The time is right for a transition

Bow Narrows angler Jim Tegtmeier with Brenda and me at the boathouse in 2015. Jim has been to camp something like 75 times! There have been about 20,000 guests at camp in my family's 56-year history. Many of them have come for 20 years or longer.

This will be Brenda’s and my 25^th year operating Bow Narrows Camp. We also worked at camp as a couple while we were attending university for six years when my dad owned it. And before even that, I grew up there and worked as a guide from the time I was just nine years old until I was 18, and Brenda worked two years at the camp before we were married. In addition, we also had other careers, Brenda as a teacher and me as a journalist.

A funny thing has happened over those years – we’ve gotten older!

Working and living at Bow Narrows Camp might possibly be the best job in the world. Our guests are like family and everyone is having a great time. We spend a lot of time outdoors and the summer weather is fabulous. We’re blessed with an outstanding fishery and our boat-in ability gives us the best of all worlds – unspoiled remote wilderness without the high cost of operation that fly-in camps must endure.

But it is also a physical job and one that is getting to be too much for our near-65-year-old bodies. It is time for a transition, time to let someone else take over. We’ve been preparing for this event for several years now. If Brenda and I are ever going to have a retirement and do the things other people do in the summer, we need to sell the camp, but we want to do it in a way that turns over the operation seamlessly to the next owners so that our customers continue to enjoy the tradition of fishing at Bow Narrows.

Years ago we met Brian Dykstra, an agent with Royal LePage Realty. Brian is a former camp owner and has played important roles in Northern Ontario tourism for the past three decades. He specializes in selling camps and lodges and knows more about the outdoor tourism business than anyone we’ve met. He has a genuine passion for it and, in particular, has the talent of matching the right new owners with the right camp so that everyone is successful and the business continues to thrive.

Bow Narrows Camp is now listed with Brian at www.sellingthenorth.com. All inquiries and information about the sale should be made to him, not us. Right until the moment we sell, we’ve got our hands full just running the place.

The time is right to make this transition, not only for us but for our customers. Everyone wants to see Bow Narrows Camp continue just as it has for the past 56 years. It is one of Northwestern Ontario’s finest fishing camps. Our history has been one of relentless upgrading and improvements, and any new owner will find a thoroughly up-to-date and modern facility.

Brenda and I intend to stay in the area and build a cabin on property we own on the other side of the narrows. Once that is done who knows, we might even spend the summers fishing!

Selling a business like this can take a while, years even. That is why we are starting now. In the meantime it is full steam ahead, just like always. We will continue improving everything, updating our boats and motors and remodeling cabins. We just don’t know any other way to do it.

At some point, however, there will be new owners and these people will bring a new vitality to the operation. We will support them every way we can so that they will have as wonderful a life at Bow Narrows Camp as we have had.

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