July at Seseganaga

Many folks shy away from July fishing figuring they can do better in June or Sept. Bob Olson and his crew from Chicago have been coming to Seseganaga Lake every July for over a decade. They can attest that not only is the weather generally more stable and bugs less, the fishing is nothing short of phenomenal.

The third week in July at our West Bay cabin is written in ink for the Olson Party.
No wonder why.




Bob Olson and just another northern on Ses.


Joe Valdez and a nice walleye


Joe handles the northern well too!


Bob inviting a walleye for lunch




Not quite the largest northern of the trip. Wait til you see Larry's fish tomorrow!

On some lakes, July fishing like this is unheard of. On Seseganaga, it is the norm!

... at the end of the rainbow

Many of us spend our lives chasing the rainbow.

My neighbours, Phil and Ellen took this photo yesterday. The rainbow ends right in our yard and as chance would have it we were in Winnipeg picking up our two daughters and two grandsons for a little visit.

In the evening we were in Kenora with our three kids and two grandsons. I'd rather have that than a pot of gold any day!

Handicapped? ...nope!

Even though we don't spend as much time fishing as most people think, I did break down and buy Karen a new rod and reel this spring. First time out, the rod snapped in half. Karen swears it was a large fish but I know a trophy rock when I see one. Since we had only two rods in the boat, a rod switch was inevitable.

I must admit it is hard to "feel" a fish with a half rod.



In spite of the handicap, nice walleye were the reward for determination.

Small Mouth Bass Action

Need I say more? Smallies are a thrill to catch. Don't believe me? Come and try it your self.

Ignace Outposts

Father and son

Jim Harnish and his son Toby spent a few quality days together at Irene Lake. They flew out this morning all smiles and thrilled with the time spent together. This was their first fly out experience and one that will provide fish tales and memories to be shared for many years to come. My bet is that 20 years from now there will be no regrets of having not done an adventure together like this. As Mark Twain wrote "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Weather was sunny and clear with some of the best days we've had this year in regards to sun and warm.

The small mouth bass kept the guys occupied.








Who out fished who has not been determined. I suppose a return adventure will be needed to settle the argument.

I do not know of many other ways a father and son can experience the wilderness and share time together like this. Even if fishing is slow the father /son experience makes the trip worth every penny.

Take your son (or father) fishing at Ignace Outposts.

White Otter Castle

Besides the proverbial fishing adventures with Ignace Outposts, we offer sight seeing with our float planes. One of the most unique sightseeing adventures in the Northwest is the White Otter Castle. This castle is accessible only by air or water (portage). It is only a short float plane ride from Ignace and is a "must do and see" if you are in the area.


I just returned from the castle having piloted a plane full of ladies who purchased the sight seeing package at a fund raising auction for breast cancer in Thunder Bay.



Every time I see The Castle I am in awe. It is an amazing construction feat considering it was built by one man about 100 years ago in the middle of nowhere.



We don't have a scheduled run to The Castle but will go on a charter basis almost any time.

... til the paper work is done

With a 5:15 AM push off for all three aircraft, at 14:30 in the afternoon we were done the day moving guests. 26 flight legs moved 61 people. This was a fairly busy Saturday for July. No job is finished until the paper work is done.


The 3 pilots gather around the table to complete their log books and discuss the days events.

Today is Derek's final day flying our 206 for the 2008 season. He has a job flying in Northern Manitoba (Gillam MB). This little town is at the end of the road in Northern Manitoba.
We were pleased to have Derek with us this summer and to start him off on his flying career. We wish him luck and hope to see him here in Ignace again.


The tradition around here is that on your last day of work, you get tossed into the lake. Maybe that is why so few guys leave us.

walleye fisher

Right in front of Karen's folks place on Agimak Lake, this Heron captured a small walleye. No sign of what bait he used but rumor has it Berkley Gulp Alive works well for walleye.

I imagine he doesn't practice catch and release.

Bear Business

I am regularly asked about bears. The chances of you seeing or encountering a black bear are low however bears live in the bush and our camps are in the bush. Bears are seldom a problem but occasionally one will wander by our cabins. If they find nothing to eat, they move on. Bears are very happy eating berries. If someone advertently or inadvertently is careless enough to provide a bear a meal, the bear can become a problem.

Black bears are nothing like friendly cartoon bears. They are smart, curious, powerful and potentially dangerous.
Black bears prefer to avoid people. The most common encounter is the one you didn’t know happened. The bear heard or smelled you, and left.
Remember, at our camps, you are a visitor in the bear’s home range, so do all you can to avoid encounters.

A few facts about bears:
Black bears can range in colour from blonde through brown to black.
There are no grizzly bears in Ontario.
Once bears learn to access human food, we have few options besides destruction of the bear.

If You Encounter a Bear Do not approach the bear. Slowly back away while watching the bear and wait for it to leave.

Most problems between black bears and humans occur when bears are attracted by the smell of and rewarded with an easy meal. When bears pick up a scent with their keen noses, they will investigate it - even at our outpost property. If bears are rewarded with food, they will return as long as the food source continues to be available. Also, it is always wise not to settle in for a shore lunch near fresh -still warm - bear scat. Scat is the solid by-product of bear food and is usually black in low piles with lots of seeds in it.

Here are some tips to help avoid Bear visitors.

Never purposely feed bears (or other wildlife) or try to approach them
Keep garbage in the cabin until the bag is full then store it in the shed. Do not leave the garbage bags on the deck or outside.
Remove grease and food residue from barbecue grills, including the grease cup underneath, after each use
Do not leave cooking grease/oil outside at night.
Do not pour grease or bacon fat in the fire place or fire pit. When grease or fat burns, the dinner bell is rung for the bears.
Dispose of fish remains and extra food daily at the designated spots across the lake – not behind the cabin or off the dock.
You are responsible for your own personal safety. Take precautions when you are in the outdoors.
Be sure that all your garbage flies out with you
Do not burn cans, tinfoil or other items which really is garbage.

Visit ontario.ca/bearwise to learn more

Bear Bells are handy to have as well as an air horn but Pepper Spray is absolutely prohibited on aircraft. You can imagine the fun you would have on board if it was accidently discharged while flying. Remember you will be on board with your stuff and if it can distract or disable a bear imagine what it can do to your pilot.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Nothing but fresh fish beats a great cup of coffee in the morning while at camp. To make a great cup of coffee you need beans. Fresh beans. Ground beans. We provide many luxuries at our camps but a coffee grinder in not one of them. When the beans are whole and the need for coffee is great, ingenuity rules the day. The discussion was short. Besides changing the coffee planner for the next trip, a few ideas were floated as to how to extract coffee flavor from beans. Chewing the beans was considered only for a moment. Crushing the beans into a brewable ingredient fostered a few ideas. Using a frying pan and cutting board proved quite satisfactory. We took turns providing the arm power but the end result was worth it.

Anyone remember?

A couple of days ago, I was chatting with one of our long time guests between flights and we were remembering the state of the outpost camps when Karen and I arrived in Ignace in 1985. A lot has changed over the years. We've had lots of help in turning things around but hard work and taking jobs on little by little has made Ignace Outposts one of the leaders in the fly in fishing industry.

The following pictures are of the Hilltop Lake cabin in the 80's vs the Hilltop Lake cabin today.



Three high bunks, 12 in the cabin which measured 14 x 20. You really needed to like the guys in the group back in the day.




One opening window and no screens.



Trying to make the cabin more livable before we totally rebuilt the facilities.



Hilltop cabin today with hot and cold running water, showers, solar lights screen porch, 3 bedrooms, covered deck...




And the fishing is better now than 20 years ago because of our catch and consume policy. No longer are the biggest fish removed from the lake. They are returned to spawn new generations and to be caught again.

If you feel the need to experience a little time away from the cell phone and email tethers of our non-stop world, give us a call 807-934-2273 and we can set you up with a few days away.

Fridge replacement

Ever wonder how all the equipment and supplies get into our camps? There is a great deal of behind the scenes stuff many guests don't get to see. Keeping up with a number of remote camps is a full time job. Part of the day to day operations at Ignace Outposts is maintaining working and functional equipment - from fridges to boats.



Today, we (Marcel and Derek) made a special flight to Flindt Lake to swap out a non functioning fridge with a new one.


We keep two fridges at most camps not just for added convenience and cold storage but mainly to insure a little redundancy if something ceases to function. Since our camps are not accessible by the "Maytag" guy, we have to have a back up plan. A malfunctioning fridge doesn't become a major emergency when there is a second one to keep food cool. If one quits, as mechanical things tend to do once in a while, we have a back up already in place and then we can make repairs or replace an offending unit when we can.



Now we'll check out the non functioning fridge at our shop and repair it if possible or send it off to the great fridge depository at the local dump.

Just another day on the job!

Near Miss

We get to hear many hair-raising stories of fishing valor and misadventures. There are some adventures that are good learning tools. We’ve seen our share of hooked fingers, filleted fingers, bruises, bumps and even scalps opened by carelessly tossed rocks. Last month we had another “learning” experience on Seseganaga Lake.

I can't invent these kind of things.

This not something I would try to repeat personally, but I’m sure someone who doesn’t read this will achieve their own battle scar from an event similar.

Names are not needed. The scarring process began with a friendly “casting for distance” contest. Fisherman A managed an admirable toss – at least in his own estimation. His partner, of course, was sure the cast was beatable. With a 5 inch Eppinger Red and White dangling from his rod tip, Angler B wielded the lure like a medieval chain and ball and attempted a cast of Herculean proportion. His miscalculation was the proximity of Fisherman A’s face to the hooked projectile. The flung lure did not actually travel too far as it connected to a face only feet behind the hurler. Apparently the glasses worn by Fisherman A absorbed most of the impact and fortunately the treble hook never buried itself into soft flesh. As the awestruck Fisherman A realized he was struck, his glasses where flying through the air and choice words where exchanged.

A new dinner conversation topic was immediately present next to his eye.

Moral of the story; please think through actions while enjoying the wilderness. We really would like to fly you out of the bush in the same state you were in when we left you at the lake.

A group splitting up because they are too big is a good thing; splitting up because they are a danger to each other is not.

Please be careful.

Life in the bush

About a week ago while pruning my Mock Orange bush, I discovered a nest right under my bedroom window. A quick peak inside the nest revealed at least two tiny fuzzy chicks. I set about capturing the development of the chicks from my bedroom window. Here are some of the images caught in the past few days.

Mamma on the nest July 13

Hungry little guys July 14th

growing fast! July 17th

Mayfly for lunch July 18th

Karen

Higher and higher

The water is still rising. It is higher than we've ever seen in this area and it won't stop raining. Our docks are under water at most lakes.


Metionga Lake Main dock



Seseganaga Lake # 4 Dock



Seseganaga Lake # 2 Dock



Seseganaga Lake Main Dock



Seseganaga Lake Main Dock last fall - we thought the water was high then!

Google Map of Ignace Outposts

Check out our locations on Google Map


View Larger Map

Top 10 List

Here are the Top 10 reasons to consider a fly in outpost as an alternative to a drive in trip:

10. An outpost trip is a great value
9. You can go where most folks can’t
8. You Choose the Pace
7. You can fish by day or fish at night
6. You’ll get unmatched seclusion
5. The best entertainment at camp is made yourself
4. Your schedule is your own
3. You have control over who you fish with
2. An outpost trip puts you where the fish are

and Number 1...

July 14/79

July 14/1979 was the day I married my best friend and business partner.

29 years and counting.

Since then we've raised 3 great kids, acquired two fantastic in-law kids and now are proud grandparents of two. All this while running one of the most rewarding and fun businesses possible.

Ice Houses

At Ignace Outposts we are one of the few outfitters that still keep ice houses at our fly in camps. Besides having one or two fridges (depending on camp size) at each cabin, we provide ice for beverages etc in our ice houses.

"Where does the ice come from?" We hear this question often regarding our ice houses.

The ice in the icehouse is placed there in the winter. It is cut by hand from the frozen lake. Try as we might, we can not fill the ice houses in the summer.

Because the icehouse is not a big freezer, the ice will melt quickly in there on it’s own if not properly attended. When you use the ice, cover up any exposed ice with the sawdust. Using the axe or a large screwdriver, take a block of ice out (please only what you need), rinse off the sawdust and put it in a cooler. You will never get all the saw dust off no matter hard you scrub and if you scrub long enough you will be left with only saw dust and no ice. Put some ice in your cooler and place your beer in the cooler with the ice. A little saw dust will not hurt the beer cans. Another point - the ice in your cooler does not need to be replaced until it is gone. Ice is ice and the ice from the icehouse is no colder than the ice already in your cooler.