A technique that has been under-utilized, but has started gaining steam with the guides here has been trolling for walleyes. These walleyes are not relating to the bottom structure in 30-35 feet as their friends do. These walleyes are in about 20 feet above the other walleyes that we consistently nail with jigs and minnows. Turbo was one of the first to try trolling the long 30 foot flat in front of Gilligan’s Island. His success prompted more guides to try it… and today the two trophy walleyes produced were caught trolling near the mouth of the river! You can be sure that our guides will continue to develop this technique and I am confident that more trophies will be produced in this manner shortly!

In the past week, we have seen many big pike landed as people have been trolling shallower shorelines. The hottest place has been the shoreline between Bay of Snakes and Moosehead. Trolling inside of these bays has also provided some huge pike. The 44″ beauty pictured above was caught in the Bay of Snakes in 5 feet of water. Another trophy was landed today in behind Pickerel Cheeks. There’s great action out there!

As many of you know, Aikens Lake has the best log accommodations in the business - and this is due to the fact that we have a sawmill and a permit which gives us the ability to produce all of our own lumber. This year, we harvested enough wood to replace (in 2006) the final two cabins that made up “Wilderness Trail”. The new cabins 3 and 4 are going to be timberframe construction may have a similar floor plan as our Boardwalk Chalets. After the trees are cut and peeled and have sat for a month or two, they are moved from the woods back to the lodge. The wood we harvested is now all stacked up on shore in Moosehead Bay, and the barge is working constantly to bring it all back to the main camp. What you see in the picture is our logging crew (Ryan, Kik, Dan) sitting on the final pile of lumber awaiting transporation back to the lodge. Kik and Dan were hired to be an integral part of the logging efforts this season, and their enthousiasm and strong work ethic helped them become excellent loggers. Ryan, one of our past head guides, is no stranger to logging! He’s currently studying chiropractics in Minneapolis, but took a week of his short vacation to come help out with guiding and logging. We are sure that the cabins we build next year with all this lumber are going to be awe-inspiring!

The last time Devon (Aikens Lake chef) reeled in a trophy walleye at Aikens was August of 2002… nearly three years to the day! Over those three years, Devon has been snake-bitten and unable to break the magical 28″ barrier once again. It was not for lack of trying, it just seemed that no matter how many 27″ fish she landed, that 28″ would not show up. Tonight, with the help of former guide Ryan (who’s here to help out with a couple of big groups this week), she broke out! This beauty was caught at dusk on Middle Gull. Stacy and Jenna were both in the boat as well, and each nearly caught trophies with 27.5″ and 27″ respectively. What a great night of fishing!

For many of our staff members who will be returning to school in September, the season is drawing to a close. Therefore, we needed to squeeze in another Aikens Lake tradition before anybody left… the Clubroom Olympics. While the dress and color does not rival the Little Hammered Olympics (see story on July 28th), this event brings out more competition within the staff and is well received. Teams of four competed in pool, shuffleboard, cribbage, and scrabble. The winning team consisted of Stacy, Kik, Tim, and Andre. Fun was had by all, and we’ll be sure to do it again in the future.

Orazio Nastase of PA wasted no time in catching is 5th trophy walleye. On the first day of his third visit to Aikens, Razz landed a 28″ beauty, giving him the title of Aikens Lake Walleye Specialist! He loves coming to Aikens, and he loves fishing with our head guide Patrick. Pat has guided every one of the five trophies that Razz has caught! Today’s trophy was caught at Chris’s Corner… a great sign that the big walleyes are moving to the deep flats and the fall feeding frenzy is underway. Congratulations Razz, and you have many more days on this trip alone to add to that total!

Yesterday, a wonderful group of people arrived at the Great Gray Owl. The group consisted of four couples (Clark, Jeskey, Scherer, Pinder). For all, it was their first trip to Aikens. For many in the group, it was their first experience at a fly-in camp. For Delores, it was the first time she had ever fished! With Diesel as a guide, she quickly learned the techniques required to land a lunker. It did not take long for her to become a Master Angler… her first fish was a 28.5″ walleye! Although hesitant to hold the fish at first, Diesel guided her through it and the picture turned out wonderfully! What a fish, what a story! Congratulations Delores!

This past winter, Aikens Lake lost one of its favorite (and funniest) clients, Mr. Dan Welty. Known to all his friends as “World Famous Walleye Welty”, Dan fell in love with Aikens and organized and led a group from his company, Twin City Glass Contractors Inc, to come up year after year. His friends would not let the great tradition fade away. This week, ten people that Dan loved and cherished came up to Aikens on the annual trip. In Dan’s memory, they had a special trophy made up (pictured above). In a stirring ceremony at the Saddle, the trophy was lowered to the bottom by good friend Tom Vevea, and will be left there from now until forever. The trophy is engraved with a message asking anyone who hooks the trophy to honor Dan and release it back into the lake. We’ll miss you Dan, but we’ll never forget you.

Chris Jensen was hooked on Aikens when he caught a 32″ walleye on his first trip over a decade ago. His father had bought him the trip as a graduation present. He has been here nearly every year since, and he has seen many of his friends reach the coveted specialist (5 trophy walleyes). His fourth trophy walleye had been back in 2002. He was snake-bitten in the last couple of years, but the curse was finally broken today! He was fishing with Rick Shields of MD, who caught two trophies on his first day at Aikens! Chris landed a 28.25″ beauty a half hour after Rick’s 28.25″. Congratulations CJ! I hope you enjoy that new “St-Croix Aikens Lake Specialist Rod”!!!

Jeff “Ace” Vollmer brought some of his experience on the PWT to the reefs of Aikens Lake as he won the Milwaukee Stove and Furnace company’s annual tournament with a 30.25″ beauty. The fish was caught on the 2nd day at Bear Island. Only 10 minutes previous, Ace had reeled in what had been at the time the biggest walleye of his life (27.5″)… but that was quickly replaced by the monster walleye pictured above. In all, seven trophies were caught by the members of the Milwaukee Stove group. A special thanks to Fred Engler and Pat Stepanik for setting up another wonderful trip… something they have done for nearly 15 years at Aikens Lake!