As many of you read about last summer and over the winter, we love to celebrate our heritage here in Manitoba! One of the big festivals in Winnipeg takes place every February and is called the “Festival Du Voyageur”. In fact, Gerry was the GM of the Festival from 1973-1984! The Festival is designed to celebrate the fur trade era, and the wonderful french-canadian “Joie de Vivre”.

Imagine if you will the voyageurs on the banks of the river in the 1700’s, competing in events like leg wrestling and tug-of-war. As part of the modern-day Festival, there is an open competition to see who the best “Voyageur” is! Last year, Dave and Andre competed under the Aikens banner in this 64-man tournament. They did very well, each reaching the final round of 16. Last night, we held our own version of the games to see who the 2 Aikens competitors would be in February 2008.

The night started off with some good old french-canadian singing and stomping as we were getting everything setup. As we have not finished our rod lockers yet, we were able to use the structure to have a great venue for the 5-event competition. Our guests from Willis Re and Bankers Insurance also took part in some true “Canadiana” by cheering on the competitors.  We were even lucky enough to have the official Voyageur Games judge, Gabe Masse, at Aikens this week (he’s installing heat pumps for the Sunset Chalets).  In all, 9 of our guys wanted to compete, and so we setup the competition accordingly. Dave is no longer here to defend his title, so Andre came in as a favorite, as did Turbo (he finished 3rd last year… just narrowly missing the opportunity to compete at the Festival).

The first event featured leg wrestling. Andre breezed through it, beating out Points in the finals. It seemed that he would have no problem defending his title. The “lutte indienne” saw Ashton face Andre in the first round. Ashton took him down, and went on to beat Turbo in the finals. Maybe this was not to be Andre’s night? The third event, a crowd favorite, was the pillow fight while balancing on a 6″x6″ log. Two of our guests Paul and Ed demonstrated the event to the roar of the crowd! In the actual competition, it was again Turbo and Ashton in the finals… but this time Turbo’s balance helped him beat out Ashton. The 4th event is the tug-of-war, but the caveat is that competitors are standing on a small section of log so it’s not just brawn but also brains that wins this event. Although they had struggled earlier, Bruno and Tyler wound up head-to-head in the finals. Bruno prevailed in what was easily the best seesaw matchup of the night. It came down to the final event to see how everything would pan out. The event was a timed log-saw. The first round eliminated 5 of the 9 competitors, as Pat showed all the rookies how it was done. He cut last, but was the quickest with a time of 7.08. Bruno, Marcel, Turbo, and Pat cut in the finals and Turbo’s 7.11 was enough to beat out the rest. The final scores looked like this:

1st - Turbo (350)

2nd - Ashton (300)

3rd - Bruno (250)

T-4th - Pat and Andre (225)

Turbo is the 2007 Aikens champion! However, since he is planning on working in Phoenix this winter it’s possible he won’t be around in February to compete so Bruno is already psyched about the chance of being called up! If you would like to travel to Winnipeg in February, you will get to see our guys compete against some of the city’s biggest dudes! Even if you aren’t here, follow along on our newsletter!

Scott Sheridan had never caught a fish before… not a walleye, not a deep-sea fish, not even a goldfish! His trip to Aikens was part of Merrill McNabb and Mike Malone’s group of food brokers. Merrill had been to Aikens many times in the past, but his last visit was back in 2001 so there was a lot of new things to see! New boats… new cabins… renovated lodge and Big Molly’s Bar… and now a new office and store.

Scott, like many of the guys on this trip, had never been to a Canadian fly-in. Despite the fact that he was not a seasoned fisherman, he was able to net himself a fish worthy of recognition… and this on his first morning of fishing! The first fish in Scott Sheridan’s life was a 29.25″ walleye! The bar is set very high!

The rest of the group enjoyed their trip a lot. Jon Maynard landed two master angler fish on the last day. The fishing was great. They had fun in Big Molly’s. However, one of the experiences that they will remember most vividly will be their “Elsie Encounter”! While checking out the Portage (the original lodge from the 50’s), the door suddenly unlatched and creaked wide open. This in itself does not signify that a phantom may be present. They tested the door out and the latch was just fine - although they noticed that the door doesn’t even have a squeak! Strange as it seemed, when it happened a second time when they brought more people to check it out they were convinced! It is just a part of Aikens history, and adds to the Aikens Experience. Thanks for coming up guys, and I am sure that you will be back to see if you can find Elsie again!

Yesterday was a special day at Aikens. As you’ve read about in the past, we like to celebrate our guests’ accomplishments. The first way to do that is by giving a commemorative 8×10 print of their fish, along with a customized mug to celebrate any Master Angler catch. However, there is also a special award we give to those who catch five trophy walleye on Aikens. It’s a way to reward them for their success and their loyalty to our lake. We have customized some Tournament Edition St-Croix jigging rods. These are etched with the inscription “Aikens Lake Walleye Specialist”. Today, we had to honor to make two such presentations!

The first one occured early in the morning, when Larry Bruce caught his 3rd trophy of the trip and 5th of his life on Aikens. Don Kackley has been bringing a group of his customers to the Great Grey Owl for the past 7 years. Larry had two Master Angler walleye in the first 6 years, but caught fire in year 7 and was able to earn that special rod! He was guided by Trevor, and they pinpointed a spot on Gilligan’s Island that produced slot and trophy walleye every day of their trip. Congratulations Larry and we hope that you will get the chance to enjoy that jigging rod at Aikens again!

The second specialist was also caught in the morning, although the guys tried to keep it a secret all day! Chad Thauberger has been coming up with one of Syngenta’s groups for many years. Last year he got 2 trophy walleye to up his total to 4, and narrowly missed getting his 5th on several occasions. He was talking about it a lot this year, and the rest of his group was wondering if he would achieve “specialist” status this year or if Chad would share some of the fish with the rest of them! When the trophy presentation happened at supper, everyone started suspecting that Chad had been mum about something… the picture proved their suspicions to be correct! Congratulations to you as well Chad and we hope you’ll bring your rod back next year to help you build on these totals!

Joel Buseman started coming to Aikens back in 2000 with his brothers and family. Previously,they went fishing in Ontario every summer.  When we met them at the sportshow, they never believed that each of them would catch at least a 25″ walleye, with at least one of them catching a master angler. In fact, they were so skeptical that Gerry made them a deal on the spot… He would offer a big discount on the price if they left Aikens and what he had promised hadn’t materialized The fishing was superb during their initial visit, and no discount had to be given because they ended up catching boatloads of 25+ including a few trophies. They continued to make annual trips until schedules became too complicated a few years ago. Joel, now 32, was able to find his way back to Aikens this year by inviting his new bride Anna on a trip to celebrate their honeymoon!

Joel and Anna were wed on Aug 12th, and the next day they drove up to Winnipeg to meet up with some old staff members that Joel still kept in touch with.  On Aug 14th, they flew in to begin their Aikens honeymoon! We’ve had a few honeymoons here in the past, but what made this one extra special is the fact that Julie had over 4 months to plan for it! There were a lot of hidden surprises for the couple to find, including rose petals and a thousand candles burning in their cabin when they first arrived. Anna, although not a very experienced fisherwoman, took an early lead in the fishing category and never took her foot off the pedal! She consistently brought in big walleye after big walleye, occasionally allowing Joel to catch a big onehimself. The fishing was non-stop during their entire stay, the only downside was that it would have been a storybook ending to have Anna catch that elusive master angler… I guess she’ll just have to settle for her other catch!

The “coup de grace” and highlight of the trip, however, was the private supper that was setup on the 3rd beach during one of their final nights here. The evening couldn’t have been more perfect, with warm weather, a cloudless sky, and a spectacular sunset.  Anna commented to Joel “What’s next, fireworks?!?” and wouldn’t you know it… Jimmy had set up a box of fireworks that he had been saving for a special occasion! We wish you a lifetime of happiness and thanks for allowing us (and especially Julie) to be your gracious hosts for your honeymoon. And Joel, your brothers were right, you are never going to be able to come back to Aikens without Anna again!

The big pike have certainly come out of their mid-summer slumber! In the past week we’ve landed many trophy pike by trolling, reigniting the fire that had burned on Colin’s Cruise in years past. All of the big fish have been caught while trolling over 15-20 feet of water, but using relatively shallow running baits. In fact, most of the trophy pike have attacked the “Williams Whitefish” gold or silver plated spoon… the one with the hammered finish. This spoon runs at a depth of only 5-6 feet, but there’s something in the way it moves that triggers these big torpedoes to attack! Our head guide Pat has made a parallel with the “One Ring” from Lord Of The Rings lore. If you are familiar with the story, you know that it centers on the quest to destroy the “One Ring to Rule Them All”. At Aikens, we certainly have “One Spoon to Rule Them All”, but we aren’t throwing it in the lake to get rid of it. Instead, we are using it to bring happy smiles to the many anglers who have enjoyed the success of landing a great big pike!

Last night, we didn’t have many guests in camp… in actuality it was our partners and their friends that were here so it was a perfect night to host the Olympiad! We split up the staff into 4 teams of 5 people each. One of our guests and friends Jon Hesse filled out the last remaining spot on one of the teams. As is tradition, all the teams made up names and costumes and an opening ceremony was held behind the Bait & Tackle. All the teams sung the Canadian National Anthem and we were ready to roll! The teams were as follows:

Mi-Shell Shockers (Michelle, Points, Tyler, Ashton, Griffin)

Blackpeace (a variation of Greenpeace): Jimmy, Aislinn, Turbo, Bruno, Eric

Team Whitefish (all Pat clones): Pat, Aisha, Elise, Andre, Trevor

Miss Mono & the Quaran-Team: Janelle, Mitch, David, Marcel, Hesse

The first event featured a volleyball tournament. The finals pitted the Mi-Shell Shockers vs. the QuaranTeam. In what appeared to be a landslide, the Quaranteam took a big lead but a big comeback gave the Shockers the volleyball championship. The second event was a quick one but a fun one. Everybody lined up on opposite sides of the volleyball net. In sync, everybody tossed their waterballoon over the net to a partner. After each successful throw, everyone took a step back until there was only one team left with their balloon intact… and that ended up being the Quaranteam.

The third event was the funniest one of the night… a tricycle race! Using Annika’s two tricycles, the teams raced over the grass. The winners of this event were the Pat look-a-likes, Team Whitefish! In a funny twist, this is the only event in which they didn’t finish last!!! The final event was the ever-popular bat twist. The main goal was to avoid injuries, which thankfully was the case! Dizzy competitors raced under the volleyball net until there was one winner - Blackpeace. After the final scores were added up, it was a runaway victory for Miss Mono and the Quaranteam. They finished first or second in each event, and they were the proud winners of the first plaque ever. Although we’ve had the Olympics since 1995, we never had a permanent trophy until this year! Congrats to Janelle, Mitch, David, Marcel, and Jon!

At Aikens, we have 10 approved sites for groups to meet up for shorelunch. We have sites that range from small (groups of 2 only) to large (up to 40 people). There is always a site open and one that suits the needs of our guests. One of the favorites used to be in the South Arm. Being so close to a huge walleye factory was always it’s prime asset, but it’s also on a point where any wind will keep the bugs away. The only downside was that it was small (groups of 2-4 only), and over the years it became ignored.

Jason Fillion worked for Aikens from 1997-2001. As with all of our employees, he’s always remained a part of the Aikens Family. For the past couple of seasons, he has dedicated his time to come up and re-build shorelunch sites with the help of his little brother Jamie. Their father is a mason, and Jason learned some tricks of the trade over the years. His firepits are more of an art than a construction project. This year, he rebuilt the shorelunch in the South Arm. We have already started using it and have moved a picnic table and filleting table there. As you can see in the pictures, Jason takes great pride in his work and his signature this time was to place stones on top of the pit with the initials “ALWL”… Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge (”Just in case anyone forgets where they are fishing”, Jason says!) Thanks for another great site, guys. Next year will it be the site in Lost Lake or Bay of Snakes?

Yesterday was quite a productive day for the guides at Aikens Lake. After pounding on new spots like South Shore and MOFN reef, their efforts were finally rewarded with five trophy walleyes being reeled in today! MOFN produced a 29″ and a 28.25″, South Shore produced two 28″, and the last one was caught at the mouth of the river. Fish were all over the map, with some shallow in 20 feet and all the way down close to 40! However, the majority were caught in between 27-35 feet of water, meaning that they are moving deeper as we get closer to the fall fishing season (that’s weird to say because it’s only early August!). These spots didn’t just produce trophies, but dozens and dozens of fish in the 24-27.5″ range as well! The hot ticket right now is jigging with either a minnow or a crawler. Leeches, my old favorite, have been a little slow but I’m sure they’ll pick up soon. Fishing leeches on a black jig is deadly in the summertime!

Another technique that has really been successful thus far this year has been to bottom bounce spinner rigs with crawlers and minnows. An under-utilized technique in the past, bottom bouncing is enjoying a renaissance at Aikens this year. We are really looking forward to the month of September when the large flats at Chris’s Corner and Gilligan’s Island will be perfect areas for this technique to bring in monster walleyes!

Some of you may remember the charity trip which brought Dan Quayle to Aikens Lake last summer. The trip raised over $25,000 for the Christmas Classic Charity down in Phoenix. It was such a great success that we couldn’t say no when we were asked to participate once again in 2007!

This trip ended up consisting of four couples, Dan Quayle was joined by his wife Marilyn. Bill and Julie Lavidge along with good friends Terry and Sarah Lee were the couples who purchased this exclusive trip back in December. For the trip, they were joined by our partners Dale and Vicki. The trip was a short one, but one that will provide a lifetime of memories! In the two days that the group was here, there were a ton of fish caught! At first, Julie was worried that she may not catch a single fish, but after the first evening when she helped her boat net 30 walleyes those fears were put to bed! Dan continued his tradition of fly-fishing for pike, and although the larger ones had gone deep during this heatwave, he was still able to catch a few in the bays. The group was especially happy to find an eagles nest downriver. A baby bald eagle was standing on the edge of the nest, perhaps only days away from taking his first flight!

However, the highlight of the trip was Marilyn’s trophy. Fishing all trip with a brace on her left wrist, Marilyn wasn’t sure how her arm would hold up against a large fish. Fishing for walleyes in the Saddle, Pat marked a submarine on his depth finder. They decided to throw a Williams Whitefish Spoon down to the bottom and started to aggressively jig it. They held their breath everytime the large blob on the screen would rise towards the lure, and after 5 minutes of goading the trophy finally took the bait! The drag was screaming as Pat held onto Marilyn’s fishing rod, helping her to tame and subdue ” ol’snaggletooth” . The wrist didn’t seem to matter once the fish was in the net! What wrist! What teamwork! All in all a great experience for everybody, and we hope to be able to support the Christmas Classic again next year.