Time flying by....

Perhaps the whirlwind travel of last week just made it seem even much more so. After leaving "lovely" Northern Indiana for five days on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, I was home for one day to unpack, do laundry, repack and head to Minneapolis for our last All-Canada Show of the season. Even with our incredibly mild winter here in the Midwest, I have to admit the warmth of the Bahamas and abundant sunshine was a welcome relief. Of course, if you drink enough rum punch, everything is a relief and I think we accomplished that!



Cabbage Beach, Paradise Island Bahamas



Since our daughters had a four day weekend, I was able to take our youngest (Allison-9) on a "business" trip with Dad. It was great having some extra one-on-one time with her although she (for some reason unknown to me) opted for some shopping with friends at the Mall of America vs. working the booth with me much over the weekend. Go figure... Regardless, we still had some quality time together and had a great visit with our good friends from Stillwater, Mn and their kids. Special thanks to the McDowell's for their tremendous hospitality while we visited. Thanks also to all of our guests and prospects who stopped by our booth for a visit. Several bookings have already come in from the show and for that we are very appreciative.

In some Ontario/camp related matters, there is some good news on the horizon regarding DUI's and other minor infractions. An excerpt from an email received from the Patricia Region Tourist Council follows:

A policy announcement was made advising that effective March 01, 2012 a Special Public Policy will be put in place which will allow for a CBSA officer to grant a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP), to those individuals who have had only one minor conviction, where the sentence was less than 6 months in length. There will be no fee for this TRP, and the issuance of the TRP will be at the discretion of the CBSA official. However, it is understood that this special public policy should significantly reduce the number of inadmissible visitors to our country.

Additional information on this matter is expected to be released on the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration website http://www.cic.gc.ca/ after March 1, 2012. This, of course, is received as great news from not only us tourism operators but also our guests who may have previously been denied admission into Canada for a minor infraction.

March is almost here already, I guess the opener can't be too far off? See you soon!

February Blues?

Perhaps February "boredom" would be a better title? The very mild winter and a much slower show schedule this year, apparently is leaving me with too much time on my hands. After hearing from several guests about "keeping the Blog updated" etc., thought I would use a little of this free time between shows to do just that. After being on the road for the Chicago and Madison All-Canada shows, we are in the middle of a one month lull until it's off to Minneapolis for the last All-Canada show on our circuit this year. The shows (as they always are) have been a mixed bag of visiting with new and old guests, booking some new business, and frustration over the number of people who don't even look your way when you know you have a great product to offer them. Well as they say "it is what it is" and camp will be pretty much full by the time we leave in May regardless.

One of the many great visits we had on the road in Madison, was with soon to be first time guest Bob Weis. Bob has a crew scheduled to be with us this year in late July-early August and stopped by for a face-to-face. Prior to meeting in Madison, Bob was kind enough to send me a couple of emails and information about using Powerpoint to prepare these Fishing Report templates that can be used during the season (and offseason) to acknowledge guests with a great catch etc. It's a great idea, and we say thanks again to Bob for providing us the background on how to do it and the templates for getting them done.




One of my first attempts at using the template Bob provided us! Not bad for a rookie?

Some of the templates Bob put together to show me:

We are looking forward to incorporating these templates into our Fishing Reports, Blog, Facebook group etc. as well as being able to provide a copy to selected guests throughout their stay in camp during the season with us. Not sure, as always, how much time will allow during the season--but it's easy to TALK about it now!

March will be here soon and it's never too early to double check those passport expiration dates. You don't want to be caught in a pinch near your trip time. On a closing note, the Ontario On-Line Licensing system feedback that we have received from guests who have used it, has been very positive. I have updated my license and Outdoors Card on-line using the system, and have also found it to be easy to use and hassle free. 

Until next time,