Week 1
After what seemed like 24 hours of head spinning, unpacking from a previous camping trip in Jasper and re-packing… I was finally on my way to the airport. With so little sleep, the first day in Winnipeg consisted of a nap and rushing to a bank to get last minute details sorted. We left Winnipeg by an ATR plane the following morning and headed to the lodge for what would be my first real season of guiding and working at a camp.
I've always wanted to try guiding but after seeing so many DIY start ups back home in Alberta go miserably wrong, I wanted to give it a real shot with a real fishing resort to see if the gig was for me. It’s a question I hope to answer by the end of the summer.
The first couple of days at the lodge were great: settling in and tuning up our boats. Luckily I picked number 14, which seems to have every piece it needs, unlike some of the other boats. A lot of the first week involved boating to and from shore lunch spots, cutting firewood to last us the first month or so of the season. It was honestly quite a bit of a gongshow as 15 guides did a 7 or 8 person job. Myself and a few others had our thumbs up our asses. Newbies. It truly was a time when there were too many bodies. After a few days of firewood chores we spent a day or two learning the safe routes of the lake. What they didn't tell us was that the lake is full of boat eater rocks and reefs. Makes you a little nervous when you've hardly ever run a tiller motor before....
Week 2
The 2nd week began with our first guests showing up. For us new guys, that meant more shore days. Like every job the totem pole is a bitch to climb, but eventually you'll get your chances. The few of us rookies helped out with gardening and shore lunches for the week, and while I just get so bloody excited to water plants (sarcasm) I also get a huge joy out of an extremely complicated, long, almost too serious shore lunch. If we were lucky, and we had time after shore lunch, the rookies were free to explore the lake. But those boat eating rocks made a guy think twice about exploring the lake. After waking up every morning at 5am, sometimes a nap seemed like a better choice.
Now don't misinterpret, we fished during those first couple weeks and boy did we catch some big pike early. 41"+ is deemed to be a trophy here in Manitoba and my first night out I managed one on my first cast. A couple nights later my girlfriend landed a 45" northern moments after I landed one 43.5". I was trying to be honest about "work".
The way this resort works is that after dinner we are free to fish. Work hours are 8am-5pm. If you aren't guiding you’re free to fish - except if a supply plane comes in. Not too many lodges operate like that. That said, while that might seem awesome - after a couple trips with no tips you eventually start to beg for a week with guests.