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PHW Photos |
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Alan and Krista Cheeseman were given the "Patriot" award from Project Healing Waters at the welcome reception breakfast in Thunder Bay on July 11. Here is Krista with daughter Sierra holding the award with two specially tied flies in the colours of both the US and of Canada. The special commendation will be on display at Miminiska Lodge. - - - - - - - - - - - -  Diane Cochran of San Antonio Texas, cools her feet after a morning of angling on the Albany River. Diane is recovering from back and spinal cord injuries from a roll over accident in a Humvee while under attack in Afghanistan three years ago. - - - - - - - - - - - -  The troops are welcomed to Thunder Bay with a big breakfast before boarding our DeHavilland Otters for their flights directly to Miminiska Lodge. - - - - - - - - - - - -  Press coverage and the early taping of a special documentary called "Healing on the Albany" began on the dock at Thunder Bay, as the Wilderness North DeHavilland Otters arrived to transport the soldiers to Miminiska Lodge. - - - - - - - - - - -  What is better than shore lunch? Here (photo above) the staff and soldiers meet on "Shore Lunch Island" on a picture perfect day to enjoy those delicious walleye caught moments before and prepared perfectly by First Nation Guide Thomas Nate. (Photo below.) - - - - - - - - - - - -  When Brandon, Manitoba's Glen Kirkland - featured on this week's podcast - stopped by the kitchen for a photo-op, both Phyllis Nagle (left) our chef and Zelda Shapwaykeesic were all smiles. Then he stayed to do the dishes - WHEW- talk about fringe benefits! - - - - - - - - - - - -  When Ferris Butler, of Rockville, Maryland, lost both legs below the knee, he not only thought he would never walk again, but never fish again. Today his new legs - compliments of Walter Reed Army Medical Center - serve him well. And on Tuesday he accomplished a personal goal of catching and releasing a trophy Canadian Brook Trout. By the way he lives next door to PHW founder Retired Navy Captain Ed Nicholson. - - - - - - - - - - - -  Project Healing Waters co-ordinator Mark Snyder takes time to teach a little class on knot tying. Mark is a fly fishing fanatic and he loves to teach others the fine points of the art. He lives just two miles from Walter Reed, and all the work he does for PHW is strictly volunteer. He is our hero and hero to the many soldiers who lives have been changed by his giving spirit and angling skills. We are proud to call him friend and know Healing On the Albany could not happen without his work.
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Say Cheese !
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We are in the early planning stages of our 2010 wall calendar and we need your help. If you have been a guest of Wilderness North, at any of our remote cabins or American Plan Lodges, we would love to consider your photos for inclusion in the project. It's simple to help. Click here to open an e-mail, on to which you can attach up to three digital images. The bigger and higher the quality - the better. If we select your photo to be included, we'll call you and chat about the place and date you captured the image. Your scenery, your fishing, your general beauty shots - - - are more than welcome. Make sure to include your phone number and name when you submit the photos.
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Healing on the Albany -2009
...by Alan Cheeseman
Just as
last year, Krista and I were moved this week by the bravery of the soldiers who
are with us at Miminiska Lodge on the Albany River. Five of the soldiers are
from Canada (header right photo) and five are from the US (header left photo). We realize their first act of bravery
was stepping into harm's way, when they volunteered to be part of the armed
services that preserve our way of life.
This
week, we are seeing their second act of bravery as they take their steps - some
small, others a bit bigger - toward recovery from the injuries of the battle
field. For one week every year our direct contact with these remarkable men and
women helps us so much more than we help them.
This year
a documentary is being filmed, and I have seen the initial interviews and heard
a few of the powerful personal stories. Today's podcast is but one of these
interviews, and the words of Glen Kirkland from British Columbia, will be a clear answer to anyone who asks why we do this. Please listen in by clicking here.
We truly believe, that for this one week each July, setting aside our usual
day-to-day business, and concentrating on saying thank you to those who so
often have thankless jobs is, as Krista puts it, "simply the right the thing to
do."
Together
with our providing the flights, lodging, boats and motors, Orvis provides the
fly fishing tackle, Sysco Food Services of Thunder Bay the food, American
Air lines the US air travel, Victoria Inn the Thunder Bay lodging, Ed Newby and
Dick Oelkers (retired AA captains-photo on right) the planes, the fuel, and the flights from Chicago
to Thunder Bay, and friends and guests just like you who provided cash
donations for other costs. In other words, here are the gifts of many focused
on the soldiers who are with us this week. And did you know that 100% of every
gift goes to the soldier without any "administrative" costs?
Coordinating
this event with Project Healing Waters in the US and Soldier On here in
Canada is a pleasure. Watching each soldier receive the healing benefits of
their trip to the remote and remarkable boreal forest is the greatest gift of
all. And we also receive that gift. That is why we call the event: Healing on
the Albany.
Enjoy the photos on the left of the welcome breakfast in Thunder Bay, and the 2009 Healing on
the Albany event from Miminiska Lodge.
Talk to you next week - and as always feel free to drop me an e-mail by clicking here or by phone at 888-465-3474.
Alan
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Lots of Walleye, Limited
Pike Action ...
...by Tyler Lancaster
The big northerns of
Whitewater Lake took a break last week and let the walleye come out to do some
feeding. I often find large pike are extremely sensitive to rapid weather
change, and that is what we had last week. The water temperature went from
about 75 degrees down to a chilled 58 in a matter of days, a staggering
difference. The walleye, however, took advantage of the thick cloud cover and
"the walleye chop," with intense feeding frenzies.
Scott Earl Smith, our good friend, and avid fly fishermen, brought his wife,
daughter, and son-in-law along for a nice  little four day retreat to
Striker's Point. They worked hard on the northerns all week in a variety of
areas but had little success with large fish. Small fish were abundant,
however. There is not much you can do when large pike are not on. They just
"do nothing," and no matter how hard you work for them, they will ignore
anything and everything you stick in front of them. The good news is that they
have to feed sometime, that's inevitable.
Shane Glenn and his father were back with us as well last week. They reported
excellent walleye fishing with 60+ fish days being the average, while using a
good chunk of those days also chasing northerns. Shane did manage a 38-inch
"gator" on a jig while walleye fishing.
Marvin Hamilton, a.k.a. Tuffy, brought his three friends along for a four-day
visit. They made the long trek up from Iowa. These four dealt with some severe
wind but managed to salvage each day with good walleye catches in the river
outflow. Tuffy was working on a few fish for the pan one afternoon when he
looked down and noticed that all that remained of one of his eaters was the
head. A vicious northern had stolen part of his lunch. It wasn't a problem
replacing that fish later on that evening, as the dock fishing has been quite
hot.
We look forward to welcoming our next guests with cozy cabins, solid vessels,
great food, and plenty of fish.
Tight Lines,
Tyler Lancaster
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Nine Bloody Good Blokes
One Super Sheila Up Here
...by Tristan & Jasmine Yuswak
(Blokes:
gentleman of esteem;
Sheila: woman of respectability.)
This week
we have seen a great bunch of Blokes and Sheila's up here at Miminiska Lodge.
With the arrival of the Project Healing Waters group and the McCabe party we
have had some cracking good times on and off the water. The happy half hour has
been turning into the happy hour and a half as we all get carried away with the
spirit of mateship and the delicious appetizers that the women are bringing out
of the kitchen - bacon wrapped walleye being just one of the tasty treats.
The
McCabe party flew in to our 2500 foot grass strip from  Wisconsin in their Piper
Aztec to be surprised by the high water levels, but it didn't phase these
veterans of Lake Miminiska - they have been coming here since 1996 - so they were quickly tearing into the
walleye and feeding themselves a massive shore lunch within 2 hours of arrival.
The wind and waves have been bloody shocking up here early this week, testing
the resolve of the anglers and making that nice warm cabin all the more
appealing after supper rather than braving the elements. Lesson learned: with a
nice Canadian Club whiskey in your hand, the fish can wait till the morrow.
This Wisconsin based foursome have been averaging 50 walleye a day with the
biggest being 21 inches and the average being 18-19 inches. All on artificial
lures - all by trolling Rapalas. They have also been hauling up roughly 20 pike
a day with the largest being 32 inches thanks to Tony Chiler from Berlin, Wisconsin.
They absolutely loved meeting the Healing Waters Soldiers and that has been a
real highlight of their trip, and the delicious shore lunches according to
Lenny Lesniak of Wildrose, Wisconsn. They have definitely become great mates with the
crew up here and  Tony - joined Phyllis Nagel, our chef, and cooked up some of
his world famous (secret recipe) chili, that will be talked about around the
billabongs in the land of Oz for years to come. Those swaggies will be hunting him down for the Wallaby
version! MMmmmm.
The nine
Blokes and the one Sheila from PHW have been such a treat for us up here. They have come up to fly-fish this
world-class fishery and to enjoy the wonders of this boreal forest. They are
just amazing people and I think have earned the right to be honorary Aussie
Battlers for the week, after seeing Josh Williams fly fishing with  only one arm
and using his teeth and an Italian made auto retrieval reel to bring in the
fish. It is just one of the most
motivating things I have seen in my life, and you can watch him too, (before he got the auto retrieve reel)
by clicking here. If you search for his name, you
will see him in action, not to take away at all from the rest of the gang and
their sterling efforts. They have been tearing through the pike like a good
shearer is with sheep, just one after the other and not relenting one bit. The
winds are down, the sun is out and the troops are out to get some brook trout
today, some big ones, and with their First Nation guide, Thomas Nate, I think
they are well on their way to catching a football brookie, and that's real
football by the way, Aussie rules! Haha.
I'll have
the Healing on the Albany final report in next week's column.
Hoo-roo for this week. |
What's Up at Remote Cabins?
...by Joe Pichey, Outdoor Specialist
While it
is true that our busiest time is in June, the early July fishing - considering
the unusual weather - has been basically pretty good for our remote cabin
anglers.
At Arril Lake, Jimmy Oliver's party of three from Dale, Indiana, caught some nice 20-22
inch walleyes and a few northern. Nothing Master Angler size, but good solid
numbers of fish. Fishing was very consistent when you fish slowly and fish
deep. Bright coloured jigs with large profile tails or Gulp work the best.
From Geneva, Illinois, the Stephen Dermanuelian party headed out to Dawn Lake and they are experienced walleye anglers. They got into large numbers of
walleye with some 24's and 25's but claimed no master anglers. They caught some feisty
pike, but that 40-inch master angler big girl was not among them.
Musgrave Lake provided the David Plennes party from Wisconsin some nice
size pike and quite a few fat and juicy walleyes but they had trouble finding and getting the
over 40-inch monster in the boat. Weather may have played a major role in
the slowdown. The guys did not spend as much time on the water reeling in the fish as they had hoped
for since big winds and hard weather conditions were part of
their trip.
The James Achten Party from Kansas were at Moose Crossing/Mojikit Channel up
on the Ogoki Reservoir. These guys were new to Canadian fishing and they turned in
good results after Boyce, our Mojikit Channel manager put them on some fishing
hot spots. They definitely had their first year learning curve to deal
with, however, they got a few 38-inch pike and some 22-inch walleye to give
them the "Canadian fishing bug." Overall, they had good times and good
fishing and are ready to plan their next trip.
In
reviewing our Master Angler 2009 records we currently have 59 walleye in the
record books and 30 pike. We have placed the Master Angler list at the download section of our website for you.
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 Summer -
Where Are You?
...by Graham Saunders
Summer
continues to be "hesitant." Clouds and cool temperatures prevailed most days
last week. In spite of considerable cloudiness, showers were infrequent, with only
minor rainfall amounts. Windy conditions, especially mid- and later-afternoon,
demanded some caution with navigation on the lakes.
Yesterday's
sunshine and warm temperatures will slowly return later in the week. Expect
clouds and some moderate rain showers today and tomorrow. Friday will have
occasional showers and Saturday should see a return to mix of sun and clouds.
Sunday and Monday are likely to feature sun and warmer conditions.
Three men from Ponca
City, Oklahoma are dead after a tornado ripped their cabin at a summer fishing
camp from its foundation on July 9 about 8:30 p.m. Two cabins near Lac Seul in
Northwestern Ontario were completely destroyed. Shards of lumber and roofing
was scattered along the shoreline and far into the water.
A path of downed
trees, 100 feet wide in places, marked the tornado's path and continued across
islands and peninsulas of Lac Seul.
Staff from
Environment Canada surveyed the scene the next day and, based on the visual
damage, classified the tornado as an F2, with wind speeds between 180 and 240
kilometres an hour (113 to 157 mph).
The system continued
through the Northwest. Intense storms were witnessed at all of the Wilderness
North lodges but no damage or injuries were reported.
Tornadoes are uncommon in Northwestern
Ontario. About one is confirmed each year in an area nearly three times larger
than the state of Oklahoma.
Graham Saunders is professor of climatology and meteorology at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.
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