Buena Vista Resort--BVR Annual Newsletter

Top: Dr. Bauer braves the cold in October and catches a nice smallmouth - Miles Bay. Middle: Doug Peterson with another 5 pound walleye - Sabaskosing Bottom: Jeff Miller shows off a 49 inch muskie caught in August.

Greetings fishermen and friends. We hope this year finds you healthy, wealthy, and wise. 2001 was quite a year for us even at the lake. We had high water, tornadoes, remodeled the office, installed new docks, built a new minnow shed and still found time to fish, hunt, and take care of the resort and serve our guests.

We started early in March and tore the office and store apart, rearranged the interior, repainted, installed cedar, laid new carpet, tore out all the windows and made the place a nicer environment. It was difficult to change everything after 30 years, but it was time. All summer, guests would walk in and wonder if they were in the

Saul of the North makes the front page with a 14# lake trout caught in September on Whitefish Bay.

right place. We also started early in the spring tearing down the old minnow shed and building a new, larger metal building. This project was long overdue but we didn’t realize the summer of 2001 would be the highest water in 50 years. There were days when the wind blew from the west that there was 5 inches of water in the new shed and the docks were underwater.

The high water was a problem for most of the month of June. We have some of the highest docks in Morson but the water was over the top and the wind destroyed most of them. In August we ripped out the main central dock, which was quite a job because the cribs were up to 40 years old and filled with rock. Wally Dietwieller used his barge and backhoe to tear them out. The Docks and Lifts company from Kenora installed new state of the art floating docks. There are 20 boat slips with bumpers and tie down cleats. In the spring we plan to rebuild the main dock where the gas pumps are located. We hope you enjoy these new docks, they are solid and float with the fluctuating water levels. They should be easier on your boats and easier for us to maintain.

At the end of August our road into the resort was oiled. After years of dust and washboards this is a welcome improvement. Although the road has been well maintained over the years, oil is better than gravel. With the two new bridges and the improvements to the road, access to the resort has been much improved.

The tornado hit the first week of August. At about 6:30 AM the wind began to blow and it was all over by 7:00 AM. A few of our skiffs were blown upside down and trees all over the resort were blown down. None of the trees hit any of our buildings but a few of the trailers on the hill were covered with trees and hydro poles were snapped off. It was a huge mess to clean up. We were more fortunate than everyone on Hanson Bay. Morson Marina had houseboats flipped upside down on cars and buildings and docks were wrecked. The wind knocked the electricity out for about 4 days. We had Acme Electric bring us 5 generators so we had power when no one else did. When the wind stopped, the rain started and six bridges washed out on highway 621 and it was impossible to get in or out of the resort for about a week. Two barges in the area hauled cars and guests in and out until the roads opened up. We hope 2002 is less eventful so we can concentrate on fishing. Fishing was great in 2001. It seems the walleyes just keep getting bigger. Art Hage said he caught more walleyes than he ever has on Lake of The Woods. The reefs between the resort and Dawson were hot in July and August. Bells Harbour, Firebag, Stairway Point and Miles Bay were reliable as always. Late in the fall Sabaskosing was productive. Fall Bass fishing is just being discovered. The bass move onto the reefs where the walleyes were in the summer. It’s not uncommon to catch 3 pound plus smallmouth bass. The crappies started to bite early in the fall. Usually Miles Bay crappies start to bite good in late September, but they started the first week. It was warm and we were catching limits of slab size crappies. See the picture of Dave Case with a double slab catch. Al and Robbie eat your heart out. Trout fishing in Whitefish Bay was very good. Last year the lift at Turtle Portage was improved to handle boats up to 6000 pounds so if you have a few strong guys to crank, you can portage a good size boat into Whitefish. In September Rick, Louisa and Chris had one of the best days ever fishing trout. They hooked 18 trout in one and one-half hours that weighed between 6 and 14 pounds. In August we had reports of fishermen seeing sturgeon jumping south of the Basil. Someone needs to go down there and see if they can catch a big one. Muskie and Northern fishing seem to be about normal. One improvement is Wes finally caught a muskie - in fact, he caught four. Sharon Kempf caught and released the largest Northern ever reported. It was 52 inches and was caught in Whitefish Bay.	Angie Patterson displays this 23” walleye she hooked on June 23. Nice!
	The Graves brothers with a 7.26# walleye caught at Bells Harbour.
	6 year old Seth Carlin nets a walleye almost as big as him!
	Chuck & Dorothy Gates are the proud owners of a nice new floating dock system.
	Jon with his winning crappie. Eat your heart out, Bruce!


The Weibolts go trout fishing - nice catch! Turtle Portage, Sept. 2001	Ron Millman with this Northern beauty hooked at Obabikon on June 2.	Hey Wes, how long is that Northern?
First time out and she gets this! Beginner’s luck?	Nick Eggers with the 5# walleye hooked on July 6.	Now that’s a handsome fish! Lou Emmerson with his catch.
Hey Rick, what are using for bait - voodoo spells?	Three time champions John (l) and Reuben Gibbins show off some of this year’s winning catch from the 8th Annual Morson Bass Classic
Colette Howard with her 8# lake trout. Some day, Mike will catch one if he listens to this woman.	Jeff Miller hoists a 50” musky caught at Sabaskong. Jeff also caught 39”, 36”, 36”, 34” and 42” Northern Pikes all in one day!