Little Moose Lodge Blog

Terry and Monica wish all of our past, present and future guests a safe, happy and prosperous new year.

We have decided not to raise our rates this year, so they will remain the same as in 2009. Our webmaster should be updating the rates web page soon as it still says 2009 rates.

We also regret to inform those who planned to visit us at the All Canada Shows in 2010, that we will not have a booth this year. We informed All Canada Staff on October 2, 2009 that we will be unable to attend shows in 2010, unfortunately they still have us on the exhibitor list for Chicago, Minneapolis, Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay. Sorry for any inconveniece but with last years down turn in the economy it affects us hard too. It cost us over $20,000 to attend the shows in 2009.

In 2009 we also had new boats and motors to offer our guests. We returned the 2009 17′ G3 boats to the dealer at the end of the season and plan to lease 3 new 2010 models again this year, but if there is a lack of interest we will not add these upgrade boats to our small fleet of 16 ft boats. So if you are planning on coming to Little Moose and want the G3 17′ boat available, let us know. There are several weeks in 2010 that we do not have any 16′ boats w/30 HP motors available, as they are already reserved.

Last fall we finally got the new siding and new door installed on our larger three bedroom cabin. It looks so much better with all the siding and trim up. We will continue to make improvements as we do every season, besides the new 2010 boats we will be replacing some of the older gas barbeques and cabin appliances. Our guests comfort is most important to us at Little Moose.

If you are a new or old guest please let us know that you plan to vacation at Little Moose in 2010 so we can reserve a cabin and/or boat while they are available. We operate on a first come first serve basis so deposits are necessary to reserve your party a time slot, We will hold you spot with prior arrangement or if we receive a deposit within 21 days of booking.

Monica and I are at our winter address in Alberta but can still be reached via our toll free number at 1-866-597-7171 or email at littlemooselodge@littlemoose.com

We look forward to hear from you.

Kind Regards

Terry

We had a huge dump of snow for the October 10th opening, 8 inches of the white stuff in less than 24 hours. Picture below is from Oct.10

The snow lasted several days and now is completely gone, although the weather is threatening with more snow tha will probably stay this time. Picture below is from Oct.25

During opening week we hosted 8 resident hunters and two non-resident hunters. Despite the terrible weather everyone was successful. The group of 8 harvested a total of 20 deer, one big bodiied 8 pointer, two forks a button and 16 does, obviously they were meat hunters and hunting without guide. Of our two guided hunters, one was happy to hunt for a day and a half of his six full days, he missed an opportunity at a very nice 8 point, but later shot a smaller buck that he was pleased with. The other fella wanted a big buck for a mount back home, unfortunately he never got the chance in 4-1/2 days of hunting, although he saw a cow moose, several 4 points and spikes, a big bodied 6 point and several does.

As fate would have it the trail cam got a few pics of this nice 10 pointer, at the blind he was going to hunt buton  a last minute decision, opted for a different blind. Its a game of luck to be at the right place at the right time.

The month of September was our best weather all summer, but with that nice weather we had many days with 90-100% humidity and the flies were terrible out in the bush setting up tree stands.

This past week it has bee cold with a lot of rain, it has been very windy up until today. Our long range forecast is calling for snow late next week.

Below is an area very close to the lodge that I have a ground blind set up in. It’s near major trails that intersect. The trail cam was put here a few days ago and good activity is happening, although the pics are at night during a full moon phase, plus the high winds have probably made the deer quite skittish.

We have pretty much wrapped up fishing season and are getting ready for the Whitetail Deer hunt. The fishing right now is spectacular but everyone has football, hockey, baseball and hunting on thier minds. The past few weeks I have gotten out several times for the evening bite. It’s been quite easy to catch and release 50 walleye in a couple hours with two of us fishing.

I took this picture this past weekend from our docks. Guess where the walleye bite is? I think these were the only boats out fishing, it’s really quiet on the lake at this time of year.

The weather in September was the nicest we had all summer, it now has started to cool off and the leaves are starting to change color.

Again this year we tried to keep track of all the trophy fish our guests caught. We had 104 trophy fish that qualified for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters Anglers award. More than 90% of these fish were caught and released.

Here is the top three fish from the six major species in our lakes.

32″ walleye - Clearwater Lake - Cheryl Lohr
30″ walleye - Clearwater Lake - Chris Elfering
30″ walleye - Clearwater Lake - Terry Berryman

20″ smallmouth - Cedar Lake - David Lohr
20″ smallmouth - Cedar Lake - Rich Brizzolara
19″ smallmouth - Clearwater Lake - Jared Peterson 

40″ pike - Rice Lake - Christian Jensen
38″ pike - Stan Anthony - Clearwater Lake
36″ pike - Panarama Lake - AJ Buran

32″ lake trout - Pipestone Lake - Sue Wahl
30″ lake trout - Pipestone Lake - Tom Edie
29″ lake trout - Pipestone Lake - Pat Wahl

42″ muskie - Clearwater Lake - Scot Miesbauer
42″ muskie - Clearwater Lake - Scot Miesbauer
40″ muskie - Slender Lake - James Chesemore

14.5″ crappie - Lake Despair - Willy Weldon
14″ crappie - Lake Despair - Gary Hendrickson
14″ crappie - Lake Despair - Scott Erickson

13.25″ perch - Rice Lake - Ryan Gill
13″ perch - Clearwater Lake - Terry Berryman
13″ perch - Clearwater Lake - Gary Hendrickson

All of the walleye, pike, smallmouth and muskie were released, so maybe you will be the next lucky one to catch one of these Ontario trophy fish!

I went out yesterday to check the trail cams at a few of the whitetail deer hunt areas, unfortunately one of my cameras had a malfunction, All the pics below are from one area on the lake, it is getting good activity, so far the biggest deer is an 8 point. Its a good area where a guest harvested an 11 point whitetail from two seasons ago. (last year we shut camp down in September and did not offer hunts)

I also checked some of my other areas that I have stands/blinds set up in. It is very wet out in some of theses areas because of the beavers and/or all the rain we had this summer. Right now they are difficult to access to set up the trail cams, so for now I have them moved into other dryer areas.

We still have some openings for resident or non-resident hunters. Call Terry if you would like to find out more.

Anyways here are some pics from the one trail cam.

I apologize to all our blog readers for the length of time since the last post. We have been busy getting some projects done now that we have nice weather. One project we still need to complete is to install the exterior siding to cabin #8, the three bedroom cabin with the recently constructed addition. I picked up the rest of the material today, so now I just need to find enough time to get it done in the next few weeks.

As previously mentioned, the weather has been nice, in fact it has been the best weather we have had all summer. The walleye fishing has been excellent, our guests are catching great numbers every day, mornings and especially evenings are the best bites. Some of the guests are catching 30 walleye in a few hours every evening on Clearwater Lake. Jigs tipped with a minnow are consistantly cathching walleye in 20-28 feet deep. Most of the walleye are in the 14-16 inch range, perfect eating size, although there have been several 27 and 28 inch eyes caught in the past few weeks.

Pike fishing has really picked up over the past few weeks, the Chris Banes party did very well, catch and releasing over 75 pike on Panarama Lake over two days of fishing this boat cache lake. The party reported all between 20-36 inches with A.J. Buran catching the 36 inch pike. Christian Jensen of the party caught and released the biggest pike of the year from Manomin river, right at the south portage. I wish I had the pictures to post, I seen them, they are nice fish, hope you fells send the pics soon. Luke Peters caught a 32 inch pike from Panarama Lake. The Mark Anthony party also had a great week of fishing, Stan Anthony caught a 38 inch northern from Clearwater Lake. The top three pike were all caught last week by these guests.

Luke with 32 inch pike

Bass fishing has been very good, especially on Cedar Lake, a small lake close to the lodge that we have a boat cached on. Mark and Stan Anthony caught 25 bass one day, than the next day Mark and Charlie Ryan caught over 50 bass, about 25 were largemouth. The largest bass was a 19″ smallmouth caught by Mark Anthony. Christian Jensen caught an 18″ smallie on Lake Despair, yours truly caught a chunky 19 inch smallmouth from Clearwater and Charlie Ryan caught a nice 17.5″ smallmouth from Cedar Lake.

Yours truly with 19 inch Clearwater Smallie

Although none of our guests have tried for lake trout over the past few weeks, we have reports that the lakers are biting well on Pipestone Lake. Lake trout season ends September 30th. Muskie fishing has been quiet with not many of our guests angling for them.

We have openings for the rest of September, in fact there are some great savings for most of our plans we offer. This is  the best time of year for fishing, the weather is very decent, there is not many fisherman on the lakes, and there is no bugs!

Call Terry and Monica to book your fall fishing trip to Little Moose Lodge.

This season we have definately seen enough rain, wind and cold weather, the past few weeks have ben a perfect example of this. Considering all the cold fronts that have passed through, fishing has been pretty good for those who work at it, the fish are not jumping in the boat. Precise boat control and patience will get the most fish.

I have guided quite a bit in the past week and have found the walleye quite scattered in depths from 4 to 24 feet, the one constant is they are in or near the cabbage weeds. Jigs tipped with minnows is my preference, although leeches and crawlers also produce. We have been catching 20-40 walleye each time out, not spectacular, but enough action to keep things interesting.

This week we have the Wahl families in camp, they have been guests of Little Moose Lodge for a lot of years. The Wahl’s come every year for the lake trout in Pipestone Lake. As usual they are doing very well, catching several brutes while jigging the deeper water.

Below are pictures of 32 and 27 inch lakers caught by Susie Wahl and Pat Wahl.

Suzie Wahl with 27 and 32 inch Laker's

Pat Wahl with 27 inch laker

For those who like perch, the fishing has been very good, they are where the walleye are, in the weeds! The younger generation in camp have been catching the big fish! Spencer Wartner’s 12 inch perch has been the largest in the past few weeks. Willy Weldon caught a 14.5 ” crappie in Despair, the largest black crappie of the season to date. Keegan Gallagher caught and released a 27 inch walleye from Lake Despair and a 17 inch smallie from Clearwater Lake. Ryan Gallagher caught and released a nice 32 inch pike from Clearwater.

Well it’s time to get back to work with the yardwork. Look for the next post in a week or two.

Regards

Terry

Over the next several weeks I will be out and about pre-scouting new hunting areas and also checking the established areas that I have blinds and stands set up in. Stayed tuned as I start accummalting trail cam pics they will get posted on our blog.

Kind Regards

Terry-Little Moose Lodge

Over the past several weeks we have had warmweather in the 90’s but we have also had weather with temperatures in the low 50’s. At times our guests have had the cabin space heaters going to keep warm, who would expect this during July!

The lake temperatures have been going up and down like a yo-yo with the cold fronts rolling in and out. One day the surface temp is 70 degrees, the next day it’s at 60 degrees. This weather has affected the mayfly hatch as well, instead of one big hatch that lasts several days, we have seen a series of smaller hatches but they have been present the past two weeks. There still is some mayflies but it looks like it’s near the end, and thankfully so is the cold weather; it’s very nice and calm today, the long range forecast is more of the same.

Although the walleye have been gorging on mayflies, most of our guests have still managed to find a decent bite somewhere on our lakes as the hatch has not been all at the same time on the Clearwater-Pipestone Chain of Lakes. Everyone did’nt have much troble to catch their limits, some days they had to work at it other days the fishing was fairly fast where boats were catching 20-30 walleye in the morning or evening bites. The walleye on Clearwater are getting caught between 12-25 feet deep on jigs tipped with live bait. On the south lakes such as Despair the weed walleye are being caught between 4-16 feet deep.

Clearwater still surrenders the biggest walleye, several trophy size walleye were caught and released during the past few weeks including Dave Miller’s 25 inch eye and my 30 inch walleye that I caught about 5 minutes away from the lodge.

30 inch Clearwater Lake Walleye

Norhtern Pike fishing has been good, especially on Panarama Lake, a catch and release lake where we have a boat cached. The Gill party enjoyed a day on the lake where they caught about 30 pike between 20-30 inches in size. The wilson party also had another good day, catching 25 pike in several hours.

There have been quite a few pike over 30 inches caught by guests of Little Moose; to date, Doug Anderson is in number one spot with this 35 inch gator caught and released on Clearwater Lake.

35 inch Clearwater Pike

With the weather patterns not consistent the bass were on and off their beds throughout the first two weeks of July. We had about a half dozen beds in front f our beach. One nest was under our docks, the male bass had become one of our pets for a few weeks as he readily ate the live crawlers and leeches I fed him.  He got quite used to me although I could not quite get him to take a crawler from my hand underwater above his nest, he stayed about a foot away but was not aggressive.

Some of the bigger bass caught in the last few weeks were 18 inch beauties caught by Randy Tulachka, Brett Wiebensohm and David Mims. Norm Wilson caught and released a 19 inch brute from our boat cache on Cedar Lake. Norm is pictured below with his nice catch.

Fight is on

Who will win...Norm or fish...

Norm wins the battle

Kiss of appreciation

Released to fight another day!

Some nice size perc have been caught lately, including Dan Gill’s 12 inch perch, Chad Surly’s 13 inch perch and Ryan Gill holding the top spot of this season with a nice 13.25″ slab. We have no lake trout reports to provide as none of our guests have went lake fishing. That will soon change as we have some regular guests coming in August that are diehard laker fisherman.

Scot and Cory Meisbauer spent 8 days at Little Moose fishing almost exclusively for muskie. Their first evening here they had 13 follows and the next morning another 9 follows, of this astonishing 22 muskie follws they connected on 4 fish. Over the next week they estimated seeing 75 muskie with 4 or 5 over 50 inches. They had a tough time getting them to bite, although chasing their bulldog lure from deep water to the boat time after time. Scot and Cory finished the week with 7 caught muskie, the largest was two 42 inch fish and two 40 inch fish. Still waiting for those pics you showed me on your camera Scot and Cory.

Thats all for now folks. Please send us your pictures and even video of your stay at Little Moose, we appreciate it.

Warm Regards

Terry - Little Moose Lodge

A week ago we received the following email that shocked us and brought tears to our eyes.

Terry and Monica,

Yesterday morning dad sufferred a massive heart attack and passed away. I consider myself very  fortunate to have gotten to spend last week with him at your resort and will always have the wonderful memories of our trips up there.

He really enjoyed it up there and looked forward to our next trip every year. He was also very impressed with you and your family and the very friendly atmosphere you and your family created and how you made each guest feel at comfortable and at home.

Thank you,

Mike Hendrickson

Gary with 30 inch walleye

 The Fish Gods were smiling on Gary on his trips to Little Moose; and now we have no doubt that Gary will be one of those Fish Gods. Not only was he a great Fisherman, but more important, Gary was an outstanding person and a friend we will always remember.

With heavy hearts we send our condolences to Gary’s Family, Freinds and his Fishing buddy - his son Mike.

Terry, Monica, Kristy & Terrilyn