We (Julie and Pit) wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of our loyal customers that make Aikens the special place that it is. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to keep this paradise on earth alive! This year, we made great strides in providing you the guest with the absolute best in boats, accommodations, and lodging! The “Aikens Experience” has always been about the family atmosphere with the best staff in Canada, and now we are improving the quality of the rest of the experience!

We have accomplished much in 2006. The PWT Shooutout was a huge success, and it opened the eyes of North America to our wonderful lake and lodge. Having the best of the best walleye hunters in North America was an eye-opening experience that our guides will take with them into future seasons. They taught us alot of things about our lake that we didn’t know! The PWT Shootout was also the first “measure and release” tournament in North America! It is likely going to be the benchmark for a whole new set of ideals on the tournament scene in the future!

The end of the PWT Shootout also marked the end of our season here at Aikens! The leaves are now mostly yellow and orange, and most are already off of the trees. The temps are in the 40’s and 50’s… and we are on the brink of getting the first snowfall of the season! We’ve been hard at work in the last week, and we are now close to shutting down camp for the winter. We took advantage of the low water to pour some concrete blocks that will solidify our dock and set the framework for a complete rebuild. All of the Lunds are out of the water and we are starting to board up the windows… winter is near!
Our capital expansion, including the two new Sunset Chalets, was an incredible feat! For those of you that normally come in June, wait until you get off the plane next year… the cabins are magnificent and we didn’t even start building until late June this year! The lodge and Big Molly’s Bar are one of a kind and completely first class! We have started more projects that will continue into next season and we are very excited about the future of Aikens. All in all, it was a monumental season! Thanks to our guests, our staff, and our families for all of the support you gave us this summer! Julie and I are looking forward to the winter so we can rest, refocus, and start planning a great 2007! Thanks again to one and all!

Pit and Julie

ps - The newsletter, although updated less frequently during the winter, will still remain active so keep checking in to see what’s new in the Aikens community!

Go to the PWT website to see more pictures of the event and the stars… click here
Go to read a modified news release here

For Reader’s Digest’s pre-tournament story, click here (ps - some of the names are inaccurate as we had some last minute changes).

The final results are in! The fishing started this morning at 8:00 AM and ended at 12:30. The weather cooperated once again with a beautiful fall day! The winner of the tournament was the boat captained by Mark Christianson and partner Robert Williamson III! Robert was so thrilled that he personally donated $10,000 to BEF upon receiving his winner’s plaque! The secret to their success was trolling purple and white shad raps just a little deeper than the rest of the competitors. They would use leadcore line to get down near the bottom while trolling in 40 foot around Gilligan’s Island! Their combined total was enough to barely beat out a giant day by Bobby Crow and Hoyt Corkins. Day 1 leaders Sheldon Meidinger and Rick Schroder didn’t fare as well on day 2 but managed to hang on to a tie for third with the PWT Angler of the year Ron Seelhoff and Les Stroud. Sheldon was also able to capture the big fish award after landing a 26.25″ walleye on Day 1. He was awarded a special signed and framed 2005-2006 Toronto Maple Leafs jersey by Kris King! The awards ceremony took place in the lodge, and everyone was in agreement that this event would return in 2007 and for many years after it! Thankyou to all of the groups that made this happen (BEF, PWT/In-Fisherman/Aikens Lake/Travel Manitoba). We’d also like thank the major sponsors of Boomer’s Charity including BWD, E-Cell, Stowmaster, Samsung, Under Armour, Black & Decker, Dewalt, and Canon.

Tonight, we had a special event that really blew the socks off the pros and the celebs… we had a concert! Turbo, Kik, and Andrina started off the music. Some of our favorites like “I fish walleye”, “Yellow Rose”, “Sweet Home Manitoba”, and “Joanie” were played. Les Stroud, the Survivorman, is also the musical man! After about a half hour, he was finally lured to the stage. He pulled out his harmonica and played a rocking version of “Steamroller” with Andrina on vocals and Turbo playing guitar. Les left the stage and the band had a couple of more songs in them. When the musicians tried to stop playing, they were immediately vetoed by the crowd that wanted more! Dave and Dan joined in to sign some songs, then Les came back out to play one last one… this time on the guitar! A rousing rendition of Joe Cocker’s “Feeling Alright” and the Stones “Satisfaction” brought everyone to their feet and capped off quite a concert!

After the concert, the party was going strong with poker, pool, and shuffleboard games. Hoyt Corkins was able to avoid the same fate that his pro-poker counterparts had suffered the night before…. he actually won the game! Once again, if you would have walked in Big Molly’s Bar last evening, you would have sworn everyone was longtime friends when in fact most of them had never met! What a special feeling and a special event!

The weather certainly cooperated for the first day of fishing! After watching the impressive fleet of Lund boats departing the dock, we had to anxiously wait to see if the recent coldfront would cool down the fishing. Most of the pros had chosen trolling as their method of choice for reeling in the fish. Some of the hot spots included Gilligan’s Island, the big islands behind Middle Gull, and the channel in the South Arm. The tournament is a day and a half event. The total length of the top 5 walleyes from each day will count. Everybody convened at GGO for a great (and quick!) shorelunch. For many, it was the first one they’d ever had. Robert Williamson III had never even eaten a walleye, never mind having caught one! However, at the end of the day he was tied for 2nd place. The pros are competing for some entries fees into 2007 PWT events (1st will get two entries, 2nd will get one, 3rd will win half an entry). Here are the results after Day 1.

1 123.00” Sheldon Meidinger / Rick Schroder

2a 121.50” Bill St-Peter / Dale Jensen

2b 121.50” Mark Christianson / Robert Williamson III

4 118.50” Ron Seelhoff / Les Stroud

5a 116.00” Mark Martin / Scott Flansburg

5b 116.00” Jim Carroll / Kris King

7 115.50” Bobby Crow / Hoyt Corkins

8 108.75” Dave Van Oss / Dave Krieg

9 108.25” Daryl Christensen / Mike Gartner

10 102.50” Andy Kuffer / Don Lamont

The celebrities are all here and the festivities have begun! Two planes brought in the 10 celebrities early this afternoon. Most of them hit the water for an hour or two so they could get their lines wet before the show starts tomorrow! Jimmy prepared a big steak dinner that was a major hit with the crowd of pros, celebs, sponsors, and media. At 8:00 PM, everyone convened in Big Molly’s Bar for a short rules meeting. Pit greeted everyone and said a brief introduction.  Dale Jensen spoke about the inaugral event going so well thus far, and that we hope to make this bigger and better every year! Nick Koken said a few words on behalf of the Boomer Esiason Foundation. Then, In-Fisherman (including Jim Kalkofen, Steve Hoffman, and Charlie Moore) spoke about the tournament format, schedule, how to photograph the fish properly for the tournament, and explained the few rules we have (ie: don’t cast over another guy’s boat!). They showed us the plaque that everyone is gunning for. Last on the agenda was the team selections! I will list them all at the end of this news item.

The night was just beginning for many people. The clubroom was hopping as all 40 people plus staff were meeting and greeting. It was a really cool thing to see all of these people from different walks of life come together in such a sincere and friendly environment. After a while, some of the guys took the poker chips into the lounge and started a big game. Poker pros Robert Williamson and Scott Flansburg played, but with the targets clearly on their foreheads they were unable to get to the money. Dale Jensen ended up winning the tournament with pocket 8’s (his favorite hand of the night!). The party raged on until the little hours of the morning, but then it was time for some rest as the tournament begins Wednesday morning! Here’s a list of the teams (PWT pro and celeb)

Today we will greet all of the celebrities off the planes here at Aikens as well as more media personnel, so look for more media updates in the next couple of days. We will be doing the boat partner draw tonight. The weather is now on the way up again. Yesterday it was 34 degrees in the morning… today it’s 45. High of 50 with periods of sunshine. However, the two largest factors that will contribute to the nice weather are that the winds are down to 5mph and there is no rain or drizzle!!! Here are a couple of places to get additional Shootout news.

Slam Sports - Sports Stars fish for cure (September 17)

In-Fisherman/PWT official site

Boomer Esiason Foundation press release (March 28)

After much anticipation and preparation, everyone was on the dock yesterday morning to greet our honored guests. These PWT champions are here to compete in the first annual PWT Aikens Lake Shootout benefiting the Boomer Esiason Foundation for Cystic Fibrosis.

The planes arrived in the wind and rain. A coldfront has definitely moved in! However, that did not deter the pros! Pit and Pat gave a brief orientation session in the clubroom to explain the lake, the fishing, and the boats. It didn’t take long afterwards for the pros to hit the water! Braving the cold, they went out for an afternoon of scouting and came back with two trophies! Jim Carroll landed a 28.25″ walleye (no picture as he was on his own), and Bobby Crow landed a 28″ beauty! This day was more of a “getting to know you” between the pros and this outstanding walleye fishery at Aikens Lake.

After supper, the camaraderie continued in Big Molly’s Bar. There was laughter as these competitors are able to let down the guard a little bit and play some cards and generally just have a fun time! As Andy Kuffer best said it: “Hey, I’m on vacation this time!”. However, you know that these guys are competitors so don’t be fooled by all the laughter and smiles… when the tournament begins Wednesday, these guys are going out to win!!!

The ten best professional walleye fishermen in North America this season on the Professional Walleye Trail (PWT) along with the In-Fisherman entourage and film crews arrived at the Winnipeg headquarter hotel, the Canad-Inn Fort Garry, on Friday evening. After exchanging greetings and a few night-caps, everyone was off to get a good night’s rest before a busy schedule on Saturday.

Under the leadership of Don Lamont of Travel Manitoba (TM), the local angling fraternity prepared a full day of fishing adventures and meeting the public. A convoy of brightly crested and decaled trucks headed for Selkirk and the catfish capital of the world at 6:00 AM. The Lund Pro-Staff fishing team was there to host and guide the pros for Manitoba’s 2nd most prolific trophy species, the mighty Red River channel catfish. Many trophies were caught and released and fun was had by all. An interesting sidenote was that the only In-fisherwoman, Julie Meister (PWT tournament coordinator), caught two trophy cats. You can see her in one of the pictures above.  She caught the first trophy of the day, and to quote Jim Kalkofen, PWT tournament director,”If you’ve ever wanted to see 10 pros hunker down and really concentrate on landing a big fish, you should have been there on Saturday morning!”

The adventure on the Red was followed by a public reception and Q&A forum back at the Canad-Inns. There, Manitoba anglers, guides and fisherkids had the opportunity to greet and meet their tournament heroes and ask them the tough questions about walleye fishing… individually and collectively. The delegation was then hosted by Travel MB in an intimate banquet to network with Travel MB, Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association (MLOA), and the Department of Conservation before retiring to prepare for the adventure at Aikens Lake. Thanks to Don Lamont and the Travel Manitoba team for putting together such a great day!