The summer’s end comes with many new projects around the lake

Another successful season has passed! Although we are still doing some maintenance projects around the lake, the lodges are closed down. Water lines are drained, boats are cleaned and stored for the winter and outboards have been winterized. There is so much to do in the fall, it takes much more time to close than it does to open in the spring. This year is especially time consuming given all the projects we have undertaken to improve our facilities. We’ll resume work on inside projects once the ice is safe, which is typically in late January.

The ice out in this past spring was right around normal. We were able to get to Loch Island and the outposts in early May by boat and begin opening the cabins and prepare the boats for the season. That helped getting the new dining room finished for opening day. It is a great improvement over the old dining room, expanding our seating two fold and providing awesome views of the lake at the same time. What a difference!

We added three new 18′ cedar strip boats to our fleet last summer, with six more Yamaha 20 hp outboards as well. For 2025 we have another three cedar strips and five, 20 hp Yamaha outboards on order. Our fleet of cedar strip boats now is just over 30, more than enough to accommodate all of our guests, even when we are full. In addition to our rental fleet, we also operate a few cedar strips for guide and work boats. Our two Georgian Bay cedar strips are used for guest pick ups. The Georgian Bay model is a much wider boat, capable of hauling heavy loads and planing out quickly given their wide beams. 2025 will be our first year of operating two Georgian Bays which will greatly improve our pick up and take out times for guests. The whole staff is very excited about running those next year!

Another addition to our boat fleet is a small sailboat. Yes, you read that correctly, a small sailboat. I don’t think there has ever been a  sailboat on Wabatongushi Lake, but given the lakes size and depth, why not try a little sailing? Many of you may remember Rowan, one of our guides and dock staff on Loch Island. Rowan is an avid sailor and will be teaching interested staff and guests how to operate the sailboat. I’m a bit anxious about it as I know I’ll probably flip it early on, but I’m willing to give it a try! I wonder how it will troll?

We had a great year with lots of new and returning guests. Our staff was excellent last summer and many of them have already committed to coming back next season! There were a lot  of fantastic Walleye caught and released, including a 32″ monster hooked in June! We also had a number of big Walleye caught later in the season, as usual, in deep water down near Loch Island. You can’t beat August and September for big Walleye. We never had any shortage of fish for our daily shore lunches. As most of you know, our lunches are done traditionally on the shore of the lake close to your fishing spots. Shore lunches are provided every day, weather permitting, hauling everything out and bringing it all back just to get ready for the next day. This is a highlight of the trip for many, shore lunch is something we take great pride in!

At the end of September, we started our fall projects. Every year, we tackle at least one major project. With our five properties spread out all around the lake, logistical challenges are always an issue. Everything needs to be hauled in by bush road, then water. This year we had a large amount of lumber and other supplies to deliver on Loch Island and the Isle of Jordan. A major lodge renovation on Loch Island will be quite surprising to many of you. It started with a needed repair on the back wall of the 70 year old original cabin (part of the lodge now). After removing the old wall we decided to renovate the entire building. The office was moved out of the lodge floorspace and relocated outside into a nook that attached to the building. The old kitchen is gone, moved into the back of the building and that space is now part of the lodge. There will be a lot more room inside the lodge now and it will be much more enjoyable for everyone!

At Isle of Jordan, many improvements were made this season. A new generator has been installed and the oven was replaced in the kitchen. This fall, a large deck was added onto the front side of the cabin overlooking the lake. This deck consists of a 32 X 12 section and another 8 x 8 section adding much needed space. We also added two sliding glass doors that lead from the porch to the deck. This has flooded the porch with much needed natural light and provides easy access for loading and unloading luggage. The back door is also being replaced with a new exterior door. All of this took quite some time to build and we hope you will enjoy the new improvements at Isle of Jordan.

Besides those two major projects, we also did minor improvements at other locations behind the scenes. Boat storage off season has always been an issue for us and we have slowly been tackling that over the last few years. All of our boats are stored at Camp Lochalsh in the off season. We started a small scale version of an indoor boat storage facility at our winter house in the old ghost town of Lochalsh. We’ll be storing our Georgians and the sailboat there this winter. For next year, our plan is to build an indoor boat storage facility at Camp Lochalsh similar to the small scale one at out winter house. This will help us improve the longevity of ours boats and allow us to work on them during the winter months.

Late May is one of our favorite times of the year. For about two weeks, usually around the end of the month, the forest comes alive with the elusive black morel mushroom! The last couple years, the harvest was less than bountiful, but this season it picked up quite a bit. Several guests joined us on mushroom hunts and it’s always a blast trekking through the bush hunting for those delicate, rare morels. We don’t get the big white morels up our way. We just get the blacks. Their flavor is earthy and very unique. If you would like to join us for a morel hunt, plan your trip around the last few weeks in May!

We’ve booked three sport shows for this winter already! First up is the Ultimate Fishing Show Detroit, January 9th – 12th at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi. We’ve been doing this show for years and it’s a great place to pick up tackle, especially ice fishing gear! Our second show is the Columbus Fishing Expo in Columbus Ohio. It runs February 7th – 9th and it’s in the Bricker Building at the Ohio Expo Center. We have not done this show before, but we look forward to seeing new faces. The last show we’ve booked is the Ultimate Sport Show Grand Rapids. It’s at Devos Place, downtown Grand Rapids Michigan March 13th – 16th. We look forward to seeing everyone at the sport shows!

As we head into the US Thanksgiving, we’d like to thank all of our loyal guests. We couldn’t do all of this without you! We promise to do our very best sharing with you our little piece of heaven in Canada! See you all in 2025!

— Andy, Amy and all the Staff

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