Is it just me or can everyone feel spring in the air?  All the snow has disappeared, new species of birds are hitting the bird feeder; I see and hear geese every time I am outside. Ahhhhhhhhhhh Yessssssssssss! Spring is here!

Spring has always given me a sense of renewal even more than ringing in the New Years Eve. This is when most wildlife has their young.  Spring is when the trees and plant life who have been dormant all winter, comes out and lets us know that they made it. Oh how I love Spring!

In 6 weeks I will be where I belong: in the Wilderness…I can’t wait!  We have a full schedule this year and I am more excited than ever before.  The more people we take into the wilderness, the more stories and memories we will have, not only for our clients but also for the monthly newsletters. When we first started the newsletters, we thought it was a great way for all our clients to relive their Boundary Water memories. But we have discovered that these newsletters has been great for all our future clients as well. As it turns out, before our trips are over, almost all our clients ask if their trip will be featured in the newsletter and of course they are. But as we all know some stories just can’t be written and can only be experienced… so book that trip, just don’t dream about it, get out there and do it!

We still have a few weeks open this season. The last week in May is available which can be some of the best fishing of the year.  Also (surprisingly) available is the first three weeks in September…which is my favorite time of year to travel through this area. There are many reasons to book a trip during September, no bugs, the weather is still good and the fishing can be fantastic.  You also might be able to see the color change. This is also when the lower foliage starts to die off and lay on the ground which gives us a better chance to see wildlife running along the shoreline.

Congrats to Matt… WINNER of a FREE BWCA Trip!

We drew a random name from our email list and the free trip raffle winner is Matt Tarcha.  He is bringing 3 friends along with him and they will be going in August 1st.  I had a specific area picked out for them but after Matt told me they wanted to catch some big Smallmouth, I changed the itinerary to another one of my favorite areas in the Boundary Waters. After talking to Matt, I don’t think we could’ve picked a better person to win the raffle. Congratulations Matt!

Permits!

Boundary Water Permits are first come- first serve.... and only a limited number of people are allowed in each entry point. So if you are considering a trip, contact us ASAP so that we can discuss trip options.

RSVP for the Wilderness Journey Rendezvous

Our annual “Wilderness Journey Rendezvous” will be coming up on May1st at Island Lake Recreation, in Brighton, MI. Here we will have a simulated campsite along with all equipment and canoes, so everyone can see that we use only the best equipment. At the Rendevous, we will serve food and beverages for everyone. We would like all of our past and new clients to come along so we all can answer questions and exchange stories. Actually, anyone who might be interested in a future trip is welcome also. RSVP PLEASE! Please email us if you intend on coming to the Rendezvous, so we have an idea of how much food to bring.  Thank you

NEWSLETTERS

Check out newsletters page on our website. Summer months include trip reports that will give you a great idea what to expect.

We encourage all our 2010 clients to pay particular attention to the June thru September trip reports, they will have up to date information on the fishing techniques and the types of lures and colors that are productive.

Trip of a lifetime

This is a story of the very first person I took into the Boundary Waters.  It seems so long ago.  This is a story that I never wrote about. It was long before we had the newsletter, when we were just starting out.  It was on this trip when I knew I had made the right decision in becoming a guide.

It was just me and Dave Blake.  We were taking a trip up to the Canadian border and we were hitting a great lake for large Northerns, Smallmouth and of course Walleye too. It was a great 6 day trip the weather was great; it was in the middle of August and as it turned out the fishing was legendary. I won’t go into the details but we slammed the fish. When we first arrived Dave told me he and his dad would always make a competition out of their trips…you know the largest fish, first fish and most fish of each species for just a couple of bucks. So we both kept the Blake tradition alive. Well as it turned out the fishing was so good that just a couple of hours into the first day, Dave in the bow turned and looked at me and said, “I’m sorry but the contest is over because we could not possibly keep track of all these fish.”  We laughed, agreed and went back to fishing. We never could figure it out.  All the things we had learned over the years were against us as far as the fishing was concerned.  It was hot, some days 90 degrees, sunny every day and yet we would catch fish all day in 4’ to 8’ and that included walleyes. On the last evening we were fishing, we had 2 hours of sunlight left and I put my fishing rod down to lay  back and enjoyed the scenery.   As I watched Dave catch fish, he turned to me and asked why I quit fishing.  I laughed and said, “I have nothing else to prove.”  While we paddled back to the campsite we decided that we would fish a different spot and low and behold we were still slamming the fish it was as if we could not do any wrong.

When we were sitting around the campfire and going over all the stories, then we were all quiet for a few minutes enjoying the wilderness, the stillness of the night. Dave broke the silence to laugh.  He said, “The Boundary Waters may have ruined fishing for me because it could never be like this anywhere else.”  I whole heartedly agreed. Now Dave has been on numerous trips and is planning another one this year. I would like to thank Dave because he made the trip enjoyable and jumped right in and made it a challenge as well. Who knows if he were a trip wrecker maybe I would be doing something else right now…Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! My life is here and my future is in the Boundary Waters!

Wildlife... The Beaver

Holding a twig in its claws, a beaver gnaws the bark with its sharp teeth. Beavers are one of the largest rodents on Earth.

Photograph by Michael S. Quinton/  Provided by National Geographic

Beavers are famously busy, and they turn their talents to reengineering the landscape as few other animals can. When sites are available, beavers burrow in the banks of rivers and lakes. But they also transform less suitable habitats by building dams. Felling and gnawing trees with their strong teeth and powerful jaws, they create massive log, branch, and mud structures to block streams and turn fields and forests into the large ponds that beavers love.

Domelike beaver homes, called lodges, are also constructed of branches and mud. They are often strategically located in the middle of ponds and can only be reached by underwater entrances. These dwellings are home to extended families of monogamous parents, young kits, and the yearlings born the previous spring.

Beavers are among the largest of rodents. They are herbivores and prefer to eat leaves, bark, twigs, roots, and aquatic plants.

These large rodents move with an ungainly waddle on land but are graceful in the water, where they use their large, webbed rear feet like swimming fins, and their paddle-shaped tails like rudders. These attributes allow beavers to swim at speeds of up to five miles (eight kilometers) an hour. They can remain underwater for 15 minutes without surfacing, and have a set of transparent eyelids that function much like goggles. Their fur is naturally oily and waterproof.

There are two species of beavers, which are found in the forests of North America, Europe, and Asia. These animals are active all winter, swimming and foraging in their ponds even when a layer of ice covers the surface.

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Ramsey Dowgiallo