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May 2007
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fishing opener, May 12th, was a success. For a change, the weather was beautiful-warm and sunny- a far cry from the weather in previous years. The people we saw had nice stringers of fish which generally consisted of a “variety pack” of northern, walleye, bass, and some pan fish. Bass were the most prevalent, but then that is typical for that time of year.
Generally the fish
were in shallow
water eating minnows
and minnow type
baits (i.e. Rapalas).
The bass are still
pre-spawn, but the
walleye and northern
are post spawn. The
walleye are
illusive, but the
depth range of those
caught was between
eight and twelve
feet. They varied in
size from small to
about twenty-six
inches. The latter
were females and
generally released
to spawn again.
We know from the
e-mails and
telephone calls we
have received that
many of you are
concerned about the
forest fire that was
near us. The fire
was along the Gun
Flint Trail. This
area is north and
west of Grand Marais,
which is about 70
miles northeast of
Duluth on Lake
Superior; or from
Custom Cabins and as
the crow flies, it
was about 35-40
miles northeast
along the
US/Canadian Border.
Some 78,000 acres
were burned (36,000+
on the US side),
which by comparison
to the
Florida/Georgia fire
was nothing. So far,
the expenses are
over 10.5 million
dollars, which
doesn’t include
property damage.
Some resorts and
homes were taken,
but fortunately no
lives were lost.
Telephone and
electrical services
are still being
restored.
Many, many
helicopters,
bulldozers, and
other equipment,
along with over
seven hundred fire
fighters and support
personnel were
brought in to try to
contain the blaze.
The terrain is quite
rough and it was
difficult to
position the
equipment and people
so all would be safe
and effective. In
addition, the winds
kept shifting from
west to east. When
the winds were from
the east, we
definitely could
smell the smoke and
see it in the air.
With the frequency
of the helicopters
and other aircraft
flying over Moose
Lake and the nearby
area, we felt as
though we were at
O’Hare Airport in
Chicago at rush
hour. Finally, the
winds became
predominately from
the southwest and
after the fire
burned back through
some of the original
areas, it moved into
Canada. Then
jointly, the
American and
Canadian fire
fighters were able
to contain the fire
and return things to
a relative state of
normalcy. As a note,
! a lot of the fire
occurred in a heavy
blow down area,
which was a
compliment of the
July 4, 1999 wind
storm. The cause of
the fire is still
being investigated.
Currently, because
we have had some
rain and the trees
have “greened-up”,
all fire
restrictions have
been lifted. To say
that we caught up on
the amount of rain
fall we usually have
for this time of
year is definitely
not true. The
meteorologists in
Duluth have said
that we have had
drought conditions
since last August.
We had very little
snow last winter,
and very few spring
rains of any
consequence.
 The lakes are low, and unless things change, you will probably see a lot of rocks that you have never seen before. We recommend you travel very carefully through the narrows at the end of Moose Lake going into Newfound.
Just as the ice was
getting ready to go
out, which by the
way was April 26th,
our weather changed
from warm to cold.
The picture shows
that the ice had
melted from around
the island in the
front of the
picture. As a result
there was an eerie
steam that that came
off of the slightly
frozen lake.
Even with the lack
of moisture, the
spring flowers have
returned and are
trying very hard to
grow and bloom. The
columbine or
honeysuckle, as they
are also called,
have been beautiful.
The pistols (the
little stem-like
portion with a
little bulb at the
end of the blossom)
when extracted from
the bloom and tasted
are quite sweet. We
don’t recommend this
exercise if the area
has been sprayed for
weeds, etc. The
daises will be
blooming shortly.
 Now, it is time to turn all of our thoughts toward summer and fishing, fishing, fishing. When the bugs are biting with a vengeance so are the fish. We look forward to seeing you soon.
Custom Cabin Rentals
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