This year, we have a special surprise for everyone who has caught 5 trophy walleyes at Aikens Lake. As you may know, the province’s Master Angler Awards Program designates someone with 5 trophies of the same species as a Specialist. St-Croix Rod Manufacturers have specially handcrafted an Aikens Lake edition rod (retail value of nearly $300 USD!) Tonight, Gerry presented Blake with the first such rod! Blake was taken aback and very flattered to receive this gift. His first trophy walleye was caught here in 1992. In all, he has caught 7 trophy walleyes, 3 trout, a whitefish, a burbot, and very recently a huge pike!!! Congratulations Blake!

Our long-time guest and long-time friend Blake Strine came to Aikens this year with one goal… catch a trophy pike or a trophy perch! The reason for this goal was that he had already caught 9 trophies of different species, so he needed one more species to get the coveted designation of “Grandmaster” from the province of Manitoba. Boy, did he ever nail it! He had borrowed a great little spinner from our head guide Pat, and was using it this afternoon for trolling and casting. He was working the shoreline on the outside of the Bay of Snakes when his dream pike hammered it! Alone in the boat, he was finally able to net the fish by himself after a roller-coaster type fight that lasted over 5 minutes! Luckily for Blake, Dave was fishing nearby and so pictures and video were taken of this HUGE 46″ pike! Congratulations Mr. Grandmaster!

Guide Dave Beaulieu was out casting around in Stange Bay looking for a big pike, but ended up catching a trophy of a different kind! When the fish bit on his Mepps spinner and Dave set the hook, he figured it would be a small little pike… but it ended up being a big slab perch! It’s the first trophy perch caught here since 2001! Congratulations Dave!

The highly anticipated arrival of the first Lund Alaskan 1600 finally happened today! We were praying for a break in the weather to enable the safe transport of the new boats to Aikens, and after four days of rain our prayers were finally answered! Bluewater Aviation built a nifty little bracket to be able to keep the wide-hull of the Alaskan braced to the aircraft. Guests tell us that our guides Pat and Turbo, who were cooking shorelunch at the time, started jumping around and high-fiving when they saw the boat strapped to the plane that was flying overhead!!! They are just super excited to start guiding out of these luxury boats!!! We’ll see which boat is the first to land a trophy in it and officially christen it as an approved Aikens Lake guide boat!

What could make someone nearly miss supper at Aikens? How about a tremendous lake trout bite! David and Chris Landers were having so much fun out on Chris’s Corner that they ended up being over 30 minutes late for supper! Mixed into all that fishing were a pair of trophies! After landing many trout, the payoff came through as Chris landed a 35″ beauty (pictured above). Earlier in the day, their guide (Dave) caught a 42.5″ pike! That means that in the last 24 hours that boat has landed one trophy of each of the three main species in Aikens! That “triple crown” is a feat rarely seen. Way to go, boys!

What could possibly make someone stay on the lake and resist a mouthwatering shorelunch??? How about some non-stop pike fishing! That’s exactly what happened today as the Siegals had yet another great day of fishing… this time for pike. They were casting in Secret Bay among other places and landing pike after pike, and so they decided that they did not need to stop for lunch! Instead, they ate what they could out of the shorelunch box as they were still fishing! Wow!

A day of turmoil turned into a day of triumph for David Landers. He and his son Chris had an arduous day of travel as they attempted to locate lost baggage (fishing rods, no less!) from the airlines and followed that up with a two-hour delay in Silver Falls due to heavy rain! However, they were able to get to Aikens before supper and then the sun started shining! The rain which had been downpouring all day suddenly stopped, and a beautiful evening began. After supper, the Landers’s headed to the Honeyhole with their guide Dave. There, they caught slot walleyes all night! Chris almost lost his hand when he reached into the water to land a small walleye when all of a sudden a torpedo of a big pike hit the walleye! All three guys in the boat jumped back, but unfortunately they never found out how big the pike was as it spit out the small walleye before they could land both fish. At any rate, the walleye fishing continued to be, as Mr. Landers (who’s been here several times in the past) put it, “The best walleye fishing I’ve ever had at Aikens!”. As the sun set, a beautiful 29″ latched on to David’s line and it fought a long time before being netted. As you can see from the smile in the picture above… that fish was a perfect ending to a long day!!! Congratulations!!!

This morning a planeload of new recruits came off the plane with wide-eyes and alot of excitement! They were quickly thrust into the mix in terms of training and work. This year’s staff has a special bond that is sure to make it one of the best we’ve had! You can see the profiles of the new staff (and returning staff) at http://www.aikenslake.com/services/staff-bios.htm

Despite a constant downpour of rain today, the fishing was hot on Chris’s Corner. Pat was guiding the Siegals once again and they landed a boatload of big fish! Over 40 slots (walleye and trout) were landed today at Chris’s Corner, with numerous double-headers. Tube jigs were the hot bait and they were fishing in about 53 feet of water. The wet and cold bunch were all smiles as they pulled into the dock after a great day on the lake!

The trout are still going great with a beauty caught today by Dr. Siegal. What better way to celebrate a birthday than with a big old laker? On top of this beauty, they caught another half dozen trout and 5-6 slot walleyes. They came in this morning and only fished the afternoon with Pat (this year’s head guide). As more guests arrive tommorow and more guides have time on the water, we should start seeing more big fish like this one!!! Happy Birthday Dr. Siegal!