Caribou Falls Landing

Caribou Falls Landing guests reported that this was the best fishing that they have ever had!! The fishing was on fire and the walleyes were biting anything that was put in front of them. We had the pleasure of seeing Roy up at Caribou and Roy has been fishing with Halley’s Camps since 1997. Here are 2 photos of Roy one from 25+ years ago and one from this past summer in 2022 with his 30” walleye!!

Here also are a couple of photos of Don and Rich-a couple of fishing buddies!!! Another fishing crew caught the heck out of the walleyes the 3^rd week of June-Dennis and the boys said this was the best fishing that they have ever had at Halley’s Camps!!

The Bucholz party had some giggles as in their entire fishing group, fisherman Garry, had caught the smallest fish as well as the largest fish-they cannot all be trophies! LOL!!

Also, pictured is Louis Halley and Jim, Jim has now been guided by 4 generations of Halley’s starting with Louis’s great grandpa Louie, his grandpa Gene, his dad Chris and now Louis-how cool is that?!?

One Man Lake Lodge

One Man Lake Lodge had a busy start to the month with many fishermen. It was great seeing groups of couples, kids, and families. One of the favorite stories of the month was a student was able to plan his own graduation present and he chose a trip to One Man! Luke, his dad and friend came and fished at One Man-now that is a trip Luke will remember for always!! We were also happy to finally meet the significant others of some long-time fishing/hunting guests Dave and Mike!! Another family visiting was  Chris and Alyssa with their kids and her parents and it was awesome to see the family coming together-fishing and having fun. We really enjoyed all of our guests this month-we are just so happy to have everyone back besides the One Man on the island (this is a joke haha-One Man Lake Lodge sits on an island).

Kettle Falls Lodge

Kettle Falls had the pleasure of hosting the Walleye Derby gang organized by Denny Baker from Iowa. Denny has made 41 trips to Kettle Falls. Denny started coming when the barges were being used for customers at Kettle Falls before the lodge was even built-he has seen many changes through the Halley’s Camps decades. This year it was a mixed group of friends and family that caught a lot of walleyes while staying at Kettle Falls-ok they caught some bass and pike too! The weather this August was beautiful and the sunrise and sunsets were unforgettable.

Not only was this month full of fishing, but we were able to cross some items off the list. We replaced all the walkways at Kettle Falls with new composite decking. It looks great and will continue to do so for years to come!!

Halley’s Camps Fly in remote outposts cabins

Our fishing enthusiasts at our outposts proved there is lots of fish in the lakes!! We had groups from all over the US this month!! One of our groups, were from Illinois and they caught trophy pike and smallies! Way to go John and Aaron!!

Caribou Falls Landing

Caribou Falls Landing had some fishing excitement with the numbers of fish and the quality of the fish being hooked! This month the walleyes were on the humps, reefs, and shorelines throughout the river and the legendary northern pike were fun to hook into. Look at Rob and Don pictured here are happy as they reeled in and defeated these lake monsters. Fishermen reported lots of doubles and triples at one time in their boats which is nice to get everyone enjoying the fishing! Not only was the fishing great but the weather was perfect for swimming and living in the moment of the great outdoors. Guests were picking and relishing the fresh blueberries that they would either see on the shores of the lake or on their morning/evening walks!

One Man Lake

This July the trophy book was out and guests were registering a ton of trophies!! We hosted friends, families and corporate groups at One Man which is a great location for groups up to 20 people. We had a group of family from Texas of young and experienced fishing together-young and seasoned-they all gathered. The Siering Family also stepped into their home away from home at the lodge as they have been fishing for years at One Man. Guests at One Man were really enjoying our cook, Karin, as her cooking was amazing! Should’ve warned One Man Lake guests to watch the waist lines at One Man and she made sure there are no hungry fishermen!!

Kettle Falls

This month was full of amazing fishing, breathtaking sceneries, delicious food, and trips to toast to at the end of a day’s fish. For the past couple of years, the Ownby’s have been trying to have their 50th wedding anniversary celebration with lots of their family at Kettle Falls. This was the year it finally happened!! They had great fishing and memorable times! Kevin caught the largest trophy at Halley’s Camps this year with 33” of walleye!!!! That is almost 3 rulers long!!

The James family, new to Halley’s Camps and Kettle Falls, had absolutely outstanding fishing with multiple fish and trophies! The Osbournes, a father son duo, also had some great fishing-they had a quick trip only 2 days but WOWWWWW they really caught the fish! The photos of July’s fishing are outstanding!!

Halley’s Outposts Cabins

We had some fishing adventurers at our Trapline Lake this month-we don’t think there was much water that they hadn’t fished, boated through, paddled through or swam through!! Shad brings his family and friends and lives the fullest outdoorsman’s life while staying with us. Many Trapline guests this year loved the quiet solitude of Trapline Lake. Fishing multiple lakes a day/a week/a trip while catching walleye and northern! The sunsets off of the new deck at Trapline are something to remember forever as the sunset glistens off the water for miles after a day’s fish.

Rex Lake guests had enjoyed their fill of smallmouth bass fishing-LOTS of trophies this month as well as the number of fish being boated! The guests here loved the solitude of the north while exploring their way to Little Rex-the waterfalls on the river were absolutely beautiful and listening to the waterfalls watching the sunset was so captivating and relaxing.

Let’s not forget about Moosehorn-fishermen there enjoyed the cozy cabin, the great BASS fishing, beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Reports from one group was that they were able to watch the bass striking their lures!!

PHOTO CONTEST!!!

Please send us your fantastic photos of your fishing trip unless you don’t want them in any publications. The winner will win a dozen of minnows for their 2023 fishing trip-HA-just kidding-we are going to be giving the winner of the photo contest a gift certificate of $400.00 to be used on a 2023 fishing trip! Please email: [email protected] with your name, our Halley’s Camps lodge or outpost property name, and what month you stayed with us and we will let you all know the top 5 runner ups! Deadline is December 20, 2022.

We cannot begin to tell you all how good it was to see everyone in person and the handshakes, the hugs, the laughter, the fish stories-just everything about seeing so many people again-it was like a normal year. Well-almost normal. Everyone flying into Canada didn’t need any Covid tests but fishermen flying from Canada back into the states did-we had Covid tests on hand trying to make things easier for our customer’s travels. We were all ecstatic to hear that a week and a bit into June the testing requirements changed making it easier for all to return to the states without covid tests.

Speaking of travelling easier-all guests going to Caribou or using the Caribou Falls Landing as a gateway to get to Kettle, One Man or Dufault’s found it a lot easier to get across the road where the water was 32” high in May. We were hauling with our trucks our guests, their luggage and their boats as the water was too dang high. We were relieved when a company had been hired to come and fix the road after almost 2 weeks. The road was built up about 6-8’ in material and now we have lots of dry tires coming and going from camp and now our delivery trucks can get through too!! 

Forest Fire Season Flooded OUT

We sure didn’t have to worry about a fire season this June -we saw sun and rain throughout the month. Which is a good thing as compared to last year it was way too dry!

Kettle Falls Lodge

Guests were having a blast at Kettle Falls this month as the fishing was great and people were hooking into the fish! Still, a favorite of our shore lunches are the Canadian Maple Cream Cookies! The total trophy count at Kettle Falls was over 300 fish!! That is a lot of trophies!! Not only was the fishing good in quantity but the trophy count shows quality was there too – 30.5” walleye caught by Steve, a 42” pike caught by Nate and LOTS of 20” smallies!

One Man Lake Lodge

We had some awesome guests at One Man! Lots of return guests-the McCoy brothers were catching piles of nice bass-multiple, multiple trophies!! The Thompson group came up-this is multi decades of coming here to Halley’s Camps!! We actually had a couple of groups that were booked by the high school graduates as their high school graduation presents-how cool of a present is that??-a fishing trip to Halley’s Camps!! SCHOOLS OUT for SUMMER – which means the Halley kids’ guiding days are BACK!! Louis, Jonny and their cousin Seth started guiding lots of days! Louis guided a 3 generational family trip, the McCollums, and really caught the heck out of the fish – check out this large northern pike!! One Man guests enjoyed the new finishing touches around the lodge and had fantastic fishing!!

Caribou Falls Landing

Guests at Caribou Falls Landing and Dufault’s Island Outpost had some whopper stories of big fish and the Dickson group sure caught large exceptional bass and had walleye and pike trophy registries too. The Nelson brothers also had some great fish-37.25” lake trout was their monster and a pile of other trophies. Multiple northerns were caught at 40” and there were some over the 40” mark too-definitely picture worthy! 

Outposts

Our outpost camps were sure busy this June! There were lots of smallmouth bass caught at Rex Lake and Moosehorn Lake. We had quite a few guests catch 19”+ smallmouth bass at the outposts. The bass were on the top water with the cold spring time waters and the bass spawned in mid-late June. The walleye were hitting amazing on Trapline Lake where we had guests hooking into the walleye one after another. The largest walleye caught at Trapline was 29” in the month of June.

Get your 2023 Dates HOOKED!!

If you didn’t rebook your dates when you left, please give us a call at 1-800-465-3325 or email [email protected]!!

We have to admit the ice situation here was a little thick in the beginning of May. Chris and staff went to Kettle Falls Lodge to start the preparation of opening. They had to push a boat over 250 yards of snow and ice to get to the current where they hopped in the boat to go down in the current. Chris and Seth broke through the ice in a lot of the way to Kettle Falls. Within 4 days it was open enough where we could use the big boat to go back and forth. We were not using our normal access way to Kettle as the big section of Umfreville Lake on the English River was still frozen solid. For many days, the staff would go in and out of the lodge by boat. Finally in mid-may we had strong south winds and warm weather that was the perfect equation for melting and pushing the ice around enough that the entire river was open shortly after.

Bear Hunts

We were able to put bear hunters at Rex Lake on May 14^th and they were successful at their hunts. They were our first guests of 2022!! It was so good to see that we have people staying at all of our outposts and that they are fully operational after sitting for almost two full years.

We also had bear hunts at Kettle Falls on the 15^th of May and our fishermen were due to come in a few days after that. One of the bears got close enough to bite the hunter’s bow and arrow case on May 18^th at Caribou Falls Landing.

The burn

Our May guests were able to see the aftermath of the forest fires from 2021. Over 500,000 hectares burnt and can really take in how much the fire burnt. We lost a couple of boats and some shore lunch shacks, but we are happy to report we didn’t loose any buildings. Through the burn you can see the cycle of nature as the patches of clover are sprouting and some of the trees are budding.

The school projects

Our 2 teenage sons were in shop class in high school and they had mentioned that they were running out of projects so we bought all the lumber for the class to build picnic tables. These picnic tables have been placed at all of the shore lunch shelters that we lost in the fire. The class also built new corn hole tables that are at the lodges—pictures to be coming in June!

Flooding waters

We had so much snow over the course of the winter that we had so much run off that we knew we were going to have a little higher water levels. The month of May we had double the rain that we usually do and the amount of water that we had kept rising. This didn’t effect the lake levels too much where our locations are it was our access road to Caribou Falls Landing. The water started creeping up over a week and finally starting to cover the road a bit and then the next morning we had over 6” of water. Every day the water was getting higher and higher. We notified many customers that there was some high water on the road and we were playing taxi for many. We would drive through the water and then pick them up on the other side and if they were pulling a boat, we’d pick that up too and bring the customers to Caribou Falls landing. The water eventually was over 30” of water-and then turned into 32” of water. What we were saying is think of the inseam on your pants—that is some high-water levels on a road! It took 3 days but the road was eventually fixed by adding more and more layers to the top. We will never forget this summer with the ducks swimming over the road, our kids at night having to canoe across it, and customers waving from their boats while we would bring them through—our Halley’s Camps parade!

FIRST Fishing Reports in 2022—it’s been a while!!

The fishing reports were that the northern for the first week of fishermen hadn’t even spawned some of them! The water temperature was 41° and soon it warmed up to 50-55°F in a week. The big northern and all northern pike were biting this May. It was an awesome thing—you could catch a different size northern in almost every cast!

THE FIRST TROPHY FISH RECORDED AT CARIBOU WAS A 32” WALLEYE!! 14-year old Jake was so excited and we were proud to give him his trophy walleye pin, his trophy hat and certificate!! This was Jake’s first trophy he has registered. This May as the water temperatures warmed, the smallmouth bass and walleye really turned on!

At Kettle Falls the guests were catching so many trophies—we had to print more certificates!! The fishing reports were awesome!! The largest pike caught at Kettle this year was over 46”!! That fish was a BRUTE! The fish were in the shallows and were fun to catch. There are many returning staff at Kettle Falls this year and everyone whether it was staff or guests, were happy to return to Kettle Falls after 2020 being closed and partially open for less than 4 weeks in 2021 due to the border and fires.

Trapline Lake we had John and Julie catching lots of walleye fishing at this outpost this May. Julie caught a beautiful 28” walleye and John caught the hefty 31.5” walleye!!! They had amazing fishing the first week of opener!!

After the bear hunt was wrapped up at Rex Lake, we had a group that has stayed with us many times in the past and did they ever hook into the fish!! They caught multiple, multiple trophies!! They caught a huge stinkin’ heavy northern pike and they couldn’t believe it was only 37” long but Doug caught it on a fly rod!!

All in all, it was great seeing people walking through the doors and excited to be here again fishing with us. Thank you to all who were so supportive and helpful to organize their fishing trips. Chris and Amber feel extremely grateful to all of our Halley’s Camps guests and are also helping us ring in our 75+ year anniversary!!

Checklist for the border:

1. ArriveCan – this is a downloadable app or you can use the website to fill out your information within 72 hours BEFORE crossing the border. You will need your passport and pictures of your vaccination cards to fill out. It will ask you where you are staying:
   
   Halley’s Camps
   Loc KM279 Umfreville Lake
   Minaki, ON  P0X1J0
                       ↑ this is our postal code and has zeros not the letter “O”
   Just a reminder that Canada has not changed the rules for unvaccinated fishermen yet.
2. Bring your passport
3. Bring your vaccination cards or your vaccination proof

We are excited to see everyone again!

Canada, “Chickens Out”

Canada has banned visitors from bringing in chicken products including eggs. Please don’t bring your eggs or chicken across the US border!