we are dealing with is very big and started at the end of June, SE of the Cherrington cabins.  It now stretches from west of Cherrington, south of Blackbirch and goes a long ways east to Vee Lake, where as of yesterday, it had stopped on the entire south shore of Vee, the east side has burned into a huge area with lots of lakes and slowed down considerably.  Rain is possible in the forecast so let’s hope we can get some moisture and put this one behind us.

Around July 1, I headed north to Cherrington because we heard a fire was close.  Once I got there I could see that I was staying until it was dealt with.  I have been getting pretty good at predicting when the fire will come.  That is not a good talent to have if you have to be doing that week after week.

We would have 2 days to prepare.  There was a fire crew at Cherrington when I got there putting up a sprinkler system.  We are very grateful for that, without it we would not have had anything left.  I brought our own pump and hose so I began flooding the bush behind the camps starting at the Bay cabin because that is where it was going to come from over the high ground.  2 days proved not to be enough time.  

At 2:30 on July 3rd, I went for a quick flight to check on the fire.  It was a very short flight.  The fire was going to be here in an hour….. The firefighters and I kept flooding and waited for the fire.  It came.  Hard enough we had to retreat as it was tree topping at 3:33 on July 3.

Once the wall of fire hit the wet bush it stopped. Just like that.  The fire crew began putting out the flames and I began moving our pump to the Point to get ready for the next wave.  

As I got the hose set up near the outhouse at the Point, I could hear it coming again.  The sound is like a train. And when it fires up, you know it is coming.  There is a high rock behind the Point and when it came over that rock it was moving fast.  Time to get out of the way.

The fire came and rolled right over the Point cabin and was headed towards the Lodge.  The cabin disappeared in the flames and smoke.  I was standing on the rock in front of the cabin and the fire was paralleling us.  The fire crew thought I was nuts as I was giving it the finger and yelling at it. 🙂 

The fire charged over the cabin and the cabin appeared in the smoke with the sprinklers still running, no flames on it!  Then the fire continued towards the Lodge and Bay cabin.  It hit the next wall of water and slowed down and then it didn’t take long and away it went again, heading towards the Lodge.  I dragged the burning hose out of the fire and began putting it out as the fire moved on.  The fire burnt the MNR fire hose so then the sprinkler system went down.  The fire crew then had to back away in a boat, as the fire was burning right by the fuel shed.  I came by boat from the Point, no pump set up now and the fire is 10 feet from the building.  So I grabbed a bucket. Lol.  I put it out as best as I could with a pail, then went and got the pump.  As the fire by the fuel shed was mostly out, I hear flames again.  Looking at the Point, the trees right by the fuel tank are going up to the top with fire.  So I load up the pump and go and put those out.  We repaired the hose that burnt shortly after and the sprinklers were back up and running.  I slept there that night, so did Dustee.  When the fire hit, I put her in the airplane.  She knew bad things were happening.  She was covered in burnt pine needles inside because I forgot to close the windows.  I left her home for the next fires.

The best way to describe it is that it was violent.  Tall trees and having it hit at the hottest time of the day.  It was 90+ that day.  Every fire I go through, I learn more about preparation and assessing the weak points. 

The fire crew spent the night at Showalter’s cabin but I stayed up till 11 pm putting out hotspots around my cabin.  I slept great (with the sprinklers running all night) as the fire continued to burn around both sides of the bay.  The landscape has changed but the trees will grow again. 

The fire crew stayed and put out the fire around the camp.  I was moving to BlackBirch.  No more fire crew help for me as they were needed elsewhere but I was very grateful to have had them for this fire protecting 3 cabins.

The Blackbirch chapter of this story was different.  I had about 3 days to prepare.  Soaking the hill behind camp and over the ridge.  All while the sprinklers were wetting down the camp.  The fire came slowly against the hot southwest wind.  The sights and sounds as it burnt the big timber on the east end of the lake were wild.  huge plums of smoke, fish biting like crazy, all as I was getting rained on by burnt pine needles and even full on pine cones!

The fire came in the morning on July 9.  Slowly,  it was much easier to deal with than the Cherrington fire.  Although I didn’t have enough hose to reach the far side of the ridge, so I was prepared this time with a water backpack and a bucket.  It was hard to keep the fire from getting across the rock as it was so hot and so dry.  I had some trying moments but was able to protect the whole area and walk the fire to the west shore much easier once I got into hose distance.  My one weak point was that the point west of the cabin had a bunch of dead wind blown trees.  I stopped the fire from reaching that area.  I spent another couple of days putting out hot spots around the cabin and felt confident that it would be ok…..

I left for home. Feeling good.   We can see hot spots on a satellite website and the next couple days we could see the fire getting out of hand once again around the cabin and across the lake on either side.  The next day we had 90+ degrees and a hurricane wind out of the SW changing to west.  I had enough sense to know that it was not a day to be in the air or in front of a fire.  No one could get in to fill up the sprinklers, although I don’t know it would have saved  the cabin in that wind.  The fire looks like it came from the trappers cabin to the west in a long wicked charge.  Ignited the trees on the point, burnt hard up to the edge of the water by the outhouses.  Jumped to the cabin and that was it.  It had to have started underneath or on the roof.  It burned from the inside out.  This is the last picture of the cabin at Blackbirch when I left.

The BBQ was 8 feet away and only melted the knobs.

We have plans in the works already to replace the cabin and hope to have it done or almost done by fall.  One positive, the shed (full of gas and propane), the boats and motors, both outhouses and even the gazebo are still standing.  We only have to build a cabin.  We will do our best and we now have a carpenter on staff 🙂 

The fire, same fire, also headed for Vee Lake during that windy day.  It ended up right south of the camp, west as well as east.  I then went to stay there until this passes once again.

I had a full sprinkler system set up running on the cabin as well as 4 nozzles and 2 pumps.  I am getting smarter and more experienced with this fire business.  I took enough food for 3 days and beer for a week and then was there for 8 days.  I ate a lot of fish. 🙂

The fire came 2 days after I got there.  It crested the hill at 8 pm.  Much better time of day for it to come near.  I was hoping in the evening and overnight that the fire would calm and slowly burn towards the lake.  I left the sprinklers running that night and then things started to change in our favor.  The wind switched to the east and it got a lot cooler.  I had one more full day of waiting and watching and patrolling the island to watch for jumper fires.  Then it always gets really smokey before something good will happen.  I got socked right in with smoke but that night it rained!  More than half an inch.  Not a ton but enough to help me out and pretty much squash the fire near the camp.  Cherrington and Blackbirch did not get any rain.  So that side of the fire still survives.  So far the fire is holding along the entire south shore of Vee Lake.  I will be back tomorrow to keep an eye on things and start to ready the remaining camps.  Lets hope the rain comes.

As for the excitement of the border opening up again.  The only thing I want to remind all of our guests after all the Bulls#!t we have endured.  Get back to a simpler life, a simpler trip.  Less electronics, less junk.  Keep your weight down, leave that sh!t at home.  Bare minimum.  You will be much happier for it.  And so will I 😉

This was some pop cans that came up at the portage at Cherrington.  Garbage from the 1980’s when the fire went through last.  Growing under a tree for 40 years.  Pretty much preserved.  

Merry Christmas!  We hope everyone is doing well and has plans to get together with family and friends during the holiday season. Regardless of what your so called health officials want you to do.  This year has been one for the books and continues to be.  I will be in the bush for awhile yet.  This Christmas will be spent at Knox Lake.  Not far north of Loree lake.  I am staying through the holidays until the end of January. The days will be getting longer when I get home.  It will be a bit of a long shift by the end. 4 and a half months.  I refuse to be “tested” so that is the trade off. I just am not leaving, and staying in the bubble, which I have been in since the last spring.   Good thing Rena grew up in the military and being apart for long periods of time was part of it.  She is looking after all things important and I am doing what I do.  Spending the winter in the bush, working and having a purpose 24-7, with no one really telling me what to do.  

We wish all of our guests a very Merry Christmas and a Great New Year!  We can’t go any where but up, rest assured we are doing well mentally and physically.  We are looking forward to next season, Taina, Aaron and the boys are loving the business as we did when we got started. We make a good team and are looking forward to the future.

I don’t have too many pictures but I do have one achievement to share, I am fortunate enough to have caught fish in each and every month of the year this year on the hook.  I have a lake near me on both sides that have plenty of fish down the winter road a ways.  I have been packing and checking ice depth.  I also like to check what is going on under the ice.  Walleyes and like are in 4-6 feet of water and were hot and heavy the first time but have slowed down as it is almost -30 now at night. Winter road crews and caterpillar mechanics have been working up here as they get prepared to clear the right of way for the line. My job is always changing, catching choppers, some hauling pick up trucks and equipment, servicing generators, plowing snow, hauling water mostly and camp stuff, the sewage in extreme cold is fun. 🙂 as long as you have things running right. 

We appreciate all of our guests and all the phone calls as we emails of support. We run a tight ship and are ready for what ever puts itself in front of us.  

Here are some pictures from the north.

This is home. Knox lake in the distance. That’s where the water comes from.

I only had one rod. So I made one from some small jack pines and fire line. They worked awesome.

I had tools to take back to Loree and also had to pick up my fishing gear. Dustee had to come along of course.

Our online store is also still going well. Here is the link for that as well. It is on the menu page at the top of our website. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We are alive and well.  The snow is flying and the lakes are freezing up. Rena is back in Manitoba looking after the bookings and any questions people have.  The airplanes are put away but I have not left the North yet. Whatever we need to do to survive will be done.  

I am getting a first hand look at the lakes daily.  I stayed with the construction company that we were cooking for at Loree and Findlay.  I took a job as camp maintenance guy.  The camp is 10 miles north of Loree and is in the middle of no where and houses 17 guys.  Once the winter road opens up in the new year there will be a 100 plus man camp to put the powerline in to the north.  The guys working up here are mostly people from where we live in Manitoba.  I fit in quite well with the construction crowd. 🙂 At this time, they are opening up a few more rig camps from where I am and beginning to clear the bush for the line to go in.  Just like being an outfitter, my job is different everyday.  Helicopters coming and going, I haul water in a Sherp through the swamp over a mile, this is the biggest part of the work.  I also look after some huge generators, sewage plant, shovel and plow snow and what ever else might creep up to fix.  Jack of all trades, master of none.  By the time Christmas rolls around it will be 8 months since I have been home.  But these times call for action and we do not want to get behind to the banks or especially the government.  Good thing I like to work. 😉 I could go on and on about the Bulls#$t going on in the world but I try to stay positive.  Our opinions are strong, we love our Country and our American Cousins.  We stand with you and for Democracy.  Although these things are becoming harder and harder to defend.   We miss our guests and appreciate the support we have had through all of this.  Thank you.

We are also very happy to announce the arrival of another Bush Pilot.  George Shawn was born Nov 9th at 2pm in Thunder Bay.  A healthy boy, quiet so far.  Jack will have a friend for life…..

Here are some pics of what has been happening…..

Aaron and I each got to moose hunt quite a bit once our guys left for work.  We both got on to some moose and stayed close to them whenever we could get out.  I called in this beauty at the end of Sept on Loree and a few days later Aaron was able to get a shot at a nice spike bull at Findlay.  The freezers are full again 🙂

As with most times I am successful during a moose hunt, the sky shows me that it is time.  This was the sky 10 minutes before I was able to call out my moose.  Even after all these years, the beauty still takes my  breath away.  Soon after this picture he grunted and came to me like a freight train.

The lake I am hauling water from is a mile from the camp and only 6 feet deep.  We moved an old boat over there to get around and check depth.

I had my flag in my pocket from the base in Red Lake and put up a flag pole at camp.  The flag is tattered and worn just like our economy and our country.

The Sherp will go through anything.  Bog, water, snow, or whatever.  I am hauling 300 gallons of water at a time and am starting to get a good road smoothed out.  Dustee is with me of course and loving being up there as well.  The guys around camp are ecstatic to have her around,  everyone feels better with a dog to pet.

Please remember to shop at the Amik Store for some great Christmas gifts.  We have teamed up with a company in the USA who looks after the embroidering and printing as well as the shipping.  Here is the link to our Online Shop.  It is also located at the top left on the front page of our website.

Shop Amik Store Here

Take care.

Another season is almost complete and another moose hunt begins in a couple of days.  For the first time ever, I will be able to hunt for myself on opening day.  We have had a weird and uneventful summer.  I have spent more than 5 days a week in the bush all summer so my blog has suffered.  Aaron and I caught A LOT of fish this summer.  It was a hot one in the north, with timely rains and very few fires.  Nice water levels and cool nights.  It would have been great if we had guests to enjoy it with…….

We have had great support from our guests throughout the summer and really appreciate the phone calls and emails expressing their concern.  We have some big news for our website.  You can now buy Amik Gear on our website.  This is open to our US customers only.  We have teamed up with a company in the US who will take the order, make and ship the merchandise to you.  We have a couple of logos to choose from for hats, shirts and hoodies. There are all sizes and items for all of our fishermen.  We are sold out of much of the larger sizes quickly at the base in Red Lake so the BIG guys in your family might want a gift from the Amik store.

Here is the link to Shop Amik.

https://amikoutposts.itemorder.com/sale

We did find some unique work for ourselves.  Due to restrictions on Northern Communities, construction workers need a place to stay when they are doing bigger projects.  For the last month, right up until freeze up they have been staying with us every night, helicoptering in and out each day to their job sites, we supply Breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Aaron has been cooking at Findlay and I have been cooking at Loree.  We both take pride in our cooking and Aaron has worked in many work camps in the north so he knows how bad the food can be.  Our guys love the food and accommodations, fishing in the evening and the beautiful scenery so much that most guys haven’t wanted to go home.  This might go until freeze up, which is fine with me.  Staying away from the Internet and Cell service is the best part, I highly recommend it.

Aaron and I meet up every second day either at the rapids to work at Findlay or Loree for the day or he comes and picks me up with the 185 and we work somewhere else that day while our guys are at site working for the day.  Here are some pictures I have taken recently.

Taina, Aaron and Jack were great to have around this summer.  There is a new one on the way soon.  After freeze up, not during hunting season.  Well planned. He has become a good pilot and is comfortable in the airplane.  Aaron is off to a good start.  Jack too, he went on quite a few flights this summer.  I will have an extra passenger tagging along soon. 🙂

Dustee has lived the life this summer.  She got to spend as much time as we did in the bush.  She is happy.

We have been cutting our own lumber and did many projects and odd jobs around the camps.  Here is some of our handy work at Cobham Morley.

Roles have reversed.  I used to cut and my dad would nail them.  Now Aaron cuts and I nail the boards. 🙂

The lumber mill is also good for making countertops and shelves.  Loree lake has a new section of countertop.

I have a few honey holes on Loree that produce every time.  Even the pike are bait.  I caught 2 fish on that half digested pike the next day.

We hope everyone enjoys the Amik Store and finds something that they want or give as a gift.  We appreciate it.

It has been hot in the north!  The temperature stayed in the 90’s for quite awhile.  We have been trying to stay busy but the heat has slowed us down.  Aaron and I have spent a lot of time together.  Good thing we get along so well. 🙂

Our friends and family have been trying to do their part to help us out.  We have had a number of groups book a few trips with us recently.  It isn’t much but it is something.  At least we had a reason to start up the Otter!  We have been working on trying to get some Canadian business with the border remaining closed.  It is a difficult sell to get Canadians to do a fly in trip.  They have great fishing within a few hour drive, many have their own cabins with okay fishing right out from their dock.  Our friends and family know how special it is to do a fly in, this year we had quite a few more first timers come along and they really loved it.  We always say that to people “You can tell someone how great it is to be in the North, but until you experience it, you don’t know what you are missing”

There was 13 of us!  We fished at Cherrington.  My brother brought a group of guys and my hockey buddies also had a group.  We went over the pull over one day and had a big shorelunch.  It was great to be able to spend time with all these guys and show them some of my favorite spots on Cherrington.  We fished, laughed, swam to stay cool.  Some of us even fished in the lake…..

It was so hot and Aaron said, just drop me off in that 3 feet of water.  It was deeper all around him and he caught 6 or 8 fish in half an hour.  4 boats were circling him catching fish and having a blast.  

Farmer ingenuity at its finest!  Some of my buddies needed some shade.  Why not just make your own.  It worked.

There are a few fires burning but nothing too serious right now.  We have had quite a few timely rains.  The water is up but not high anymore.  Usually it goes down as the summer goes on.  This fire should be pretty much out as we had some rain  for a few days and it cooled off finally.

We have caught an incredible amount of fish so far this summer.  We don’t take too many pictures but here are a few of the ones we caught the other day.

Of course we had room on one of the trips taking another family friend in to Cherrington so my new flying partner wanted to come.  Jack sure loves flying.  He sees every plane go by and it is either Poppa or Dad in the plane. 🙂  He sits on my lap for most of the flight holds on to the controls and puts his hand out the window, just like me.

We need lumber to finish some projects that we planned on buying this spring.  That isn’t happening right now so we are going old school.  We found a chainsaw mill and are cutting our own boards from the bush.  Aaron loves the new mill and we have lots to do now.  A couple of camps need a new dock and others will have walkways replaced.  We will treat the boards with wood preservative when we can.  Some of the boards we are replacing were cut 23 years ago when Rena and I were living at Cherrington.  The bush lumber lasts at least as long as store bought pressure treated lumber.  It will be much easier in some cooler weather though.

Rena continues to work with our guests trying to keep everyone happy moving dates and juggling to make it happen.  We do not know when this border issue will be resolved but we are doing our best to stay positive and keep our chins up.  I have my own strong opinions about what is going on and it is all political.  We can see the temperature of the people rising up in both countries and if the left gets their way in the USA like they have here in Canada something is going to boil over.  That is all I am going to say about that.  We are ready.

Even through all of this, I still have a smile on my face and have an optimistic outlook most of the time.  I recognize how my attitude directly affects everyone around me. 🙂 We are doing our best to better ourselves every day without spending any money, using up things we already have.  We are healthy, we are together, Jack is great to have near us and things can always be worse.  Although I don’t know what is worse than this.

I will keep the blog updated as to what we have been doing as I know there are hundreds of our guests who are dying to be up here.  Stay positive.  Stay informed. 

We have been staying busy and staying as positive as we can during this time.  Aaron and I have been up north 5-6 days a week since the ice went, opening up the camps, cleaning, cutting brush and using up lumber that we already have.  With no income forecasted for a while yet we are being creative and diligent as to not spend too much but also enjoy life and maintain our sanity.

We do not know any information on the border opening yet and remain hopeful that it is going to open up.  Rena has been busy working with our guests daily to reschedule for next season as well as moving many guests later this season.  Our people still need to get their fishing trip in!  When the border does open, we will be busy! And busy late into the season.  Regarding this so called “Virus”, we still cannot believe that the world economy has been shut down for something that has a 98 or 99% survivability rate.  Governments have gotten drunk with power and are now afraid to let go of it.  There are a lot of things going on in the world and keeping people locked up for 3 months was probably the worst thing that ever could have happened using Fear as the weapon.  There is no “Virus” here.  I could go on and on but it is too maddening.  A common sense approach and we could open things up again, but COMMON SENSE doesn’t exist much when it comes to government.  All we hope for is that we can get back into business soon and do what we do best.  

We all attended a Protest/Rally in Vermillion Bay on Saturday.  Almost every outfitter in NW Ontario was there.  They are all pissed and distrust our government as much as I do.  We have become very good friends with many of our colleagues in our 25 years in business.  NW Ontario has a small population and we are forgotten about all too often.  Tourism supports almost every industry in Ontario.  Thousands of jobs and Billions of dollars are generated in our small region.  We are all hurting since we cannot have our guests come across the border,  associated businesses are feeling it as well.  If you want to look it up and follow on Facebook the group is “Tourism Matters”.  Here are a few pictures from the Rally.

This my cousin Darrell from Sioux Lookout Ontario.  He is also a second generation outfitter.  

Staying away from the internet and my cell phone has been the best thing this spring.  When you are in the bush, you forget about all the negative stuff.  We have been working but we have also been doing some fishing.  Quitting time has been around 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon, happy hour starts early and then we go fishing.  We have been staying at Cherrington and travelling to each camp from there to clean and do what jobs we can and more since we have the time this year.   Taina and Jack came up with us for a week and my Nephew Kale has come to work for us for a couple months.  A real family affair.  It was  cold at the beginning of the week but once it got warm the Blackflies came out!  They were bad enough I would classify them in my Top 5 worst Blackfly times. Lol

Spruce Beetle Jack
I couldn’t get far from my shadow, and Dustee was always near.  She was always keeping an eye on Jack too.

We caught fish everywhere we went.  Below the rapids in the beginning and now they have moved to some of the bays and narrows.  Fishing was better on the warm days versus the colder days.

The poor seagulls……  they are waiting around each camp.  Hungry.  No fishermen, No fishguts.  

The slow spring has allowed for Aaron and I to train in the 185 a lot.  He is a good pilot and I have had a pretty easy time training him.  Pilots either have “The Touch” or they don’t.  Aaron seems to have it.  Now is the time for getting experience.  I will continue to show him everything I can and hopefully he will work his way into the Otter in the coming years.

This is what our guests are probably missing the most.  The silence and views the bush offers.  

I will do my best to keep updating the blog with any information we get as well as the pictures of what we have been up to.  Thanks to all of our guests who have been great in supporting us and willing to make things work looking forward.  We appreciate you.  The fishing will be as good as ever and the camps will be in tip top shape when you get here.

Rena and I have been in Red Lake for almost 2 weeks and it feels great to be back!  The ice is still probably a week away from going out at least.  The weather has been perfect since we arrived.  Warm and sunny everyday.  We have been working around the base and doing jobs we normally don’t have time to do while we are operating in addition to the normal spring cleaning.  The base is great shape and the afternoon sun has been perfect on the deck.  Today though…. it is snowing after raining all day yesterday.  Everything will start to turn green next week if it warms up.

There a ton of birds back and since we have some of the only water around, there is a lot of activity in the river.  Geese, ducks, seagulls, loons, sandhill cranes, blue herons and tons of eagles are here as well as all the other land birds.  For a few days each spring the sound of all these birds is constant.  As it warms up they slowly carry on to the north as spring heads that way.

We remain hopeful that things will straighten out in time for us to have a season.  When it will begin is still up in the air.  We have moved a few guests around that were scheduled in May, we are waiting until we know more on when the border will open before making too many changes.  We have no choice right now than to be patient and be as ready as we can when the time comes.  Aaron and I will be heading north to get the camps ready when the ice goes.

There are many theories and opinions to what is happening to us right now and if you are afraid of what you are being told or not.  Just so we are clear on our stance, we are not afraid, we are open for business.  This virus does not scare us despite what the media and government are trying to tell us.  The time to stand up and say we have had enough is here.  We have been working with our network of Tourism Associations and Airline colleagues to pressure the government about opening up the border to tourism.  We are the Premier Social Distancing Vacation. 🙂 Where else would you want to go?   There are still guests booking fishing trips for later in the season in some of our open dates, it is hard not to be optimistic when we have such great and loyal guests.  

Here are some pics I have taken recently.

Spring is the time to get the Tulibee’s smoked.  The smoker is at my Mom’s and we always have a day each spring where we get together, have a fire all day, maintain the smoker, roast hot dogs and possibly have a few drinks. 

Until yesterday this is what we had every day.  Perfect days for yard work.

Jack is back!  He is a year and a half now and spends all of his time following Aaron and I around.  This little bugger is going to be fun to have around.  We were raking leaves and he found a hockey stick in the shed to come and help with.

This is what we woke up to this morning.  Hopefully it is gone by this afternoon.  It is supposed to be sunshine for the next week at least.