The two Sunset Chalets are going up quickly.  These are no small feat… and when you see them you’ll understand why!  These cabins are going to be HUGE!  With nearly 800 square feet of living space, these chalets will easily and comfortably house four people in each unit.  In the picture above, you can see one of our carpenters Charlie putting some finishing touches on the tin roof! We look forward to having our first guests cut the ribbon on one of them in late August.

One of the new smiling faces you’ll find in the customer service crew this summer belongs to Aislinn Beaupre.  Despite not knowing many of our staff members before the summer started, her easy-going nature and never ending smile have allowed her to become part of the fabric of Aikens Lake in no time at all!  Today, she turned 21.

The night started off with a great game of volleyball.  Nearly everyone on our staff was participating in a large tournament.  If it wasn’t for the bugs, we could have played all night!  After the volleyball, Aislinn was brought to the Canot where a big pinata was waiting for her.  Anita baked her a cake that had a very interesting design (you’ll have to ask her about it!).  A large party was held for her in the Canot.  The crowd then spilled into Big Molly’s Bar and a great time was had by all.  Happy Birthday Ace!

Lost Lake has always been a great spring spot for those large walleyes.  Bob Dumontier has been guiding at Aikens on and off for nearly 20 years.  The sports coordinator at St-Boniface College in Winnipeg, he always loved taking some of his summer holidays to come up and guide for us when needed.  It didn’t take Bobby D long to rediscover his touch, he caught a trophy walleye in Lost Lake on his first afternoon back!

The other great thing about having Bobby D help out is that he’s able to show our guides some of the last arts from past generations of guides.  Lost Lake is included in this list.  Bobby D not only guided 3 trophies during his stay, but it allowed him to show some of the other guides (including Dave and Diesel) all about Lost Lake.  In turn, they were able to guide 4 trophies there!  Way to go!

I know that we are already in full gear at the lodge, but we finally have the new staff bios available online! This year, we have a few more staff than in a normal season. We have hired one extra kitchen staff, two extra guides (for a total of eight), and a full-time carpentry crew. That means there are alot of new faces to see before you come up here!  Almost everyone participated in a funn little staff bio questionnaire. You can check out everyone’s bio and picture at: http://www.aikenslake.com/services/staff-bios.htm

Last season, Blake Strine caught a huge 46″ pike by casting and trolling around Rob’s Rubble.  This basically spearheaded a pike campaign that remained successful throughout the season.  Colin really dialed in to them in the month of August, and even had the shoreline on the North Shore named “Colin’s Cruise” in his honor!

Nathan Wright from Farmington, MN pulled off an Aikens first… catching two trophy pike inside of 30 minutes!  With Turbo as his guide, Nathan was dragging a Storm shallow runner bait that had a black back and silver belly.  His first pike, a 41.5″, fought like he was being reeled in towards molten lava!  It was going nuts, and jumped out of the water several times before it finally glided into Turbo’s net.  The second fish, which was hooked in nearly the same spot only 20 minutes later, was a 44.25″ beauty.  This one, perhaps knowing the drill, was rather subdued during the fight.  Nathan nearly scored a hattrick, but a 3rd huge pike was able to spit his hook only feet from the boat later on in the afternoon!  Congratulations Nathan… you’ve made the rest of your group very jealous (and don’t worry, those fingers will heal soon!)

John Glasshof started bringing his group to Aikens in 1993. Since then, he’s been a staple there during the 2nd week of June. They are known for finding the big pike in our lake. This year was no exception, as they found another big one and many more slot-sized pike. To top that off, they also netted 6 trophy walleye (including 2 by Dick Pawell - see news item below). Not bad for a group of only 6 people! The only member of the group to be shutout in the trophy category was John Leung, although he could hardly be blamed because he was fishing with Glasshof the whole time Way to go guys on a very successful trip. See you next June!

Dick Pawell has been coming to Aikens for many years, and the fishing for him just keeps getting better.  He didn’t start off with the Midas Touch, be he really found his stride in the past 6 years.  In fact, Dick had released 4 trophy walleye and 2 trophy pike in his last 6 trips.  In the past two days, he’s netted trophy walleye #5 and #6!  To commemorate this great achievement, Dick was presented with the “Aikens Lake Walleye Specialist” rod.  It’s a special limited-edition St-Croix jigging rod that is handcrafted for the Aikens Lake Walleye Specialist!  Congratulations Dick, and here’s to catching many more trophy fish at Aikens with your new rod!

For some reason or another, this season has been filled with moose and wildlife sightings!  Along with the many moose, we’ve also seen caribou, lynx, bear, and countless eagles, loons, ducks, and other waterfowl.

For years, we had a “resident moose cow” that would spend her spring on the peninsula.  Moose have two calves every year, and normally one falls prey to predators such as bears.  However, our resident moose would use the protection of the peninsula (water on 3 sides, a lodge on the 4th side) to shield her offspring from danger.  That moose has been gone for about 5 years now, but it seems we have a new resident moose!  This large cow has been seen for many weeks, including from our Boardwalk Chalet as she strolled down the beach one morning!  She was also sighted a few days ago by people watching a movie in the lodge.  She was right outside the window, then slowly sauntered down the path towards the women’s residence!  Tonight, she was spotted in Frosty’s Cove in the Back Bay.  Although she doesn’t seem to have any calves with her this season, hopefully she sticks around for future years as it’s always fun to see a large moose in the wild!

The high water of the past two years has been a blessing both for the spawn and for the accessibility of fishing areas.  Places that are normally blocked off from regular fishing have been easily accessible.

This morning, Pat and Dave ensured that Lost Lake was just a little bit more accessible by moving some boulders and rocks that had been sitting in the middle of the narrow chanel.  Although its tough to see in the pictures, it is now alot easier to navigate into Lost Lake.  Walleyes and pike of Lost Lake beware… the anglers of Aikens are coming after you!

As you have no doubt read, we have been very busy this year renovating our lodge, as well as replacing existing buildings.  “Le Canot” was a huge project and it still needs a lot of finishing work.  Its construction enabled us to replace the small brown cabins that were currently housing our male staff.

Today, we have now “broken ground” on our latest project… the Sunset Chalets!  These two beautiful cabins will sit nestled in between Park Place and the Boardwalk Chalets.  They will overlook the beach and of course will share in the great view of our sunsets on Aikens Lake.  Each cabin will house 4 people and they will be ready for our big PWT Celebrity Shootout event in September.  As always, stay tuned to this newsletter page for updates on the construction and other Aikens happenings!