With the snow squalls and heavy cloud cover, the Butcher party thought their flight to Cabin One at Ogoki Lake – might never take off. But true to her history, Mother Nature soon prevailed with clear skies, and sunshine and at 7:30am on May 21 the foursome winged their way to Ogoki Lake.

They called us on their solar powered two way about 6pm…and reported catching and releasing a 49 1/2 inch (30 pound) pike…while trolling for walleye with blue and silver long Rapala. And it all happened just 20 minutes after getting on the water. (His buddy who took this pic, cut his head off…ouch.) So congratulations to Jim Butcher, from Shelby Township, Michigan…first to be enrolled in the 2006 Master Angler Award Program. By the way…they reported walleye fishing a bit “slow.” And no wonder, those lake temps are in the mid to low 40’s.

Just down the lake, the Greco Party, from LaPorte Indiana, in Cabin 3, called in on Monday and reported another big pike. They too were trolling for Walleye when Mr. Toothy did a “grab and run.” This time the battle ended with a 46” Northern getting it’s picture taken and released. And look at that hat Mark Sopko, who caught that big boy, is wearing. While we are experiencing a warming trend now, air and water temps have been unseasonably low.