Feeling Hot-Hot-Hot

We are full throttle in the thick of summer. Kids AND adults jumping off the docks, cabin fans blasting, a visit to Whiskey Jack for ice-cream and air conditioning, mayfly hatches coming and going just as quickly, blueberries ready for the picking, water toys getting used by all, water temps gradually climbing to upper 70's, and the cabbage weeds finally developed for more of that summer fishing bite.

Week 8 was one of the most comfortable weather weeks, followed by week 9 where we had two 97 degree days! We had heard of the temps in the states being over 100 degrees in June, and never thought it'd make its way this far North. Our campers were such troopers and thankfully it got to be bearable after those tough two days. With the heat and no recent rain the ground turned crispy and the wildfires in areas of Ontario gave some a scare of proximity to us. Our 105 area was fine, minimal smoke haze a couple days- but it is sad to hear of other fishing camps getting destroyed by those fires.

Then our week 10 weather was back to mostly comfortable. I say mostly because we did have a microburst kind of storm come through on Thursday and knock down 5 large trees (pics below), but fortunately no one was hurt and miraculously very minimal damage to property. "Neighbor" Big Rick came by to offer help in the clean up, and our nephew Conner who was visiting also volunteered to help. Gerry and Ryan got their workouts in that day, and Andrea reached out saying it reminded her of a storm when they ran camp that knocked the tree between cabin 1 and 2 without hitting either or vehicles- maybe some of you reading were there for that.

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Haan Part 1 Trip:

Denise and Dirk caught 5 lake trout:

Fran and Steve have some smallie magic, as if there's a smallmouth magnet on the end of their lines:

Mark found this beauty:

Joe caught fish of a diverse size :)

Regina, Boone, John, and Brandy had fun on the water and the girls brought their margarita maker for some evening fun too:

And week 9 I even topped the pike category with this one:

A touching family story, the Gobles wanted to remember this year's Canada trip and hired a photographer from Red Lake to do a photo shoot at Tall Pines (Photo credits: Among the Pines-Photography):

Mack was back his personal best a 38" northern:

Eagle's Nest showcasing some of the great food and beverages they enjoy, and a symbolic pic on the beach of Dave missing the guys trip this year

Greg and family needed and deserved this vacation week and caught a lot and diverse bunch of fish:

Another group that needed and deserved a week up here, Houli & Jaime left the kids at home this year and did a couples trip.

All their Tall Pines merch brought them luck catching multi-species:

Lane, Jim and son Austin had their best fishing day ever last week:

Buddy Brad and son Hudson were back fishing hard once again:

Ryan took out our nephew Conner and niece Mikayla one afternoon:

Leaderboard Updates:

More potluck and outdoor activities:

Some of the storm damage- theres a video on FB that shows it a little better:

Amongst feeling hot-hot-hot and all the weather fluctuations, guests had plenty of fishing fun on the water. While some days fishing could be tough, many days the fishing was hot-hot-hot too. With so many fish pics sent in since the last blog, I couldn't put in each angler's story in this one, but that is one of the best parts of this job. That I get to know most guests and their backstory to appreciate how special certain moments and certain catches are. All in all July has been flying by, and jam packed with guests creating memories.

And finally, with half the season officially in the books, lets take a look at the season leaderboard as some records are holding and some have been knocked off: