Does it get any better. Fresh walleye, rolled in a special coating, fried in oil and served up with friends.
I could say that I saved a place for you but that wouldn’t be true since it is my plate. At Ignace Outposts however, you can have your own… cooked up just the way you like it since you are the cook.
Beginning late last summer, we have been adding new charcoal/wood BBQ park style grills at our camps. These new grills work fabulously with either a bed of wood coals or BBQ briquettes. The guys who have used them rave about the natural woodsy flavour they impart to your ribs, chicken or steaks. To make the outdoor cooking a little more convenient, Joe built a cook shelter at our West Bay cabin on Seseganaga Lake.
The shelter is handy to the front of the cabin, and we have moved the fish fryer there too. We are phasing out the gas grills so plan on using the park style grills for your outdoor culinary efforts. Even though the grills will use either wood or charcoal, the wood at the camp make the meat taste best and it doesn’t have to be flown in so it won’t add to your weight. Remember we do have weight limits and we do weigh loads.
This shelter is a prototype. As we fine tune the design with some use, we will add them to other camps as well.
In the US it is Memorial Day weekend. In Canada our May holiday weekend was last weekend. It is officially called Victoria Day in Canada celebrating the Queen’s birthday, I understand, but since falls on the third weekend in May and that usually is near May 24 and there are 24 beer in a case… it is now somehow referred to as May 2-4 weekend. Any ways, I digress.
This weekend, being Memorial Day weekend which was first recognized to memorialize the fallen in the American Civil War, brings many anglers to Canada. Many stay home.
I on the other hand, am working hard getting camps ready for soon to arrive anglers.
With an airplane load to unload at the destination, and other staff doing other jobs, I am sometimes left to recruit new blood to help out. Vern, a friend in Ignace, “volunteered” to assist. Somehow our fishing rods got mixed up with the load on board. I learned over the years, it is only right if the owner of the outposts occasionally fishes the outposts, if for no other reason than to know what he is talking about when describing fishing that most can not imagine.
Less than 30 seconds after dropping our lines Vern reeled in a nice walleye.
Many many walleye later and with a few walleye in the boat for supper, Vern had to make one more catch. As you can see in the picture, we never left sight of the cabin. Both these fish were returned unharmed to the lake. Total time to test the waters; about 1 hour.
A few 15 – 16 inch walleye are now ready for the frying pan.
Why sit at home? Book your Ignace Outposts trip now for a later summer date with a few walleye and northern pike.
After a weekend of wet, rainy, cold and windy weather, we are getting back to our camp start ups. We are again, few few days behind, but Joey is almost ready for guests at Metionga Lake for Thursday, and Randy is going to get Joe up to Seseganaga Lake later today.
Things will move fast for the next few days getting everything ready to go.
Our first guests just left Irene Lake today and said they experienced some of the worst opening weekend weather they’ve ever seen.
Reports are that trout are biting near the surface. The walleye have been a little slower this weekend likely because of the late ice out and cold windy weather. Most walleye being caught are post spawn males. In the next few days the weather will stabilize and we expect that the walleye fishing will become red hot when the post spawn females will be beginning to feed again. The suckers are now in the rivers spawning and that means that the big northerns are feasting on the suckers (their favorite food) near the flowing water.
We are trying. May 15 we have open water on Agimak Lake. Unfortunately, the little ice left on the lake drifted (blew) into our break wall last night. We are ice bound. In anticipation of walleye opener this Saturday, we spent the morning breaking ice with the boat and finally got come airplanes moving. In the video, Randy is taking our Beaver out for a test flight. It is slow going through the ice to open water.
We have lots of work to do moving motors, gas, propane and getting cabins ready. After all our efforts in getting airborne, we found all our lakes still frozen. We will continue our annual training and as soon as we can get into the lakes, it will be pedal to the metal getting things ready.
I recently received a note highlighting the initiative at the Canadian border to help those who may be denied entry to Canada due to minor criminality. Here are some high lights from our local Member of Parliament MP Greg Rickford's office on the Tourism Facilitation Action Plan (TFAP).
“This initiative was introduced last season in an attempt to reduce the amount of visitors deemed inadmissible as a result of only one minor conviction. The idea was to grant a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) with a waiver of the fee, and at the same time educate those customers that did take advantage of the process, on what is required to complete the rehabilitation process should they qualify.
… Visitors to Canada that have not already taken advantage of the TRP waiver fee, may do so this year, should they qualify.
The phone # for the Fort Frances office is (807) 274-5281 and your guests may call there with questions if this is the crossing they will be using. They should call during regular business hours, and well in advance of their anticipated crossing date.”
As well, if you have concerns about admissibility or procedures, you can contact our Tourist Association. NOTO Ask for Laurie.
On Monday, Randy stopped by. Probably trying to get rid of a little cabin fever. It has been a long winter. So in anticipation of open water, we ran up the Otter. We have to do the ground run after winter maintenance to do the last minute tweaking and to ensure the the gremlins have found a new home.
It won’t be long…
Many of our guests know him as Bud. I’ve been calling him Dad since I could talk. Today the master fisherman turns 80. Happy Birthday Dad!
And yes he has his Ignace Outposts fishing trip booked for this summer. He says 80 is not too old for a fly-in adventure however, he is thinking twice about making a May date to supplement his July date.
Besides running our own fly in business Ignace Outposts we operate Ignace Airways as a charter air service. This means we also fly for others. One group of avid anglers from Wisconsin have a club which has several of their own cabins. One of these cabins is on Bell Lake.
The last fishing party we usually fly at the end of the season goes to Bell Lake for the fall Lake trout fishing. Lake trout season ends on Sept 30 so these guys end up with a mixed bag of weather. Jim, one of the hardy fall anglers has posted a short video of his trip from a few years ago. Here is is. Fall trout at Bell Lake
We also have some great fall lake trout fishing on Irene Lake and Gamble Lake. Seseganaga Lake is no slouch either.
13 days til opener. See you this summer eh.
Last year on April 4, we posted a slideshow of the ice going out. May 4/2012 Last year it was open water more than a month early. It looks like this year we have a few weeks to go. What me worry?
Opener is May 18. Our first guests arrive on May 17.
Let me do some calculations… May 1 lots of ice. May 17 fishermen arriving. Two weeks to melt a winter’s worth of ice. The temps better start rising or Karen won’t have access to her hairdryer for a while and I am going to have one heck of an electric bill.
This bird is all dressed up and has no place to go. In early May, the Beaver and his airplane friends start getting a little anxious to begin flying anglers into our remote lakes for a little fishing vacation. It is a working aircraft and it wants to work.
Today it sits with the snow banks but in a few weeks it will be in its natural environment soaring above the wilderness doing what it does best.
