We have been waiting for this time to come!  The ice is going and we are opening camps.  We will have just enough time.   Like always…… 🙂

We have been fairly cool at night so the ice has taken its time leaving.  Plenty of lakes are still iced over too much to get in but almost all of our lakes are open or will be shortly.  The ice has gone out up north before the lakes east of us.  A fairly common occurrence and ice out being May 9-10 is pretty normal.  Fishing should be awesome!!!

This was BlackBirch this morning on our way to Cherrington to drop of motors etc.  The ice will be gone from there in another day or so.    We will be busy for the next 2 weeks getting camps ready for the season.  Rena and Taina will be at the base getting the next load ready and the boys will be up north getting it done.  

From what I have seen so far, the water levels are perfect on the camps to the west and a bit lower over by Findlay and Loree.  I couldn’t get into Shearstone, Jeanette but DarkWater was perfect also, just up to the dock.

And I saw a few mosquitos today!!!! 

If you are still looking for a fishing vacation for this summer, please send us an email or call us.  Our schedule is ever changing and we can do our best to accommodate you.  Click here to inquire about a LAST MINUTE FISHING TRIP.

Spring is here and the snow is melting.  It has been a normally long winter and the longer days and warmer temps feel great.  The snow is melting fairly slowly which is good to keep water levels at a good level and the fire risk low .

Our commercial fishing season on Lake Manitoba is over.  5 months of working out on the slab of ice is enough.  It was a good season with consistent catching throughout the winter.  We fed many, many people this winter.  We enjoy what we do out there working amongst Nature, most of the time.  Here is Dustee on the last day looking sad because she knows that we won’t be back until next fall.  The Bombardier is right full of fish!

We are busy getting ready for the season, preparing and ordering supplies we need to keep the camps up to snuff so all of our guests can enjoy their trip problem free.

As we approach spring our schedule is always changing with groups adding extra people and others having to cancel or re-schedule.  We have had some Prime Dates open up recently and would love to fill them.  Here are some available dates we have open at this time:

Cobham Daniel May 26-31, 2019 (5 day)

Cobham River June 1-5, 2019 (4 day)

Shearstone Lake June 26- July 1, 2019 (5 day)

Findlay Lake July 5-11, 2019 (6 day)

Dark Water Lake June 29- July 4, 2019 (6 day)

Please let us know if you have any questions or if you would like dates other than we have listed here.  Our phone number is 807-735-9968 or you can simply click here to inquire about about dates for a great fishing vacation.

Another season has come to a close, the camps are all closed up for the winter and the Otter is put away for a much deserved rest.  We would like to thanks all of our guests who made 2017 a success.  It was a great summer of fishing, and weather.  It’s always bitter sweet to see another season end but the next one can not begin until we go through another winter.  Anyways, the best time of year is upon us.  Hunting season!

Our 2017 moose season was as hard as they come.  We had almost solid wind for 4 weeks straight.  There was only one or two mornings/ evenings each week where the wind actually went down which makes any kind of hunting difficult.  Hunting moose in the vast area we hunt in is extremely difficult even in perfect weather.  For only the second time in our history we were shut out.  No moose.  It wasn’t that we didn’t see moose or have opportunities, it was just more difficult in the windy weather.  We had a a few hunters see moose and not make a decision quick enough to take the shot and  then the shot was gone.  We also had one hunter pass up a small bull early in the hunt….. only to not get another chance at another bull.  Somebody once told me, “Don’t pass up on Monday what you would shoot on Friday”

It is very disappointing to have such a tough year but that is hunting.  The weather plays a huge role in our success and this year it made it hard.  Almost every hunter saw or heard moose but the wind makes them very leary to come out into the open, especially in the daylight.  

I hunted for a few days after the hunters had gone home and had the same luck.  I got close to 2 different bulls but couldn’t get close enough for a shot.  One was within 25 yards in the thick willows and the other came within 100 yards 3 different days but just wouldn’t come out to where I could see him.

The sting of defeat goes away after a few days and then it’s time to focus on next season.  They will be bigger next year.  Moose hunting takes patience, persistence, perseverance and positivity.  Looking forward to next moose hunting season already.

Here are a few pictures I took along the way.

There was plenty of sign of moose around us.  There was a couple places where the rubs were 8 feet in the air.  I think only the real big bulls make rubs like this.

The bull I was close to for the entire hunt made this wallow.  I will connect with him next season…..

The burn leaves behind some neat looking wood.

It was pretty warm during our hunt.   Warm enough for thunderstorms which is uncommon for this late in the year.  We went for this dark sky…..

To this beautiful sunset…..

To getting chased off the lake by the storm as it came back on us, making it back 10 minutes before the downpour!

I was 10 feet away from this bear during the hunt.  I was sitting on the rock about a 1/2 mile from shore and he walked right up to me.  We saw each other at the same time and when I stood up he was gone in a flash.  

Dustee and Scott had a great fall.  Dustee is the perfect bush dog.  She feels like she is protecting us.

Scott is a great worker and very handy.  He put a lot of time and effort into a new boat ramp at Loree Lake.  Skinning and dragging these long straight logs from the island back to camp to build a good solid boat ramp.  This will make it much easier for our guests to get in and out of the boat and for pulling them up at night.

While hunting at the end of the season, I took Dustee one night.  She was perfect, she knew we were hunting and just sat and listened.  And also kept a close eye on the beavers milling around us.

We have also been busy servicing the motors for next season.  We are in good shape motor wise.  Our guests did a pretty good job this year of not hitting rocks and looking after our equipment.  Next year should be another trouble free season.  We are looking forward to 2018!

We would like to remind everyone that all deposit checks are now to be made out to “Lac Seul Airways Ltd”  

The last post jinxed us.  We have had some bad weather and lots of rain in the north!  We are not sure how much rain we got up in the far north but we had 2 low pressure systems that sat up there for 3 days 2 weekends in a row.  Needless to say we were delayed almost every day but were able to get all of the people moved to and from the camps the day that they were scheduled. 🙂  Water is now high.  If you are going to Cobham Daniel, Morley or the River please bring some rubber boots.  The water is over the dock.  Cherrington, Vee, Findlay and Loree are higher as well but still below the dock.  Let’s hope the weather dries up.

Fishing during this cloudy misty weather has been great.  Those are the best fishing days.  Walleye have been most active and have been in 8-12 feet of water.  More large walleye have been caught and released this past week than the week before.  More trophy pike this week as well.  Plenty of 40 inch fish caught and released!  Here are some pictures from recent trips.

The Tylinski Party fished Jeanette lake recently and had a great time.

I would say that the fish are feeding!!

The Caribou are back around the cabin at Jeanette.  There are 2 of them at times this year.  They must feel safe around the cabin and people.  And usually pay no attention to the fishermen in camp.

The Delforge family went to Shearstone and the sun shined……

For 45 minutes after I dropped them off.  Then it rained and misted for 4 days straight!  They had a great family vacation and caught a ton of fish.  With more cabin time there was lots of laughs and card playing while their gear dried out so they could head back out to catch more big fish.

A sucker puts up a heck of a fight!!!

Here are a few more pictures from the Bowling party who went to Cobham Daniel recently.  It looks like we had a great day to fly in!

They fly fished quite a bit and did very well on catching some big pike!

Every once in awhile you run into some of the local residents out on the lake.

Fishing overall has been great during the crappy weather but we would rather see the sun!!!

The weather has started to straighten out and lets hope it dries up for awhile to let some of this water drain away.

Here is a great picture of Vee Lake from 5500 feet on our way home from the Cobham River yesterday as the weather finally began to clear.

We had a day where we had to stop and do some work at Darkwater Lake and had a couple hours to fish.  Of course Dustee had to keep us company and keep us safe.  We caught a bunch of fish and saw 3 moose.  Here is our new dockhand Scott with a 23 inch walleye.

We are busy.  Groups of fishermen are coming and going to and from the camps with big smiles on their faces, sunburns, and sore hands from catching lots of fish!  Although I am sitting in the office writing this because we are waiting for the weather to get better.  We have gotten some much needed rain in the past few days which will help the fire situation and keep our water levels up where we like them.  We have had a healthy crop of Blackflies so far but they should be almost done… we haven’t had many Mosquitos but this rainy weather may wake them up, so make sure you bring a few coils when you come up north.

Fishing has been good and improving weekly.  With a bit later ice out this year, the walleye spawned a bit late and thus there is a bit of a lull in the walleye fishing for a few days after and it varied lake to lake.  Catching walleye wasn’t the issue.  Plenty of walleye were caught everywhere, just the big females need some time to recoup after spawning.  We have had some very warm weather and the big fish have come to life and fishing is as good as it ever.  More and more 26 plus inch walleyes are being caught and released everyday!

The big pike as well are fast and furious at times with plenty of big ones being caught.  Many 38-41 inch pike have been caught at all the camps.  Some of our first time guests commented that they caught so many pike some days that they actually had to take a break because they were getting tired.  There has been a few reports of landing big pike t-boned on small pike!  They are feeding heavy!

Cherrington has been the busiest camp so far.  We have had a number of groups fish there recently and everyone has had a blast.  Here are some pictures from the Hnetynka party.  They had a mixture of weather but had a blast and caught lots!

One of our longest running groups of guests are the Seal/Hansen party.  They count down the days each year until they get to return to the bush.  Fishing this year was great along with the weather during our opening week.  Here is Mike with a 38 inch pike he caught and released on his stay at Loree Lake.

These fish didn’t get released……

We always love our first time flyin guys.  The Mainor party made their first trip to the bush and came out with huge smiles.  Time spent in the silence of the north is special and we love to see the reactions.  Plenty of people recently had never caught a walleye in their life and checked that off their list many times over!!

The Thornhill family made their second trip to Cherrington and caught more fish and bigger fish than they did last trip with more experience on the lake.

The Peterson guys went to Blackbirch for their third trip to that lake.   Normally they like the late summer but this year they tried the spring.  They caught some big ones.  Here is a big pike they caught this week.  Looks like the blackflies must have found them…..

We continue to make people happy and show them some fantastic fishing.  Looking forward to seeing everyone this summer.  If you are still looking for a trip please let us know, we have a few scattered holes still left.

Now if this weather would just get better so I can start my day!!!

We take great pride in doing our best to show you an excellent fishing vacation. Here are a few tips for your consideration when planning your trip.

GAS is much more expensive in Canada. Remember to fill up your vehicle in International Falls before you cross the Border where it is cheaper. This should be enough to get you to Red Lake and in some vehicles, back to Dyden where the price is somewhat cheaper than Red Lake. If you are coming from the west and travelling through Manitoba, fill up in Prawda, MB where the price of gas is generally 10 cents less per litre than Ontario.

Weight: Flying an Otter, we try and accommodate every group and the gear they require for a great fishing trip, which should be no more than 100 pounds per person. We do have some flexibility regarding weight but if you and your party show up at our base hundreds of pounds over your allowed weight, you will be asked to get rid of a hundred pounds or more of gear, which is harder than you think. Plan ahead, weigh your personal gear before you buy groceries. You should have no more than 60 pounds of personal gear, including your tackle, depth finder, batteries, sleeping bag, clothes and anything that isn’t food. Have and shop from a menu.  You do not need to buy large quantities of anything and it helps to keep your weight down.  This should allow ample room for the food for your trip. We see a lot of people over pack on clothing, remember that when you are in camp, you will most likely wear the same clothes for most of the week. Another tip is to pack a seperate bag for travelling and leave it in your vehicle in Red Lake with your travelling shoes etc. Leaving anything unneccesary behind. We do our best to utilize our aircraft and your party is entitled to 100 pounds per person of that plane. You need to be close to your allowed weight so that the supplies needed can get to the outpost camp and so we can send a cooler of ice with you.

Travel insurance When ever you are travelling outside of your home country, you should have travel insurance. A visit to the doctor for any reason, could add up to big $ if you are not prepared, even in Canada for a simple fish hook removal. If you are injured at the outpost and need a flight out for medical attention immediately, we will arrange for an aircraft to take you out but YOU are responsible for the cost of that special charter. If you have insurance, it may be worth a call to verify that you are covered in Canada.

Ontario Outdoors Card and your fishing licence If you have a green or blue Ontario Outdoors card, even an expired card, make sure to bring it with you when you come to see us. If you have not fished in Ontario in the past or do not have one, we will issue a temporary Ontario Outdoors card here at our base for you. We can renew your card at our base as well and also issue you your fishing licence here in Red Lake.  If you have renewed your Outdoors card online be sure to bring a copy with you when you come.

Groceries and Bait If you need us to help with getting groceries, bait, or beverages for your trip, please remember to get your orders into us at least 2 weeks prior to your fishing trip.

Water  Being that water is very heavy, we are suggesting to our guests to bring a good quality water filter to cut down on flying in bottled water.  These filters are light weight and can be a gravity feed system or a UV light system.  The water in the North is all natural water on deep moving watersheds.  Please look into this and keep it with your Canada gear to use each year.

Lifejackets We supply lifejackets at our outposts for our fishermen. But we suggest that if you are a large person and require a bigger lifejacket, please bring your own. Also, if you have children coming with you, please bring a lifejacket for them as well.

Your phone and Photos.  We love to get photos from our guests of their trip.  We also worry about our guests dropping their phone in the lake or losing it somewhere on your trip.  We would like to remind everyone who makes the trip north to back up their contacts and empty the photos to provide you with plenty of room for the picturesque vacation you will be on.

Times in and out We do our best to get all of our fishermen in and out of the outposts as quickly and efficiently as possible. We are the only outfitter that will give you a time that you are flying in to the camp and a time that we will be at the dock to pick you up. Barring weather, we are on time 90% of the flights. There are a few things to remember that may affect our time schedule. Here they are starting in the morning.

-We operate on a river and there are times where we have localized fog which backs us up for the day.

–Bad weather When flying on floats, we have to be able to maintain visual contact with the ground. Our aircraft are not equipped for flying into or above the clouds like other commercial jets. Rarely, but sometimes we are a day late getting you into camp and someone has to stay an extra day in the bush. We can only do what Nature allows us to do in regards to flying safely.

–Problems at a camp. If there is a problem at the camp with anything, John must take the time to repair it. It affects the rest of the day slightly.

Please remember that we offer personal service for your fishing vacation. We have 24 years of experience in the tourist business with Amik Outposts, almost since the companies inception. Rena is excellent at helping you pre-plan every aspect of your trip, right down to the last detail. Her experience is a great asset and she will do her best to ensure you have all your bases covered. John with 23 years of flying in the bush knows the country in which you will be flying like the back of his hand. Thousands of hours logged, all in the same area, showing people great vacations. Around the camp, he has been maintaining the equipment since day one.

In order to offer you this personal service we schedule our trips throughout the day. We cannot fly everyone at 5am but we do not send you out with a pilot who is new to the area and has no clue as to how to fix anything around the camp.

We are looking forward to seeing you this summer. We hope these tips help. Remember, you are on vacation. Enjoy it.

The ice is going at a normal rate for some of Ontario.  A recent snow storm is hitting parts of NW Ontario to the south of us down to the border and east of us as far east as Thunder Bay.  Red Lake is on the northern edge of it and hopefully we don’t get too much snow.

Rena and I will be in Red Lake next week and we are excited for another season.  We hope to have the Otter next week and then start to open camps shortly after.  The ice in Red Lake is going out as I write this.  The wind is howling and it is moving around.  Most lakes should open up now.

Here is what the ice looked like in Red Lake on Sunday.

The forecast is for warm weather next week so we are hoping the snow and the ice will be gone when we get there….

This is what it looked like on Lake of the Woods the next afternoon when I made it to my buddies place.  Good temperature for my suitcase.

On a recent visit to see family, my uncle Sylvio brought out his favorite shirt he got from my Mom and Dad 25 years ago when Amik was first started.  His family has been after him for years to retire it but he still wears it all the time!!  It’s tough to find quality like this now.

We will begin to have a flight schedule by the end of next week as it takes us a few days to get things fired up and organized at the base in Red Lake.  We are looking forward to seeing everyone again!

February is here and the days are noticeably longer already.  We are gaining 6 minutes a day and in a month or so we should start to feel spring I hope.

We had a warm spell awhile back and the ice really expanded.  Sending this sheet of ice straight up 6 feet in the air.  The power of the ice is extraordinary.

After the warm weather we sunk back into the deep freeze and the cracks opened up.  It has been -20 to -30C and the lake has contracted a lot!  We are battling 3 different cracks.  Generally we can jump them but sometimes they get too wide and we have to look for a narrower place to cross or sometimes we can find a split in the crack.  Occasionally the crack will go right through our line of nets and we don’t have much of a choice to cross.  Crossing a 5-8 foot crack in the ice would make most people nervous!  My brother and I have had some close calls over the years and sometimes have to take a chance, but experience is so valuable.  This was about 5 feet and the snow along the crack was very hard so we just drove across.  Fast!!

Our coyote numbers are down around here this year which is good for our recovering deer herd.  I have also had some luck with Pine Martens and Fishers as well.  Time to take them in for the auction $

Our Falcons team got together last weekend for a Rec hockey tournament.  We were the oldest team in the tournament but still got it.  We won all of our games, it was just for fun and not very serious.  We had a blast.  Always good to get together with the boys!

2017 is looking great and dates are filling up quickly this year.  If you don’t have your date booked yet, please do not delay.  Click here to inquire about dates for 2017.

We are piecing the puzzle together for 2017 and filling dates quick lately!  If you are interested in fishing with Amik Outposts in 2017, do not delay.  We have only a few spots left in May, June and July so please send us an email and we will let you know what we have available.

Here are some available dates for some awesome fishing this summer. Please click here to inquire.

Vee Lake May 25-31

Loree Lake May 26-31

Cherrington Bay May 29-June 3

Cobham River May 24-29

BlackBirch Lake June 28-July 3

Shearstone Lake June 23-28

DarkWater Lake July 24-29

Cobham River July 19-23

The season slips by so fast when you are busy.  Just the way we like it.  Our fishermen are enjoying the warm temperatures and the beauty and scenery of the North.

The weather has been better which has helped the fish sort of stabilize in depth but each lake has a different fishing report.  Some lakes saying the fish are on the rocky points and windy shorelines, and others saying the walleyes and pike are together on the edge of or right in the cabbage weeds.  Depths have ranged from 3-4 feet one day to 17-20 the next and then other lakes saying 10 feet for the whole week.  So if you are coming fishing yet this season, make sure you have a depth finder!

Our guests continue to see moose, caribou and the odd bear and a variety of other animals in the bush, but the most aggressive beast has been the Bald Eagles.  On Cobham River and BlackBirch lake specifically.  Following them all day screeching and chirping, almost harrasingly…  One fishermen had his small pike he was reeling in, lure and only about half of his line taken about 30 feet from the boat!  They have learned that our fishermen are a good source of food.

I don’t get the opportunity often but the boys and I went fishing the other day at DarkWater Lake and had a Shorelunch and a day off!

The Selchow Family made the trip back to Shearstone Lake last week.  The first time they came with Amik Outposts was to Shearstone Lake…..  years ago when it was on Fire!!  This time they had no such issues.  Just great times and Bigger Walleyes than the last time they were there.  Being good fishermen/women this family has a long future ahead of them giving out sore lips to the walleye on our lakes!

These ones look like Blue Walleye to Me!!

The Jacquin Party fished the Cobham River for the first time and had a great trip again, their second trip with us in as many years.  They caught lots of fish and some Big Ones as well.  Here are a couple pictures of the Trophy Pike they caught.

Ken Phelps has fished quite a few of our lakes, but that was when my Dad was running things…almost 20 years ago.  They went back to Blackbirch and things were the same as they were back then, if not better!  Catching some Big Walleye.  The biggest being 28 inches with a 26 incher as a close second.  It was good to see them again and will most likely see them again soon!

Summer has hit its peak, the Blueberries are ready and the days are beginning to get shorter. We are in the back half of the season.  Soon I will be in the bush getting the work done at the camps once the fishermen are done, getting prepared for the next season!!! We take great pride in looking after our guests striving for a excellent fishing vacation each and every time they visit us whether it is every year or once every 5 years.  It is important to us to see you enjoy yourself!