The guides can catch walleye anytime, anywhere. They stack up against some of the best walleye fishermen around. However, sometimes they like to challenge themselves. Take tonight, for instance… four guides set out with one goal in mind, which was to catch a lot of burbot. They succeeded! With Tim, Colin, and Pat riding in Pit’s boat, the four were able to land 16 burbot! There were a couple of doubleheaders as well! The action was all at Wet Rock, fishing 50-53 feet of water. Tim landed the most (8) by using a slow jigging technique. Glow-in-the-dark seemed to be key as everyone had some variation of that “colour”. Pit was ripping a buckeye jigging spoon and landed the biggest (26″). Eight were kept to be served to the staff as Poor Man’s Lobster. Devon fried them up in garlic butter. What a treat!

Well, it has been a project that has been done in piecework since the beginning of the season. The project has finally reached its fruition! We have a permanent wood dock that stretces 56 feet into the water. From there, we have a gangplank (18ft) that connects to the floating dock. The floating section is 90 feet wide, and has enough slips to house 12 boats. It also has a section where we can tie up a plane on occasion (Some people fly in on their own planes). Pat, our head guide, was the first to select his stall in the new dock.

Knox Jones had been here before. This winter he put together a group of 8 people, a few rookies and a few returning guests, for a Great Gray Owl trip. Little did he expect the type of day that his group would have today! There were 7 trophies caught (by six different anglers)! Five trophy walleyes, a whitefish, and a burbot were all part of the festivities! What a great day for a great group. One wonders if they can duplicate it tommorow… let’s hope!

There were no guests on the peninsula today… only a group at GGO. This allowed for the staff to unwind a little bit - which they did by having the first barge party of the year! They parked the barge at the honeyhole and needed 4 anchors to secure it in place. The fishing was decent and there were several slots landed (plus a couple missed!). Turbo won both divisions in the derby by landing the biggest (25.75″ walleye) and the most (6). Devon would have probably had the biggest if her netman (who shall remain anonymous) lunged too early and the walleye rolled over and took off!!! A great time was had by all… until the mosquitoes carried them home!

The action for huge pike has not tapered off on the North Shore. Shorelines around Moosehead, Bay of Snakes, and Rob’s Rubble continue to produce big pike. Today, another 42″ beauty was taken right off Trapper’s Island. This followed a 39″ which had just been released 10 minutes prior.

Well, Full Contact Fishing has had a great time here and they have caught a ton of big fish for the TV show. To end off the trip, Kinger and his guide Pit rassled on the beach. It was a clash of the titans! A crowd of spectators cheered on a legendary battle which saw the two men trade falls until neither could breathe. The judges scorecards are still pending… Don King will be promoting next year’s rematch, book your trip today!

Christian Dupont, aka Kik, has been an extremely good worker in his first couple of weeks of work at Aikens Lake. Today, he was even able to topple his first tree and called it one of the coolest things he has done… well, that thrill just got bumped down one notch in less than day!!! Tonight, Kik went out laker fishing with Colin and Andre. They caught a few trout and burbot, but the monster waited until the final gun before showing up. After a huge fight, Kik finally landed this 41″ mammoth! I think his smile says it all! Congrats Kik.

The weather has been great in the past couple of days. Blue skies, hot weather, and mild winds have allowed us to get to work on the new tin roof on the lodge. With all hands on deck, the work is getting done quickly. The new roof is going to prevent any leaking, will cool down the interior of the lodge, and will last forever.

He shoots, he scores! Mike Gartner scored many goals during his career… in fact he’s sixth on the NHL’s alltime list with 708. Today he put another one in the top shelf at Aikens! He’s here with Kris King and the Full Contact Fishing television crew to star as Kinger’s co-host for an upcoming episode of Full Contact Fishing. Today was the first day of filming and did Mike ever come through! As Mike was trolling the shoreline near Rob’s Rubble, a monster pike decided that she would like to be a television star! This 42″ sow fought hard but they were able to land it all the while capturing great footage for the television show. There are two more days of filming… let’s see if other aspiring trophy fish decide to showcase their talent!

Rich Boggs has been fishing all his life. Living and guiding near his hometown of Nisswa, MN, he has made quite a name for himself on the Professional Walleye Trail. He is currently ranked 11th on the tour, and has had great success in tournaments this year. He came to Aikens to unwind and to do some “fun” fishing! On his first day, he caught a trophy whitefish at the fastwaters. Today, the lakers were on the menu. Rich quickly developed a trolling pattern to bounce bottom in 50 feet of water. He started getting hit on every single pass at Chris’s Corner! As he put it, he was dialed-in to those trout! What a great day on the lake!