The past 3 days of fishing have certainly been great ones for a large group of electrical contractors from Minnesota! Jeff Ohman and the NECA group have been doing trips for nearly two decades! This was the first time that they had come to Aikens, and it was their most successful trophy fishing trip to date!

On the first morning, Jeff’s first fish was a 27.5″ walleye! It was a sign of things to come! His fishing partner Steve Stone caught the first trophy of the trip a few minutes later, a 28.75″ beauty! Jeff landed a 29.5″ shortly after! Doug Olson also caught a 28″ that first morning! On day 2, there were 3 more trophies caught. The anglers were Ron Von Bank (28″), Dave Karsky (28″), and Bruce Young (29″). The weather turned cold and wet on the final day. Every boat was back in shortly after 4:00 PM… except for one! Our guide Gil had Doug and Ron in his boat. By trolling spinner rigs near Gilligan’s Island, they were able to each land their 2nd trophies of the trip!

The awards ceremony that night was a fun event. Joe won rookie of the year, John won the booby prize! Bruce won for largest pike, and Jeff’s 29.5″ held up as the largest walleye. What a great ending to a great trip. I’m looking forward to doing all over again in ‘07!

Todd Wiggins loves walleyes… I mean he flat out loves walleyes! Any walleye from 20-30″ will be able to make Todd smile like if his long lost dog had just returned home! Last year was Todd’s first at Aikens. He had been up to Canada fishing before, but had never experienced walleye fishing like Aikens can offer! Todd brought some of his best sales people from around the US up to Aikens with him. Although they landed a big trophy pike and a ton of quality walleyes in 2005, the trophy walleye eluded them.

This year, they came back looking to improve on the last year’s biggest walleye of 27″. On the first day, Terry Cunningham landed a big trophy pike (41.75″) and the fishing was good. Throughout the trip, many big walleyes were caught, but that 27″ barrier was a tough nut to crack. On the final day, the walleye fishing was very good. Many 26″ were caught at Chris’s Corner and at Mofn Reef, but it appeared that for the second year in a row that master angler walleye would elude the group. Todd, Chuck, and Terry were fishing with Pit. At 4:30, Pit decided it was time to awaken the spirits on Bear Island. Todd’s group had a bit of history from last season with a bear, and so Bear Island was the fitting place to bring down the curtain on the 2006 trip. Todd set the hook as soon as his jig hit the bottom… into a 9″ walleye! It appeared the end was near… but then the Bear gods did not disappoint! With less than 15 minutes of fishing left in their trip, Todd hooked and landed a lunker 28.25×14″ walleye! It was very young and healthy looking, and you know that this fish has many more years of growing left in it! Congratulations Todd… you may want to thank the bear for his help on that one!

By reading our previous post, you’ve already surmised that Dan Greteman is having quite a special and emotional trip! Well, he just kicked it up one more notch! He arrived at Aikens having 3 master angler walleyes under his belt, but he caught his 4th yesterday and brought in the 5th today! An interesting tidbit is that Pat has guided all five of his trophies! Congratulations Dan… you know that Tom was watching with that big cheshire-cat grin when you were holding up that 5th master angler!

For years we’ve been saying that we need a shorelunch site in the back bay. One of the original ideamen for this was our favorite and longest-tenured guest Mr. Tom Greteman. Tom’s first trip to Aikens was back in 1953. He passed away last winter (see our archived news items). We knew that we had to do something special for Tom and the whole Greteman family.

Tom’s two sons, Kirby and Dan, had accompanied Tom on many trips to Aikens, including his last in Sept 2005. They felt that tug to come back, so much so that Kirby dropped all of his affairs in Houston at 1:00 PM on Sept 8th and was on a plane headed for Winnipeg at 3:00 PM! Talk about last minute! Dan Greteman was already driving up from St-Louis with two of his friends Don Gardiner and Bob Matschiner for the trip they had planned a few weeks in advance. The group had no idea what was in store upon their arrival!

We built the new shorelunch site in the back bay this past July. We had shiny new picnic tables and a filleting table on the rock in plain view as you drove in and out from the main lake! The guides Pat and Diesel had to distract the two Greteman sons every time they passed it, which was a lot of times because we planned the shorelunch for day 2!!! Without knowing it, Kirby had worn his father’s pair of signature overalls on day 2!!! That lunchhour, everyone on the staff that had known Tom snuck away from camp and went to the shorelunch site to surprise the Gretemans. The guides, feigning having forgotten the shorelunch boxes on the dock that morning in order to get back to the lodge at the right time, brought Kirby and Dan to the site. There, we presented them with a plaque which read “Dedicated to the memory of Tom Greteman”. With their eyes welling up, the sons picked the perfect spot and put the plaque up on a tree! It was a great moment and one that was incredibly well received and appreciated by not only Kirby and Dan, but also the rest of the Greteman Clan. Upon hearing the news, we immediately received emails from Celine (Tom’s wife), and the three daughters Amy, Mary, and Jane! Here’s to a wonderful relationship with a wonderful family… to the Gretemans!

Winnipeg is host to the largest winter festival in all of Western Canada. For 10 days every February, the “Festival Du Voyageur” celebrates the history and importance of the fur-trade era in Manitoba. As part of this festival, there is a 64-man competition known as the Voyageur Games. Last year, Aikens sponsored two competitors in Dave and Dan. They competed hard and had the support of nearly everyone of our staff members! The whole crew was out to cheer them on, and they did well… just falling short of qualifying for the finals.

Fast forward now to this summer. We have many young, strong men that work at Aikens… and they had something to say! Dan and Dave were not going to be merely given the opportunity to compete under the Aikens Lake banner again next winter… they would have to earn it! There were 12 competitors signed up to compete. The “Voyageur Games” feature 5 events, all of which were done around campfires in eras gone by. It is easy to picture the men of the fur trade competing like we did tonight!

The first event is the leg wrestling. It was a close battle, and it set the tone for the evening! The next event was Dave’s moment to get back in the competition. He had a close battle with Pat in the finals, but not even Pat’s gumby-like reach was able to topple Dave. The third event of the night was the pillow fight. Contestants stand on a 4″x4″ beam and try to knock each other off with a sandbag full of fluff! Despite a shaky first match, Andre was able to gain his balance and ended up as the winner of the event. The fourth event is a tug of war standing on a log. It’s a true cat and mouse game. Andre and Dan faced off in the final and each one one in the best of three. The tie-breaker was a classic match that lasted over a minute! Andre finally ended up winning when Dan couldn’t handle the pain of the rope burn that nearly took his finger off, and the rope fell from his hands! Going into the final event, there were four people who were in contention to finish in the top two. Turbo, Dan, Dave, and Andre were all at the top of the points lead. The final event was a timed cutting of a log. After the first heat, Turbo had the best time with a cut of 11.41 seconds. In the second heat, even though Turbo improved his time to just over 10 seconds, Dave was able to beat it by finishing with a cut of 9.78 seconds! The final standings had Dave on top with 500 points, Andre in 2nd at 450 points, and Turbo and Dan tied for 3rd at 400 points. It was a great competition and we look forward to cheering on Dave and Andre this winter at the Voyageur Games in Winnipeg!

For Immediate Release

Rick Schroder, Mike Gartner, Kris King, Dave Krieg, Les Stroud and

Friends to Fish for a Cause

Inaugural PWT Celebrity Shootout Walleye Fishing Event Benefits Boomer Esiason’s Foundation, September 18-21, 2006

Rick Schroder, Mike Gartner, Kris King, Robert Williamson III, Dave Kreig and other celebrity fishing fans, will team up with the top ten professional walleye anglers from the Professional Walleye Trail (PWT), North America’s most prestigious and influential walleye fishing circuit, September 18-21, to help raise funds for The Boomer Esiason Foundation, which provides financial support to find a cure for cystic fibrosis.  The event, which takes place in Manitoba, airs on The Outdoor Channel as part of the In-Fisherman PWT television series airing October 2006 through March 2007.

Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge, an exclusive fly-in destination in Canadian Shield bush-country terrain, will host this Inaugural PWT Celebrity Shootout Walleye Fishing Event.

Celebrity fishing enthusiasts include: NHL greats Kris King and Mike Gartner, NFL player Dave Krieg, poker stars Hoyt Corkins and Robert Williamson III, Les Stroud (star of the Discovery Channel’s Survivorman), actor Rick Shroder, and Scott Flansberg (the renowned “human calculator”).

Professional walleye anglers include: Mark Christianson, Bobby Crow, Andy Kuffer, Mark Martin, Sheldon Meidinger, Ron Seelhoff, Bill St. Peter, Dave Van Oss, Jim Carroll, and Daryl Christianson.

“Fishing events have long played a role in calling attention to causes like finding a cure for cystic fibrosis,” says Esiason. “I was just at Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge last summer with my two children and it was an experience of a lifetime. This event is a unique opportunity to show the world the amazing sport of walleye fishing, the beauty of Manitoba and, most importantly, to benefit finding a cure for cystic fibrosis.” Esiason’s son Gunnar was diagnosed with the disease in 1993.

The competition is a pro-am format with each professional walleye angler drawing a celebrity partner for two days of fishing. Teams will measure, photograph and release their fish. In a unique, and tasty, twist to the tournament scene, teams will dine lake-side at noon for an official Canadian shore lunch on the first day of competition.

“Having the PWT’s top anglers at Aikens will showcase the excitement and popularity of walleye fishing,” says Pit Turenne, general manager of Aikens. “It will also be the first time that the PWT takes its tournaments north of the border into Canada.”

The PWT, a 17-year-old sporting event, is part of the In-Fisherman Communications family. In-Fisherman is the fishing industry’s leading communicator.

The PWT is an integral element of the In-Fisherman Communications Network headquartered in Brainerd, Minnesota, and PRIMEDIA, America’s leading producer of targeted media. PWT promotional partners include: Mercury Marine, Lund, The Outdoor Channel, Berkley, Optima Batteries, Realtree, MotorGuide, Lowrance, Minn Kota, Trilene, Frenzy, Blue Fox, Powerbait, Johnsonville Brats, Northland Fishing Tackle, Lindy Legendary Fishing Tackle, GULP!, Coleman, Storm, Tommy Docks, Smooth Moves Seat Mounts, E-Village, Kwik Pfyt, Raymarine, Rapala, Pflueger, Ram rod holders, Gerbing’s Heated Clothing, Aqua-Vu,  Plano, Stowmaster.net, Navionics, Yellow Bird, Beckman, Drift Control, Gemini Sport Marketing, Yo-Zuri , Reef Runner.

Media Contact: Betsy Sherman  (480) 221-4966

Visit www.aikenslake.com for Aikens Lake Lodge information

Visit www.esiason.org for Boomer Esiason Foundation information

Visit www.in-fisherman.com/pwt for PWT information

This has certainly been a fast paced and ambitious year for the construction at Aikens Lake.  We have many projects under our belts already and the last one to accomplish for 2006 will be to get a shell up for the “Ursa Major”, the new office and nerve center for the peninsula.  This two storey building will be located near the dock (across the path from the B&T).  The first floor will feature a large office and souvenir store, while the second floor will be Pit and Julie’s residence.  With a second child on the way (due date of Jan 1, 2007), the existing office in Orion, which is already too small, would have been even more cramped!

The new Ursa Major cabin will be both spectacular and functional.  Since moving all of the souvenirs out of the bar during our renovation this spring, they have been stored in many different places but will finally have a permanent home again next spring.  The new office will be the communications hub and nerve center of the lodge.  The office will be much larger and will feature some of the great finishing pine and furniture that we’ve been putting in the lodge and new cabins.  The extra room in the office will allow the proper setup for all of our computer equipment, phones, and printers.  For those of you that have come into the office this year, you already know that Pit and Julie are looking forward to not hitting the backs of their chairs together all the time!!!  It is expected that the new building have a move-in date of May 26, 2007 (which is when our first guests are scheduled to arrive next spring).