Yesterday we held a very special shorelunch in memory of incomparable friend, a loving father, exceptional steward and devoted ambassador of Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge. Having done numerous trips spanning 5 over decades, the late Tom Greteman was truly one of Aikens’ greats! Always smiling and jovial, this quick witted man had plenty of limericks to keep his audiences grinning and anxiously awaiting the next one-to-one-hundred liner.

Our shorelunch site in the Back Bay was constructed at his request. On many occasions Tom would be spotted trolling incessantly up and down the magical bay in constant pursuit of ‘Ol  Walter. A Johnson Silver minnow tipped with a fresh split-tailed Pork Rind chugging along slowly was his remedy for any of life’s woes. Not wanting to cross the open lake only to return in the afternoon, the denim overall clad gent beseeched us to set-up a lunch spot on what is known as Greteman Point.  Unfortunately, Tom never did get the chance to see the sight in person as he passed away in 2005 (http://aikenslake.com/newsletter/index.php/2005/12/07/patriarch-tom-greteman-passes-away)

We first inaugurated the site by surprising Tom’s two sons (Dan and Kirby) with an unveiling in 2006. A wooden plaque was hung and later that season, one of Tom’s daughters (Mary) had a plaque made with a fisherman’s prayer (penned by his incomparable wife Celine) to immortalize Tom’s mastery of prose and angling.

Unfortunately, the beautiful plaque was damaged this spring, so we took matters into our capable hands.  With the support of one of our other guests, we had a granite slate engraved which houses a 2nd copy of the fisherman’s prayer.  This slate is bulletproof and sure to last for generations.

Tom’s wife Celine returned to Aikens this week in company of Dan and Kirby. It was her first trip since Tom’s passing.  Her first shorelunch at the Greteman site was one to remember.  Pit, Julie, Gerry, Lorraine, Phil and many Aikens staffers joined in and ate a great Walleye lunch at which point Celine was presented with the plaque commemorating her late husband. A very touching moment for all parties.  The slate will be permanently affixed at the Greteman Shorelunch site in the Back Bay.

We have the strong impression the Old Tom was watching over us smiling and happy to see that the Greteman Clan can still reunite with their family and their good friends at Aikens Lake… their own little slice of heaven!

“I pray that I may live to fish
Until my dying day…
And when it comes to my last cast,
Then I most humbly pray…
When in the Lord’s great landing net
And peacefully asleep…
That in his mercy I be judged
Big enough to keep.”

-Celine Greteman

Aug 20-24 marked the 2nd summer in a row that Aikens Lake hosted Toyota’s Call of the Tundra promotion.  This was the 4th time that the Prairie Zone Dealers Association (Western Canadian Toyota Dealerships) put together the Call of the Tundra.  Through their dealerships scattered throughout Western Canada, ballots were available to enter the contest starting last fall.  Five lucky winners were drawn and were invited up to Aikens Lake for their chance to win a new Toyota Tundra!

The tournament went very, very well.  Despite hosting over 30 people in camp (competitors & guests, Toyota dealers and salespeople, and camera crew from Global TV), the familiarity from last year’s event made our task a bit easier.  We already knew the tournament format, expectations from the camera crew and from Toyota, and we had a lot of fun doing it!  Although the high water made the logistics of loading up 15 boats every morning a little difficult, we did get the competitors out on time for their “Shotgun Start” every morning.

The show was once again hosted by “Facs of Fishing” host Dave Mercer.  His energetic persona is a perfect match for television!  Dave is a marketing genius and he gave us plenty of food for thought for the winter.  We will let you know which of his ideas we will adopt!  He has already posted a small video blog from this past weekend’s events on his own website.  Check it out at www.factsoffishing.com

The fishing was better this year than during last year’s event (as was the weather!).  Two gorgeous days allowed us the 4 hours each day we needed to complete the tournament.  The format allowed for the 5 biggest walleyes from each day of competition to be scored.  Only the competitors were allowed to fish (not the guest or the guide… only one line in the water).  Last year’s winner averaged just under 22.5″ a fish, which was a bit disappointing in terms of size considering the great walleye factory Aikens has become.  However, this year’s tournament featured some great catches.  The average score this year was higher than last year’s winning score!  After the first day of competition, there were three competitors with a legitimate chance to win the truck.  There were only a few inches seperating 1st from 3rd after Day one.  During the second day, everyone brought in fantastic scorecards.  This time, only 4″ seperated all five of our competitors!  It went right down to the end, and will make for a dramatic television show!

To find out who won, you will have to watch the show in October on Global TV in Western Canada.  We will update the newsletter with the actual airtime once it is determined.  For those who can’t get that station, we will also be adding a version of it on our website this fall, and sending it out on DVD to our entire mailing list in December.

Here’s an updated picture of the dock area.  We procrastinated for a long time, but with a large group in today and the Toyota “Call of the Tundra” event this weekend, we felt we needed to finally address the dock issue.  We spent a full day yesterday building this riser which sits about 12″ above the dock.  The heavy rains we’ve had rather consistently since mid-July have made the water crest a 2nd time this year, and hopefully we built them high enough!

The good news is that it seems the crest happened yesterday at 9.25″ over the dock, because today it finally subsided a bit!  It is now “only” 9 inches under water.  Hopefully it drops quickly.  What a crazy amount of water!

It seems every year we have another exploit to announce about our distinguished guest Orazio Nastase. He arrived on Wednesday the 12th in company of his lovely wife of 35 years, Martha. Raz & Martha’s welcome at the dock included many staff members adorned with rubber boots (see previous newsletter article) and big smiles. It seems Raz’s good fortune on Aikens was enough to convince Martha to try her hand at angling an Aikens monster for herself. That, she wasted no time in doing!

After her first day on the lake, she accomplished what many fishermen only dream of. With pictures and pride in tow, Martha graciously accepted her first Aikens Lake trophy mug for her massive 28″ walleye off MOFN Reef. Raz, who sometimes can be a tad satirical, couldn’t hide his pleasure in seeing his wife boat the lunker. Day one: success.

Raz was behind the eight ball. Not wanting to be outdone, he set out to capture his own landmark event. Again, no time was wasted! His second bite of the morning and… BAM! A sturdy 28″ Middle Gull Walleye inhaled his minnow. Our head guide Tyler had been watching that fish on his Lowrance for the better part of an hour, and their patience paid off. Net, measurement and pictures preceded the satisfactory realization that with that fish Raz had just put his hand on his tenth trophy Walleye on Aikens Lake!

Back at the lodge, Pit & Julie conferred as to how they should honor this historical feat. Aikens gives away a St.Croix Tournament Legend rod to all of the guest who specialize in Walleyes here (5 Master Angler fish). Raz received his in 2005. Now they had to figure out a gesture to reward Orazio for his angling prowess. Well…  Earlier this season a very special rod made its way to the lodge. It’s short, pink, has flashing lights, and has the name Barbie stuck on it. An unforgettable benchmark deserves an unforgettable rod! After handing him his picture and his trophy mug, Annika and Martin surprised Raz with his “Double Specialist” Rod. Now that’s a trophy fit for the mantle!

This is Raz’s 13th trophy fish on Aikens (ten walleyes, two Pike and a Burbot) in nine trips. A baker’s dozen, with no signs of letting up. Let’s hope he keeps his drive alive. Maybe for a challenge he should try out his new rod on the lake, you know, just to give the fish a chance! Congrats Raz & Martha, we’re all quite proud to see you do so well.

In all the years we’ve been at the lodge (21 and counting), and all the years the Bluewater pilots have been flying into Aikens (38 and counting), we have never seen the water so high!  We just finished a 15-day streak where we had at least 10 minutes of rain a day.  After we had one sunny day, and new 4 day streak was started!

Well, we are finally into some great weather (90 degrees) for the past three days.  However, all of the runoff from the rain is still flowing into Aikens and the water level - which had started abating in mid-July - is now higher than the original crest!  It is coming up at about a 1/2″ per day.  Hopefully this sunny streak slows the trend, and eventually reverses it.

As you can see in the pictures, our dock is now about 6 inches under water.  We are so happy we built the new one, because our old dock would have been about 30 inches under water!!!  Although the high water has created some logistical issues for docking planes and boats, it has also created some fun times for the kids as they can go splash around in the ankle high water!  The downside is that our front beach is non-existant!  The pictographs in the river are also almost completely under water!

The recent rise had temporarily curtailed some of the hot bites on Aikens Lake, but the lake has awakened again and great slot walleye bites are being found on most summer patterns (the best of which is at Red Rock right now).  Lost Lake is also producing with a great 29.5″ walleye caught the other night.  We have a very busy month of August lined up, then things we end our season with a nice relaxed month of September.  If you are considering a late-season trip, it’s not too late to give us a call to set something up!

We have been told, in no uncertain terms, that our stats on the Little Hammered Olympics are flawed.  I suppose we don’t keep meticulous records of these events, and upon further inspection it turns out that Marcel is NOT the first person to win three titles in a row.

Jason Fillion (aka: JJ, 2nd from left), was a three-time champion of the Little Hammered Olympics from 1998-99-00.  He also won the silver medal in 1997.  In an effort to stop this reign of terror, the teams were rigged in 2001 to prevent JJ from winning yet another time.  Mitch (far left) had undergone back surgery, Danelle (far right) had injured her knee and wore a brace, Julie (2nd from right) had been having back pains, and Peter Ohman (middle) was a last-second addition to the team.   Despite the odds, they almost did conquer all!

So as it turns out, Marcel and JJ are tied for the most consecutive wins at 3 apiece.  Now we’ll have to see if the 4-peat can break the tie for Marcel in 2010!  Thanks for the clarification JJ.

Another year means another olympic event at Aikens Lake!  Many of you are familiar with our annual “Little Hammered Olympics”.  It’s a day of fun and competition as we seperate the staff into four teams and hold events to determine the champions of Aikens Lake!  First off, the teams:

The Hammered Hillbillies:  Tyler, Aisha, Aaron, Nick, Luke

The Crew: Michelle (dressed as Leo), David (dressed as Elise), Jesse (dressed as Marcel), and Eric (dressed as Trevor)

The Shots: Kik, Elise, Points, Bruno, Marteen

Mother Trucker Construction: Trevor, Griff, Marcel, Janelle, Sarah

We were lucky enough to find a night to do the Olympics on a night where we didn’t have any guests in camp.  It was a quirk in the booking schedule that worked out perfectly for this event!  We started earlier than usual, with the opening ceremonies at 2:30 PM.  The teams introduced themselves, with none getting more laughs than “The Crew”.  Seeing them come in dressed as different members of our staff was hilarious!  They even stole the clothes of those who were being imitated to make sure the impressions were bang on!

The games started out with the volleyball tournament.  It was a hotly contested game with the Shots taking out the Crew in the finals.  Soccer was next on the docket.  This time, the Crew came back to win in a shootout against the Truckers.  Points and Marcel were exceptional in goal stopping nearly 10 shots each in the shootout!  We were then able to breakto reenergize with a supper of burgers and hotdogs.

When the games resumed after dinner, we had three more events to help determine the 2009 champs.  Unfortunately with Pit, Julie, and Pat all needing to be judges for these events we never did get photos.   However, we can tell you that the Truckers were successful by winning the first two… the Sock & Ball relay and the ever-popular bat twist race!  For what was to be the grand finale, we had the water baloon toss.  A simple toss and catch with your teammate over the volleyball net.  Each team had been graded on how much they bribed the judges.  This could mean anything from fixing a new drink to fetching a chair or even changing the song if a judge deemed that they didn’t like it!  The Truckers had a huge lead in this department, and were rewarded with the most balloons for the event.  However, they quickly gave up that lead as Griffin broke a balloon before the event even started!   Many tosses went over the nets and many balloons broke.  Slowly but surely teams got eliminated as their final balloons burst.  The Shots came from behind to win the event as Marteen deftly captured the last balloon while Nick from the Hillbillies had his burst on the same throw.  This created a 3-way tie for first place, with only the Hillbillies out of contention.

The tie-breaker was finally decided upon, but not after much deliberation.  A timed race around compost island by canoe would seperate the champs from the chumps.   Only two members from each team would participate.  The first ones out of the gate were the Truckers (Trevor and Marcel), bringing in a blazing time of 2:18.  The Shots were next, with Kik and Bruno paddling hard, but they came up just short at 2:31.  The final chance for the win went to the Crew.  Jesse and David were paddling their hearts out and had a chance to win, but in their eagerness one bad shift in weight caused the canoe to tip over only 50 yards from the dock!  The Truckers were champs!

Thanks to everyone for a wonderful day of fun and laughter, and congratulations to the winning team.  The olympics are a great tradition at Aikens, and they always showcase the creativity and youthful energy of our tremendous staff.  Finally, a special congratulation to Marcel, the first ever 3-in-a-row winner of the Olympics.  Is a Four-Peat on the way in 2010?!?  Tune in next year…