Hello and Happy New Year from Watson’s Kaby Lodge!

Another season has come to an end, and we along with all of you are looking forward to our 2011 season!

The 2010 season was a good one for fishing and our biggest fish of the season were often caught in spots where you wouldn’t think they would be. There were lots of big walleye caught this year with a number of them in the 29 to 30 inch range. Steve Waibel of Canal Winchester Ohio had the good fortune to catch a 30.5 incher along with a 29 inch walleye back to back! Both were released to live and fight another day, so be sure to watch out for them this season! Another great 29 incher along with a 26.5 inch walleye was caught by one of our younger guests as well, Cody Yates of Alma Michigan, 12 years of age, with the surprise being that these fish were both caught right off the rocks at Kaby while he and his family were enjoying the evening campfire! Cody was also the winner of our website story entry. He will be selecting a new hat and coat when he returns in 2011. Jack Gratton of Tiffin Ohio also caught a BIG one at 29 ½ inches and we saw many fish in the over 25 inch range that folks were happy to release back into the water in hopes that they will be fortunate enough to run in to them in another season when they have had a chance to grow even more. Pike fishing was fabulous as well, and Gene Kunkel of Salem South Carolina was lucky enough to catch 6 BIG pike between 40 and 42 inches long! The Kunkel group has been coming for many years now, and Gene told us this was an unbelievable year for him! No kidding! A newcomer to Kaby also had a wonderful catch, Mike Bejin, 11 years of age from Rochester Hills hooked a 40 incher! Honourable mentions go out to Sue Baker of Manistee Michigan with a 39 ½ incher and George Tootle of Canal Winchester Ohio with a 40 incher. For those of you who know Craig, our chef, whitefish fly fishing was a huge part of his enjoyment this year. Craig and Caleb, (2nd cook) along with Adam, one of the dockhands caught many whitefish while fly fishing in the evenings. Many of our guests had the opportunity to enjoy these tasty fish which Craig smoked and shared with us on the salad bar. The biggest perch of the season that we know of was 13 inches long and was caught by Brett Stephenson of oil City Pennsylvania. Congratulations to all!

Water levels were low on the lake at the beginning of the season, which sometimes made the usual fishing spots impossible to fish, but we are happy to say that when we left in the fall, levels had come up tremendously and we are confident that with the winter snowfall and the spring runoff things should be back to normal levels for the 2011 season. Funny, we never thought we would be hoping for lots of snow, but we are. As all of our guests can attest, the fishery on Kabinakagami Lake has improved immensely after the short duration of our regulated slot sizing, and we anticipate another fabulous year of fishing in 2011. We are not anticipating any changes to the Fishing Regulations for 2011 within our fisheries unit.

We had a few changes at the lodge this season, with the biggest and most exciting one being the replacement of 11 of our 15 hp 2 stroke motors! We were able to replace these older motors with 20 hp electric start 4 strokes as well as replacing 3 of our 20 hp 2 strokes with 25 hp electric start E-Tech motors. There were a few challenges regarding placement of the seat for driving, but as the season progressed, we came up with comfortable arrangements and the majority of our guests felt that the new motors along with the fish finders we installed was a terrific improvement! Thank you for all of your input, as we rely on our guests comments to let us know what they think. With our ongoing upgrades to our marine equipment we are continually improving the reliability of our boats and motors. We will continue to improve our fleet each year to ensure our guests enjoyment. With the cost of motors in todays, market, we anticipate having our fleets motors completely replaced within the next few operating seasons.

We also purchased, two new commercial propane cook stoves for the kitchen. Craig was very excited with the new stoves, and after a few days of learning that the new stoves actually cooked at the temperature they were set at, he worked out any glitches they had. Craig along with Caleb the young chef in training, will both be returning to us this year and we are confident they will continue to come up with the wonderful cuisine we have become accustomed to. For those guests that were at Kaby later in the season, we are sure you noticed that we are re-siding and repairing the fish cleaning/minnow house. With our long and harsh winters, cabin and outbuilding maintenance is a continual process. Another huge investment last season was the replacement of one of our main power generating plants. In our continued efforts to ensure our guests comfort and relaxation, investments in new equipment play a huge part. As a provider of American Plan Packages, we are regularly inspected by Ontario Public Health. The inspectors were very pleased to see the addition of our water treatment system, which we put into place in late season 2009, and for the first time ever, we experienced a complete season of clear water samples! Of course, our kitchen and food service area passed the inspection with flying colours. Thanks Craig and Caleb for a job well done!

For all those guests that have been coming since 2009, along with any new guests that joined us in 2010, please remember to bring your new Non-Resident Ontario Outdoor Card that you should have received after your return home from your fishing trip. Please be advised that if you did not receive your card, you should notify the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources at 1-800-387-7011 well before your anticipated return to Kaby and they will be able to mail you your new card.

Our black bear hunt for the 2010 season was a good one, with 29 bears being seen at our bait stations, and 7 bears successful harvested and retrieved. The biggest bear taken was approximately 270 pounds and was taken with a bow by Steve Staples of Findlay Ohio. Unlike the 2009 season, the weather was more in our favour and that may explain the large number of bears seen by our hunters last season. Michel was very pleased to have our first women bear hunter, Amy Upton of Perrinton Michigan join us and despite the fact that she did not harvest, she had the wonderful opportunity to enjoy the antics of a sow with cubs at her bait station. Congratulations to all our hunters! Our moose hunt was a busy one with a total of 6 hunters joining us for the hunt this year. With 31 sightings of moose, the challenge was once again the weather and the fact that even though the winds and rain increased, the temperature did as well and when we left in October, the moose were still not showing signs of being in the rut. Four of our hunters had shot opportunity on the moose, but only 1 moose was successfully harvested during the gun season. Even though some of our hunters were not successful, they all left feeling that they had a terrific hunt and 5 of them are returning for another moose hunt with us for 2011.

The 2010 season at Kaby brought many wonderful comments regarding the level of service our guests receive while they are with us. We are pleased to let everyone know that both Craig and Caleb our chefs, as well as Jester and Adam our dock men will be returning to Kaby for the 2011 season. They have all been in touch with us on a regular basis this winter and are really looking forward to making your trips memorable this year.

Mom and Dad LeFeuvre, Michel’s parents are also well and anticipating another exciting fishing trip to Kaby this summer. We are pleased to say that they have relocated to the Orillia Ontario area to be closer to us and other family members. Our daughter Bre and her husband Brian are now the proud parents of our 5 amazing grandchildren Ellah 7 years, Anica 5 years, Vaughn 3 years, Cassius 2 years and Tasha our newest at 15 years of age.We had a wonderful wedding on December 28th when our son Jess married his fiancé Hayley. We are thrilled to have a new daughter in our life and wish them all the happiness they deserve. Michel’s younger brother Robert came in to the lodge to help open up again last season as he has for 2 years and without his help, opening would not go as smoothly as it does. He has again volunteered to assist us in the 2011 opening and we can’t thank him enough. We also had the pleasure of having Michel’s older brother Randy and his wife Dona come to Kaby for the first time. As any of our guests that bring a newcomer or are first timers themselves, you can imagine what a memorable trip it was. We are thankful to have such wonderful people in our lives and count our blessings every day.

Every year brings both happy and sad memories, and it is with great sadness that we let all of you know of the loss of Dad Dick and Mom Edna Watson this last year. Sadly Mom passed away on June 15, 2010 with Tom’s sisters Cathy and Pat at her side. It was always her wish to have a celebration of her life and she would have been proud to have been honoured at the Irish wake held in her honour. After Mom’s passing we were able to have Dad brought up to the lake with the assistance of a full time nurse. He enjoyed 2 wonderful trips to Kaby Lake and was able to leave more wonderful memories with all of us. Dad passed away on December 6, 2010 with Tom’s sister Betty by his side and a wonderful service to honour him was held in Wawa. The family will be holding a memorial service up at Kaby Lake during the summer and we feel sure that both their spirits will be joining us there. For all of our guests and friends holding their own struggles and losses, know that we think of you and hold you in our thoughts every day.

Your northern friends, Tom and Michel

SPORTS SHOW SCHEDULE 2012

The Ultimate Fishing Show, Rock Financial Center, Novi, Michigan, Booth # 1300- January 12 to 15th,

Cincinnati Sport, Boat and Travel Show,  Duke Energy Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, Booth #106- January 20 to 22nd.

Huntin' Time Expo, Delta Plex Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Booth #301- January 27 to 29th,

Allegheny Sport Show, Monroeville Convention Center, Monroeville, Pa., Booth #1118- February 15 to 19th,

Bass Pro Shops, Spring Fishing Classic, Great Lakes Crossing Mall, Auburn Hills Michigan- February 24 to 26, March 3rd to 5th,

Outdoor Sports, Lake and Cabin Show, Allen County Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Booth #707- March, 16 to 18th

Traverse City Hunting and Fishing Expo, Howe Civic Center, Traverse City, Michigan, Booth # 317- March 23 to 25th.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites