With over 25 hours worth of footage in the can, Prairie Toyota Dealers’ “Call Of The Tundra” promotion is set to air on Global in mid-October. As mentioned in past newsletter posts, Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge is extremely proud to have hosted this great event (see past item here). For the past four days, the camp has been buzzing with excitement as camera crews scoured the lake and the peninsula capturing the contestants’ experience. The tournament-style contest had five lucky contestants fishing for the keys to a brand-new 2008 Toyota Tundra!

In two morning sessions of fishing each angler scored the total length of their five biggest fish (total of ten fish). The first morning of tournament fishing challenged the anglers with high West winds and cooler temperatures. Many fish were boated and each competitor got back to the dock eager to up their scores on day two. However, Mother Nature had other plans. Day two began with heavy winds and constant rain… Not conducive to filming. A revised plan had our guests fishing with the guides for fun and everyone enjoyed a classic Aikens shore lunch at the Gray Owl site, warming their hands by the fire and their bellies with deliciously prepared walleye.

Having practiced their hook-sets and rested up for the last day’s event, the competitors (staff and film crew alike) were over-joyed to wake up to a beautiful sunny day for the final tournament session. The Back Bay had a magical fog hanging thick making for some awesome pictures. Our host Dave Mercer (creator and host of “Facts of Fishing“) sounded the air horn to set off the five competing guide boats for an exiting Shot-Gun start to day three. At high Noon, everyone congregated at shore lunch knowing that one of them would soon be the proud owner of a new truck! The afternoon was spent on the lake fishing, while back at the lodge, scores were tallied and the dining room was readied for the award ceremony.  Lights, camera and action filled the lodge while Dave Mercer entertained the crowd before handing the keys to the winner.  It was a very cool event to host in our spacious lodge.

Congratulations to all the the contestants for having participated in such a one-of-a-kind event. Aikens is proud to have partnered with Prairie Toyota Dealers’ and Travel Manitoba in hosting this televised competition which promoted Toyota Tundra Trucks, Aikens Lake Lodge and Manitoba wilderness! Also, a very special thanks to Dave Mercer for having made everyone laugh and enjoy their experience at Aikens. You are a true showman and your fishing tips gave everyone that extra edge needed to angle their way into a new Tundra!

Many of you are probably asking who left the lodge with such a huge prize? Well, the answer will be aired on Global during a weekend this October. We will be posting the show time here on the newsletter as soon as the production team finishes editing their footage.

The carpenters have laid down their hammers, the painters have cleaned their brushes and the new residents have moved in. The roster of impressive new buildings here on the peninsula now has two new additions. A brand-new welding shop (Léo’s private playhouse) called “The Timber wolf” and the aptly named “Rod Lockers” are the newest additions to our infrastructure. The Timber wolf houses all forms of tools and welding equipment needed for repairs to any machine at the lodge. The Rod Lockers are situated near the Guide Dock and boast 22 spacious lockers for the guides and staff members. This includes a large storage locker for all of the gear our valued guests like to leave here year after year (After all - with all these clamp downs with the airlines, it is really nice to not have to worry about your gear every trip!). The lockers surround a large communal space where the boys can shoot the breeze about the day’s catch (similar to a dressing room in an arena).

Both buildings were completed earlier this month, but each has already earned its keep and has been extremely practical. The Timber wolf has serviced all of our quads and golf carts, while the lockers are now cozy homes for the staff’s gear and other stuff. In fact, the Rod Lockers even played host to a great evening when the staff put on a music concert in a western theme known as the Ho-Down party! The functionality of both establishments has everyone pleased to see that their construction efforts are paying off. With our commitment to providing our staff and our guests with the utmost experience, who knows whats next? Inevitably, Aikens will be even more well equipped to further secure its place among the elite lodges in the industry!

For the past 13 years, we have hosted our own version of the Olympics here at Aikens. We call them the “Little Hammered Olympics”, as it is not uncommon for a beer or two to be consumed during this event! We split the staff up into four teams of four. They get very creative with the team names and costumes. This year, we had the following entries:

Club Med (Janelle, Trevor, Elise, David)
Bissett Air Rescue (Marcel, Pat, Michelle, Eric)

Walleye Wranglers (Aisha, Points, Mitch, Ashton)

Ro Heff & the Bunnies (Rochelle, Bruno, Tyler, Griffin)

We had a special guest MC for this year’s event. Andrina, hot off a successful show in Ohio opening for Smokey Robinson, was able to fly in that very afternoon for our annual tradition! She led the crowd through a great bilingual rendition of our national anthem, then the games were on! This year, our olympics featured 4 events… of which only one was a returning event from 2007! We replaced our volleyball tournament with a soccer tournament. It was very spirited and hotly contested! The Bunnies faced off against the Bissett Air Rescue in the finals, and it came down to a shootout to determine the winner. After having 7 shooters per side come and go without deciding a winner, Tyler finally squeaked one by Marcel and the Bunnies took the first event.

The second event was also new… a canoe race carried from shore down the dock into the water, then all the way around Compost Island and back to the dock! All four teams had great times which were all within 13 seconds of each other! The fastest time was from Bissett Air Rescue which finished the race in 2:39. The funniest moment came when the Bunnies barreled into the dock at full speed, the impact of which shocked them and quickly flipped the canoe upside down! So much for staying dry…

The third event was called the Rainsuit Relay. Participants would pair up, get geared up in a rainsuit, and wheelbarrow each other across the volleyball yard. Once that was complete, the other two from the same team would do the same. Times varied wildly in this event, as a few of our competitors (we’re looking at you Bunnies!) misunderstood the rules and actually changed rainsuits midway through the race! First place was won by the Walleye Wranglers with a time of 1:15.

The final event was the waterballoon toss. Teams had two players on each side of the volleyball net. Everyone lined up and threw a water balloon over the net to their partner. After each successful toss, the whole line would take a step backwards. Every team started with one spare balloon to break. However, there was a twist! All night contestants had been making sure that our judges (Lorraine, Leo, Denis, Pit, Julie, Andrina, and special guest scorekeeper Rachelle) always had a full drink, a seat to relax in, or even some foot massages. Although they didn’t know it, their efforts were rewarded with extra balloons! The Walleye Wranglers received 4 spare balloons, Bissett Air Rescue 3 spares, Club Med received 2 spares, and the Bunnies only got the one! Club Med’s pairing of Trevor and David kept their single balloon alive to the end to win the event!

So, as you’ve been reading, you’ve probably noticed that each team won one event. It would all come down to 2nd place finishes! The winner turned out to be the Bissett Air Rescue team! For Marcel, it’s his 2nd gold medal in only his 2nd year (editor’s note: Although Pit no longer competes, he failed to win the gold every single time he competed… at least 7 in all!). Thanks to all the staff who showed great spirit, creativity, and camaraderie yet again to make this another great success in the long tradition of the Aikens Lake “Little Hammered Olympics”!

For the last few years, our partners at The Aviary Group have been organizing a buddies trip at the lodge. Looking forward to some well-deserved R&R, our guests thoroughly enjoy the simply beautiful life here at Aikens. Upon arrival, it was evident that Big Molly’s would be hopping. Turbo, our former guide turned real estate agent, came in with the boys from Arizona. Just like old times, he and Julien jammed out with the guitars putting quite the show! Their set list went all the way from “I Fish Walleye” to a country-flavored “Gin & Juice” (we’d like to thank Jon Hesse for the great harmonies).

The walleyes had a surprise in store for them. Chris Jensen, one of our partners, stopped at International Falls and picked up some special bait. The purchase of 8″ Ciscoes (the same bait fish we have here) tweaked the interest of all the guides. Rigged on a long-shanked jig with a stinger hook, these larger baits ween-out the smaller walleyes and target the bigger boys. Although the wait between bites was sometimes longer than regular minnows, the pay-off made it worth while. We are currently investigating ways to harvest some of Aikens’ own ciscoes for our clientèle’s use.

Day three was set as tournament day. This yearly tradition pits one fisherman against the other and has the guides jockeying for position as well. Each angler’s top three fish before & after lunch would determine the champion. At shorelunch, the leaders were Dale Jensen and Jeff Hahn (1.5″ separating the two!). The afternoon bite started off slowly. Many boats said that they were sitting on top of big marks that just wouldn’t go… 4:00pm rolled around and many competitors were scrambling to fill up their scoring fish quota. Dale and Chris Jensen talked strategy with their guide. They gambled and burned back to the dock. Not to park, but to fish. With the clock ticking, Dale cast towards the guide dock. At this point every bite counts! His first fish, a 23.5″ Walleye brought him one fish away from securing a shot at first place. 4:50pm… Fish on! The larger Walleye went for a minnow placed directly under Ashton’s parked Lund. With the fish landed, measured and released, the horn blasted the end of tournament play. Once the scores were tallied up, Dale won first place and Hahn held on to second place. Tyler upset the reigning three year champ (Patrick) to claim the guide title. Congratulations Dale and Tyler!

Well boys, we wish you all much success over the winter and we’ll see you again next summer!

There are great workers, then there are great workers! Kik is one of the latter. We’d like to formally thank Christian for his tireless efforts this season. Whether it’s working his butt off at the lodge, guiding countless days in a row, pitching in and helping the ladies in camp without ever being asked, or logging in 85 degree heat and bugs so thick you have them for lunch; he always does it with a smile!

Our unsung hero left yesterday for the season, but he is looking forward to another great summer at Aikens in 2009!  Until then, he’s eastward bound (Québec City, in fact), looking forward to starting a new chapter in his education.  No longer content with simply wowing his audience with total guitar control, his four year course load will turn him into a very skilled custom guitar builder!

Thank you Christian for yet another textbook season. Your devotion is what makes us proud to say that we have a first class staff here at Aikens. Good luck with your studies in “La Belle Province” and we’ll see you next spring!

Recently, the provinces of Manitoba and Ontario announced a joint  agreement that will protect the pristine wilderness inside of our incredible park.  We are located inside Atikaki Park, and Ontario has a mirror-image park on their side of the border called Woodland Caribou Park.  These parks were formed to protect habitat for the protected Woodland Caribou.  The whole area is being targeted as a possible UNESCO Heritage Area.  This is a prestigious international designation that would further protect future development inside the park.  We are very fortunate to have our own little slice of Eden right in the middle of it all!  This announcement can only help us as we continue to find new ways to become “greener” inside the park.  Below is the announcement in the Winnipeg Free Press from July 30, 2008.

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• Winnipeg Free Press

Breaking News

Provinces protect wilderness area

Updated: July 30, 2008 at 11:06 AM CDT

Manitoba and Ontario joined forces today to protect a 9,400 square-kilometre wilderness area that straddles both provinces.

Manitoba’s Natural Resources Minister Stan Struthers said the move is a significant step towards nominating the area as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The protected area includes Woodland Caribou Provincial Park and the Eagle-Snowshoe Conservation Reserve in Ontario and Atikaki Provincial Park and parts of Nopiming Provincial Park in Manitoba.

Struthers and Ontario’s Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield also said the partnership is the first in Canada between two provinces to manage such a large area from logging, mining and other development.

Cansfield said a benefit of the partnership is that officials from both provinces now have a better means of studying and protecting woodland caribou.

“These little critters have four feet,” she said, explaining the caribou don’t recognize provincial boundaries.

Struthers also said the signing of an agreement between the two provinces coincided with Manitoba releasing its management plan for Atikaki Provincial Park and the Bloodvein Canadian Heritage River. That plan is another step required as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination on the east side of Lake Winnipeg.