On your trip please stop by the store and check out our souvenirs…we have many items for you to choose from.  You can even go home with your very own Big Molly’s Hoodie or Tshirt!  If you can’t join us this year, but would like to see our souvenirs, just email Julie and she will send you a list along with pictures of items available this year.  Items can be shipped right to your door.  (shipping charges will apply)

For many years guests have been enjoying our famous Aikens Lake Cajun Spice, wondering why they can’t seem to find a cajun spice that tastes the same once they get back home….well here’s the reason…We make our own!  This year, you can purchase a jar of our mouth watering Aiken Lake Cajun Spice along with the recipe and bring it home to enjoy!

If you would like to order a jar and have it shipped to you, please let us know and we will be glad to send it!  (shipping charges will apply)

We are partway into our first week of the season here with guests.  On Saturday, eleven familiar faces made their way off the planes and onto the dock to kick off our 21st season at Aikens (and the 61st overall!)  The fishing started off a little tough as a lot of the bays still had water in the mid-40’s.  This has been a cold spring - we’ve often had nights below freezing since we’ve been here.  Just look at the snow pictures from a week and a half ago!  However, the guests seems to have brought the sun with them!  Temperatures have been steadily rising and with it, so has the action on the lake.

The hot bite seems to be a the point (Split Rock/Kik’s Corner).  Slowly working trolling and jigging patterns from 10-25 feet has been producing good catches of walleyes, lakers, pike, and even the odd whitefish!  Chris’s Corner is holding large schools of fish, but at this point they are still sluggish on the jig.  The “Usual Suspects” like the Falls, Honeyhole, and Fastwaters are all producing their usual fare of shorelunch walleyes, pike, and even a random lake trout!

Yesterday, Kik’s Corner produced the largest fish of the season thus far… a 36″ laker that Kitty Chism expertly handled!  You may remember Kitty from last year’s newsletter article about “Little Blue” and her 46″ pike.  Despite having four broken bones in her foot, she has not shied away from the lake and is relishing in the opportunity to fish Aikens in the warm sunshine!

The weather calls for continued highs in the 60’s and 70’s through the weekend.  The water temps are over 50 degrees in most of the bays and some places are starting to hit 55 degrees.   It seems that spring has finally sprung!

A tradition at Aikens extending 21 years added another edition last week. Last Saturday, 35 volunteers and friends of the lodge arrived for a week’s worth of work, fun and cheer. Aptly named the Molly Week, these people generously donated their time and effort to help to get the lodge all spiffed up for the great season ahead. The frenzied pace of skilled labour sees many projects come to term in record time.

For instance, this year, in only 6 days Grant, Alf and Bernie J. built the entire new workshop (hereto known as The Beaver) from the ground up. It is a large structure that sure to please all tradesmen at Aikens for years to come. Located in the woodyard, it is to become the nerve center of all building activities. Great job fellas!

All the cabins got their yearly spring cleaning thanks to the diligent work of our valued Dollies. The grounds were raked (and shoveled after the blizzard!), the kitchen is humming with Chef Élise and sous-chef Sarah serving up generous helping of mouth-watering meals.

Annika and Martin helped Patrick get all the Lunds ship-shape for their captains.The new wood-chipper took care of dispatching the slab coming off the mill that Phil and his crew manned all week.

But all work and no play make Jack a dull boy… Big Molly’s Bar was hopping in the evenings. Annual cribbage tournaments, fueled by perfectly poured fresh draught (serviced by Gerry), settled scores that loomed since last year.   The fishing steadily improved as the week wore on. The dock bite, always a Molly favorite provided some nice slot fish, a few laughs and some great late night snacks. Shore supper was held Tuesday evening at Great Gray Owl, and everyone ate to their heart’s content. The week’s fishing was topped off with the first Master Angler of 2009 on Thursday night. Grant Watson, one of the Skilled Mollies (also the tallest), boated a healthy 41″ pike at Split Rock. Amidst a steady trolling bite for Walleyes, Grant looked back at his Guide B.J. and said “You better slow down, this is the biggest one of the night!”. A successful netting rewarded Grant with the prestige of beginning this year’s trophy count. Congrats!

A great big thank you goes out to all of our volunteers for such a great week. You folks are an integral part of what makes Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge one of the foremost fishing destinations. With your departure, we now await our staff and guests with the assurance of knowing everything is just as it should be here at the lodge. Have a great summer and we’ll see you next spring!

Aikens Lake now has a specialty wine list available! Some have great name recognition, some are unique wines that only winophiles would know!  Please note that all wines from the wine list must be ordered and paid for prior to your arrival as they are not stocked at the lodge and have to get flown up.  If you would like to see a copy of the wine list, please email us, we would be more then happy to send it over!

Yup, snow.  Good thing we got ready before!!!

It’s been a week since we first landed at Aikens.  Yesterday Julie and the kids flew in to join us, while Charlie went back home.  The kids have been super excited about coming up to Aikens.  The first question out of Annika’s mouth as she stepped on the dock was “When do we have our first shorelunch?”  They spent the entire afternoon playing with all the new(old) toys and jumping on the trampoline.

We’ve been hard at work getting everything back in working order.  Leo and Gabe have been making the lodge a much more “maintenance-friendly” area.  That means that they were tired of crawling under the building to service the compressors, A/C units, and the camp’s water supply.  Now, all of these items are located next to the lodge (in the middle section we call the Courtyard).  They can now be easily serviced, repaired, and cleaned in order to keep the lodge running smoothly.  This spring, we have been heating all our hot water with the wood boiler we installed late last fall.  The only propane that has been used to date is less than 1/2 a tank in the kitchen for the stove!  We are so thrilled with this green technology!

On the lake side, the last of the ice melted on Monday afternoon.  A nice south wind took care of the final few “islands” of floating ice on the lake.  We spent that afternoon/evening fishing the river.  However, places like Stange Bay and Slammer Straights were not hitting yet.  The walleyes are just getting into their spawn now, while the pike are just finishing up.  The pike were active in the Bay of Snakes.  We also caught a few lakers by trolling the shallow rocks around the Impassible Reefs.  We had a beautiful shoresupper that night consisting of lemon-pepper and cajun pike at the Middle Gull shorelunch site.  It was the perfect end to a great first push, especially with it being Charlie’s last night at Aikens.  He helps us open and close the camp every season, and we very much appreciate the work he does for us!

We are now getting started on putting the Lund fleet in the water.  Everything seems to have wintered really well.  Next week is our annual “Molly’s and Dolly’s Week” where we host over 30 friends, family, and volunteers to get everything cleaned up before our first guests arrive.

With a beautiful view of the ice-covered lake, it is with great enthusiasm that we greet you our readers with the first edition of the 2009 Newsletter from Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge! Pit, Patrick, Léo and Charlie landed in the Back Bay yesterday at 12:30pm. With a gorgeous hot sun and blue skies, these intrepid outdoorsmen set about opening up the camp. Within an hour the generator, the hot water loop and the vehicles we’re all humming after a long winter’s slumber. A quick tour of the lodge showed no signs of damage. Hats off to Léo for a meticulous closing procedure last fall, making yesterday’s efforts a walk in the park.

With such a smooth transition into a fully-operation status, that left us plenty of time to drop in a couple boats, fill out our licenses, spool up the rods and head out on the lake for the first nite-bite of the year. Léo and Charlie proved to the young bucks once again not to mess with the “Experienced Ones”. Outfished 6 to 2, Patrick managed to lose the biggest fish of the night… Oh well, much laughter was heard by the local Honey Hole wildlife, including an exceptional rare sighting of a mature Lynx. Back at the lodge, we fried up the season first Walleyes and Charlie cooked up a mouth-watering New England Clam Baked Pike Casserole. So good!

Well, back to work. We’ve got lots to do and we are looking forward to yet another excellent season sharing the joy that only the “Aikens Experience” can provide.

A new season is nearly upon us.  With it, you can sense the excitement in the faces of an enthusiastic staff.  As we are now a week away from heading up to the lodge, and we have some great news to share with everyone.  With Pat trading in his Lund keys for the GGO keys this summer (yes, he and Janelle are going to be the consummate hosts for all GGO groups), an opportunity has opened up for a new face to reach up and grab the prestigious title of head guide.

We are proud to announce that Tyler Jones will be the next great head guide at Aikens.  He becomes the quickest to ascend the ranks for this title.  In his first two years, he has shown fishing skills that rival any professional… in fact, he’s been fishing tournaments with his father since the age of 6!!!  His production on the water is fantastic.  Just as importantly, Tyler has shown a maturity and a professionalism that is critical for his new role.  He has wowed every single guest he has ever guided, and has also garnered the respect of the entire staff for his fishing prowess and his great personality.  These skills will help him navigate the waters of managing a crew of 10 full-time guides for 4 months a year.  We are thrilled to have Tyler become the latest in a long line of head guides at Aikens.  We know that Tyler will keep that bar raised oh-so-high and that your guide crew will continue to be a shining part of your “Aikens Experience”.  Congratulations Tyler.