With Thanksgiving just a few short days away and still plenty of preparation ahead, I thought I would get a quick blog entry done. The fall season here has been busy with a steady stream of contractors in to complete the damage done to our home during the storms of summer. We are so happy to have everything completely done!
We have also been diligently working on our annual Christmas letter in order to get those out to you in early December. With our mailing list growing as much as it has through the years, the printing, folding, stuffing, sealing, labeling and stamping the letters is really quite a production around here!
I have also been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend some time in the woods during deer season. For many years I have wanted to bow hunt and this year I FINALLY made the purchase and started. Practicing with the bow gave me another good reason (besides raking leaves) to get outside and also to spend some quality time with Allison who has taken a budding interest in archery also.
Some news on the sport show front that you may not be aware of is that the All-Canada show has been sold, after declaring bankruptcy, to a couple of the guys that were previously affiliated with All-Canada. We think that ultimately the change will be good for the show as new marketing ideas are implemented and ways to improve the show come to light. In the short-term, there will be some growing pains as evidenced by the reduction in markets the show will be in this year. In fact, the Chicago All-Canada show will be the only show on the All-Canada circuit. As a result, we have supplemented our former All-Canada show schedule by replacing those shows with other shows that we have worked before and enjoyed like the Madison Fishing Expo and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sportshow. Dates and locations are available on our website at www.peffleyscamp.com
We wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving with family and friends and hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday!
Monday, November 25, 2013
Monday, October 7, 2013
Another memorable season
The 2013 season (our ninth), will be as many guests heard me say repeatedly during the season, one that will always be easy to remember. Starting with a last minute helicopter ride into camp as a result of a very late ice out, and enough drama and adversity to keep things interesting all season long, it certainly won't be hard years from now to "remember" season nine!
Despite all the challenges that are inherent in operating a wilderness camp, the rewards remain abundant. We were blessed again this season to host not only many, many of our long-time guests who we look forward to visiting with us every season, but also to meet and make friends with many first timers to camp. We continue to be so very appreciative of all the kind comments made about the camp and the efforts we make to ensure that everyone's trip is satisfying and enjoyable. Thank you also for the many referrals that you continue to send our way, as no advertising we can do is more powerful than your recommendation of our camp.
From a fishing standpoint, Wabaskang Lake continues to live up to it's well earned reputation as one of the finest multi-species fisheries in our region. I honestly can't remember another season where guests consistently praised the status of the fishery as much as this past year. Great combinations of quality fish and quantity were in order for most of the entire season, and it appears that there are several recent good year classes of young walleye in the pipeline poised to add to the fishing quality of the lake in the near future.
From a project standpoint, and besides the normal maintenance items like deck staining, painting etc., the season concluded with the new roofs being completed on Cabins 1 and 2. Although they never leaked, the shingles were certainly "tired" and in need of replacement, and in a short 2 1/2 days after season's end they were stripped and re-shingled completing a major project item that we hoped to get done in the spring before the late ice out changed our plans.
Here in Indiana, roofing has also been a priority. Many of you in camp this year heard us talking about a major storm at home that uprooted a huge oak tree which promptly fell across our brand new three season room that was just installed last year and onto the roof of the house resulting in significant damage. Well the new roof and gutters are on the house, most of the water damage has been addressed, and we hope that reconstruction of the three season room will begin again very soon. Spending all summer in camp obviously limits the amount of time we have to enjoy the room to just a few weeks in the spring and again in the fall, so we are anxious to have it redone and hopefully have some good fall season weather to briefly enjoy it.
Once I have had a chance to catch my breath and recharge just a bit, I will try to finally get some more pictures from the season on the website photo album, our Facebook page and/or our YouTube channel. Thanks for your patience and if you have pictures from your trip this year it's never too late to email us some of your favorites.
Despite all the challenges that are inherent in operating a wilderness camp, the rewards remain abundant. We were blessed again this season to host not only many, many of our long-time guests who we look forward to visiting with us every season, but also to meet and make friends with many first timers to camp. We continue to be so very appreciative of all the kind comments made about the camp and the efforts we make to ensure that everyone's trip is satisfying and enjoyable. Thank you also for the many referrals that you continue to send our way, as no advertising we can do is more powerful than your recommendation of our camp.
From a fishing standpoint, Wabaskang Lake continues to live up to it's well earned reputation as one of the finest multi-species fisheries in our region. I honestly can't remember another season where guests consistently praised the status of the fishery as much as this past year. Great combinations of quality fish and quantity were in order for most of the entire season, and it appears that there are several recent good year classes of young walleye in the pipeline poised to add to the fishing quality of the lake in the near future.
From a project standpoint, and besides the normal maintenance items like deck staining, painting etc., the season concluded with the new roofs being completed on Cabins 1 and 2. Although they never leaked, the shingles were certainly "tired" and in need of replacement, and in a short 2 1/2 days after season's end they were stripped and re-shingled completing a major project item that we hoped to get done in the spring before the late ice out changed our plans.
Here in Indiana, roofing has also been a priority. Many of you in camp this year heard us talking about a major storm at home that uprooted a huge oak tree which promptly fell across our brand new three season room that was just installed last year and onto the roof of the house resulting in significant damage. Well the new roof and gutters are on the house, most of the water damage has been addressed, and we hope that reconstruction of the three season room will begin again very soon. Spending all summer in camp obviously limits the amount of time we have to enjoy the room to just a few weeks in the spring and again in the fall, so we are anxious to have it redone and hopefully have some good fall season weather to briefly enjoy it.
Once I have had a chance to catch my breath and recharge just a bit, I will try to finally get some more pictures from the season on the website photo album, our Facebook page and/or our YouTube channel. Thanks for your patience and if you have pictures from your trip this year it's never too late to email us some of your favorites.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Summer revisits.....
Well as predicted, summer has in fact returned to NW Ontario. Last Tuesday, the mercury hit 95 degrees here in camp and most of this week has dealt us a dead calm lake with temps in the mid to upper 80's with high humidity. Tough fishing conditions in terms of comfort, but still well worth it as the hot bite continues here in camp regardless of weather patterns. Granted, with the excessive heat this week, I would have to admit the early and late bite have been better....BUT I have also seen some pretty impressive catches come into camp from the mid-day fishermen also.
In other camp news, it finally happened. I have been expecting this every trip across the lake in the cargo/work boat for the past three years, but after 13 years of pushing GRUELING loads of weight 12 miles out to camp across Wabaskang Lake, the old Yamaha 150 hp VMax finally pushed her last load on Saturday. This boat has hauled fuel, propane, lumber, trash, people etc. faithfully for many, many years, but it's finally time for a new engine. As you all know, she's not the prettiest boat on Wabby, but this camp doesn't run without her! She will soon be equipped with some new power and be back in service.
One thing that we have heard almost unanimously this year from our guests is the great shape Wabaskang Lake is in as a fishery, as we have followed up a terrific 2012 season with another fantastic year of BOTH quality fish and good numbers in 2013. Further, it appears the pipeline is well stocked as in addition to tremendous numbers of 15-18" eater walleye we have seen this year AND the number of releases of fish over 20", we have also heard many guests talking about all the 10-13" walleye they are catching in many spots all over the lake. Looks like things are in good shape for future years, and with your continued support of catch and release, it will only get better.
Hopefully, many of you have been following our close to daily highlight reel of fishing photos on our Facebook page, but in case you've missed a few of our recent posts, here are a few recent photos and a few I just got from earlier this year.
In other camp news, it finally happened. I have been expecting this every trip across the lake in the cargo/work boat for the past three years, but after 13 years of pushing GRUELING loads of weight 12 miles out to camp across Wabaskang Lake, the old Yamaha 150 hp VMax finally pushed her last load on Saturday. This boat has hauled fuel, propane, lumber, trash, people etc. faithfully for many, many years, but it's finally time for a new engine. As you all know, she's not the prettiest boat on Wabby, but this camp doesn't run without her! She will soon be equipped with some new power and be back in service.
One thing that we have heard almost unanimously this year from our guests is the great shape Wabaskang Lake is in as a fishery, as we have followed up a terrific 2012 season with another fantastic year of BOTH quality fish and good numbers in 2013. Further, it appears the pipeline is well stocked as in addition to tremendous numbers of 15-18" eater walleye we have seen this year AND the number of releases of fish over 20", we have also heard many guests talking about all the 10-13" walleye they are catching in many spots all over the lake. Looks like things are in good shape for future years, and with your continued support of catch and release, it will only get better.
Hopefully, many of you have been following our close to daily highlight reel of fishing photos on our Facebook page, but in case you've missed a few of our recent posts, here are a few recent photos and a few I just got from earlier this year.
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| Jerry Lundy's monster 30" walleye from last week about to be released. |
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| Dale Vos swears this is the same northern he caught last year during August only a little bigger... |
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| Sally Lundy holds a fine stringer of walleye...not hard to see why August is a popular month in camp. |
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| Jerry's crew from June, yeah the fishing was ok! |
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| Jim Klett a.k.a. Chief OneFeather, with a good pike from his spring trip |
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| Allison Peffley is getting quite a reputation around camp for being a pretty darn good fishergirl. At 11 years old she probably is a few years out from guiding, but I got to admit she's a pretty accomplished walleye angler for her age. |
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| Perch two at a time! |
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| Opening week fishing was so good Bill literally collapsed on the boat! |
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Weather warming up...Fishing still HOT!
As we start into the second half of August, it appears summer is trying to make a comeback. After spending the second half of July and early August struggling to get out of the 60's and 70's this week's forecast highs are back into the 80's possibly approaching 90.
Regardless of the air temperatures, the one thing during this stretch that has been consistently HOT is the fishing, Very aggressive fish of all species are really making this a fun summer stretch in camp.
We did have a little excitement in camp a couple of weeks ago outside of the fishing. An heirloom gold wedding band found it's way off a finger and to the bottom of the lake. Very fortunately it happened right at the docks and in shallow (4 feet or so) of water. Unfortunately, the first attempt at retrieval stirred the lake bottom just enough to not make it visible. Time for Plan B as they say. Using a fishing pole to GENTLY and SLOWLY move the top layer of silt on the lake bottom, I was able to uncover the band. Carefully using the fishing pole I was able to gently "hook" the band on the tip of the rod and get it back to our guest. Tears, hugs and relief all at once! It reminded me of playing the old kid's game "Operation"....only underwater and with a lot more at stake. We are just happy it ended well and we are looking forward to hearing the reaction from the granddaughter when she receives the ring as a gift making her the third generation to wear it.
It's hard to believe that after this week only four weeks will remain in the 2013 season. I know I say this all the time, but WOW! how fast it flies by. Having great guests week in and week out really makes the summer enjoyable and go by fast. We are blessed to have had the opportunity to host so many of you again this summer, whether it was your first time here or like Don Strafford your 53rd, please know that we appreciate your business, friendship and loyalty.
Sorry no pictures this time around....will try to snap a few for the next update.
Regardless of the air temperatures, the one thing during this stretch that has been consistently HOT is the fishing, Very aggressive fish of all species are really making this a fun summer stretch in camp.
We did have a little excitement in camp a couple of weeks ago outside of the fishing. An heirloom gold wedding band found it's way off a finger and to the bottom of the lake. Very fortunately it happened right at the docks and in shallow (4 feet or so) of water. Unfortunately, the first attempt at retrieval stirred the lake bottom just enough to not make it visible. Time for Plan B as they say. Using a fishing pole to GENTLY and SLOWLY move the top layer of silt on the lake bottom, I was able to uncover the band. Carefully using the fishing pole I was able to gently "hook" the band on the tip of the rod and get it back to our guest. Tears, hugs and relief all at once! It reminded me of playing the old kid's game "Operation"....only underwater and with a lot more at stake. We are just happy it ended well and we are looking forward to hearing the reaction from the granddaughter when she receives the ring as a gift making her the third generation to wear it.
It's hard to believe that after this week only four weeks will remain in the 2013 season. I know I say this all the time, but WOW! how fast it flies by. Having great guests week in and week out really makes the summer enjoyable and go by fast. We are blessed to have had the opportunity to host so many of you again this summer, whether it was your first time here or like Don Strafford your 53rd, please know that we appreciate your business, friendship and loyalty.
Sorry no pictures this time around....will try to snap a few for the next update.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
August is rockin'
Wow! What a start to the month, as the first week of August produced some absolutely fantastic fishing for all species except lake trout which no one targeted. The walleye have definitely put the feed bags on as it was pretty much an all day feed with big numbers of good sized 16-18" eater walleyes and many in the 20-22" range with a handful even bigger as I can recall 3-25" fish caught during the week and at least 2-24" walleye.
The same can be said for the jumbo perch. Although it helps to have some crews in camp that will legitimately target them, they have really turned on big time the last two weeks with a lot of 10" plus perch being caught.
Lake water temperatures continue to hover in the 65-68 degree range and water levels are excellent for this time of year as a little extra rain in late July and so far in August have helped to maintain the water level. A little bit of a warm up is forecast most of this week with temps returning to the upper 70's. All in all it has been a great summer of comfortable temperatures combined with excellent fishing.
It won't be long and our first bear hunters will be arriving so we are pulling for the cooler temperatures to hang around. With a little painting and staining still on the project list, some cool and dry weather would fit nicely with that too.
Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks until next time.
The same can be said for the jumbo perch. Although it helps to have some crews in camp that will legitimately target them, they have really turned on big time the last two weeks with a lot of 10" plus perch being caught.
Lake water temperatures continue to hover in the 65-68 degree range and water levels are excellent for this time of year as a little extra rain in late July and so far in August have helped to maintain the water level. A little bit of a warm up is forecast most of this week with temps returning to the upper 70's. All in all it has been a great summer of comfortable temperatures combined with excellent fishing.
It won't be long and our first bear hunters will be arriving so we are pulling for the cooler temperatures to hang around. With a little painting and staining still on the project list, some cool and dry weather would fit nicely with that too.
Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks until next time.
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| Looks like a nice day for a swim! |
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| CJ with a girlfriend as cute as yours I hope you aren't planning to kiss that fish! |
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| Adam and his Dad with a nice mixed bag of walleye and pike. What a great trip they had! |
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| Loretta kicked off her week by landing this beast Saturday night. None of the guys even came close to topping this one! |
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| Tom while not catching a monster pike last year, sure showed that in just a couple of years he's figured out how to catch those 'eyes. |
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| Anthony Cellantani with a basket full of walleye he caught with his father Tom. |
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| Julie with the pike that got her admitted into the Northern Slayer club. Now, what say we head to Margaritaville Jules to celebrate? |
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Weather cools down....Fishing HEATS up!
The recent string of unseasonably cool weather (highs in the upper 60's to mid 70's), in addition to being very pleasant for working and sleeping at night, has also resulted in the lake water temperatures dropping about 8 degrees from it's July high temp of around 75 degrees. With the cooling water fishing has been bordering on fantastic this week with everyone in camp finding very aggressive walleye, pike, perch and some smallmouth bass. It looks like the second half of the season is off to a great start!
During July we were very fortunate to be able to host a number of military veterans who took advantage of the 20% July discount we continue to offer to qualifying current military and retired military personnel. The freedoms we enjoy came at a price, and we continue to appreciate the sacrifices of military personnel and hopefully making a fishing trip to Canada a little more affordable is an adequate way to begin to express our appreciation.
We also had some great new family groups in camp during July which is always a treat for all of us. Of course, our girls enjoy the opportunity to make new friends in camp and we enjoy the opportunity to introduce the entire family to the beauty of the Canadian wilderness and everything that goes into making it a great trip beyond just the number of fish that you catch.
For those who's trip is still approaching we look forward to seeing you all soon, and if you weren't in camp this season, it's never too early to start thinking about 2014!
During July we were very fortunate to be able to host a number of military veterans who took advantage of the 20% July discount we continue to offer to qualifying current military and retired military personnel. The freedoms we enjoy came at a price, and we continue to appreciate the sacrifices of military personnel and hopefully making a fishing trip to Canada a little more affordable is an adequate way to begin to express our appreciation.
We also had some great new family groups in camp during July which is always a treat for all of us. Of course, our girls enjoy the opportunity to make new friends in camp and we enjoy the opportunity to introduce the entire family to the beauty of the Canadian wilderness and everything that goes into making it a great trip beyond just the number of fish that you catch.
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| The Anishinabi Falls |
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| The Anishinabi River- what a beautiful site |
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| In case you missed this one from our Facebook page....Wow, heaven on earth! |
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Great season at the half way point!
It's been a another great (half) season here at camp this summer. We have had some great weather this summer (not too hot), with lot's of sunshine and just enough wind on most days to create a good "walleye chop" on the water. Fishing in July has been very good overall too which always helps to keep a smile on guests faces.
We are also at the mid-point of the Peffley girls six week summer stay in camp and we expect Milissa and Sara to arrive back in camp with us next week. Looking forward to having everyone together again and taking a day here or there for just a little family time.
This is also the time of year where we get more first timers to camp and I have to say we have really enjoyed meeting and making friends with our new guests. After spending many years in the corporate world where a customers shadow in my office doorway meant "we have a PROBLEM", it's a relief to have your customers always showing up in a great mood and eager to experience a fantastic week in the Canadian wilderness. They are happy when they get here and we try to work very hard to make sure that's the way they leave!
We have taken some advantage of the sunshine here recently to get new stain on Cabin decks 1, 4 and 8, with the plan to finish all the decks before seasons end. This is shaping up to be a good year for more general maintenance items vs. major projects. But then again, every year here is a general maintenance year!
Our daughter Emily has taken up photography as a hobby after getting a new Canon camera for her birthday so I thought I would share a few of the budding photographers shots.
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We are also at the mid-point of the Peffley girls six week summer stay in camp and we expect Milissa and Sara to arrive back in camp with us next week. Looking forward to having everyone together again and taking a day here or there for just a little family time.
This is also the time of year where we get more first timers to camp and I have to say we have really enjoyed meeting and making friends with our new guests. After spending many years in the corporate world where a customers shadow in my office doorway meant "we have a PROBLEM", it's a relief to have your customers always showing up in a great mood and eager to experience a fantastic week in the Canadian wilderness. They are happy when they get here and we try to work very hard to make sure that's the way they leave!
We have taken some advantage of the sunshine here recently to get new stain on Cabin decks 1, 4 and 8, with the plan to finish all the decks before seasons end. This is shaping up to be a good year for more general maintenance items vs. major projects. But then again, every year here is a general maintenance year!
Our daughter Emily has taken up photography as a hobby after getting a new Canon camera for her birthday so I thought I would share a few of the budding photographers shots.
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