Black Bear Island Lodge Fly-In Trip (pic heavy)

[Divert]

Well I have finally found time to get some pics and a few words up about probably one of my favorite places on earth.

A group of 7 of us left Westlock on June 23 after what seemed like a forever six months. We all decided on a route that would take us up to Bonneyville then over to Meadow lakes finally cutting across on a gravel road just after Green lake which took us up past Dore Lake, this however ment 150kms of gravel with zero cell service in case of any problems. The gravel actually turned out to be a much better road then most of the paved highways, and it cut at least an hour off of the drive. We finally made it to La Ronge in a little over seven hours just stopping for food, which I must admit seemed much longer due to the anticipation. Our charter flight was supposed to leave between 5 and 630, we found out once we made it to the dock at 3pm that it had been delayed at least till 730-8 ISH, great. Well off to the bar we go.
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Finally got onto the plane at around 845 and into camp for 915. As soon as we landed we were gretted by DJ Enns who is the owner of Black Bear Island Lodge, and taken to the dining room for a T bone steak dinner. From that point on all we were responsable for was to fish, eat, and drink
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Our days consisted of being woken up by DJ at 630 with a pot of hot coffee being brought to your cabin, we would sit on the porch drinking our coffee waking up at our own speed. Breakfasts were served at 700 some of the breakfasts were omlettes with hashbrowns, french toast with sausage, pancakes and bacon, among other tasty dishes all usually served with homemade bread. We would then head back to the cabin and fill our coolers with ice and our prefered beverages for the day of fishing. We would then be picked up at 800 on the dock in front of the guest cabins by our guides, the type of fishing was always up to us and the best part was the boat rides to get to the fishing grounds could be as short as 5 min up to an hour it all depended on what you said to the guide you wanted to do. We generally started out fishing for big northerns then would switch to walleye an hour or so before shore lunch, we would easily catch enough walleye for lunch in 10-15 mins. Shore lunch consisted of Walleye/Pike, Potatoes with onions, and beans. All prepared by your guide while you either sit back and take in the landscape or even fish of shore if your so inclined. I don't know what it is but those were the best lunches I have ever had. We would then go out fishing untill our arms couldnt take anymore. Usually ending up at the cabins around 430, relaxing on the balconys with a cold drink untill dinner at 700. Some examples of the suppers were lasagne, taco's with home made tortillas, Cornish game hens, Roast beef, Ribs. I would have considered it amazing food if I was eating it in the city let alone eating it in the middle of no where.

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DJ opperates 16 and 18ft boats with mostly 25hp engines, all the boats that I was in had flat bottoms and swivel seats which made fishing really tough after a big shore lunch as a nap always tried to creep up on me. His guides are an amazing group of guys, alot of them were actually born and raised on the lake. They would take us to places where they were raised for shore lunch and tell us a great deal about the history of the lake. Our guide took us to floating stone rock which legend has it that a medicine man rode accross a channel, it is thought that if you leave a beloning behind you will have good luck for the following year with what ever that beloning is related to, bullets for a good hunting year, money for well more money.


The camp has a main lodge with DJ's living quarters on the second level and the main dining area on the main level, we were even able to watch the UFC fight! There are also four du-plex cabins for the guests which can hold 4 guys each. Almost every evening we would end up sitting on the deck having a few drinks and talking about our fish stories of that day.

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As for the fishing our group of seven managed over 35 fish over the 41" mark with the biggest being a 46". My biggest northern was a 44" and walleye was a 24.5" I couldn't believe that towards the end of the trip I was considering any fish in the high 30" range a small fish and not worthy of a picture or even coming out of the water. The only complaint we had was that the fishing in Black Bear Island Lake had ruined us for any Alberta fishing that we might do this summer.

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All in all I highly recomend anyone that is either looking for a place to go or even if you have ever thought of going that you go to Black Bear Island Lodge. The whole experience is one that I will remember for the rest of my life.
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[gramps73]

Great tip boys and congrats on the fishing...

[flyguyd]

Looks like it was an awesome trip

[Daceminnow]

very cool. thanks for taking the time to share your adventure with us. the shore lunch pics have my drooling big time. i know what you mean about some of the best lunches ever. minus 30 slave lake walleye meals in the open air are some of my all time favorites. would you care to share what the gizmo is you boys are using to hold the fish with is? never seen such an animal.

[Dust1n]

that meal looks very good

[TyreeUM]

awesome pics...that is a heck of a shore lunch. You obviously had a blast

[fordtruckin]

Great photos thanks for posting!

[Divert]

Dace, I'm not sure what that gizmo is called but it's basically a handle with a plastic hook on it that goes through the gills. I have to say very handy device and there's no way I would have been able to manage high 20lb fish without it.

[Daceminnow]

Dace, I'm not sure what that gizmo is called but it's basically a handle with a plastic hook on it that goes through the gills. I have to say very handy device and there's no way I would have been able to manage high 20lb fish without it.


interesting. looks like it could have been a kite string spool.