The first days of May have been getting noticeably longer, bringing hot summer weather with temperatures reaching 80 degrees or more! With the warmth, lack of rain, and strong winds, the bush has been drying out rapidly.

Our staff began arriving in early May, kicking off the season with the construction of a cement pad for new gas tanks. More team members are arriving daily, preparing for the upcoming fishing season.

Unfortunately, a fire broke out on May 8, 2025, near Caribou Falls Landing, burning much of the surrounding area and parts of our driveway. Thankfully, the Ministry of Natural Resources managed to save our property. The next morning after the fire started and all crews were working on the fire, we requested clearance to access Caribou Falls by boat. We wanted to move one of our float planes to safety-away from the fire and the water bombers as they drop so much water with heavy force. Chris flew another pilot to One Man, took a boat to Caribou, and retrieved the plane before water bombers began their efforts. Sprinklers were set up as barriers to slow the fire, supported by water bombers from the air and foot crews on the ground. Fire crews camped nearby, refueling the water pumps to keep the sprinklers running. We would get updates from by looking at fire maps and also talking directly with the MNR almost daily. The fire came within 200 feet of one of our cabins and due to the fires and the wind, MNR was restricting access to the property for daily use. The extremely dry conditions caused additional fires in the area, leading to restrictions and travel restrictions at One Man, Caribou, and Dufaults. However, we received news from the MNR and were able to keep Kettle Falls Lodge and outposts at Trapline, Rex, and Moosehorn OPEN & operational.

Last fall, we traded all our motors on the English River at One Man, Kettle Falls, Caribou, and Dufaults, leaving the boats at Caribou without motors for the winter. Glad to be opening at Kettle Falls, but now we had to figure out how to get our boats from Caribou Falls Landing. We had to request a travel permit to access the Caribou property, move boats to a location outside the restricted travel zone, and meet the motor dealer there to install our new motors. It was a bit of a hassle, but we had enough boats to open at Kettle. We accommodated many groups from Caribou, One Man, and Dufaults at Kettle Falls. All our staff from the three lodges worked and lived at Kettle Falls, making it a busy place! (Exciting news for June’s newsletter—we were able to open at all our locations!)

Spring is here!

First news from Kettle Falls in 2025

Our new fleet of boats made it to Kettle Falls Lodge and we put new motors on all the other boats in the Kettle Falls fleet. The boats are comfy and the motors are working great-the boats are ready for fishermen!

Fishermen were arriving daily and testing out the waters in 2025. The fishing was fabulous!! There was lots of good-sized northern pikes caught. Caribou Falls Landing guests fished new waters while staying at Kettle Falls. They had some great fishing and learning new areas. The largest pikes measured in at 45″-Jimmy caught a big ol’ one -just don’t ask his wife as it might have been a ‘friendly’ fishing competition week-they caught numerous fish 39, 40, 42 and 45″! The other big 45’er was caught by another wife/husband duo were fishing and Doug landed a ginormous pike! It was great to see lots of returning customers this year at Kettle. Dave was there fishing again with his son and WOW they had amazing fishing-they have been here before but the said this years fish were the biggest ever and they were catching loads of fish!! It was so great to hear everyone’s fishing stories-and let’s not forget about the fishing brothers Jerry and Barry-love seeing families get together and spend time fishing!

Fly-in remote outpost camps-TRAPLINE-REX-MOOSEHORN

Rex Lake – fins and furs!

This year our earliest customers were our bear hunters and their one fisherman! The Bennots had a great time at Rex Lake-a family trip! The fishing was outstanding with numbers and sizes. They mixed their hunting trip with some fishing-and Olivia was successful with her bear and was ecstatic!! The pictures of their trip look like they had sooooo much fun! Did the girls out fish the boys on the trip?!?

Trapline had John and Julie up fishing the first week of season at Trapline. They love their annual tradition at Trapline and the great fishing. They had lots of walleyes! We had a new group, Shaws, in at Trapline that was supposed to be at Dufault’s and they boated lots of walleyes & northerns. The walleye fishing was unbelievable they had 10 walleyes 24.5″ or larger and a 26.5″ and 28″ from our dock!!

Moosehorn had customers as well and everyone was enjoying their fishing trips! Kevin brought his 2 sons and they had a memorable trip! Terry’s group fell in love with the fishing at Moosehorn. The smallmouth bass fishing was entertaining, and it is so great to hear that people love the cabins, fishing and the boats!

We will have more information on each location next month! Stay tuned and we will keep our available dates updated on our website!!