News from Ely and the Boundary Waters

Piragis Northwoods Company

June 27, 2012 Email Newsletter

Summer is here. Here's wishing you a safe and happy upcoming Fourth of July Celebration. I could talk about the weather leading up to that and tell you how very beautiful it is here right now. Or, I could let some pictures do the talking. This one isn't all that impressive, but wait until you scroll down and see some of the great shots our outfitting clients have sent in. Oh, boy, what a time to take a trip.

Boundary Waters BLISS. Swimming, Fishing, hanging out by the campfire at night. Paddling, exploring, seeing lots of wildlife. Great food, top-notch gear, 44 lb canoes, hey, you better mark some of that calendar off and call Drew or Adam right away.

We hope to see you soon in beautiful Ely, Minnesota!

From the End of the Road,

Tim Stouffer, Marketing Director and Webmaster

Piragis Northwoods Company

The longest days have just gone past

with favorite baits we'll take a cast
at summer glories on the lake.
What better choices could you make.

Granite outcrops for a bed,
loons for alarm, wolves and moose
our company. We're pulled, we're led
North, our un-wild tongues loose:

with song for wilderness places,
hope for the paths unknown.
Away from the rat-races,
paradise with each paddle stroke shown.

Tent pegs stake out our claim
for freedom, adventure, not-the-same.
Campfire our companion, constant friend,
nature's quiet reflection until journey's end.

©Timothy James Stouffer 2012

What's Going on in the Boundary Waters?

Drew,

"Attached is a picture of our trip this past weekend to the BWCA. Thanks to the staff at Piragis for assisting us with the canoe and pack rentals. We had a great trip and caught a bunch of fish.

Wishing Piragis continued success!" Jim Landwehr

"Here's a shot of my son Ben and the bass he landed on Thurs. 6/14/2012"

"Got your recent e-mail and want to share my trip report and a couple of photos. We entered on 2 June via entry point 16. Traveled up the Moose river through Nina Moose Lake and camped on Agnes. Visited Oyster lake to try (unsuccessfully) to catch some lake trout. The photo of the rainbow sun dog was on Oyster. If you see that in the sky, head for shore because it means a strong storm is coming. We had VERY strong winds and hail for about 30 minutes. An hour later it was still and warm.

After Agnes we moved up the Boulder river, where we spent a couple of nights. Fishing was very good for smallmouth, but only fair for walleyes. Made a day portage up the Dalhgreen to the falls where fishing was also good.

Over all weather was excellent! Aside from the the one brief gale, just had a little light rain one morning. There was very little wind most days, which made the paddling easier, but made the bugs more fierce.

See you at the portage." Jeff Keeton

"Adam,

Thanks for the follow up email. Our experience with you guys was top notch from start to finish. The equipment was amazing. Everyone we saw out on the water had equipment that was inferior to what we rented from you. We will be buyers this fall when it all goes on sale.

Pat Fanelli was the highlight of our trip. All of the kids and Laurie and I enjoyed him so much. He started by being early to both take us out and come and get us afterward. He carried our food pack down the first portage. He was truly interested in our experience and listened the whole way back into town. What a great guy to represent your company. We had a thank-you note waiting for us when we got home from him saying thanks for letting him serve us - no Pat, thank-you!

Adam, we'll be back and we are telling everyone. As someone who is in the customer service business, I understand what lengths you have gone to in training your people. Nice work all around." Kurt Gustafson

"WOW!! This was my 12th trip in the past 22 years and without a doubt my finest. I had my two sons. two brothers, nephew and very close friends. This was my first trip without my dad who got me going on the Boundary Waters with stories about meeting Dorothy on Knife lake in the 60's. Thanks Dad (Papa) for teaching us about the outdoors, giving us the skills to enjoy it and for simply being there with us when we went. We miss you!!

Our trip started in Ely with the mandatory stop at Piragis. We stayed at the Adventure Inn which I highly recommend. Great place with excellent rooms. The next day we drove the Echo trail and saw a huge black bear running down the road. He finally ran off the road and then stood, while panting heavily from his run, as we took pictures and said we sure hoped it was the last bear we had to see, thankfully it was.

On Friday the 1st we headed to Bottle portage and off on our trip. As we are going in, we hear all the horror stories of the bad weather, wind, rain and cold from the travelers headed to warm showers and a bed. Of course it is a beautiful sunny day and most of us are in shorts, T-shirts and Keen's. As it turned out, for once the weather man is correct and all I wear all week is 2 pairs of shorts, 2 t-shirts and a light fleece. Sure glad I brought along those hiking boots, rain gear, pants and long sleeves shirts that never saw the light of day.

The balance of the trip was almost perfect. We spent most of our time around Crooked Lake and we caught the bass at the perfect spawning stage. We estimated at least over 2,500 smallmouth and largemouth caught and released during 7 days of fishing. Yep, I know it sounds like a fish story and it is. except this time it is true. In fact, I have attached three pictures of my two sons and their cousin with +20" smallies.

The biggest surprise of the trip was the largemouth. No one recalled ever catching a largemouth in the past but we sure did this time and lots and lots of them. The good news it that we caught many over 20" inches with our biggest bucket mouth at 6lbs.

While I could go on about the walleye fillets in my Piragis skillet, the great sunsets, lack of bugs, swimming off a hot rock at mid day, coffee around a fire in the morning with family, generations of stories over a cocktail and all the fresh food (no freeze dried) we enjoyed, it is simple enough to say I'll be back soon."

Kerry Holloway

Thanks Drew,

"We had a wonderful time and the trip prep and planning was effortless thanks to your crew. Your guys even help me with a quick 15 minute shopping trip in your store to get some food and supplies just prior to hopping on the plane. My sons are experienced paddlers in Ontario, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories and they quickly found the fish in the Quetico. My youngest, Christian, landed the big fish of the trip, a 41" Northern. See attached photo."

Thanks, Mike Murray

Send us your trip pictures and journal entries. Let us know how your Boundary Waters adventures went! We'll post to our email newsletters and facebook. You can share with all your friends! Just email to our webmaster.

Has the Wilderness just become a little smaller? What do you think?

Court's decision to allow cell tower makes the wilderness a little smaller

June 22, 2012

By Steve Piragis

On a clear, moonless night in December last year, I was alone in the middle of Gabbro Lake. The ice was clear and the wind was still; only the rumble of expanding ice broke the silence.

Out of range of all manmade light, the stars seemed to almost hum in the sky. As I walked along, awake and alive in the moment, a new light appeared between low hills on the northeastern horizon: a red, blinking light.

What was pure wilderness, like no other that a person can find in Minnesota, suddenly was interrupted. The Lookout Ridge tower is miles away from Gabbro by Snowbank Lake, yet on a clear night in winter the red strobe demanded my attention and disrupted what Ely advertising calls "the last great pure experience."

Read the rest of the article here:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/06/22/piragis/

Something New we Know you'll Like!

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Cliff's Latest Blog - Canoes and Williwaws

BLOG 13
CANOES AND WILLIWAWS
By Cliff Jacobson

The canoeing literature universally recommends that landed canoes be turned belly up when stored for a few hours or days on land. The idea is that if it rains while the canoe is unattended, the water will drain off rather than flood the hull. Wind is also a factor, especially in lake country like the BWCA, where an off-shore blow can get under the canoe, lift it and blow it out to sea. Turning a landlocked canoe over is good advice wherever you are. But most novice Boundary Waters paddlers usually just leave their canoes right side up-and dangerously close to the water's edge--when they camp.

The "belly up" procedure is almost always the best plan. "Almost always" means 99.9 percent of the time. The 0.1 is a unique exception as emphasized by the following story:

To continue reading click HERE

What's out in the Woods?

Adam and the Boys venture North

Though I am lucky enough to get into the Boundary Waters many times throughout the summer, I get just one big trip a year. In the spring, a group of outfitting guys and I head to a remote spot in Quetico and then paddle back to the Ely area. This year's crew was Wade and his dog Paula, Vidmar aka BLD aka Born to Rest, Brandon, and me and my dog Agnes. Planning for this year's trip began about 362 days (give or take) prior to our departure. (We spend the last day or two of our trips starting to plan the next one.) I believe we were floating down Agnes Lake last spring when we decided we wanted to venture into the rarely used Cache Lake in the northeastern part of Quetico.

Trying to get our schedules to match so we can meet before the trip is nearly impossible. Brandon was in southern MN going to school and Vidmar lives about an hour away from Ely. We weren't all together as a group to plan until the day we left for our trip. Luckily for us, Vidmar is our food guy, and no joke, he starts packing/planning for our food in January. This is how he acquired the nickname "BLD," short for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. The rest of the logistics are easy, but it is really nice not to have to worry about the food.

We had arranged a driver to take us east of Atikokan to French Lake. At the last minute he was unable to take us. A few hours of panic and a bunch of phone calls later I was able to get one of our new staff Pat to drive us north. Our crew met Pat at 10:30 on May 16 to depart for Canada. We loaded up two Minnesota II's and packed the van full of our gear and fishing rods. After adding a few last minute incidentals we were all set to go. Two dogs, our crew of four, and our driver Pat were on our way north.

Check out the rest of the story here!

DETOUR THIS SUMMER ON HIGHWAY ONE To Ely

Click Here for Map

Outfitting News with Drew Brockett

Water Levels

Plenty of rain this Spring. Water will be at a great level for anyone coming up here.

Safety First

We rent Satellite Phones so keep that in mind if you are needing one on the trip. Please call to reserve these. I have a few Iridium and a few Globalstar models for rent.

Are there Bugs yet?

The bugs have arrived - black flies and mosquitos. We have everything you need in our store - head nets, bug dope, etc to help you enjoy the wilderness. Also, we do rent Tundra Tarps in outfitting. These are the tarps with the bug screen sides. It's a great thing to rent when you want to travel during the bug season. Call to reserve one today!

Guided Trips

We still have room on many of our Guided Group Trips. If you want to take a trip where everything is taken care of: motel rooms, all the gear, all the food, guide, and trip planning; one of these could be perfect for you. Check them out and let us know if you have any questions.

Permits

It's always better to reserve your Permit sooner than later. Let us help you reserve one and tell you about the options that are available on your specific start date. It can be confusing on your own, but we'll walk you through it and make sure your trip planning starts off on the right foot!

Call Adam or Drew at 800-223-6565 for more details.