Canoe the Heart of the Continent -- Centennial Canoe Voyage

This summer marks the centennial aniversary of Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, and the centennial of the Superior National Forest in Minnesota. To commerate this long standing partnership the Hearty of the Continent will be organizing an 350+ mile expedition beginning in Atikokan, Ontario and finishing at Fort Williams in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

In a addition to celebrating the hard work by so many, they will be carrying educational message of "Leave No Trace Behind" to the canoers they meet along the way. The goal of the trip is to bring together new and existing partners to strengthen the relationship and bring continued benefits to these public lands.

For more information on the Heart of the Continent Partnership visit http://www.heartofthecontinent.org/ .

Jake

Fishing and Weather Starting to Heat Up

The weather is finally starting to cooperate here at Seagull. We reached a high of 75 degrees on Wednesday and signs of spring are growing as each day passes.

The fishing is starting to pick up! Lake trout are bitting in about 20-30 feet of water trolling with sutton spoons tipped with minnows, and rapalas. Walleyes are bitting in about 6-15 feet of water on lindy rigs and a minnow using a slower presentation.

We have spotted good number of moose and bear patrolling the woods and lake side bays and it won't be long until we will be seeing their young.

We are starting to get arrivals of more and more birds to the BWCA. We have seen many ducks, and loons and it won't be long until the flowers are starting to blossom as the weather gets better.

Jake

Fishing Opener at Seagull

It is fishing opener at Seagull! The ice is out and spring is on its way.

We have cabin customers on Seagull catching lake trout shallow and the walleyes are biting good too. Bryan from Minneapolis returned from a camping trip on Seagull Lake a couple days ago and sent us his photos of a giant smallmouth and some nice lake trout below.

Bryan's lake trout was about 22" and his smallmouth was about 18"! He was using mepps spinners tipped with minnows.

The blog will be updated more frequently as the season gets on its way! Half of our staff is here, and the rest will be here in the next couple weeks! Stay tuned for updates! We are very excited about the upcoming season and can't wait for it to get on its way!

The ice is rapidly melting in our Seagull Bay today. These photos were taken this afternoon. Notice the water rising where the dock meets the cribbing. For those that have been to Seagull, notice the boat ramp is nearing covered with water. Our Seagull Bay ice out contest will soon be over! Sadie is posing in the photo above taken with the ice in the background. Notice the honeycombed and dark ice. It won't be long folks!

Deb

It's a Sunny Day at Seagull!

The ice out contest continues! Below is a photo taken facing south from our dock and you will notice we have ice close to the dock and beyond. The next photo faces north and will you notice no ice. I like the north photo as it looks like spring and fishing are right around the corner. I will continue to update photos every couple of days as the melt continues. More ducks are arriving daily. Most of all, we are really enjoying the warmer temperatures after a long cold winter up north. Dave, Sam and Drew are remodelling the store offices today. Deb

A 50 degree day in the woods and life is good. The sun is shining and we have a bit of open water in the narrows. There are a few ducks that are hanging out in the open water waiting for the thaw.

The question of the day is "when will the ice be out?"

A tough question as none of us can predict the weather. I hear it should be warming this weekend so that could be good. We need a little rain to go along with it.

We have finally moved all of our belongings out of the old house and into the new house on the hill. What a project that has become. Thankfully we have a returning staffer Sam that is here helping us. We put boxes and goodies into piles and Sam delivers it to its respective spot...the new house, trash or recycling! I have about 10 more boxes to go through and feel pretty well unpacked.

Next comes getting the store ready for customers. Our first customers arrive on May 7th with a couple more parties coming in on May 8th. We will have 5 staff on at that time to give Dave and I much assistance.

We will continue to post new photos frequently as spring arrives on Seagull Lake and the end of the Gunflint Trail!

Deb

Happy Spring!

We have had a pleasant streak of warmer than normal temperatures lately. It has really begun to feel like springtime in the woods. The snow is melting and the birds are singing. We are singing so to speak as well as we enjoy the above average temperatures. We now think the below zero days are gone for this winter and our spring plans are foremost on our minds.

We will be moving into our new house on Seagull next week and start getting it organized before summer staff start arriving the end of April. It is an exciting time.

With the onset of warmer weather, there has been a boost in phone calls and reservations for this summer.

We have some used Kevlar Canoes for sale for anyone that may be interested. They will all be out of storage by early May.

Seagull Canoe Outfitters is now on facebook. Check us out and start your own discussions there. More to come in the social networking area....we are fortunate to have hired a young man Jake that will be assisting with all this in May.

Watch the ice and snow melt on Seagull via the webcam on the home page. Soon we will be all fishing and paddling!

Deb