Bruce, John, Renee and Crew,

I just wanted to let you know again what a great time we had and to thank you. It was everything that was promised and of all the years I have been coming to Canada to fish this, this trip by far, was the best fishing ever.

Dad, I and the girls are still talking about it. During the morning hours, Dad and I literally were catching a fish every 5 minutes each and there were too many times to count how many times myself and both daughters had fish on at the same time. It is a long drive but well worth it. We are looking forward to next year.

 Best wishes,

Bobby Deitz
Kirksey, KY

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John/Rene

Great trip this year and already looking forward to 2007.

Attached are a few of the pictures from this year's trip.

The biggest fish caught was by our rookie, Dave Parra, 24 inches.

Hank Cradduck
Burt Knip
Jerry Hobbs
Mike Tate
Randy Williams
Dave Parra

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 Hi Rena,

 As I promised, here is a picture of Dad’s 40” Northern Pike that he caught on June 30th at Findlay Lake.  It is being held by his Grandson, Steve.

We had a great time, even if the Mayflies slowed the Walleye fishing down a bit.  Hope John got the fridge working at Findlay.  Looking forward to another great trip next year.

Best Regards,
Dan Burm

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Hi,

This is a picture one of the largest northerns we have caught at the Cobham since 1976.

I also am going to send another picture of the smallest fish we have caught. It was actually on the hook when Dave brought his lure into the boat.

We had a great trip, best every for quite a few in the group. Thanks for everything.

JIM Bergman

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Rena,

We had a good trip.  Just wanted to send a note and say think you to you and all of the staff.  Fishing was so with some decent quality fish making up for the short fall on quantity if that makes sense.  What made the trip much more enjoyable was the way you cater to your clients and take care of some of the things at camp.  The food being supplied was helpful, not from a cost issue necessarily but from a nuisance issue for us.

I will be looking at my schedule in the near future for a possibility for a moose hunt. Will definitely contact you when I book.  I am unsure of what I will have for free time next summer due to a trip we are taking in May of 2007 fro two weeks.  After we get that situated we will contact you for dates for a fishing trip next summer.

Dave J. Samuel

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2006 was a challenging year for the Holland group.

Weather was very cool and cloudy and rainy for the first four days of the trip, and finally turned off decent towards the end.  In the middle of the week, the group endured a day of "crab fishing" in the Bering Sea, with winds constant at 30 mph, and gusting to 50 mph with the squalls. 3-4 foot waves were not uncommon.  Definitely a day for life jackets.

Both the Northern pike and walleyes were down in average size about 5% from previous years, and total daily catch numbers were substantially reduced.  Even the beloved walleye hole yielded only one fish above 23 inches, and very low numbers.  Never a problem to catch supper, but no 100 fish days like previous years. 

Largest walleye was 24 inches, caught by Mike, followed by a 23.5 incher, caught by Kegler.  Rest were 22 inches or below.  For the first time in many years, the winner came on artificial bait, a Rattlin Rap, by Rapala, very similar to a rattle trap.

Northerns were not in their normal haunts, with main lake points out fishing the more accessible bays, although the largest fish came from a bay.  Spoons played a big part in the catch, with the winner coming on a 3/4 Johnson silver minnow, 41 inches, caught by Mike (again). The spoon was also responsible for a triple of 37's by Ron, Tim and Bryan. 

Second place Northern at 39 inches was caught on a silver and white bucktail, on the 30 mph wind day.  Since Kegler is the only one not throwing spoons, you can figure out who caught that fish.  The catch was overshadowed a bit by the fact that Kegler also caught a 33" trolling, which he stated very clearly he never does.

Holland finally craved in, throwing a plastic shad imitation that yielded a couple of +30 inch fish for him the last day.  If only he would throw that lure more often.  But he is trainable.

Several of the larger pike were very fat this year, fattest we have seen them.  Did not appear to be pre-spawn fish, so they apparently had a very good feeding opportunity last fall and this spring.

Mike "Simo" Simoson was the designated FNG this year, although he does have previous group/lake experience.  He took the role very seriously, winning both big fish contests for 2006.  At least he had the decency to catch the walleye on something other than a spoon or leech.  Pretty sure he cleaned up playing poker as well.

Group had fun despite the challenging fishing, looking forward to next year.

Till next year.............

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Dear Bruce, Debbie, John and Rena and the rest of the crew,
I'm wondering if the pictures I sent  were digital. I can't remember, or taken by one of the other folks in the gang. I'll try to stick some digital on here, perhaps you can pull 'em off, at least to look at. Deer season is only a couple months away, the boys are getting anxious and hopefully not too nervous. We still talk about last summer and with the pictures on the computer I can look at them easily. I have yet to catch one of the big northerns myself but each of the others have. I kick butt on walleyes though. Have a nice holiday season, starting with Halloween. Do the Canadian kids get to run around the neighborhood extorting treats  as our kids do? See you in the spring. I'm using the sunset picture for my  background, it's a Cobham sunset .

Jack

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November 2003

Bruce, Debbie, John and Rena
Thanks for the newsletter. A special thanks for a great fishing trip. I've read it twice with anticipation of next year's trip and shared it with numerous fishing friends who have never been fly in fishing. I guess I've told too many big fish stories in the past as none believe I caught the 26" Walleye on Black birch this past June as noted in the newletter. For ya'll I have a true fish story to tell. I know it isn't a Buick breaking lines in Blackbirch. Read on for details.

On our first morning on the lake, Jerry and I were trolling shorelines for Walleye, working our way west on the lake. I'm guessing it was about 3 miles west of the cabin as I rounded the West end of an island to fish the South shore that this short story happened. Jerry was in the front of boat trolling as we rounded the point. I swung the boat "way" out to keep both our baits out of the rocks visible above the waterline at the tip of the island. Jerry's bait was much further behind the boat than mine and it snagged a big rock on the point just as I caught a Walleye off the bank. Jerry opened the bail and was patient as I landed and released my fish and backed the boat up to retrieve his bait. As I got close to the snag I yelled at Jerry to set the hook hard as he had foul hooked a BIG fish. The fish was laying in shallow water next to the rock. By now I've shut off the motor and I'm setting 2 meters from the largest fresh water fish I've ever seen!! Double WOW!! The rest of the story goes like this: Jerry rolled the fish on his back as it was foul hooked in the belly; frightened by my face and being rolled over, the fish righted himself and swam towards Jerry past the boat; and as always Jerry's drag was set real tight. Do you know the sound ten LB test makes when it snaps? TWANG!!! End of true story. The fish swam away with Jerry's bait in it's butt without ever turning around.

The mystery was solved when I saw the fish's belly. No other fish has fins on the belly like a Muskie. I'm guessing it was in the 25 kg range and well over a meter in length. The girth was amazing, A Buick, no. A BIG Muskie, yes.

See you in June with the Knip party.

Mike Tate
Columbus, OH

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November 2003

Dear John And Rena
The memories of our fall moose hunt will last a lifetime! Everything about the trip, from the months of planning and anticipation, the carefull and knowledgeable advice you and gave, and finally the take of with John at the controls, was perfect. Spending a week in the woods with and son and two great friends was, as the popular TV commercial says, "priceless". Filling both of our tags wasn't bad either!
I look forward to another trip with Lac Seul Airways and would be happy to be a referral resource to prospective clients. Have a restful winter season!
Kind Regards

George N. Cochran

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Dear Bruce:
I would like to thank you and your staff for a wonderful trip. We have done many fly-in fishing trips, and I am happy to say you do a great job. You delivered on everything that you told me in my conversations when booking our trip.  We appreciated the lodging the night before, and the continental breakfast.  We were impressed that the plane was loaded and waiting for our 5:30 am flight.

The equipment at the cabin worked great; the women loved the indoor flush toilet, and we all appreciated the screened in porch. Fishing was nothing short of fantastic (one morning in 2 1/2 hours, three of us caught over 100 fish!). John (the pilot) provided us with a smooth ride back. 

To someone who has not fished or hunted in remote areas, all of this may not seem out of the ordinary, but believe me in remote areas there are plenty of things that can and do go wrong.  Thank you again for the wonder family trip. We would encourage other families to consider a trip to your outpost as a chance for quality, family time. This is a trip every family who enjoys the outdoors should experience.  We highly recommend your services to others. Please feel free to give my name and number as a reference for the quality experience that you offer.

Scott Herlizke
La Crosse, WI
(608) 788-3222

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Rena,
We just wanted to say that we had a great trip to Blackbirch again this year. The fishing there is too easy. We have 4 honey holes on the lake where you can sit all day long and consistently bring in walleye 20" - 24". This year a new member of our party and myself were out fishing for 3 hours and we caught 40 walleye over 22", one of which was 26". I also lost a northern so large that I couldn't turn him. I thought I hooked a car, as the motor on the boat couldn't go fast enough to keep up. In the past four years this has happened twice on different ends of the lake. I have also caught a 47" and a 48" northern. I think we'd like to head to a different lake next year. What do you have available?

Bob Oberschmid
Spooner, WI

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Hi Bruce Debbie Rena and John,
Just wanted to send you all a THANK YOU for a GREAT TRIP! We all had lots of fun. Your accommodations were wonderful considering such a remote location. I think the lady's were pleasantly surprised that they actually had a cottage with hot and cold running water and a shower and an indoor toilet, and the fishing was much better than expected. We caught and released at least a dozen northens over 30" with the largest estimated to be 43". We tried not to bring the big fish into the boats. Also, we caught and released many walleyes over 20".

Thanks again for a wonderful trip,
Dave and Linda Damro, Pat and Al Callahan, Chris and Mary Mott, Rich and Kitty Swiontek and Bill and Barb Lapp
Green Bay, WI

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Rena-Bruce:
Just wanted to say "thanks" for a great week on Vee Lake! The group was very impressed with the fishing, accommodations, and air service. My son Michael caught the biggest Northern and Walleye of his young life, which was one goal for this trip. With two 40" northerns, two 37" northerns, many northern between 30-37", and all walleye we could catch and release, there were no complaints on the quality of the fishing! The cabin and equipment were better than I have experienced on many drive-in resorts! Flying in the big Otters is always a treat. I'm sure you will see many of us again in the years to come. Friends have already been asking for your website address to book their trips next year. Thanks also for the friendly service and arrangements.

Doug Blair

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To my friends at Amik Outpost
This is a quick update of the Ventimiglia groups week at V-Lake, the fishing was great as usual, of course we won't talk about the year 2000. We caught 3 really nice walleye at 4.8-4.11-6.2 lb. these were weighed on a berkley electronic scale, we believe this to be as accurate as possible, the notable northern caught 38-39-40-42 inches in length these four were of a really decent size. We kept track some days of the walleye caught per boat which was 150 to 200 on the first 3 and half days which was great, then the weather went somewhat down hill and we had to work quite hard at finding the fish, but we all looked forward to the challenge and still did quite well.

As expected the cabin was in great shape and new motors worked quite well, although we did miss the bigger horsepower for a while. The Hill house, a great stay before we were flown in, we all were very impressed with the accommodations there, what a great asset to your operation.

-Stephen Ventimiglia

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Dear Mr. LaVigne,
Recently Arnie Johnson and Bruce Van Wyk visited with you at the All Canada Show at Canterbury Downs. They told you about as fish I had caught on a trip to one of your lakes and you asked them for a negative of the photo. Enclosed you will find a picture of myself and the outstanding trophy northern pike I caught the summer of 1997 on Lake Sesikinaga. Also the negative, the picture is number 24 on the negative strip.

The fish was 44 inches long and weighed just over 24 pounds; caught on the first day of our trip which was the 21st of June. Ad the picture shoes we were fishing for walleyes with spinner snells and leaches in my case. The trophy was perfectly hooked right in the corner of the mouth otherwise the monster would have had the best of my snell. It truly was the experience of a lifetime.

This was my third trip to one of your outposts as part of the Arnie Johnson party from the Twin Cities area. That summer we were there from 21 through 28 June. Arnie has been going to your camps for many years and probably deserves as much credit for the fish as anyone. We had an outstanding trip that summer. It seemed like every walleye we caught was over the length limit. As a group of eight we caught over 700 fish most of which were walleye. The largest walleye caught in our group was over 7 pounds. For Bruce Van Wyk, who caught the walleye, and myself, we can say the biggest thrill of catching these fish was watching them swim away which they both did. We both hope they are still there to give someone else the excitement they gave us.

I look forward to seeing you this summer for another one of these excellent and long remember fishing trips.

Best Wishes,
Richard L. Willows

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Dear Bruce,
Enclosed is a short story and picture of my grandson Danny so that you can put it in your newsletter. Sorry I don't have the negative, I hope that won't be a problem.

Thank You.
Charles Brown

My name is Dan Kaput, I'm 13 years old and from Lockport, Illinois. I caught my first trophy fish on May 24, 2000. I caught it on a Rapala with 10 test. It was a 24 lb. 47 inch northern pike caught on Jeanette Lake. This was my first fishing trip to Canada, with my grandpa and uncles. I will never forget it.

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