Get off the lake when you see this cloud formation

This squall line was at the base of a thunderstorm that moved through camp a week ago.

Such squall lines always spell danger. They are the edge of a high wind, how high is impossible to predict. It might be 30 mph and it might be as high as 130 mph (in the case of a wind shear).

Sometimes the clouds in the line can be seen rolling. The line moves toward you very fast.

If you are out on the lake and see such an event, go directly to shore and tie up your boat. You might also prepare yourself for extremely heavy rain and sometimes hail.

If you are near camp, come into the dock but don't try to outrun the clouds for a long distance. If you aren't sure you can get to camp before the storm, go to shore instead and take cover.

This particular squall line and its thunderstorm dumped about an inch of rain on camp in perhaps 30 minutes as well as pea-sized hail.

The blast of wind from it was probably 40 mph.

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Lots of camp apparel choices this year

We have a bumper crop of Bow Narrows Camp apparel items this year including these sweatshirts modeled by staffers Landon, Kristina and Emilie.

There are also several choices in t-shirts, a camo hat and a black mesh-back hat and a toque (in the U.S. you might call it a stocking cap or a watch cap).

We also have a vented, many-pocketed guide shirt and a new fishing vest.

Finally, we also have a new shipment of our popular black and brown Bow Narrows Camp coffee mugs.

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Bonaparte's gull now a regular resident here

I first saw Bonaparte's gulls about 10 years ago. We had a late spring snow storm and the next morning there was a flock of these little gulls in the narrows in front of camp.

That summer a few nested in Pipestone Bay and have continued to return each year.

This year the birds, which act more like terns than gulls, are being seen right in the narrows.

They seem to be catching minnows along the shoreline, all the while making a distinctive raspy call. The photo above was taken along the islands going into Trout Bay.

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Fishing off the dock can be very productive

Each week one or two cabins discover that fishing off the dock can yield great catches of walleye.

Here our staff try their luck off the main dock in front of the lodge while others are fishing off their own dock in the background.

These anglers are catching lots of walleye.

The best technique seems to be to use slip bobbers with live bait, either on a very small jig or on a hook with a small sinker above it.

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Pike and walleyes are really chunky this year

This beautiful 41.5-inch pike caught and released by angler Bryan Shirey this week is the latest in a number of really big pike caught by Bow Narrows fishermen.

All of these big northerns were exceptionally beefy. This lunker could easily have tipped the scales at 20 pounds. Normally a 20-pound pike would need to be 44 inches in Red Lake.

A week ago a 43-inch pike was weighed and found to be 23 pounds.

Why are the pike so plump? No one knows for sure but a good guess is all the small walleye that seem to be everywhere this year.

At the same time walleyes are equally as fat. We're catching 22-24-inch walleye that rip the line off your drag. These fish are also apparently finding plenty to eat.

Incidentally, just about every one of the huge northern pike caught of late were taken while walleye fishing.

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Inform credit card company you'll be in Canada

Before leaving for your trip to Canada you should call your credit card company and let them know you will be out of the country. Otherwise your card will likely not work when you get here.
You can fix the problem once here too by calling the company but it will take time and will cause you some inconvenience. It's better to give the company a heads-up before leaving home.
Credit card companies block foreign transaction for your own protection, i.e. in case your card was stolen. They can do the same for out-of-state transactions.
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Floatplane trip was a great adventure for all

Many guests at camp went for sightseeing trips aboard the historic Norseman floatplane this week and everybody agreed it was blast.

In the top photo Carter Berlin points out something on the ground to father Kory.

Chimo Airways from Red Lake offered the 20-minute trips which flew all around the west end of Red Lake and offered people an opportunity to see the area they have been fishing from a few thousand feet up.

In the bottom Chimo pilot Ian gets the names of the next batch of passengers.

The trips cost $75 per person.

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Lots of bigger pike now being caught

Many anglers are now reporting catching and releasing big northern pike. A number of these were caught fishing for walleye using walleye rigs such as crawler harnesses.
There seem to be a bunch of pike in the 35-39-inch range and one person got a 42-incher yesterday.
We've been having a series of thunderstorms the last week and the fish seem to bite best just before each storm.
Walleyes also bite best before the storm but then shut off for awhile afterwards.
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Finally able to get on the 'Net again

We've had a devil of a time getting connected to the Internet the last few weeks.
That's the reason for the lack of blogs.
I finally discovered the trouble is in the underground cable that runs between our microwave antennae at our shed and the lodge. I can successfully connected by hooking up my laptop computer right at the main telephone box in the shed.
Anyway, to bring everybody up to speed, the temperatures have been absolutely beautiful this summer with daytime highs about 70-75 F.
It has been fairly wet the last two weeks. We get at least one shower almost every day and sometimes this comes in the form of a thunderstorm.
Walleyes are still in the shallow bays but are also now being caught in on the edges of the deep bays as well. It seems like they might be in transition with some of them traveling from the shallow to the deeper areas.
The usual stuff is catching them: walleye spinners, jigs, etc. There is no preference to the kinds of live bait. Most people use worms and leeches.
Northern pike were fairly difficult to catch at the start of the month but some really nice fish are being taken now. Spinners continue to be the best lures: Mepps, Blue Fox, spinner baits and jig spinners -- jigs with a hairpin spinner attached like a Beetle Spin.
We've had a couple of lake trout caught by walleye fishermen in the past week. These were both pretty big fish, one 30 inches and the other 33.
We're seeing more moose than normal. Many of them are cows without calves and that's odd. Usually every cow has a calf with it. The usual reason cows don't have calves is that the calves were taken by black bears.
The vegetation is very lush this summer. We've had just the right amount of precipitation, sun and warmth to create ideal growing conditions.
For some reason mosquitoes were almost entirely absent, until now, but they still fewer than normal. The worst pest has been the ankle biter flies that get in your boat.
That's all for now.
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Life without an endless supply of electricity

I'm noticing that more and more people don't seem to know how to live without an endless supply of electricity.
Of course, the reason I might be more aware of this than others is that I'm the person who is responsible for electricity here at camp.
We have a diesel generator that powers the electric refrigerators and lights in the cabins and also must power the various water and sewage pumps that keep camp functioning.
I'm also the guy who must go out in a boat looking for dry firewwood that feeds the wood stoves in the cabins. I believe it was Thoreau who said wood warms you twice, once when you cut it and the second time when you burn it. Thoreau must have had an easily accessible supply of wood because here at Bow Narrows Camp wood warms our helpers and me many times more than that: first when we cut it, then when we haul it to the boat, when we load the boat, when we unload the boat, when we cut it into stove-length pieces, when we split it and finally when we haul it to the cabins.
It gives a person a whole different perspective on the necessity of burning fuel.
I really do choose to just put on a sweater rather than light a fire when the temperature is only mildy cool.
A lot of people simply don't seem to even consider this option. Their first and only method of regulating their body temperature is to burn fuel. "I'm cold, burn fuel to warm me," or "I'm hot, burn fuel to cool me."
One time years ago we were having a heat wave here at camp with temperatures about 90 F. We had four customers who wanted me to drive to town and buy each of them large electric fans, something that wasn't even available at our single hardware store anyway.
"We're hot and we need fans."
I pointed out that everyone else was just going swimming several times a day. The lake water was beautiful and once your body was cooled off it stayed cool for hours afterwards.
"No way! That water's too cold," they protested.
But you're hot right now, right?
"Yes, so go to town and buy us fans!"
They just wouldn't believe that people could control their comfort level by anything other than the consumption of fuel.
Likewise, many people don't realize that they can keep things cool with anything other than an electric refrigerator.
Insulated coolers do this nicely. Although we don't have an ice machine here at camp (It would take too much electricity) we do have jugs of frozen water (ice) in our freezers. You can put these in large coolers or you can bring small ice packs that you put in small drink coolers or in the foam boxes that flats of worms come in and everything is nice and cool.
While we're on the subject of electrity, I always marvel at people who bring their own boats to camp. They must plug-in their boats to an electrical outlet every time they come to shore to recharge the batteries that power their electric trolling motors.
We're a wilderness camp, right? That means there is not an endless supply of electricity for people to plug-in their ever-growing number of electrical gizmos.
"Which of these is a current bush?" I think people must wonder as they hold their extension cord and look at the trees that line the bank. (They end up running long, long extension cords all the way to their cabin where they soak up some of the limited amount of electricity we are able to produce with our generator.
The reason they don't use their outboard motors for fishing is because they are too large and unsuitable for fishing.
Am I the only person who thinks it's ironic that someone would have a fishing boat with a motor that is unsuitable for fishing?

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Old-fashioned telephone surest way to reach us

If you need to contact us to, say, let us know you have arrived in Red Lake and wonder how long until the boat picks you up, just call the camp at either of our phone numbers: 807-727-2730 or 807-727-0439. If you cannot get through for ANY REASON, i.e. the phone is busy or there's no answer, then try the other number.
If your cell phone doesn't work in Red Lake, then ask the folks at Red Lake Marine (that's where we dock our boat) if they would call the camp and pass on the message. It's a local call on a land line.
We had a recent case where a group didn't tell us when they would be arriving and then waited in town for four hours until someone at Red Lake Marine noticed them standing at our dock and asked if something was wrong.
Red Lake Marine then phoned and I quickly made the trip to town to pick them up.
Why didn't you call and let us know you were here? I asked. Their cell phones didn't work in Red Lake!
Here's a news flash: EVERY building in Red Lake has this device called a TELEPHONE in it. There are even buildings with PAY TELEPHONES where you can make a call for 25 cents. But even if you don't want to spend that kind of cash virtually anyone would let you use their phone to make a local call. There's no charge to them, you see. That's the way it works with the old-fashioned telephones. Local calls are free, no matter how many.
Don't send us a Tweet, don't text message us, don't put up a message on Facebook, don't e-mail us. Find a telephone and call.

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Lots of moose seen by our fishermen

These great photos by angler Kyle Prugar show a cow and calf moose seen by Kyle and father Rich a couple days ago.
Just about everyone saw moose last week. They are coming out to the lake to feed on the aquatic vegetation.
Fishing continues to be excellent, especially for walleye but for northern pike as well.
Kyle's uncle Dale landed and released a 40-inch pike on Friday.
Anglers are bringing in to camp the 24-26-inch pike that are perfect for eating and for taking home. They're letting all the big ones go. Way to go anglers!
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2010 is the Year of the Walleye!

Wild walleye action continues.
Anglers report catching unprecedented numbers of walleyes and also report the fish are coming in all sizes, from eight inches to 30 inches.
That's great news because it means great fishing for many years to come.
The fish are very shallow, from 6-12 feet deep, and are being caught primarily with worms and leeches.
Northern pike are more difficult to catch. The dead bait system where anglers use frozen ciscoes and bobbers is not productive, probably because the water is too warm for this slow presentation.
Best action comes from casting spoons and spinners and from trolling crank baits.
Some of the difficulty in catching pike no doubt comes from the tremendous crop of young walleyes out there -- just the right size for pike to eat.
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"I've never caught so many walleyes!"

That's the comment we are hearing from just about everybody this summer, even anglers who have been coming fishing to Bow Narrows Camp and Red Lake for 30 years.
They are catching walleyes everywhere and the beauty is the fish are coming in all sizes, from eight inches to 28 inches.
There are lots and lots of 14-18 inchers -- just the right size to eat at camp or to take home. Let the ancient, 24+inchers go. They are not the best meal choices and are the established spawners.
Biggest walleye so far was a very fat 30-incher that was caught and released. It would have been over 10 pounds.
We've also had lots of pike in the high 30-inches caught and released and several 40+inches.
Favorite walleye bait is nightcrawlers fished on Little Joe spinners or 1/8-oz jigs.
Colors vary throughout the day. Bring both light and dark colors.
The weather has been seasonally warm and a little on the damp side with a couple of rainy days each week.
Bugs, so far, have been almost non-existent.
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Drop off keys, grab a coffee at Red Lake Marine

If you get to our dock in Red Lake before Dan gets there with the Lickety Split, you should go inside Red Lake Marine and drop off your spare set of car keys.

Just tell them you are going to Bow Narrows Camp and want to leave your keys. They'll give you a tag to fill out and the keys go into a box with others who are out at camp.

Dan will show you where to park when he gets there.

Our dock is part of Red Lake Marine and it's important they have the ability to move your vehicle in the event of an emergency.

By the way, there is also free coffee available in the showroom of the marina.

Other things you can do while you are waiting for the boat is to unload your luggage. There is a wagon on the dock and you can use that to take your belongings out to the end of the dock. Leave the left side of the dock clear for the cart to take departing guests stuff back to shore.

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Nasty weather keeping anglers indoors

The weather took a turn for the worse on Saturday.
It started with Sunday night and Saturday morning filled with a series of thunderstorms.
This was followed by heavy rain and high winds Saturday afternoon. To make matters worse the temperature plummeted to 7 C (40-something Fahrenheit, I think).
Fortunately we were able to get everyone into and out of camp via the Lickety Split before the high winds hit.
Just about all the new fishermen wisely stayed in their cabins or the lodge, waiting for a break in the weather.
The rain ended some time overnight. I need to make one more trip to pick up guests today and am hoping the wind will lay a bit.
The forecast is for things to improve this afternoon and to see the sun again starting Monday.
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Red Lake fishing report; it's hot

Fishing is excellent in this, our first week of fishing.

Everyone is catching large quantities of walleyes and as expected, many of them are the great-eating sizes 14-18 inches.

We knew this was coming by the many small walleye found in natural resources fish studies last summer.

There are also lots of big pike being caught. In the photo above Junior Williams from Ohio hoists a chunky 38-incher which he caught and released.

The weather has been beautiful. It's been sunny and warm and the fish are hungry after their long winter's nap.

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Our guests are here and the fish are biting!

Our first guests just arrived and promptly caught a bunch of big northern pike and some walleye.
The warm spring and normal lake levels promise a great year for fishing.
Biggest northern pike that I heard about from people fishing yesterday was 38 inches but there were lots caught in the 30s.
Our walleye fishing always gets better and better as the water warms but people fishing for pike yesterday were catching walleye casting pike lures. That's a good sign!
I'll get some photos on the blog this week.
We've been ultra busy up to this point with out construction projects and opening camp.
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Gorgeous weather for rebuilding docks

With the septic system installation now behind us, staffer Landon Broennle and I have turned our attention to rebuilding the crib docks ruined by last year's flood.
We've completed the docks for Cabin 1 and 10 and that just leaves Cabins 5 and 7 still to do.
The other cabins have floating docks.
We have been wearing chest waders which leak a bit but the big shock comes when frigid lake water goes over the top.
Mother Nature has been on our side in this endeavour. No sooner did we get into the lake for the dock work than the weather turned warm and sunny. Temperatures this week are supposed to be in the mid-20s C (mid-70s F).
We had a thunderstorm yesterday afternoon which may have sparked some forest fires someplace in Northwestern Ontario as the bush is very dry. Virtually the only precipitation since the monsoon ended last August occurred two weeks ago when we were digging for the septic system. It probably rained an inch that week.
Today our other staffers arrive: Emily Godin who worked for us last summer and Kristina Belanger. Their immediate task will be to whip the cabins into shape before the first guests arrive on Friday.
We're almost ready to roll.
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What we've been up to the last few weeks

We got into camp record-early April 21 and had to break a bit of ice on the trip.

We have since been working night and day installing a new septic system for the entire camp. This system uses Ecoflo biofilters which are large underground tanks filled with peat moss.

My friend John Belanger and new staffer Landon Broennle and I spent about a week barging in the Ecolflo tanks plus a half dozen enormous septic tanks and the peat moss.

Then we brought in an excavator and a tracked loader and the actual installation began by Canadian Shield Consultants who designed the entire system for us.

Everything in the ground was amazingly completed in a week and we have since been installing the electrical system to run the whole operation. My brother-in-law Ron Wink has done the electrical work for us.

That too is now complete and there are just a few minor plumbing connections to finish.

The temperatures have been below normal and the only rain we received occurred the entire week of installing the tanks. (That figures!)

Because of the cold temps I expect fishing patterns to be pretty much normal, despite the early breakup of ice.

The forecast this week is for beautiful warm temps. Hope that is the case.

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