I’ll admit it. I thought Wayne Gretzky was the great one. And I’ll admit it, I think he was a good choice to light the Olympic Flame. Yup, his record convinces me that when it comes to hockey, Wayne is the “Great One.” And, being from Michigan, I have played and coached hockey a good part of my life (before I found out you would not get your teeth knocked out fishing.)

But there is another Canadian Great One you can meet when you visit our Makokibatan Full Service destination on the Albany River. And he is indeed a great one.

Native Guide Eli Baxter.
Great Hunter.  Great Fisherman.  Great Grandfather (many times over), Great Guide, and an all around Great Guy. He is now 87 years young. We caught up with his son Bob Baxter, who remembers his father, Eli in some great “growing up” stories. Listen to the podcast here.

Speaking of “Great Ones” – here’s a great deal on fishing rods discovered by the great pike angler guest Robert Doolittle of Tulsa, OK – (he caught and released the biggest pike in Ontario in 2005 and you can see the video).

Bob writes: “I recently received a mailer from Acadia Sports offering a 2 for 1 offer on their ‘F-Series’ rods.   The rods are made from quality materials (high modulus graphite blanks normally found in rods costs $80.00 or higher, titanium guides, cork handles, metal trim around guide wrappings — silver for casting rods and gold for spinning rods, etc.) and sell at $64.95 for two rods.

Further, there is no limit on the deal. I ordered and was impressed with the quality of the rods when I received them. They are, indeed, comparable to the Bass Pro-Pro Qualifier XPS-rods, the Falcon Cara T7 and the Shimano-Compre, but a lot less expensive. Other than the Ugly Stik-rods I can’t think of better value than the Acadia Rods.”

Well thanks Bob for that note. I am happy to hear from any of you with tips, ideas, tackle notes, and just good fishin’ chat. Drop me an e-mail.
Joe Pichey