| Fly out fishing
outpost cabins north of Red Lake Ontario
Canada. News about the 2016 season |
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Trips | Newsletter |
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| January 8/16 Here we
are at the start of yet another season. Our son
Scott has pointed out that everyone is on Facebook and
we should abandon our blog and go to Facebook. I
have trouble expressing my feelings about this way of
communicating but fortunately Dan Baughman of Bow
Narrows camp at the west end of Red Lake puts it very
well. |
Please check out Dan's blog for
January 1/16 at http://bownarrows.blogspot.ca/ The rest of Dan's blog is also great reading and Louise and I check it often. |
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| January 17/16 This morning
I looked out the basement window and saw a deer walk
into our yard. By the time I ran upstairs to
alert Louise and get the camera we had 3 deer in the
yard. See picture at right. They sampled
our cedar tree, crossed the ice and disappeared into
the bush behind the beaver house. |
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| January 22/16 The deer are
getting bolder and they really like the cedar
tree. Only 2 this time. |
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| January 26/16 Nothing new to
report from Red Lake. We did receive an email
and picture from Bob H. (very first person to book a
trip with us in 1978). The picture (at right) is
a great Northern caught and released by John R. at
Goose Lake in September 2012. |
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| Feb 13/16 This weekend is the
Red Lake winter carnival. After several months
of above normal temperatures today has gone below
normal and could end up being the coldest weekend of
the winter. But, the kids hockey tournament on
Howey Bay is in full swing. Thanks to CKDR Radio
for the picture. |
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| March 29/16 Not much to
report. We did some traveling and ended up in
Abbotsford British Columbia visiting our daughter,
grand daughter and son in law. While there I did
my annual training in a Cessna 180 on the Fraser
River. We hated to leave. The temperatures will
be in the 70s all week. We arrived back in Red
Lake on March 31 just as the snow started. |
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| April 10/16 The photo at right
shows the scene that greeted us this morning.
The forecast indicates warming later this week. |
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| April 15/16 The weather has
warmed considerably. The fresh snow has melted.
It is warm during the day and still above freezing at
night. Our annual mid April photo at right shows
standing water on the ice. There is at least 2
feet of solid ice. Our airplane is still sitting
on the ice. |
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| April 28/16 We traveled to
Massachusetts for our grandson Cam's birthday.
We drove to International Falls and then flew from
there to Boston. On the way back we checked out
the ice conditions of several lakes. On Rainy Lake Sand Bay and Swell Bay were open. The ice in the north arm was going out as we drove past. |
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Eagle Lake at Vermilion Bay still had some white ice. |
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The ice at Cliff Lake was looking pretty rotten. |
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Cedar Lake still had ice but it was very black. |
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Perrault Lake, from the little park beside the highway, still has some pretty solid ice. |
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| Red Lake still has plenty of
ice. Some operators have moved their airplanes
to the open water at the bridge. |
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| May 2/16 The photo at right
shows our bay at 8 this morning. Yesterday the
bay was almost completely ice covered. Warm
weather and sunshine for the rest of the week should
have us getting outposts ready by next week. |
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| May 5/16 The ice is gone. First
trip to Goose Lake today. Hauled a load in, put
a boat in the water and retrieved the floating dock
from the river. High temperature for today
86. Water level is just right. |
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| May 7/16 A load of lumber to
Monroe Lake. The ice has been sinking the dock
at Monroe a little each winter and we have built a
dock on top of the old dock about 10 inches
higher. The project is about 1/2 done in
the photo at right. |
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| May 9/16 We visited all
locations yesterday. No surprises and we moved
the Poirier dock into position. For all
the people who put up with the Monroe dock being awash
in the past, thank you, the dock is now finished
and you will be high and dry. The water level is
a bit high at all of our locations. It was 80
degrees today but the forecast is calling for SNOW on
Thursday night. |
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| May 15/16 We finished getting
Monroe Lake ready while the nice weather held.
We left Monroe on Thursday afternoon just as the rain
started. We did not pump any water into the
cabin plumbing as freezing weather was forecast for
the next several days. The nice weather will
return on Tuesday. Unnamed Lake is in our sights
for Tuesday. . |
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| May 17/16 One of the benefits of
living on the lake is the local Beaver will cut your
grass. |
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| May 18/16 The warm sunny weather
is back. Yesterday, we worked at Unnamed Lake
getting the cabin and boats ready, installing the reef
markers and cutting the trees that fell on the portage
over the winter. |
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| May 18/16 The weather is so
great we have moved to camp. The water system is
up and running. The telephone and internet are
working. |
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| May 19/16 Our fleet of new Honda
outboards is ready to go. |
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| May 20/16 Today was a great day
to position the reef markers. Warm weather and light
winds. As in the past we took our annual photo of
Woman Falls. |
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| May 21/16 Moved all motors out
of winter storage. Many motors, we still have
all the old 9.9 Johnsons. The lake water system
is up and running as is the ice machine. We use
lake water for laundry and cooling on the ice
machine. We use our treated well water for
making the ice. |
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| May 22/16 An all day trip to
Whitelaw. Cleared out the portage, repaired the
dock and cut firewood. The big blow down a
couple of years ago assures us of plenty of
firewood. We had to stop cutting firewood as we
disturbed a grouse that was nesting under a Jackpine
deadfall. |
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| May 23/16 A very long
night. We have a Boreal Owl that is desperate
for a mate and wants everyone to know. |
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| May 25/16 Whitelaw is all ready
to go for a group of 4 arriving May 27/16. In
the afternoon we traveled to Nechigona Lake to get the
boats down from the hill. Tomorrow we will get
the motors over to "Nech" and install them. |
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| May 26/16 The weather is now
cooler and wetter. Showers but no real drenching
rain. The boats at "Nech" are all ready for the
first guests arriving on Saturday May 28. |
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| May 28/16 Mike flying TBY
delivers our first guests at Goose Lake. |
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| May 29/16 The weather remains
cool and rainy. The ceiling is too low to fly to
Poirier so we went to the portage to install anti slip
decking (shingles) on the boat ramp. |
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| May 30/16 We made it to Poirier
today. Problems with the refrigerator but we
have parts at Goose Lake. May 31/16 Full camp tonight. Weather is still cool and wet but the fish are biting below Woman Falls. |
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| June 1/16 Keith caught this 21
inch Whitefish. The group caught 3 altogether. |
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| June 2/16 Check out this
panoramic photo of the boat ramps at Goose Lake. |
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| June 4/16 The Walleye were
absent from the Honey Hole this afternoon.
Perhaps this 40 inch Northern had scared them
off. A 40 incher on 6 pound test line. It
just takes patience. |
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| June 6/16 (D Day) The reason it took so long to get the boats ready this spring is we installed 12 volt outlets for depth finders. See photo at right. If you have the 12 volt adapter for your depth finder bring it along and forget about batteries. |
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| June 7/16 In over 60 years on
the water and 38 years running this camp I thought I
might write a book about tips for how to do it
right. Unfortunately, my book would probably be
just a short pamphlet. Today I would like to
pass on a lesson I learned from my father about 55
years ago. How to put fishing rods in a
boat. The first photo at right shows how the
uninitiated do it. The second photo shows how
the experienced fisherman places his rods. All rods
point forward - the reels are ahead of the seat so
when running over the waves the rods cannot move
backwards. Nothing protrudes outside the boat. We push off from our boat ramps so never place rods in the bow. They will be in the way of the guy pushing off. The knowledge may be old but it is still valid. |
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| June 8/16 Fathers Day may be a
few days off but we have 6 fathers and 7 sons here
this week. Greg is the lucky father with 2 sons
to join him on a trip to Loon Haunt. They can
even go fishing at Fathers Day Rock. Message from Greg at end of trip. Bill, We made it home safe.. We enjoyed seeing you both
and had a great time
Catching just short of 1200 fish in 5 days also
helped:-)
Thank you for sending the pictures
Greg
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| June 10/16 Big Walleyes and Northerns
this week. Great reports from Unnamed Lake 30
inch Walleye and 42.5 inch Northern. At right 28
inch Walleye at Goose Lake. |
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| June 13/16 Report from Unnamed Lake
for June 5-12. Ten Walleye 25 inches and over. The
largest 30 inches. Three Northerns 39 inches and
over. The largest 42.5 inches. Pictures at
right. Everyone caught the biggest Northern ever
on this trip. One 40, one 41 and one 42.5 |
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June 14/16 The Perch fishing was
fast and furious today for the fishermen who knew
where and how. A picture of the "Perch bait"
below. |
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| June 15/16 George and his son
Derrick are at Poirier Lake this week. George
has made many fly in trips and knows exactly what to
bring and what not to bring. I couldn't resist
taking a picture of their gear and groceries for a one
week trip loaded in the 185. |
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| 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. |
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| June 17/16 The "Honey Hole" is
still producing nice Northerns when it isn't churning
out big Walleyes. |
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| June 17/16 Keith sent this
YouTube video "how to put a Walleye in your hand in
only 22 seconds." Click on the picture to view
the video. |
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| June 18/16 Louise says it is
worth waiting a year for the Lady Slippers to appear. |
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| June 19/16 Lon, Ron, Nick and
Mike arrived this morning. (Father's Day). When
they came back for lunch each boat had landed over 60
Walleyes at Father's Day Rock. The rock was
named by the DeWitt party who discovered the great
Walleye fishing spot on Father's Day about 30 years
ago. |
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| June 20/16 The last of the new
mattresses for Goose Lake arrived. We also
installed new bed frames to replace the old bed legs.
Thanks to all the guys who helped with the unloading. |
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| June 21/16 The bragging board
from the past week is shown at right. As you can
see the big Walleyes were very active. |
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| June 25/16 News flash--Bill went
fishing today. It was only for an hour but there
was actual fishing involved. |
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| June 27/16 Meanwhile at Goose
Lake......Chef John S. is treating his party members
to some outstanding culinary delights. |
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| June 28/16 The group at camp
this week includes Bud, the winner of a free trip in
2014. Bud is pictured with his granddaughter and
guide Shannon. |
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| June 29/16 The pictures arrived
for the group at Unnamed Lake last week. Check
out the photos
16 page for more great pictures. |
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| June 30/16 In 2004 Joel, Danny
and Felipe, while serving together in Iraq, made a
pact to one day get together on a fishing trip. They
finally made it happen this week at Goose Lake.
Welcome guys! |
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| July 3/16 Mike and friends
arrived this morning at 7:00. They had fish for lunch
and by early afternoon Mike had caught this chunky
27.5 inch Walleye at the Honey Hole. |
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| July 5/16 Some rain today but we
did manage to avoid the thunderstorms. The good
news is the Walleye are in Walleye Alley. Bob
and Laurie caught a 23.5" and a 25.25" pair of
Walleyes back to back in the Alley by the yellow jug. |
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| July 6/16 Dave and Steve arrived
yesterday afternoon with Steve's son in law, Tyler and
Dave"s grandson Aidan. Tyler was casting a spinner
bait up into the shallows beside woman falls when this
28 inch Walleye hit. |
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| July 7/16 Bob and Laurie just
came in from fishing the Wall. This afternoon,
between them they caught 86 really nice chunky
Walleye. Bob finished off the day with this 38
inch Northern. |
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| July 10/17 Paige arrived at
Goose Lake today accompanied by family. She
quickly showed her father how to catch a 36 inch
Northern. Yes, she caught it at the Honey Hole. |
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| July 12/16 Fishing tip from
Bill: Never underestimate the importance of the wind
in fishing. When the wind is blowing hard seek
out the points and "fish the wind". It might be a
little uncomfortable but it will be productive.
Reid and her dad Lee spent the whole day fishing in the wind off Father's Day Rock. |
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| July 13/16 Our big cabins
are set up so a large group can occupy several cabins
but still all eat together in one cabin. Thanks
for the picture Dave. |
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| July 14/16 Lee and his daughter
Reid have been catching over a hundred fish between
them each day. Today Reid suggested that they go
for 100 each. When they came off the lake at
8:30 this evening Reid had caught 100 fish and Lee had
caught 117 fish including this 26 inch Walleye.
Reid lead on the count for the early part of the day
but she took a nap in the afternoon. Almost all of the fish were caught at 20 feet just off the reef that runs south from the little island near the north shore. Basically right in front of camp about half a mile out. (My favourite spot) |
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| July 15/16 Lee bested yesterdays
best by half an inch and Dan landed a nice Northern
below Woman Falls |
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| July 20/16 Very warm today,
which means thunder storms are on the way.
Louise took this photo of the first Indian Pipes (one
of the only plants in which the chlorophyll is not
green. They pop up each year at this time.
As you can see by the photo they push their way
through the moss. |
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| July 22/16 This morning I picked up
Dean and his grandson Dakota at Unnamed Lake.
Dakota caught 3 big Northern Pike during their
stay. The largest was 42 inches. |
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| July 24/16 Terry caught the 29
inch Walleye, with the distinctive mark on the side,
that was caught 3 times in June |
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| August 4/16 Our apologies for
the lack of posts but we have been busy. We had
a visit from our daughter Kari, her husband Brian and
our Granddaughter, JB. Louise and JB had some
great Walleye fishing at the white markers in the
river going to Whitedog Falls. After the wonderful family time we got down to the next project. We have been searching for years for a solution to the problem of moss growing on the roof. We chose not to cut the trees around the cabins as they provide great shade from the hot sun. For that we pay a price. Moss loves to grow in the shade. A couple of years ago we tried spraying bleach on the roof of cabin 4 and it turned the white roofing black. The internet information we found insisted-- do not use a pressure washer. In the end we dialed back the pressure to 1500 psi and used the pressure washer. We think the photo speaks for itself. Very slow going as washing 3600 square feet of roofing with a one inch wide spray takes a long time. Next project You might ask, why are they concerned about the appearance of the roofs? We arranged for Michael, a local drone expert, to shoot a video of our camp with his drone. Our drone video is available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UiH_V9rPlA (click on the link) |
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| August 8/16 Our grandson Cameron
arrived on Saturday August 6 and caught his first fish
that day. By supper on Monday he had caught over
50 fish including this 19 inch Walleye. By 9 pm the 19 inch record had been surpassed by this 20 incher caught at Gas Can Rock. |
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| August 9/16 Jon and Kathy were
at Unnamed Lake last week and their pictures arrived
today. They caught a 25.5 inch
Walleye. Kathy caught a 42 inch Northern and Jon
caught a 43 inch Northern. Jon and Kathy like to use the HOT N TOT. Yes, those are the same lucky shorts from previous years. |
 25 inch Walleye  Kathy's 42 inch Northern  Jon's 43 inch Northern |
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| August 14/16 Picked up the party
of 4 at Unnamed Lake this morning. 28.5 inch
Walleye and 36, 40 and 41 inch Northerns. Pictures at right. 40 inch Northern and 28.5 inch Walleye. Both caught by Tom. |
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| August 15/16 The view from the
roof on a perfect day at Goose Lake. |
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| August 18/16 Ryan and Bill
depart tomorrow morning after a 5 day trip to Goose
Lake. This is what they had to say We caught our numbers of fish in 14 to 18 of water on 1 1/2 oz bottom bouncer weights with a little Joe spinner Silver on sunny days and gold in low light conditions. Our bigger fish ranging from 18" to 22 3/4 were caught in 20 to 25' of water back trolling little Joe spinners and also chrome and blue Rapala tail dancer 20' walleye diver. Fishing was outstanding 50 to 100 walleye a day is not out of reach. Northern were prevalent along all weedy bays using a #5 Mepps spinner. Fishing and accommodations are second to none. Thank-you Ryan Beeman Pictures at right are Ryan and Bill |
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| August 21/16 They're back! They
were actually looking for Dave and Steve but had to
settle for us. |
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| August 28/16 And the bite goes on.....
Kent and friends left this morning. Kent
caught the biggest Walleye and Northern for the
trip. Walleye 28 inches, Northern 38
inches. The Northern was never hooked. It
tried 3 times to steal a small Walleye that was
hooked. Finally on the third pass Kent managed
to get the landing net in the right position and
hauled up the Northern. After a quick photo all
were released. |
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| If you missed the earlier link our
drone video is online. The shots of the
waterfalls are worth the watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UiH_V9rPlA (click text or image to watch) |
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| August 31/16 The Walleye at
Goose Lake are on the wall. Jason caught this 22 inch
Walleye off Gas Can Rock. |
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| September 2/16 This morning I picked
up a group of four from Monroe Lake. They were
also the last group at Monroe in 2015. They told
me that in 2015 they caught 5 Northern Pike over 40
inches. They only got 2 over 40 inches this year
but each was 45 inches. Photo at right. |
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| September 7/16 We are now in the
process of shutting down outposts. Today we
finished up at Poirier Lake. We have to remove
the steel pipes that hold the dock in place. We
tried leaving them in once. The ice flattened
them. Now they go in every spring and out every
fall. |
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| September 11/16 Unnamed Lake is
shut down. Warm today, high of 68, with winds
from the south. A great day to finish collecting
the reef markers. The white markers at the honey
hole were both stuck in the rocks so we left them in
place. The cranes and geese have been passing
by, for a couple of weeks now, on their way
south. With the strong south winds today they
took the day off. |
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| September 24/16 Apologies for
the lack of posts. We have been busy.
Louise has been painting all the buildings at Goose
Lake from top to bottom. The firewood is all cut
and split for next season. The boats at Unnamed
Lake have been welded and the wood stoves at Unnamed
and Monroe have new plates welded on the back. |
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| September 25/16 Wait a minute
who is that stranger in the photo above? His name is Ryan Scott and he has agreed to join the Loon Haunt team. Ryan has lived in the Red Lake area for several years. He is an experienced pilot and exhibits all the skills necessary to run a camp. We have not sold the camp and we are not retiring just yet. We will be here for a few more years, but it is our plan for Ryan to take over in the future. It is very gratifying how much larger the projects can be with Ryan's help. With the two of us working together we can even load the big stumps in the trailer. |
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| October 2/16 The season is
over. We flew to town this afternoon. The
cabins are all painted and the firewood is cut and
split. Thank you very much to all who chose to
vacation with us in 2016. We know you have choices and
we appreciate that you chose us. |
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| October 15/16 We have now been in town
for a couple of weeks. The airplane is at Red
Lake Seaplane Service for maintenance and
storage. The picture at right illustrates that
all the coniferous trees in our yard are not all
evergreens. The two trees in front of the dock
are Tamaracks. Their needles turn yellow in
October, orange in November and then they fall off. |
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| November 5/16 We have been away
visiting family in British Columbia. On our
return we found the Tamaracks had lost their needles
and there were 2 big trees down in the parking area by
the dock. No damage but it took us all morning
to cut up the trees and haul them away. |
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| November 23/16 We have been away
visiting family in Massachusetts. While away I
made an attempt at doing facebook and I messed it all
up. You can't even go back and correct spelling
mistakes on a post with facebook. Paul N sent a photo from his September fishing trip to Unnamed Lake. Both Monroe and Unnamed churn out the big Northerns in September. |
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| November 24/16 Happy
Thanksgiving. We hope you are spending this time
with family and friends. The photo at right is our bay this morning. The temperature is just barely below freezing and the water in the bay is not warm enough to melt the snow that falls into it. |
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| December 1/16 Our annual newsletter Tremolo 16 is now available online. Please click the link to the right to view our 2016 newsletter. |
http://www.loonhaunt.com/tremolo16.pdf |
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| December 5/16 Howey Bay is still
open water. The photo at right is our airplane
in a line of 7 airplanes stored for the winter at
Howey Bay Camps. |
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| December 10/16 At 8 this
morning the temperature was 20 below. Howey bay
is now definitely frozen. The photo at right was taken
from the road up behind Green Airways, looking east. |
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| December 17/16 After a
long absence, Loon Haunt will have a presence at Sport
Shows this winter. Ryan will be at the Pheasant
Run All Canada show January 12-15/17 and then Green
Bay January 19-22/17. If you don't know who Ryan
is see our post from September 25/16. If you attend
one of these shows please stop to visit with Ryan. |
 Click on the image above to purchase discount tickets for the All Canada Shows online. |
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| December 25/16 Merry Christmas from
the crew at Loon Haunt. Bill, Louise and Ryan. |
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Sunset Photos |
Norseman Photos | The Pilots from Superior
Airways
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Handy Length to
Weight Converter |
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