Happy New Year to everyone....hope you all had a merry holiday season spent with loved ones! What a year it has been, that's for sure! My personal 2018 started out super horrible but it gradually got better as the months went by....Once May 25 hit it was all aces since the northern zone opened for the season! The ice was off early, and we had nothing but empty cabins despite sending out a call to fisherman friends. 2018 was tough for bookings, not gonna lie, they were slim. People who fished Davin years ago have moved on because the season was previously cut so short. But...they are starting to phone and are coming back to the NEW Davin Lake Lodge! We are ready and up for the excitement to return to the shores of Davin Lake. I don't care if you want to come and bring your own boat, bring your tent for the campground, sign up for the Independent or Wathaman Adventures or come for the All-Inclusive Adventure...no matter who you are, my kids will still ask you to play kick the can after dark! Drive or fly...Adventure North to Davin Lake Lodge and experience what our lakes have to offer...insane seclusion, huge and plentiful Northerns, Walleye and Trout and above all, breathtaking scenery. The quality of the company you choose to bring is up to you though ;D
So, 2019 bookings are off to a flying start when compared to last year...We have 8 slots for Wathaman Outpost this year and I only have 3 dates left which is so wonderful. Whatever profit we make from over there goes right back into it. We lost the water pump last year when the lake rose so high, so that's in the budget and so is a screened-in deck and another refrigerator. Also, after taking all the old boats out of there, (if you read my posts, you will know I drove a shitty sinking boat back from the portage in 2018), we are transferring a couple 14' over to the outpost and signing up for two new 16' at the main lodge. We also want to do another Wathaman clean-up by taking down some out-buildings and have another garbage burn at the end of the season like we did last year.
Davin bookings are certainly looking up for this year as well. I have only one week left at the end of June which is so awesome! People were booking in October and November, which surprised me a lot. July is looking up, however, I am still reeeeaaaallllly underwhelmed by the lack of early participation for our bus trip....to the point that I may cancel. The bus actually costs me $4000 plus 2 free packages for the driver and his guest....so if I don't get at least 15 more paying people on that trip asap, it will not run and I will cancel it before the early-bird deadline. I hate to do it, but it will probably run again in the future if the interest is there.
August is getting busy and I still have September dates left for our fall trout season that is new for 2019!! Super excited for the September trout season because the kids and I left early in 2018 and Matt stayed behind... I told him to check out the rock face less than a mile from camp, because there are trout galore in the drop off out from the lodge and they are not swimming 5 miles to come up shallow. Matt bragged about how many fish he caught where I told him to go...I knocked it outta the park with that location and I didn't even get to fish it!!!
We are moving!!!! When we came back to Lloyd at the end of the 2018 season, I had enough of acreage living. I am too busy to be spending hours on the hiway driving into town, hours plowing snow etc etc. We paid a girl to mow our grass and plant a garden to make it look like someone lived here while we were gone. We bought a single family home in Lloydminster and move February 6&7, 2019. Hopefully I can get my shit together and organized right away because we head down to MONTANA for the Great Rockies Sportshow in the capital of Helena February 22-24, 2019. We have some new friends down there who gave us invite after invite for supper....yes please! Milo and Freja are coming this year too, so should be a great time snowshoeing, hot springing and visiting!
To wrap things up, Alberta and Saskatchewan is hurting economically these days, I know and understand it all too well. Matt and I live in in a small city that is in the heart of the Oil and Gas Industry and Matt's employment is directly related to oilfield even though he is on the reclamation side of things. If oil ain't makin' money the companies sure ain't spending it to clean up the past. Everyone in Canada is keeping a tight hold on their purse strings in the wake of our latest Liberal tax, the dreaded Carbon Tax. In Saskatchewan this tax will be initiated in April so I hope to have the bulk of our fuel bought ahead of time to ensure I don't have to extend the additional costs to our guests....stay tuned. So, if you are Canadian, want a holiday for the family, and want to contribute to our own economy, by all means give me a call or text. Let me know what oil and gas co you work for or did work for and I will get you awesome family pricing for cabins, boats and camping. We all need some help during these hard times!
PS/ I am starting a list of tackle that needs to be bought for 2019...send me a text, email or message with your favourite hook, a hook you wanted but we didn't have, or the hook that caught you the most fish in years previous...include a picture too if you can! Anyone who sends me an email with the hook suggestion will go into a draw for 2019 Davin Lake Lodge swag...draw to be made when someone reminds me to do it! hahaha!
Cheers to all my fisherman friends and here's hoping the 2019 fishing season arrives sooner than we are ready for!
Drive or Fly...Adventure North to Davin Lake Lodge
Danica