Aikens Hosts Komatsu!

Aikens Lake is proud to have hosted a large group of vendors and dealers from the Komatsu corporation. This well-known company, which specializes in mining and construction equipment of all sizes, chose Aikens as its destination to reward their top performers. On July 17th at 4:00pm., 20 guests stepped off the Otters onto our dock with smiles and high fives from the staff to greet them. Hailing from all parts of the USA, everyone arrived at the lake on schedule. As some might be aware, getting to the lodge consists of a 90 minute drive from Winnipeg and you arrive a short 35 minute float plane flight later. This means people can reach Aikens from any major commercial hub in North America in one day, better yet, can be fishing the day they travel! Same goes for larger groups. A trip this size doesn't happen without some extensive planning. That being said, the trip planners arrived a bit earlier than the rest of the group to scout things out. Glenn Schindelar, part of the executive team at Komatsu North America, and his co-worker Mike toured the lodge and all of its facilities and quickly realized they had made the right choice. It didn't take long for them to decide to tour the lake to see what it had in store for them as far as fishing was concerned. They headed out with our guide Patrick hoping to catch a few fish before the planes arrived. Straight to the Saddle. They immediately found fish and started hammering big walleyes until the bite suddenly came to halt. On the Lowrance screen they saw the tell-tale blimp mark of a big pike. They tried to entice a bite with minnows, crawlers and of course, the Whitefish Spoon. Fifteen minutes later, Glenn set hook into the beast. He expertly wrangled the fish into the net and they all cheered as he hoisted the beast for yet another Kodak moment.

4:00pm. Our guests arrive and get settled in. A group this sizes gets exclusive use of the lodge. We try to fit their schedule as best we can to maximize their experience. Happy-Hour preceded a fabulous supper, then out to the lake with the guides for a beautiful evening of fishing. In the three days that followed, hundreds of fish were caught and everyone succeeded in reeling up lunker walleyes and pike. Shorelunch was served daily and obviously wowed the crowd. This meal was matched only by the menu Chef Jimmy and Élise offered in the lodge for supper. The night life was hopping all week! Big Molly's Bar greeted huge crowds (staff too, of course) for parties that lasted into the wee hours. Live music was provided by Lightning Fingers Ronnie on the keys and our own Julien on the guitar. They were even taking requests... This trip was the end result of a huge incentive campaign geared to drive sales of Komatsu equipment. Masterminded by the Creative Group (a promotions company), Komatsu's top producers were invited on a three day All-Inclusive fly-in fishing adventure to one of North America's premiere lodges. Is it any surprise they ended up at Aikens? You be the judge. This type of trip (organized by a promotional house) was a first for us at Aikens. It was nice to see the trip organizers so relieved that we were able to take care of all the logistics involved in a winning experience. We hope to host more of these great groups in the future. On behalf of everyone at Aikens Lake Lodge, we'd like to thank Komatsu and the Creative group for having chosen us to host you on such a memorable trip. Hopefully our paths will cross again soon!