What a laker! Harry Scholtens took some convincing this winter that a small lake such as Aikens Lake could house such large fish… the doubt has certainly been erased now! His catch yesterday is the largest laker caught at Aikens since 1999, when Al Doffek landed our lake record of 43.5″. Harry was fishing with our guide Turbo, and both were still shaking hours after releasing this beauty back into the cold deep waters of Aikens Lake. Turbo told us how Harry would just hold the rod steady, and that distinctively slow “tic-tic-tic” of the drag kept coming out as the laker nonchalantly swam deeper and deeper. That is a true sign of a big fish, and Turbo’s knees were knocking in anticipation while he controlled the boat and followed the laker into deeper water. After a lengthy fight, the tide started to turn and they finally got it close to the boat. This time the drag wasn’t so nonchalant… the line was screaming off the reel! This big laker sure gave one heck of a fight, and they were worried that the line wouldn’t hold up as Harry was only using a medium action rod with 6-lb test!

Harry was also lucky enough to land a trophy walleye a few evenings back. It has been quite a trip for him and for his comrades Chris, Jordan, and Tyler. Their first “Aikens Experience” is sure to be the first of many!

Our first guests arrived late in the day on Saturday May 26th. The weather was damp, and the wind was chilly. It wasn’t ideal conditions for an evening fish, but a few guys tried out the dockbite with moderate success. It was really Sunday morning when the rubber hit the road. We had our guides lined up at the dock and excited about their first guide day of the season! I don’t know who was more excited… our guests or our guides! At any rate, it didn’t take long for one of our guests, Dave Chism from Arkansas, to catch the biggest pike of his like - a 43″ monster at the honeyhole. They had only been fishing for just over an hour when the big one hit! Dave had been waiting 53 years to catch a trophy Northern Pike, and his previous best was 37″. To make the story even better, he landed it while walleye fishing with an ultralight rod and 6 lb test! Pat had to be a master with the net as the big pike kept darting and dashing in all directions! This bodes well for a great season of fishing at Aikens this year!

Some of you may wonder where our bar got the name of “Big Molly’s Bar”. When Gerry and Lorraine bought the lodge with Phil and Jackie back in the late 80’s, they started a tradition known as Molly Maid week. Some of their friends would fly in for a week to volunteer their time and help open up the camp. Because they were less than 10 people at that time, most of the work was focused on scrubbing tables and chairs, mopping and buffing floors, and putting together beds. They affectionatly called each other the Molly Maids (Big Molly, Tall Molly, Short Molly, etc). The women became known as the Dollies. Big Molly was Gerry’s brother Bernie, and when Bernie passed away we honored him by naming our bar after him!

This story is to give you a background on our annual tradition of Molly Week. This year, we had up over 30 volunteers helping to not only open up camp, but to also work on new projects and such. During Molly Week, you will find an assortment of very skilled individuals in all trades, as well as a dedicated work force ready to make the camp shine! It has been a busy week full of hard work and loud laughs (not to mention some very late nights… hence to lack of news updates last week!) Here’s a little peak into what we were able to accomplish during another great Molly Week (in no particular order)!

-Bear, Monique, Lorraine, and Jackie absolutely attacked places like the dining room, the clubroom, the Bait and Tackle, the Laundry facility, and some of the guest cabins in tip top shape for our busy season. They also set up the new store and filled it with bunch of great souvenirs!
-Grant and Rene worked on the new store and got all the shelving and table done! It’s going to be a wonderful store that our guests will enjoy browsing in!
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BJ and Alf built a new shorelunch roof (tin) and cooking area over at GGO. This should really come in handy… especially when it’s drizzling during lunch!

-Phil, Mitch, and Pecker milled all of the wood that we could load up at the sawmill!

-Gerry and Paul fixed a leaky floating dock at GGO and helped out with the construction there.

-Tamara, Rachelle, Marty, Hayster, and Lise put a varnish on the many bedframes, vanities, and walls for Ursa Major. They also put the finishing touches on the shelving in the new laundry. Lastly, they prepped Master Angler’s Row and Park Place.

-Rob, Aaron, Paul, put more boats in the water, fixed up some motors, and did a major clean up in the River Otter (our boat house)
-Curtis and Muscles finished up some electrical work for Ursa Major, the new Guide lockers, the lodge, and in Master Angler’s Row.

-Will and Dirk were “on call” with an assortment of plumbing problems, including hot water tanks, an ice machine, our beer kegs, and others.

-Jimmy and his new assistant Elise absolutely WOWED the Mollies and Dollies with a sampling from the menu they have in store for our guests this summer. Let me tell you that you are in for a real treat!!!

This is an Aikens First… a helicopter delivered some materials to Aikens Lake today! We purchased some thick (6″) insulated pipe in order to redo our hot water distribution. Instead of having hot water tanks at every cabin, we are going to bury a hot water line that will continually circulate hot water throughout camp! It will be powered by two main tanks (one at the lodge and one at the new laundry). This will mean endless hot water for showers, and alot less energy demands for our generator and our propane needs. The problem with the plan was that the two coils of pipe would be 8′x6′ and weigh 700 lbs each! This could not fit in the planes, but Bluewater had a new suggestion… Provincial Helicopters!

The people at Provincial were very happy and helpful with this job. In fact, the pilot who came in was very efficient, landing the large coil exactly on a trailer from 100 feet up! It was a really quick operation, as the helicopter flew in, lowered the coil, then released the clip on the rope and flew off! He was never closer to the ground than 100ft, and we never even saw what he looked like! It was a quick and efficient way to fly in bulky freight!

Yesterday Julie, Annika, and Martin came to Aikens to join up with Pit and the rest of the Aikens crew. It was Martin’s first trip in a float plane (we brought him to Toronto for a Sportshow when he was still very small). He didn’t seem very bothered by the plane, and actually quite enjoyed looking around a new environment. Now that the whole family is here, the office has been brought to Aikens from Winnipeg! We can all be reached at our regular phone numbers and it will be business as usual in Orion (and soon Ursa Major!).

Annika has been talking about catching a fish at Aikens for the last two months! Tonight, she got her chance and she even did it twice! Although the evening was cold, we spent about an hour on the dock. Annika’s bobber went under 6 times, but her dear old dad could only set the hook on two of them. Here you see them with her first fish of 2007! Hopefully she catches her first Master Angler this summer.

We have been very lucky with the weather thus far, and only today did we face our first rain delay! The good news is that we are well enough ahead that everybody is keeping busy inside with various finishing jobs. Here is an update on all of our work so far:

Ursa Major: The cabin is now fully roughed in with electrical, plumbing, and communications. Adam and guides are putting the last of the insulation up right now. George and Charlie have now started to put the same great pine finish on the walls as we put in the lodge and the Sunsets last year. Grant has been crafting beds, vanities, and desks and as the walls go up he will start installing his creations in the cabin.

New Laundry: Chuck and Andre have been hard at work over there. They have the exterior fully completed now in a great board & baton design. Most of the interior shelves are done, and the guides have finished the painting. All that’s left is to wait for our heating and cooling guys to bring the hot water to the cabin and we can begin the migration of machines, linens, and cleaning supplies from the old laundry into the new laundry.

Great Gray Owl: GGO has received a lot of loving this spring! Denis and Beaker finished the new rod lockers last week. The dock has had some of the older boards replaced with shiny new ones and is as sturdy as ever. The old board & baton on the cabin itself has become black over the years, and Beaker will be done putting on a new rough pine look in the next day or two! It will really revamp the overall look and feel of the Great Gray Owl! The next project will be to replace the tarp covering the tables and cooking area at the shorelunch site with an actual tin roof!

Sawmill: Phil and his boys chewed through more wood than a lake full of beavers! They have completely finished off our 2005 harvest and had started on the 2006 logs before returning to Winnipeg to rest and to clean the sawdust from their pores! Incredibly, while they were here they were able to keep up with the carpenters’ insatiable need for wood and keep every project rolling along without delay! If the wood wasn’t getting claimed as soon as it came off the blade, their pile would have been 25 feet high!

The first Master Angler of 2007 is now in the books! A few of our carpenters went out fishing last night after an absolutely gorgeous day (it was almost 90 degrees… uncanny weather for this time of year!). George and Andre tried their luck in the South Arm. They were jigging up walleyes when all of sudden this big whitefish bit! When they netted it, they knew they had the first trophy of the year but they also knew that they didn’t have a camera! Luckily, Pat was fishing nearby and he was able to swing over to take a few pics of a very proud George and his big whitefish! Now that the floodgates have opened, we anticipate adding many more trophy listings to our website. It’s going to be a great season of fishing once again at Aikens Lake!

GGO’s dock is placed in the corner of the bay, nearly 100 yds from the cabin. We have been wanting to build a rod locker next to the dock for the longest time! It was always a hassle to bring rods and tackle boxes all the way up and down the hill. Also, if you wanted to dry out lifejackets you had no choice but to bring them up to the cabin… not so anymore!

Denis, Beeker, and Leo have been busy in the past 4 days putting up a great little structure right near the dock and shorelunch site… a rod locker! It is spacious (16×16′) and has room to put rods and tackle boxes, hang up lifejackets and raingear, and store all kinds of extra items. This is an upgrade that we are very proud to announce and it should serve our GGO guests well this summer!!!

This is a note to all of our US customers. As a traveller to Canada, you are entitled to a 50% rebate on some of the GST tax you paid on accommodations/services, etc. In the past, Aikens was allowed to give you this rebate at point of sale, which meant that we only charged you half of the regular GST rate. Back in Sept 2006, the government announced that this rebate would no longer be allowed, and the industry fought back to resist this change!

Guess what? Eight months later, the outcome is that we have been able to keep the rebate!!! There is a twist, and the twist is that we will still have to charge 6% GST (don’t worry, all of our quotes this year already included that), and you will have to apply for the rebate yourself. We will have the forms available here for you and will help you fill them out. The bottom line however is that you are entitled to a little rebate that you weren’t expected to be able to claim in 2007!!! The government will mail you a cheque after receiving and accepting your application. Here is an excerpt from the email we received today from Carl Wall, Executive Director of the Manitoba Lodge & Outfitter Association.

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In summary:

• As we are advising members who book clients directly to charge the full 6% GST. For those clients booked by agents or were booked outside of Canada (ie: deposit received at sportshow), the rebate can be made by the operator.
• Other clients can now be advised that they will get back 50% of that fee by filing the appropriate form (which you can make available to them prior to their departure from your camp).
• The form GST176 is available on line www.cra.gc.ca or call us and we will send it out.
• Packages eligible for rebate must be $200 or greater (before taxes are added) and include accommodations and at least one service.
• If you have any questions, please call the office. We are hopeful that we can eliminate this twist shortly.