An Outdoorsman’s Journal:

Hello friends, Back in 1982, I was 21 and my brother Mike was 25. Along with my dad, the late Robert Walters, and a family friend, we flew by float plane to Shultz Lake, which is 55 air miles northwest of Red Lake and absolutely kicked butt on walleye and northern pike. Forty-two years later, Chimo Lodge and Outposts, formerly owned by my good friends Pete and Elizabeth Hagedorn, is owned by Chris and Tammy Leblanc; and I am happy to say there is not a flaw in the way this business is run. Mike and I, along with my brother Tom Walters, brother-in-law Dick Schuster, nephew Trent Schuster, high school and lifelong friends Jeff Moll and Roger Frank and family friend Steve Mellone just returned from seven days in the promised land. Saturday, June 15 – High 69, low 47 The theme for the first six days of this trip would be cold and windy. Not chilling cold, but because of constant winds it wore on a person. We arrived yesterday, camped in Pete and Elizabeth’s backyard and flew to Shultz today. Fish catching was very good and the mood was even better. Jeff Moll, who is entering his 50th year as a Red Brush hunter for “our deer camp,” would be my partner for the day and we did well as Jeff won the “big walleye” for the day for the group. Trent Schuster’s first fish of the trip was caught on a night crawler harness and it was a 39-inch northern pike. Tonight, it was our usual antics of fresh walleye and “playing crap on your neighbor.” Moll and I saw daylight before calling it a day. Sunday, June 16 – High 65, low 45 Steve Mellone is the new guy in the group and Steve would have an incredible trip. Today he was fishing with my brother Tom and caught a 40-inch gator, which knocked Trent out of the picture by an inch. Steve would see moose and bear on this trip, could stay up till the cows come home, and is a lot of fun. I mentioned the chill in the air; it was the wind and it would make boat handling, especially while fighting a good fish, a very large challenge. Every day but the last, I wore knee boots and pants instead of sandals and shorts. Monday, June 17 – High 72, low 51 About five years ago, much of the bush around Shultz Lake burned and we were here in ‘95 when it burned. People often speak poorly about forest fires but let me tell you, the new growth of aspen, birch and jack pine is beautiful and a smorgasbord for the local moose. Today I would be fishing with my 32-year-old nephew Trent Schuster, and we would take a boat from camp, travel to a portage “trail” and then hike to another lake where there is a boat.

There are lake trout in this lake, as well as northern pike and walleye. Over 42 years we have only caught five trout and Trent wanted to make it six. Instead of just going after walleye that average 19-20 inches in this lake, we rigged up with 4-ounce weights and Trent used a 2-ounce jig with a 4-inch twister tail. We trolled in 60 feet of water and Trent had a hard hit and then an excellent fight by what would be a beautiful 29-inch laker. We had a day to fish and put it on a long stringer in deep water so the eagles would not get it; and within one minute, two arrived and failed as the trout was too deep to reach.

Next on the Trent Schuster Show was walleye. Numbers-wise things were a bit slow, especially when compared to his uncle; but in this gang, size matters and while I was catching numerous walleyes between 20 and 24 inches, and while Trent was still living in the glory of his trout, he was basically just an observer. The size game worked out very nicely when he hooked into a good fish, and we were being pushed hard by the wind. Trent caught a beautiful 27.25-inch walleye and what is really cool is that no more than five minutes after releasing it, he caught another 27-incher.

We fished hard all day and had a blast and then headed back to camp and baked one of the trout fillets for a snack for the group to go with our supper. On this night, “crap on your neighbor” and lots of laughs kept most of the gang up until there was daylight on the eastern horizon and in all of our minds we were splendidly aware that we had five more days of living large.

Live till your heart stops! Sunset

Mark Walters