Big, big fish are being caught

Matt Andrews with 51.5-inch pike which he released

John Andrews with 38-inch, also released

Opening week saw oodles of lunker pike caught, all on dead bait. All but one group at our camp released every one. There were also two boats from Sunset Lodge in Red Lake that killed the big fish they caught. This is such a senseless thing to do. These huge fish are the ones sustaining the fish population in the lake! They are also the very worst fish to eat. Twenty-to-30 years old, they have been absorbing whatever heavy metals there are in the environment all that time. Such toxins exist everywhere, even here. Eat the young, smaller fish and let the big ones go! It's interesting to note that at our place the only people who didn't set records on big fish last week were the ones who kept them.

2016 spring fishing report: it's hot

This is our first fishing week and everyone is doing great. Lots of very large northern pike are being caught as well as good catches of walleye.
It is extremely dry and there are some big forest fires in the park to the south and west. We're starting to get evening thunderstorms and that will probably ignite more fires. None is threatening camp.

New lure looks like a winner

The staff and I went looking for a few pike for supper yesterday and I tried one of Dwayne Kotala's hand-carved wooden lures, a five-inch Redbelly Dace. I got a chunky 25-inch pike on my second cast!
We also found a dead moose floating in the lake, apparently a victim of thin ice this spring.

Warm at first then cold and snow

Nick and I flew into camp with Viking Outposts on May 2 and then ice-out happened May 4.
We got some major projects done before driving a fishing boat into town May 7 for the Sportsmen's Banquet. We came back to camp on May 8 towing some new boats and motors.
It had been warm and dry and several big forest fires were burning to the west in Woodland Caribou Provincial Park.
Brenda arrived with the other two staff on May 11 and the weather soon turned wet and very cold. It has snowed at least part of the last three days.
The forecast is for warming every day now until it reaches 28 C (80 F) on Friday.