covid-19 update

https://www.facebook.com/sunsetcountryadventures/posts/1753919898121562

Good morning to all our RSL Family, friends, and guests. Here is your Covid-19 update for Sunday April 18th, 2021. Can you say lather up, rinse, and repeat? Well that is what Ontario is doing. They have now forced us to cancel May, and if you have a reservation in June I'd start looking around for a US fishing destination, but we aren't calling June just yet. Better prepare for the worst and hope for the best. With the country starting to ban inter provincial travel you can expect the border to stay closed and Steve and I will have difficulty getting up there as it stands. An update on Harvey and Darlene is necessary and they are doing fine although they are missing their summer destination as well and of course so many familiar faces, and wishing they could get to RSL as well. Bill is also doing fine and waiting to start guiding again.

Folks I don't know when this nightmare will end, but certainly as we are all getting vaccinated you would have thought things would be getting better, but it seems Ontario is becoming more and more restrictive and heading down a rabbit hole no other country is doing.

With that in mind Steve and I are going to roll reservations for those affected same as last year. In light of these very difficult financial times we are proposing 2 things if you don't want to rollover. Although deposits are stated non-refundable in our brochure and website we want to offer a couple alternatives. The first is that if you want to cancel altogether we would give you a voucher worth your deposit for 5 years. The 2nd proposal would be to put you on a list and once we actually get to open and have guests we would then start to send deposits back to those who really want them. These 2 options are only for those who don't want to automatically roll into 2022. I hope you can all understand the financial constraints we and every tourist outfitter is facing during these times.

We are praying for a season at some point this year so if you have July, August, and September I still think it's possible we will see you this year.

On a optimistic note since anyone that knows me knows I'm an optimist. I assure you the Walleye, Northern, Musky, Smallie, Crappie, and Perch populations are growing rapidly with zero pressure on our pristine lake!

Until next update hang in there folks, stay safe, healthy, and spend time with family and friends!

Week 18 wrap-up

Good afternoon Rocky Shore Lodge friends and family! With Week 18 in the rear-view mirror its funny how nature works her magic. After a windy cold week last week we had some of the best weather we’ve had all year (Sorry Beth) this week. Gorgeous weather that we will probably have to pay for soon. LOL! The leaves are turning and the days are getting short up here that’s for sure. Boats are back in by around 730p.m. now as the sun is fading quickly. It’s such a beautiful time up here. Fishing has been good this week with the walleyes still hanging in 30 to 40 feet of water. One day some boats slammed them by Twin Islands in 15 to 20 feet, and Mike Weiser and Jay were fishing in deep water on a slow troll and as Mike turned the boat around he found a large school in 20 foot of water and they stopped the boat there and had a walleye catching party he said for the next 1.5 hours. You just never know sometimes where that active pod is going to hang out. I guess that’s why we call it fishing and not catching. I was informed the buoys by Twin Islands are now missing so I’m wondering if Margaret has made her way out in the lake or we have some people needing marker buoys. Anyway we’ll get that taken care of with a bleach bottle for now until next spring arrives.

Weird that we would have 3 marker buoys in the same area disappear in a week of each other.

Walleyes were seen in 35 to 40-foot on the steep drop offs. The wall off Hatfield, Deeper water off Hopeless point, and Little Manotek wall were all producing. Barry was catching them off the Weasel hole which is betweek Little Hatfield and Tween Islands I think. He gave me the coordinates but I haven’t bothered to plug it in to the gps yet, but when I do we’ll let the guests know this week where he had success.

We have 2 musky hunters coming up this week so I'll keep our Musky anglers in mind for next weeks blog.

Monster Fish Monday results: Congratulations to 3-time winner Dean Reiter. He scored a 26-inch Walleye, and Joe Campbell won his first hat with a 32-inch Northern Pike. Barry Neiland had to fight off a seagull to pull in his 2.5-inch perch out of the lake for the Micro fish prize!

Navy history/trivia: What was the name of the first U.S. aircraft carrier?

Answer: USS Langley: Converted from a Cyclops-class fleet collier. Since it was not as fast as the ships in the fleet the Langley could not conduct operations at sea. But it was invaluable for the

information gained and experience in handling aircraft at sea.

week 17 wrap-up!

Good morning Rocky Shore Lodge friends and family! As we shook hands with our Week 17 guests and wished them safe travels it’s hard to believe where the week went. We had wind all week and our anglers were forced to improvise overcome and adapt (Heartbreak Ridge reference). Not too many sandbar evenings this week that’s for sure. Looks like we’re going to hit 75 on Monday, but that’s September fishing. Some days are great, and some are not so great, but as our guests would attest it’s not work its fishing which is better than the best day at work. Brian, Celeste, and Jett caught 42 fish in a 24-hour period, and they did it on slip bobbers in 40 feet of water. You just have to fish where the fish are. We’re going to be starting a new ramp soon with the other one torn out but the weather like I said hasn’t been very good for building cribs and such, but I expect to have pictures this week of the new ramp. We’re also putting a wall in Penthouse 1 to make it a 2-bedroom cabin for those of you that stay up there. We lost a buoy over by Little Hatfield, and one of my former coworkers (Beth) and her husband Dave found the pebble beach that comes out. Fortunately, they weren’t traveling fast and didn’t do any harm to their boat. Dave and Beth both got in and pushed their boat off the beach so I named the beach after her. They did see the weight and line that we used to secure the marker buoy. If you are traveling up here this week or the next we will remind you about Beth’s beach (Yeah I named it after her LOL), and to stay farther off shore. Hoping I can get a marker buoy out there soon and it will be a non-issue again.

Walleyes were seen in 35 to 40-foot on the steep drop offs. The wall off Hatfield, Deeper water off Hopeless point, and Little Manotek wall were all producing. Some nice perch and one crappie were brough in from Spadina, and Hopeless Bay areas. With the warmer temps coming back this week it should be interesting fishing, and hopefully some nice sandbar evenings catching walleyes will be had.

Monster Fish Monday results: After discussion with the official judge and magistrate we decided to continue the contest through September, and besides we have hats and lures so why not. Congratulations to 2-time winner Jett Mikijanis he grabbed the Micro fish prize with a 5-inch Perch! First timers Beth Scozzafave, and Colin Frey pulled in 25-inch Walleye's for the Walleye hat, and 2-time winner Roger Beall boated a very nice edible 25-inch Northern Pike for the other prize. Competition was fierce and a good number of 20-inch and above were caught yesterday.

Navy history/trivia: Why are navy Chiefs called goats?

One pet, a goat named El Cid (meaning Chief) was the mascot aboard the USS New York. When its crew attended the fourth Navy-Army football game in 1893, they took El Cid to the game, which resulted in the West Pointers losing. ... This is said to be the source of the old Navy term, Goat Locker.