Fly out fishing
outpost cabins north of Red Lake Ontario
Canada. News about the 2018 season |
|||
Trips | Newsletter |
|
|||
January 1/18 Welcome
to a new year. Louise and I are in Massachusetts
and it is very cold here. 4 below this
morning. Ryan is in Ottawa which had the
distinction of being the coldest capital city in the
world last week. We hope you managed to find
somewhere warmer. Ron Sinwell sent this photo of
his grandson wearing a Loon Haunt hat in Cancun
Mexico. |
|
||
January 18/18 Ryan has finished
up at the Sport Show in Chicago and he is at the All
Canada Show in Green Bay this weekend. |
|
||
Feb 7/18 We are in the middle of
a couple of weeks of really cold weather. The
high each day is still below zero. At this point
it seems like winter will be here forever. So the
countdown begins. If the ice goes out this
spring the same time as it did last spring the photo
at right will be only 86 days away. We all have our own ways of dealing with winter. |
|
||
Feb 12/18 It is still cold here.
Our aircraft is in the hanger for the annual
inspection and we had it changed over to wheels.
We will fly to Selkirk Manitoba on wheels in early
April to get new floats installed. We are
switching to larger floats with built in baggage
compartments. The airplane with larger floats
will not haul any more weight but it will handle more
volume. We will fly back to Red Lake in early May. |
|
||
Feb 19/18 The Bulletin Board is
back up and running. The Board is intended as a
forum for our guests to exchange information among
themselves. Check it out. If you want to
post email me and I will set you up. Thanks Bill |
Link to the Bulletin Board http://smf.flyinoutposts.com/index.php |
||
Feb 22/18 Terry and Brenda spent
some time in Cabo San Lucas this winter and forwarded
this photo. Terry admits that Brenda always
catches the biggest fish. Brenda was the winner
of our free trip for 2018. |
|
||
February 24/18 We need your
help. We have an open 5 day slot at Goose Lake
for June 12-17. Please pass the word. This is a
great slot. We also have scattered openings at
the outposts. In 2016 we posted
this.---------------- June 16/16 The march of the big Walleyes continues at Goose Lake. One group caught the same 29 inch Walleye 3 times in 2 days. The secret seems to be floating head jigs. Photo at right. Thanks Bill |
|
||
February 25/18 The weather has
finally warmed up (22F yesterday). Ryan and
friends went ice fishing and they caught this nice
mess of Crappies on Cedar Lake. |
|
||
March 13/18 You know that voice
in your head telling you to go fishing? Listen
to it. Because 10 years from now you will wish you
had. |
|
||
March 20/18 Our new floats are
ready to go. We are just waiting for Mother
Nature to get spring underway. When the floats
are fitted to the airplane we will add steps to climb
up into the door. The new floats will have 2
steps instead of the one step as on the old
floats. The additional step will make it easier
for us old guys to get in. |
|
||
April 4/18 We are back in Red
Lake and winter is still here. Hardly any snow
has melted and it is cold. As usual people are
finding conflicts in their spring fishing plans and as
a result we have some slots opening up in
June. We still have a five day space
available at Goose Lake (June 12-17). Jon S.
found a conflict with his dates for moving into his
new house so we have a week available at Unnamed Lake
for June 10-17. |
Ryan brought the floats home. Still lots of snow and cold weather for another week. We now have 2 spare sets of floats. |
||
April 14/18 It is time for our
annual mid April photo of the bay. As you can
see it is still winter here. Compare to previous
years and you will notice quite a difference from year
to year. This is quite typical for us. It
is not climate change it is just normal Continental
Climate. |
|
||
April 15/18 Ryan and his friend
Steve went ice fishing on Gullrock Lake
yesterday. They caught enough Walleye to eat and
released several nice size ones. They also
caught and released the Northern shown below. |
|
||
|
|||
April 16/18 We flew the airplane on
wheels from Red Lake to Selkirk Manitoba. Louise
and I then took the airlines to Boston for a 2 week
visit with family. |
|
||
April 23/18 The weather has
warmed up. The snow is melting. Walleye
season is closed and Ryan is fishing for
Northerns. There is still almost 4 feet of
ice. We need to melt a foot of ice each week to
have a chance at open water for the opening of Walleye
season on May 15. Fortunately our first guests
don't arrive until May 27. |
|
||
April 30/18 To fish or not
to fish. With Ryan there is no question.
Walleye season is closed. The ice is melting
rapidly and Ryan is in Thunder Bay fishing for Rainbow
Trout. |
|
||
May 3/18 Louise and I arrived in
Winnipeg yesterday from Boston. Today we did a
mad dash around Winnipeg picking up last minute things
needed for the upcoming season. Then out to
Selkirk to load the airplane and fly to Red
Lake. The runway we landed on two weeks ago is
in the background behind our black rental car. |
|
||
We left Selkirk with the airplane
absolutely packed jam full. A quick one hour
flight over mostly frozen lakes and the photo at right
is what greeted us in Red Lake. You can just see
the open water at the bridge. |
|
||
Louise took this shot just before
touch down as we passed over the last bit of ice. |
|
||
The airplane is unloaded and ready to
go for the 2018 season. It will probably be
about 2 weeks before we get it back to our own dock. |
|
||
May 5/18 You might wonder
why the airplane was so packed jam full. Besides
the wheel landing gear and our two big travel bags we
had our Kay Jet order of Polar Fleece jackets. |
|
||
We think the new fleece jackets look
great. They will be available in our store at
Goose Lake for $40 US each. |
|
||
May 9/18 Spring is here.
Many lakes have open water thanks to the 80 degree
temperature on May 7. Our airplane has more
company at the docks and the airplanes have all left
the ice in Howey Bay. Despite the very thick ice
in April, the ice will be out in plenty of time. |
|
||
May 10/18 The ice is almost all
gone. The last of the ice is close to
town. This shot of Howey bay is from the hill
behind Superior Airways (the old Green Airways base) Several people have called because they could not get through to the Norseman Inn. We checked today and the place is closed. Try the Super 8 and the Howey in Red Lake or the Balmer Hotel and Natures Inn in Balmertown. |
|
||
May 12/18 Ryan and Bill made it to
Goose Lake today to move the floating dock over and
check for any surprises. No surprise, they had to move
snow to get off the dock. |
|
||
May 18/18 The ice is all gone
for us. The bush was very dry and the water
level at Goose Lake was a bit low. Fortunately,
we are getting a good soaking of rain today so the
fire hazard should drop and the water level should
rise. The ducks in our bay are loving it. |
|
||
May 19/18 Warm and Sunny
today. We spent the day getting Unnamed Lake
ready for the first guests. Ryan spotted a Cow
Moose with twin calves close to the cabin. The
calves appeared to be less than a week old. |
|
||
May 20/18 Even warmer
today. We worked most of the day getting
Monroe Lake ready for the first guests. Both
portages are quite dry. It looks like several
Moose spent the winter living around the portage to
West Lake. |
|
||
May 22/18 We moved to Goose Lake
yesterday. This is scene that greeted us
early this morning. |
|
||
May 23/18 We worked all day getting the boats ready at Nechigona Lake and Goose Lake. |
|
||
|
|||
|
|||
May 24/18 The reef markers are
all out and we stopped to check out the seagull
eggs. Very warm today and yesterday.
Cooler weather expected next week when first guests
arrive. The bush is still very dry. We
should have thunderstorms in the afternoon for the
next few days. |
|
||
Our new reef markers work very
well. They are easy to install and remove.
They are also very visible from a distance. |
|
||
May 27/18 Poirier Lake is ready
for Bob and Howard arriving on Friday. Goose
Lake is ready for the guests arriving on Wednesday
morning. |
|
||
May 28/18 Our first load of
minnows. |
|
||
May 30/18 Our first airplane
arrives at Goose Lake. |
|
||
May 30/18 We are in full swing
here at Goose Lake with the first guests arriving this
morning. Fishing is great a 28.5 inch Walleye
and a 38 inch Northern on the first trip out.
Lots of action below White Dog Falls and Woman Falls. |
|
||
May 31/18 27 inch Walleye caught
yesterday below Woman Falls right along the edge of
the fast water. |
|
||
At right is the 38 inch Northern. |
|
||
At right is the 28.5 inch
Walleye |
|
||
June 4/18 A terrible change over
yesterday. The weather caused the people who
were supposed to be here at 6 am to arrive at 6
pm. But in the end everyone ended up where they
were supposed to be. Just late. If you are a kid
and you caught a nice Walleye it is all part of the
adventure. |
|
||
June 6/18 (D Day) Cool
weather today but great fishing. Another young
man with a perfect golden Walleye. |
|
||
June 9/18 The big Walleye are
coming fast today. Zach caught this 28
incher by the 2 white markers where the river leaves
Goose Lake on the way to White Dog Falls. It was
the second biggest Walleye of the day. There was
also a 29 inch Walleye |
|
||
Same group same day and in the same
place. 25 inch Walleye |
|
||
June 10/18 Same place again
today for another 25 inch Walleye.
Meanwhile below Whitedog Falls the shiners are running
and the Northern fishing is great casting silver
spoons. |
|
||
June 10/18 We finally got a
photo of Ben's 29 inch Walleye. Not to be
outdone Zach caught a 40 inch Northern yesterday and a
42 inch Northern today. |
|
||
June 11/18 Photo at right is the
42 inch Northern caught by Zach at the Honey Hole last
evening. |
|
||
June 12/18 Throwing a big silver
spoon last week really paid of for Matt. He caught 3
more just like this one. |
|
||
June 13/18 Ryan's friend Steve
is up for a few days lending a hand. The first
project was a second water tower to double our
available online capacity. We built the tower laying
down on its side. |
|
||
The second step was to stand the tower
up. We used rope blocks to pull the tower
upright. |
|
||
Loon Haunt is now the site of the twin
towers if 16 feet even qualifies as a tower. We will now be able to pump at 10 pm and not have to get up before 6 because the water is all gone. |
|
||
June 20/18 We never really
thought about it but Goose Lake has a good population
of Perch and they are spawning right now. |
|
||
June 21/18 Yes dear, I really
missed your cooking. We practically starved on
the fishing trip to Loon Haunt. |
|
||
June 22/18 The Omaha Outlaws are
here and Lon brought along pictures of his first place
finishing Blue Wing Teal from the annual bird carvers
competition held in Maryland. |
|
||
Lon seems to have a lot of first place finishers including this Common Loon which he carved for us many years ago. |
|
||
June 25/18 The fishing is still
fantastic. Walleye to 27.5 inches and Northern
to 42 inches. We are in the middle of the May
Fly hatch and the Maribou Jig is the lure of
choice. Walleye are on the Wall in 15-18 feet of
water. |
|
||
June 27/18 We visited the guys
at Unnamed Lake yesterday and as usual they are doing
great with the big Northerns. |
|
||
June 30/18 Received this email
from Ed who was here June 17-24. |
Joe - 27 1/2 walleye, honey hole w/ dead minnow Merritt-27 1/2 walleye, honey hole with minnow & 35 pike on silver spoon Charlie-26 walleye, Woman Falls w/ minnow Dave -35 1/2 pike at entrance to honey hole w/ spoon Mark -25 walleye w worm in honey hole Doug -26 walleye in honey hole w minnow Ed -25 & 27 walleye in honey hole w worm, 26 walleye at Woman Falls w/ worm & 26 walleye w/ worm lower buoys Thanks again for a great week. Ed |
||
July 4/18 Happy Birthday
USA. |
|
||
July 6/18 When Walleye are
feeding it doesn't matter how full they are they will
still go for a jig and minnow. That
is the tail of a decent size Ling protruding from the
Walleye's mouth. |
|
||
July 8/18 We had a nasty thunder
storm last evening. Rain, hail and high
winds. We lost about 15 trees but no
damage to buildings. Fortunately Ryan was in
town with the airplane. |
|
||
July 9/18 The pair of Loons that
traditionally nest on the island at Monroe Lake have
had a very successful season so far. |
|
||
July 17/18 Ryan and I put in a
full day at Poirier Lake today. The cabin
now has a new roof. It was a long day but we
were back at Goose by 7 p.m. We changed the face
board on the front as well as 16 inches of
plywood. The old roof lasted for 24 years.
Not bad for 15 year shingles. |
|
||
July 18/18 The Indian pipes are
pushing their way up through the moss. The weather has
been warm and the Walleye moved to 26 feet deep here
at Goose Lake. |
|
||
July 19/18 The mushrooms we call
Cheetos are also pushing their way up.
This appearance usually corresponds with the Walleyes
moving into Walleye Alley at Nech. |
|
||
July 20/18 Ryan has been hard at
work making a new frame for our backdrop at the sports
shows. Look for him at the All Canada shows in
Chicago, Milwaukee and Green Bay during January. I visited with Jon and Kathy today and Jon has set a new personal record with a 44 inch Northern at Unnamed Lake. No fooling, these guys carry their own tape measure. (photo to follow) They have been fishing with us since 1986. |
|
||
July 22/18 The latest news from
Poirier Please enjoy the following pictures from our trip. Walleye was 28in and 8 lbs the Northern Pike was 41 1/2 in and 20 lbs hope this helps with future customers. |
|
||
July 24/18 Jon sent this picture
of his 44 inch Northern at Unnamed Lake. |
|
||
July 27/18 Fishing is very
good in the deep water and also below both Woman Falls
and White Dog Falls. The photo at right is the latest development in the evolution of the Loon Haunt fishing boat. The boats feature electric start Honda motor, 12 volt outlet for depth finder, swivel seats and walk through seats. The latest improvement is using 1/2 poly for seat tops. Everyone who has tried the new boats raves about them. |
|
||
July 30/18 Tom brought his son
in law and 2 grandsons to Unnamed Lake last week
This is what he said
We caught a 26 , 27 , and 28 inch walleyes and a 37 and 40 inch northern. Here are some pictures . Thanks Tom |
|
||
August 5/18 The big Walleye are
on the wall at 25-30 feet. |
|
||
August 8/18 If you aren't here
this is what you are missing. Kent puts on a
great shore lunch. |
|
||
August 9/18 The most relaxing
place to fish is still the dock at Monroe Lake. |
|
||
August 11/18 We had a
group of Coppens visit this week. Scott,
Addie, Cam and Lori. Both kids are hooked on
fishing. |
|
||
August 13/18 We are training our
grandchildren to be guides in the future. |
|||
August 15/18 The Walleye fishing
is fast and furious below White Dog Falls. Ethan
caught this nice Walleye along with dozens of others
and a 32 inch Northern. |
|
||
August 21/18 Proof that
Bill does in fact occasionally go fishing. |
|
||
August 24/18 When the
grandchildren visit Louise gets in on the fishing as
well. |
|
||
August 26/18 The weather has
cooled and the Walleye are moving to shallower
water. Fishing is great below White Dog
falls. In the evening the big Walleye move to
shallow water off Bunny Ear island. |
|
||
September 1/18 Fishing this past
week at Monroe was awesome. Biggest Northern
Pike was 41 inches. The Walleye would not leave
the big lures, being used for Northerns, alone. |
|
||
September 6/18 The wild rice
harvest is in full swing. We picked 1250 pounds on
Monday (Sept. 3) and another 950 pounds this
morning. |
Link to
video of rice picking https://youtu.be/k2njg6wJ_qY Another Wild Rice video https://youtu.be/TTGShpPRmzA |
||
September 9/18 The rice
harvest is now up to 4,500 pounds. If the
weather cooperates we should hit a total of 10,000
pounds. The machine does the harvesting, the big
boat does the transport back to camp but the 4 horse
weedless drive motor is the only way to move boats in
the rice. |
|
||
September 12/18 The ricing is still in
full swing but meanwhile back at camp the great
fishing continues. Sherm is staying for 2 weeks so he
has set the bar quite high already in his first week. |
|
||
September 20/18 While we have
been busy cutting, splitting and loading the last
group of fisherman at Goose Lake have been catching,
catching and catching. |
|
||
October 1/18 The moose hunt is
all wrapped up with one nice bull. |
|
||
October 2/18 Today Ryan
completed the task I most hate. I would rather
pump all 4 septic tanks than climb the tower.
Over the years the sun has damaged the zip ties that
hold the coax cable in place and they must be
replaced. |
|
||
Still October 2/18 Louise has painted
the floors in all the cabins. The floating dock
is moved to the river to prevent damage from ice. |
|
||
October 4/18 We left camp
today. All the work is done in preparation for
spring. Another successful season is behind
us. Thank you all for sharing your vacation time
with us. We know you have choices. It is obvious from the photo at right that it was time to go. |
|
||
November 22/18 We have been
traveling and visiting with our family but we are back
in Red Lake. The combination of little snow and
cold weather means the lakes are frozen over.
Howey Bay has over 8 inches of ice and people are
driving vehicles on the ice to get to McKenzie
Island. We hope this fine Thanksgiving weekend affords you the opportunity to enjoy time with your family. |
|
||
December 7/18 We are in Red Lake
and the weather has turned cold. Howey Bay has more
than a foot of ice. We still have very little
snow (less than 4 inches). Our 2018 newsletter, Tremolo18 is available online click on this link Tremolo18 |
|
||
December 13/18 When I was 16 I
purchased a Mitchell 300 spinning reel with the first
money I earned as a fishing guide. My parents
bought me a Heddon Pal spinning rod. Over the years
the rod was broken twice and the thread holding the
eyes on unraveled. In June of 2017 Ralph Dean
offered to rebuild the rod for me. In August of
2018 Ralph returned to camp with my new rod.
Yes, it is virtually a new rod. Thanks
Ralph |
|
||
December 24/18 Happy Holidays to all. We hope this holiday season gets you remembering the great times spent with family and fishing. |
|
||
Sunset Photos |
Norseman Photos | The Pilots from Superior
Airways
|
Handy Length to
Weight Converter |
|||
|