We have had a wonderful start to our offseason and next summer is looking very bright.  We just wanted to let you all know that we will be closing down our operations over the next 10 days or so in order to spend some quality time with family and friends.  We hope that you enjoy your holiday season as much as we will.  From the entire Turenne family, as well as the entire “Aikens family” of staff, volunteers, and friends, have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Well as another year comes to term, we at Aikens would like to wish you (our humble readers) a most enjoyable Holiday Season and all the best in the New Year!

Following tradition ,we spent last Thursday stuffing envelopes with our new calendar and newsletter to have them reach you before the end of December. Fueled by Boston Pizza and a few barley pops, we sealed over 1100 items containing our brand new stylish calendar featuring pictures of our pristine lodge in various settings. Also, the newsletter will inform you of current news at the lodge and of the fishing last season. The calendar will serve as a physical reminder as to why we all love our time spent at the lodge. A pricing grid is also included with the newsletter.

We brought the whole bundle over to the Canada Post office downtown at the end of last week and so they should be arriving on your doorstep any day now! With the Trade Show season just around the bend, things for us at the lodge are gearing up to be quite the exciting winter! Speaking of winter, here in Winnipeg the snow is about a foot and half thick and we’ve just come out of frigid cold snap. Already, I can’t wait to to sweat it to the oldies on the Saddle in July. Come on Summer!

If you haven’t received a package and would like this information pack, please contact me (Patrick) at Pat@aikenslake.com and I’ll gladly send it to you!

Happy Holidays!

After weeks of planning, Julie with the help a few select team players, succeeded in completely surprising a usually very aware Pit. The boss with the hot sauce is turning 30 years old on Christmas Day.  Seeing as how his birthday falls right in the middle of the holidays, it had been years since there was a special party planned just for his benefit.   Well…

On Saturday evening, 40+ people silently milled about downstairs as Pit opened the door arriving from his hockey game. Greeted by Julie and an unfamiliar odor (hors d’oeuvres in the kitchen), Pit did a quick double take before being trumpeted : SURPRISE!

Food drink and laughter were on the menu Saturday night. I even did a shift as bartender. What a blast! Great job Julie, and watch out you might be next….

Congratulations Pit on another decade and happy birthday!

Well, it’s been a while since my last post and I have some interesting points to discuss with you, my esteemed Aikens supporters. It is my pleasure to announce to you the wedding of two of our past employees. Many of you remember past Head Guide Cédric (Cedar) Paquin who guided at the lake for five successful years. Cedar’s quiet, effective and passionate approach towards fishing has made him one of the best guides Aikens has ever seen. Most of you also remember the smiley, charming and beautiful Geneviève (Gen) Rosset. Gen worked three summers at the lake in and around the lodge. Quite the accomplished angler herself; she specialized before some of the guides did!

These two high-school sweethearts are tying the knot on January 11th 2008 in romantic Varadero, Cuba! Talk about a great spot. Ced, Gen on behalf of everyone in the Aikens family, congratulations and all the best wishes on your wedding. We wish you a lifetime of love and happiness! (I know you guys are going to Cuba, but honey-moon at Aikens? Just throwing it out there…)

We are extremely proud to announce that Aikens Lake Lodge has been chosen to host the 2008 CALL OF THE TUNDRA. www.callofthetundra.com . This contest is a televised tournament, with a brand-new 2008 Toyota Tundra as the first prize!

This is the second CALL OF THE TUNDRA event and the host for the show is none other than DAVE MERCER from tv’s FACTS OF FISHING!www.factsoffishing.com. We are very excited to receive the contestants and to see who will win this sweet truck! Maybe the guides can have a shot at the prize?….

All jokes aside, if you are interested in entering this unique draw, consult the Call Of The Tundra website (see above text) for entry information and rules. Who knows, after an unforgettable 3 days of fishing you might just drive off in the sunset behind the wheel of a brand-new 2008 Tundra! Talk about a beautiful trip! We’ll keep the newsletter posted about this one-of-a-kind event.

For six years one of Aikens’ most esteemed employees came to the lake every May ready to shine and deliver top-notch service. Pascal Breton, a.k.a. Turbo, is viewed as being a cornerstone of the “Aikens Experience”. His endless smiling attitude and “good enough is never enough” mantra inspired everyone who’s ever worked along side him to try and keep up with Turbo-man. Let me tell you from experience, trying to match Turbo’s pace is no easy feat! Be it guiding 100 days a season or toting his guitar to Big Molly’s for one of his countless shows, Turbo never ceases to impress.

Pascal is bringing his exemplary work ethic south of the (Canadian) border. He is moving to Arizona to begin a new chapter in his already impressive life-story. With a little help from our partners at the Aviary Group, Turbo landed a job in the real-estate market and will be hitting the ground running as of Nov. 1st. For those of you who know this guy, you’re well aware of the skill, confidence, charisma and ambition that this young man exudes! And those of you who don’t, it shouldn’t take you long to figure out how he got his nickname!

Turbo, we wish you all the best of luck and success in Phoenix. You’re an exceptional friend and worker, and we’re sure you’ll impress all of those that cross your path! Hey Arizona, tie up your boot-straps tight, you’re about to get a Turbo-fueled dynamo unleashed upon you!

ps. Turbo, I’ll keep a Lund key tucked away in case you get a weekend off this summer.

We have a very exciting announcement to share with everyone… We are extremely proud to present to you our new Sales Manager, Patrick Trudel! You are likely already very familiar with Pat, our head guide since 2005. He has actually been with Aikens since the summer of 2000, but he has really excelled in the last 3 years since becoming head guide. Pat will bring his tireless energy and outstanding people skills to a new year-round position that was created just for him.  Pat will play a major part in our marketing efforts and he’ll certainly be in contact with many of you this fall. Don’t worry however; he’s not trading in his fishing rod just yet! Although the eventual plan is to have Pat in a full time management role (aka: not working as hard), for 2008 he will remain as head guide… and in subsequent years he will still suit up for special assignments.

Pat’s main duties in the winter will be as our frontman… coordinating our marketing efforts and helping bring old friends back to Aikens, as well as introduce many new faces to the wonders of the “Aikens Experience”. He will be attending most of the shows we are going to this winter (show schedule, likely to be 7 shows, to be posted later this month). Pat will also help setup the Corporate Winnipeg Shorelunch (we held the first annual last year and it was highly successful), and possibly more in other cities. Pat will also begin to throw some “Trudel-spice” into our newsletter, as he will begin updating it on a regular basis. In fact, most of the entries this winter will be authored by Pat! Other duties will include some client phone calls and bookings, follow ups and callbacks of contacts, helping out with mailouts, sportshow follow ups, office support, and of course a hectic month of April when we start gathering supplies for the upcoming season!

During the summer, Pat will continue to be an invaluable person at the lodge. As mentioned, he will still be the head guide for one last season. Pat is a leader that our staff loves and he does a great job in that capacity. In preparation for this promotion, Pat has already helped out with the opening and closing of the lodge for the past two seasons and he’s been expanding his knowledge of the “Aikens underbelly” (aka: Lund and motor maintenance, generator and power supply, water pumps and plumbing, CAT-5 and communications networks, etc). With his new role, it appears Pat will be a fixture at Aikens for the long term!

Pat, we are ecstatic that you have decided to join the Aikens management team and we know that you will excel in your new capacity much the same way you have excelled in your guiding over the years. We look forward to many, many years of working side-by-side with you. Let’s rock this town!

Let me put you up to speed on something that will be waiting for you at the lodge next spring. This is a project which has been two years in the making and that was expertly orchestrated by our very own bush-engineer Leo Nolette. It was completed just before our departure from the lake at the end of September.

Last year in the fall, for one week straight, the boys poured concrete non-stop in a half dozen large cribs under the existing dock. It was a massive undertaking, and a true testament to the pride each worker at Aikens puts into his/her sweat-equity. These forms sat, cured and hid under the planks and the high water all of this summer, until this fall when the water dropped again.

Now it was Leo’s turn to shine. Assisted by only a select few, he deftly welded joists, posts and trusses together to create what is now more of a pier than a dock. Decked with pressure-treated lumber, this new infrastructure stands two feet higher (also ground level) than it’s predecessor, so no more hopping around wet spots on the dock in the spring. The dock is 110 feet long and ten feet wide. The”T” at the end is now 40 feet wide!Sporting an extended wing on the north end, the now super-sized dock will offer more real estate to those dock-bite aficionados next spring! Yet another beautiful addition to the now long list of upgrades which has completely transformed our much loved lodge.

We are now 5 days into our close down, which will end on the 30th of the month. Already Pat and the boys have taken the Lund fleet out of the water and they are securely stored for the winter. Denis has been boarding up windows and screened-in porches. Lorraine and Monique have already closed down the Bait & Tackle, the Northstar, and several of the guest cabins. All the while, Leo is still hard at work on our new dock… or should I say pier (newsletter item to follow on this in the next week)! Things are going along very well. Last night, we went fishing and had a great shoresupper of butter-fried walleye and grilled New York Strips (courtesy of Leo!). The moon was shining brightly on a crisp and clear September night.

A s we get the chance to reflect back on our season, we can’t help but smile at the thousands of great memories that we have from the 2007 season. It already seems like May is a distant memory, but it wasn’t that long ago that we first stepped off the plane with the prospects of a new season ahead of us. The new office (aka the Ursa Major), was only a shell… but by the end of June it would become the new nerve center of the camp. It seemed like only yesterday that we greeted the first three groups of the season on May 26th (Ingerson, Chism, Gillispie), along with a throng of new staff members with huge smiles and hugs. It seemed like only yesterday that we were hauling in monster fish… 42″ laker, 31″ walleye, and the new lake record 49″ pike! It seems like only yesterday Big Molly’s Bar was a bustling meccha of tall tales and hearty laughter. The season certainly got behind us in a hurry, but as we think back on it we accomplished more than we thought possible coming in to 2007. We had a lot of people come off the planes this year!

We would like to thank our staff for their hard work both in helping out our guests and in helping us continue our vision for the lodge through construction. We have just completed a rigorous three-year overhaul which has brought a new attitude, functionality, and a higher level of comfort to our lodge. Our boats and accommodations now rank at or near the top in the industry. Our service, which was never in question, remains the best you will find anywhere. It may sound cliche, but when you read our customer testimonials you will know it’s true. Our young and vibrant staff is truly special. They are a fun bunch to hang out with, but even more rewarding is to watch them mature and get their careers off the ground once their Aikens years are over. They will use Aikens as a springboard into careers as accountants, nurses, teachers, businessmen and women, computer geniuses, chiropractors, tradesmen, and much more. Thank you so much for making Aikens the special place it is!

However, it always comes down to our wonderful guests… and in most cases our friends. On behalf of the Turennes, our partners at Aviary Group, and all of the wonderful people in the “Aikens Family”, Thank you so much for choosing Aikens Lake as your fishing destination of choice year in and year out. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to earn our living doing what we do in such a spectacular and pristine setting. We truly are a blessed bunch, and we love nothing more than to share the incredible bounties of Aikens Lake with you. Have a great winter season and we will be in touch to set up more “Aikens Experiences” for you, your family, your friends, and your businesses in 2008 and in the future. Our prospects are shining very brightly, so you know we aren’t going anywhere! We’ll be there to answer the phone whenever you want to plan your next “Aikens Experience”! Have a great offseason.

note: Keep checking in as we will continue to update the newsletter throughout the winter months… albeit with less frequency.

What a way to end our season!  NECA (Minneapolis Chapter) is a large group of 24+ electrical contractors and they have their annual conference up at Aikens.  Last year was their first visit to Aikens as a group, and they had decided that Aikens would be their destination for 2007 even before they left last year!  The group really enjoys the camaraderie with the staff, the vibrant night life in Big Molly’s Bar, and the spectacular walleye fishing.

This year’s trip featured some very cold weather!  Despite temps that were in the 30’s, the group braved it out on the lake and were rewarded for their efforts.  There were many trophies and slot walleyes caught.  Everybody really liked the new shorelunch setup at GGO, especially because you could get a huge fire roaring for everyone to warm up!  Several impromptu joke sessions had the group in stitches, and a few contract guides… namely Marquis and Marcel… were right in there making people keel over in laughter!

Every year, the group gives out the “Hairy Lure” award.  It all started off 9 years ago when NECA wanted to recognize an important person in their group in a sort-of lifetime achievement celebration.  The Hairy Lure started off as a piece of driftwood  that had a lock of hair from one of the girls at the lodge.  Since then, the award has taken a much more personal meaning… it is decorated with all kinds of important aspects in a person’s life.  The presentation is also worth the price of admission!  Bart Baker is the presenter, and he finds the wackiest outfits in which to make his speeches.  This year, he was decked out in a 70’s style movie star costume.  Just seeing him enter the room was enough to get everyone laughing!    This year, Doug Olson won the award.   He said that he didn’t expect to win it, and he was a very proud recipient!

Aikens decided to present its own award, a take-off from the Hairy Lure, and we named it the Furry Fish!  We actually had this furry fish mount that had been hanging up in the B&T for years!  We awarded it to a man who went toe-to-toe with Marquis in a battle of wits and lived to tell the story.  We awarded it to a man that was constantly the life of the party, and a guy who made everyone laugh out loud.  The winner of the first ever Furry Fish award was Bart Baker!  We can’t wait to see who will win it again next year.