Where Memories Are Made
August 24, 2009
Hi Mary Ellen
Thank you again for the grat hospitality during out fishing trip. As Charley told you, it was the best fishing he has experienced in all the 17 years he has come. See you next year.
August 24, 2009
Mary Ellen
I just wanted to thank you and the rest of the staff for a most enjoyable trip. You went out of your way to make sure that the group had a GREAT experience at Pine Portage. Tim is still talking about how you gave him/us a third boat to use the last couple of days that we were there. I am just sorry that I was unable to catch "A Big One" for the picture on your blog. WAIT TILL WE COME BACK. I feel a REALLY BIG ONE in the future!!
Again, thanks for a great time.
Tim Armitage, Terry Vollmar, Don Hill, and Dick and Dave Conrad
August 21/ 2009
Finally getting around to sending you these. Of the six years that I've been coming to Pine Portage
Lodge, this was the best trip yet.
Regards,
Michael Bednarz
July 30, 2009
Hi Mary Ellen
We made it home by 10:15 last night. It was a great trip!
I downloaded my camera and wanted to get these to you to post on the blog. I don't know how to do it myself, if there is a way, so I am trusting that you will be able to do it....
The Northern was caught on ultra light tackle, no steel, and took about 30 minutes to land. What fun!
It was 39" and 13 lbs. That was on July 14th. The next morning, we started with doubles on the Walleye...mine was the larger one, a 23", and Tom's was 21". At least I caught one that was larger than his! We caught over 100 fish that day.....Any day that you can do that is a great one! Hope to see you in 2010!
Tom and Sharyn Miller
July 26, 2009
To All:
Thanks for the great hospitality and another great week of fishing. Attached are a few photos you may wish to use for your blog. This was our ninth trip we have made, every other year over 18 years, and it just keeps getting better.
We'll see you again in 2011.
Bob Brown(Fetters Party)
Holland, MI
Wednesday, July 29/09
Thank you for the wonderful week last week. The staff, the facilities, the food and the weather were all aligned into a Perfect Storm of fabulous proportions. Even though I cannot give you credit for the later listed item I can give you credit for the others. It has to be a tough job to maintain the staff and equipment at such a high level at that latitude. Your dedication shows.
The Odum Brothers.
July 8/09
It was a memorable two and half days at Pine Portage Lodge 19/6/2009. M.R. Wright would like to express our appreciation to Betty & Bill and the rest of the staff for their excellent accommodations, food and great fishing. Planning to do it again next year.
Domenic Griffa
M.R. Wright & Associates
July 10/09
This time last week we were enjoying the fishing after a great lunch in Boot Bay. It was so great to be back at such a beautiful place with such warm Hospitality. We feel like part of the family. Fishing this year was awesome. We caught over 525 walleye between us and several were really nice size. I'm not real happy with my photos but Bob insisted I send pics of the one over 27". May you have a very blessed season and be safe in all or your travels. Hope we are able to see you again in 2010.
Deb Raider & Bob Leveno
June 14, 2009
Betty: I (we) would like to thank you, your husband, and staff for a great fishing experience. The scenery, people, accommodations, and fishing were all great. As the others were veterans and I was the newcomer, I was especially impressed. Didn't really expect to see any bears (surprise), so I got some great pictures. Do hope to see you in the future.
Thank You
Dave Brickner (Pope Party)
May 30, 2009 Jeff and Rob Brooks Pine Portage Lodge Fishing Trip
Dear Betty, Bill and Staff:
I'll bet you get lots of complementary letters like this one! We had a GREAT time and even though we were just one of the many families and groups you create enjoyment for, we feel very special. Will be back next year with a larger group. Thanks, you run what must be the best fish camp in Canada.
Jeff & Rob Brooks
April 27, 2009
Bill & Betty:
Hello. I was up at the lodge for a short fishing trip last May with my brother Keith to surprise my Dad who was with Harold Knight, Brian and my other brother Kevin.
I have been meaning to send you some of the photos from our trip for quite some time.
Please feel free to use any of the photos. My brother Keith and I had such a great time there! thanks for treating my Dad so well while he is up there. He looks forward to the fishing trip every year. You guys are the Best!
Thanks again.
Steve Jungquist HAROLD KNIGHT PARTY/08
July 11, 2006
Dear Watson Family,
We would like to express our appreciation for the "Hospitality Luncheon" given for our group of 20 on 9-July-06 at the Pine Portage Lodge.
Mary Ellen and her staff worked very hard and provided us with exceptional food, drinks and service. It is treatment like this plus the great fishing and the excellent accommodations that will keep us coming back.
Once again thank you very much. See you all again during our next fishing trip on 10-14 July 2008.
Sincerely
The Ottenbaker Party
8/1/2008
Dear Betty & Staff:
This letter is to thank you and your staff for the service, friendliness and attention to our needs over the years. You may remember that we (Tom Riesterer and Hank Fitzpatrick) have made 36 trips to Pine Portage.
The fishing has been great and we catch today just as many fish as we did back in the early 70"s. I wanted to mention that the conservation programs that were started a few years ago have been really successful-from our view. We fish on a conservation license, specifically for walleye's and we do get a bunch of Northerns by accident. This year we caught many, many walleye's over 20 inches and at least 5 Northerns over 30 inches. We attribute these results to the conservation program. We counted walleye one morning this past June-had 30 fish by 10:00 a.m. We, of course, throw about everything back into the lake-keep3-4 fish per day for eating only.
Just for kicks I'm enclosing a couple of photos-me with the Northern and Hank with the Walle
ye.We thought that 2008 would be our last year as we are both getting pretty old, but, we will come to see you again in 2009.
Thank you again and we agree that when we come to Canada we do FISH THE FINEST.
Best reguards
Tom Riesterer
June 29, 2008
Mary Ellen:
Thanks so much for everything you do for our Wertz party-especially the muffins and lunch on our 9 hour delay. You and all the people there are the main reason we keep coming back.
Thanks Again Clair,Jack,Howard and Jim
The Wertz Party-Wolf's Den June 29/08
August 2008
Dear Betty & Bill:
Just wanted to say thank's for everything you did for us during Ira's medical problems. We very much appreciate that you were there to assist us & make sure that Ira and I had what ever we needed. Also, thank you for opening your home to us.
In closing I would just like to say Thanks for providing us with 16 years of Great Fishing Trips.
WE hope to be back for many more.
Best Wishes!
Charley
6/25/2008
Dear Betty:
Thank you once again for the tremendous hospitality that you extended to my group this past 6/15/08-6/20/08.
We all enjoyed the fishing, the food, the rooms and Bill. In fact, a few of Bill's sayings are still being repeated by the fella's.
Our sons learned a lot about their fathers and their friends.
Take care & Thanks again.
Chris Kroll & Friends
July 17, 2008
Dear Watson Family:
We all want to thank you for the wonderful fishing trip experience. You always try to please everyone and make them feel comfortable while at Pine Portage Lodge.
Special thanks goes to Betty, Mary Ellen and staff.
Also, the Hospitality Luncheon Party was enjoyed and appreciated by everyone.
Thanks Again,
The Ottenbaker Party
P.S. We are all looking forward to our 2010 Trip!!!!
June 10, 2008
To all the wonderful people at Watson's(Violet) and Pine Portage Lodge:
As we go through life,
We are gifted with companions for the journey.
As our lives shift and change,
Our fellow travelers change as well.
We are not intended to travel alone,
So God provides us with voyagers who are like us.
The miraculous part of this is that rarely
Do we have to actively seek out such individuals,
God has an uncany way of
Placing them directly in our path
Just when we need them most.
We are gifted with companions for the journey.
As our lives shift and change,
Our fellow travelers change as well.
We are not intended to travel alone,
So God provides us with voyagers who are like us.
The miraculous part of this is that rarely
Do we have to actively seek out such individuals,
God has an uncany way of
Placing them directly in our path
Just when we need them most.
*****Jan Forrest
This is how I feel about all you wonderful friends up there in Canada but especially at Pine Portage Lodge, where the staff constantly maintains the aura of making certain we are cared for, catered to and literally provides us with a relaxed "not a care in the world" peaceful respite. Everyone made us feel special...the dock boys, Tom and Derick, made sure we landed safely....the housekeepers from Newfoundland and Thunder Bay cleaned up after us without a whimper and Eric put up with our dining demands! And....behind the scenes there are even more staff people making this an efficient operation for all to enjoy. We appreciate each and everyone of you!
My husband planned our fishing vacation this year around my birthday. Unbeknownst to me, everyone at Pine Portage had been informed and as you ladies know, we older women would rather not discuss age or birthdays!!! Therefore, you can imagine the surprise when Mary Ellen, Eric and Ellie marched out with a huge birthday cake and flaming candles followed by the kitchen staff singing the Happy Birthday song!!! To tell the truth, IT WAS AWESOME!!
We had a wonderful fishing trip and many many THANKS to you all for making it possible!
Fondly,
Mary Flinn
P.S. Willard had fun also.
August 26, 2008
Hello Mary Ellen!
We had a wonderful time at your resort. Thanks for having us! Here are a few pictures from our trip.
Take Care,
Tom Ward
This is how I feel about all you wonderful friends up there in Canada but especially at Pine Portage Lodge, where the staff constantly maintains the aura of making certain we are cared for, catered to and literally provides us with a relaxed "not a care in the world" peaceful respite. Everyone made us feel special...the dock boys, Tom and Derick, made sure we landed safely....the housekeepers from Newfoundland and Thunder Bay cleaned up after us without a whimper and Eric put up with our dining demands! And....behind the scenes there are even more staff people making this an efficient operation for all to enjoy. We appreciate each and everyone of you!
My husband planned our fishing vacation this year around my birthday. Unbeknownst to me, everyone at Pine Portage had been informed and as you ladies know, we older women would rather not discuss age or birthdays!!! Therefore, you can imagine the surprise when Mary Ellen, Eric and Ellie marched out with a huge birthday cake and flaming candles followed by the kitchen staff singing the Happy Birthday song!!! To tell the truth, IT WAS AWESOME!!
We had a wonderful fishing trip and many many THANKS to you all for making it possible!
Fondly,
Mary Flinn
P.S. Willard had fun also.
August 26, 2008
Hello Mary Ellen!
We had a wonderful time at your resort. Thanks for having us! Here are a few pictures from our trip.
Take Care,
Tom Ward
July 7, 2008
Mary Ellen, Betty:
Our Group had a great time as always, you guys did a great job. I am sending you a few photos.
Thanks Todd Deal
August 6, 2008
Hi Mary Ellen, I just wanted to take a second and express my thanks to you and everyone at the lodge. this was my 12th time and it was easily the best trip I have had. To be able to come up with my kids and experience this with them was beyond anything I could have wished for. The best part was being able to connect with my daughter in a way that I can't explain and to see her brought to tears when we had to go home was priceless.
Thank you so much Mike LaFave.
P.S. The kids asked that you say hi to Ceaser and Copper for them.
September 8, 2008
Hi Mary Ellen,
Just wanted to send you and your wonderful staff at the Lodge a thank you note.
The Watson's have built a beautiful, first class resort and accommodations, but your resort is only as good as the people working at it and Betty & Bill are lucky to have such fine people like yourself, Bea, Susan, Jennifer, Roy and all the staff that Shawn & Wayne and myself met, where more than generous, helpful and accommodating in everyway possible.
Mary Ellen you and your staff are an asset to the resort, keep up the good work and hope to see you in the future.
Thanks Again
Keith, Shawn, Wayne Popkie
August 1, 2007
On behalf of everyone from the "Sullivan Group", thank you for the great service provided. Everyone had a great time and all the staff was very courteous. Hope to see you next year. I have also included a pic of the 40" Northern I caught on this trip.
Sincerely,
Ken Sullivan
July 15, 2006
Hello to all:
I want to thank the entire staff for making our recent visit to Pine Portage so special.
I have been there several times, but it was the first visit for my son, Ken, my brother, ill and his two sons, Aaron and Brian.
The visit was everything I had promised them.
We had a great time and I hope our "higdon-guy" outing becomes an annual affair.
Bob Higdon
June 14, 2005
Dear Betty and Bill,
Just a short note to thank all the Watson's and their staff for a wonderful fishng trip. This was my first return since my father took me in the late 60's and I was taking my youngest son for the first time.
From the time we arrived at the plane dock at Wawa until we returned, we were treated with the utmost courtesy and kindness by your excellent staff. We would like to single out our wait person, Jen, and expecially Mary Ellen, who had the answers to each and every question and concern. But everyone was excellent. Finding employees of that caliper in these times is extremely difficult.
Mary Ellen even took pictures of our catch in front of the Pine Portage sign(p.s. Mary Ellen, please email those pictures ASAP so we can forward to our family online.)
The accommodations were very good(hopeully, next time we can be down or off the hill)- we got a good workout on that!
The food was excellent at all times: Anyone who went away hungry has a problem. Again, Jenn and everyone else in the restaurant area is to be commended. Our table mates, Luke, Jack,Larry and Linda, were enjoyable: we hope to see them all on another trip.
We had as great time fishing, and the fish were also very accommodating!
Sorry we missed seeing you both and Dick- that would have been the icing on the cake-maybe next year.
We hare hoping to make a return next year, health and finances permitting. Please send the 2006 rates as soon as they come out.
Again, thanks for everthing-you run a top shelf operation, and I cannot believe anyone would go anywhere else after experiencing Watson's Pine Portage Lodge!
Sincerely,
David and Nick Smeltzer
December 29, 2008
Betty McGie
WATSON'S ALGOMA
VACATIONS LTD.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR RESPONDING TO MY PAST E-MAIL...I APPRECIATED THAT VERY MUCH!
MY 1963 TRIP TO PINE PORTAGE CAMP IS ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE TRIPS OF MY LIFE. TO CATCH A REAL TROPHY FISH.....REALLY MADE IT SPECIAL!
I AM ENCLOSING THE ARTICLE THAT APPEARED IN THE "AKRON BEACON JOURNAL" SPORTS SECTION...SHOWING ME (IN YOUNGER MAN'S CLOTHES)...AND THE MOUNTED FISH. THE HEAD OF THAT FISH WAS SO LARGE AND SOMEWHAT OUT OF PROPORTION...(AS THE GUIDE APTLY PUT IT THAT DAY..."THIS ______SNAKE SHOULD HAVE WEIGHED OVER 30 POUNDS".......AND, AS HE HELD IT UP, THE STOMACH WAS SAGGING, AS IF EMPTY, HE ADDED....."LOOK, THIS______ SNAKE HAS BEEN GUTTED"!!!!
WOW! THAT EVENING AS WE CAME TO THE DINING ROOM FOR DINNER EVERYONE BOWED TO ME AS THE GUY WHO GOT THE BIG ONE!
I LOOK FORWARD TO RECEIVING YOUR NEW BROCHURES...AND, I HOPE WITHIN THE NEXT YEAR OR SO MY WIFE AND I CAN COME TO YOUR LODGE...with our Grandsons!
SINCERELY,
KEVAN D. CROUSE
Because of the poor quality of the scan the following is the actual article:
ROOTSTOWN FISHERMAN 'PULLS ROCK'
By PHIL DIETRICH
By PHIL DIETRICH
When "the rock" started moving. Rootstown sportsman Kevan D. Crouse knew he had struck pay water in Ontario's Algoma wilderness region - and the scales later proved him right!
His 23.5 pound great northern pike is one of the better trophies to be brought out of Canada this summer, albeit a somewhat malformed one.
The tremedous head, as preserved in a fullmount by a Youngston area taxidermist, seems large enough to accommodate a body many pounds heavier.
NEVERTHELESS Crouse counts himself fortunate. His prize was the biggest he'd ever caught, eclipsing a 20-pounder taken on Georgian Bay a few years ago, and represented the season's banner catch at Pine Portage Camps on Kabinakagami Lake, 200 miles north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
Furthermore, the Crouse pike dulled the edge of excitement of Hugh A McNeill Jr. of Cuyahoga Falls who an hour earlier had brought an 18-pounder to net from the same boat.
Between them that day McNeill and Crouse, guided by an amiable Swede called Knute Ekholm, landed 38 walleyes and pike while Hary Evans of Stow and Paul Yeager of Silver Lake, fishing from another boat with Bill Essery hoisted in 37.
In addition to the 23.5 and 18-pounders the McNeill-Crouse team accounted for pike going 8, 10 and 12 pounds on the same memorable occasion, spent in circling an island on the 25 mile-long lake while the fishermen cast the shoreline patiently and methodically.
Appropriately enough, Crouse's trophy fish struck an Akron-made mustang lure - or perhaps "engulfed" would be the more descriptive term.
"When he hit, it wasn't an arm or tackle-breaker, the retrieve just stopped, "Crouse recalls "Since Kabinakagami is a rock bottom lake, a snag was my first thought. But, when the rock started moving away to my left, I knew it had to be a big pike."
PROFITING from early experiences, Crouse played the pike slowly and carefully. His caution was rewarded.
"This one day proved to be the kind every guy dreams of all Winter long, but very seldom does it turn into reality as it did in this case," the young Ohio Edison Co. executive says.
The party motored to Hawk Junction, Ontario, and traveled thence by train to Hearst deep in northern Algoma on the junket to Pine Portage Camps - a junket none of them will forget.
Mosquitoes, black flies and trophy pike saw to that!
His 23.5 pound great northern pike is one of the better trophies to be brought out of Canada this summer, albeit a somewhat malformed one.
The tremedous head, as preserved in a fullmount by a Youngston area taxidermist, seems large enough to accommodate a body many pounds heavier.
NEVERTHELESS Crouse counts himself fortunate. His prize was the biggest he'd ever caught, eclipsing a 20-pounder taken on Georgian Bay a few years ago, and represented the season's banner catch at Pine Portage Camps on Kabinakagami Lake, 200 miles north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
Furthermore, the Crouse pike dulled the edge of excitement of Hugh A McNeill Jr. of Cuyahoga Falls who an hour earlier had brought an 18-pounder to net from the same boat.
Between them that day McNeill and Crouse, guided by an amiable Swede called Knute Ekholm, landed 38 walleyes and pike while Hary Evans of Stow and Paul Yeager of Silver Lake, fishing from another boat with Bill Essery hoisted in 37.
In addition to the 23.5 and 18-pounders the McNeill-Crouse team accounted for pike going 8, 10 and 12 pounds on the same memorable occasion, spent in circling an island on the 25 mile-long lake while the fishermen cast the shoreline patiently and methodically.
Appropriately enough, Crouse's trophy fish struck an Akron-made mustang lure - or perhaps "engulfed" would be the more descriptive term.
"When he hit, it wasn't an arm or tackle-breaker, the retrieve just stopped, "Crouse recalls "Since Kabinakagami is a rock bottom lake, a snag was my first thought. But, when the rock started moving away to my left, I knew it had to be a big pike."
PROFITING from early experiences, Crouse played the pike slowly and carefully. His caution was rewarded.
"This one day proved to be the kind every guy dreams of all Winter long, but very seldom does it turn into reality as it did in this case," the young Ohio Edison Co. executive says.
The party motored to Hawk Junction, Ontario, and traveled thence by train to Hearst deep in northern Algoma on the junket to Pine Portage Camps - a junket none of them will forget.
Mosquitoes, black flies and trophy pike saw to that!
April 27, 2009
Bill & Betty:
Hello. I was up at the Lodge for a a short fishing trip last May with my brother Keith to surprise my Dad who was with Harold Knight, Brian and my other brother Kevin.
I have been meaning to send you some of the photos from our trip for quite some time.
Please feel free to use any of the photos. My brother Keith and I had such a great time there! Thanks for treating my Dad so well while he is up there. He looks forward to the fishing trip every year. You guys are the best!
Thanks again.
Steve Jungquist