Testimonials

"I would be remiss if I did not drop you a line and let all of you know how much we enjoyed our recent trip to Sass West this year. This was John Sawtzky’s 33r trip into Little Sass, Danny Doell has logged at least 20 trips in and this was my 18th this year. Herman Fuessmeier was our Pilgrim this year. He stated that he had only caught about 5 walleye in his lifetime. He was in walleye heaven to the extent that one night he got up on his own and went fishing at 2:00 AM. Needless to say he is hooked for life. He is already planning to bring his brother and come back next year. First of all, Trina, over the many years, you have always went out of your way to make sure that our group always got great dates and got us into and out of with no problems. Second, Courtney, your refreshing personality and your love for dogs (The English Mastiff) and your knowledge of my Fala Brazilios was very impressive. Last but not least, Shaun. What you have done to upgrade the facilities at Little Sass is beyond belief. My Nashville friends were very impressed with the pictures of the cabin that I had brought home. Your Turbo Otter is great step forward in the Aviation business. Even the Snowshoe Jackrabbit population has increased from one to five under your ownership. We were also happy to see the cow moose still having her calves on the island. And the fist time that I can remember, this year we observed a golden eagle, with an offspring. Danny, John and I had previously grumbled about the switch to the American Plane. We are back. You showed us that you get what you pay for. I will not even complain if you switch to the “Canadian Plan” next year with the lively Canadian dollar. Again thanks to all of you for making out holiday so enjoyable. If I had any recommendation, an old man like me could use a rail on one side of the steps going up into the cabin. Regardless, as long as I am physically able I intend on being one of your best customers."
   -Earl, John and Danny

"I just wanted to say thanks for the excellent trip. I will be sending photos and video soon. I am going to have a full mount made of my bear, and it will make the pope and young books too. I submitted a photo of Omer, myself and the bear to Mathews, and if you got to Mathewsinc.com than go to bowlife – who shoots a Mathews – user gallery – they have the photo shown. I put a little clip in for the lodge. Hope things are going well."
   -Brad

"Just a note to thank you for another great trip this year. As always things were first rate. You and your staff run a great operation. We look forward to see you again next year. Fishing was great as well."
   -C. Hartog

"I’m writing this letter to thank your entire staff for the recent fishing trip to Artery Lake. From the original sign up by Trina, the check-in by Courtney and piloting by Shauna everything was handled with 3 “P”s, Personal, Professional and Pleasurable right down to the added touch of having everyone’s fishing license ready at check-in. The new cabin was spacious, the boats and motors worked well, the fishing was spectacular, and the memories will be long lasting. We enjoyed delicious “shore lunches” each day and I’m pleased to say that all the trophy fish that were caught swam away for another day. I have enclosed a CD with some digital pictures in case you can use them in future advertising of your camps. Thanks again, your entire staff made this the “Fishing Trip of a Lifetime” for my son and my friends. We will definitely be back!"
   -B, Stark

"I just wanted to write this letter to let you know how much Jim and I enjoyed our trip to The Amphibian Lodge last week. Everything was great. The hospitality of the Vincent’s was particularly appreciated and Omer’s skill as a guide, fisherman, outdoorsman and raconteur cannot be surpassed. Omer and Lucille are definitely the magnets that would draw us back to relive our adventure on the lakes next year. I am pleased that everything that was promised to us by you came to pass. The meals were great, the pilots who took us up and back (Oscar and Carl) were friendly and skillful and the fishing was unsurpassed. A special thanks to Trina for getting us moved along and set up for the trip. Good luck and good fishing the rest of the summer. Hopefully we’ll be in touch next year."
   -M. Herman & J. Burton

"Thank you so much for getting the moose tag for me. It was such an awesome experience! I will remember it forever. I can’t begin to thank you enough. We need to talk to you when we get back about future trips. We love this place so much that we can’t leave without making arrangements for the next trip. We were just wondering what time on Sunday the plane will be here to pick up so that we are for sure ready to go. Believe me; you don’t have to be in any big hurry. We are already bumming about having to leave. Dale would like to live here if he could. Again thanks so much, this has got to be the absolute best vacation that we have ever had. I saw so much more of the beauty of this place with the hunting that I never would have seen, had I just been fishing. Every time we come, we love it even more. If we were rich, we would come every month I think."
   -Val

" AMPHIBIAN LAKE LODGE - Bears it All

“Hey buddy, would you like to go on a bear hunt?” Those are the exact words of my good friend Larry Ladowski as he smiled a devilish grin. My first thought was that Midwest Outdoors needed to do some downsizing and I was the first to go! We were working at the All Canada show in St. Charles, Illinois last January, because that outdoor show has historically been the starting point for a lot of great adventures for me. Now it seemed, I would be off on another one. I was introduced to Shaun Jackson of Jackson’s Lodges and Outpost. I told Shaun that I had never been on a bear hunt but I was extremely excited about the possibility. “You understand I have never hunted for bear, right?” I said to Shaun. “Perfect” he said. So I am thinking this is great, what have I gotten myself into? What I would come to realize is that this was to become one of the most amassing adventures I have been on to date.

After a detailed discussion with Shaun, I left feeling confident and excited. Shaun’s calming and reassuring personality told me that this would be an incredible event for me. Shaun has a true love for big game hunting and he knows the large amount of enthusiasm, thought, and planning that goes into every hunt. He really treats every hunt like he was planning it for himself. I talked with him several times over the months before the trip and made preparations of my own. I did some research on my computer about bear hunting and specifically about hunting Manitoba. I would be hunting the pigeon river area in the spring season, which runs from the last week of May until the second week of June. Manitoba has a spring bear season for several reasons. The spring hunt reduces the density and distribution of bears before the peak of the problem bear season, which in Manitoba is from mid-July to late August. According to Manitoba’s Black Bear Programs Manager, Hank Hristienko, “Sub-adult bears aged 1-5 years, are responsible for 70% of all reported nuisance/conflicts. The spring season is effective in removing this group since 65 to 88% of the harvest is sub-adult.” “With fewer sub-adults competing for natural food, there should be fewer bears venturing into communities in search of food, thereby reducing the potential for conflict.” The fall hunt runs from the second week of August till the end of September. I also learned that Jackson’s hold all the non-resident hunting rights in this area. The area is rarely hunted and or fished and the only way in there is to fly on Jackson’s Adventure Air. You can hunt with bow, rifle or shotgun. Its up to the hunter with what he feels comfortable with.

I arrived in Manitoba and was driven to Jackson’s Adventure Air float base, which is located in Lac Du Bonnet, Manitoba. We quickly loaded our gear on the floatplane and within less than an hour we gracefully landed in front of Amphibian Lake Lodge. My guide, Omer Vincent and his wife Lucille greeted me. Although I was still a little nervous, they made me feel at home right away. Amphibian Lake Lodge is a great place with comfortable beds, a spacious main lodge and a view of the river system that is incredible. Throw in the fantastic meals that Lucille cooks every day and, I’ll be honest, I got spoiled there. After I had gotten unpacked, Omer asked me if I wanted to go check out the areas he had baited for bear. This was all new to me and I was excited to get going.

In the research I had done on bear hunting, I had learned that baiting areas are essential to a successful hunt. Mr. Hristienko also stated, “Since Manitoba’s boreal and aspen-parkland forest have a dense under story which limits visibility, spot-and-stalk hunting become impractical.” Among other reasons, baiting also allows hunters to target the male segment of the species, maintain consistency in the number of bears harvested annually, increase harvest where chronic depredation and human-bear conflicts occur, and enhance the safety of hunters and non-hunters.” Amphibian Lake Lodge offers both bear and moose hunts. Twelve bear tags and eight moose tags are issued each season.

We headed up river to one of nine areas that Omer, through 45 years of hunting experience has lain out. I have had some great guides over the years and Omer is one of the best. He is confidant, informative, and a great teacher. We check out several areas and come to one that is at the back end of a creek. We get out and go up into the woods. The sun is high in the sky but once we enter the forest, it becomes dark and eerie. I see the tree stand, about twelve feet off the ground and twenty to thirty yards a head of me, and I see two well-worn paths. I can feel the hair on my neck raise as we walk through. A large barrel securely fastened to a thick tree has paw prints and scrapes all around it. I keep looking over my shoulder. Each barrel that Omer sets up has a rectangular hole in it, so the bear can reach in and forage for food. He filled this one yesterday. He tells me to look inside. The bottom of the barrel is shiny with absolutely no trace of the food mix anywhere. I get chills. I look at Omer who is smiling. “We will come here tomorrow night.” He says.

Back at the lodge and after another wonderful meal that Lucille prepared, I talked with Omer and Lucille about some of his past experiences. Omer has guided in Ontario, Manitoba and Africa. He told me that he has hunted since he was a child and always looked forward to it. His father use to say, “When there is a white spot in the bottom of the freeze, it was time to go hunting.” With clients, Omer has harvested more than 65 moose and over 150 bears. Throughout my life I have only met several people who have that, instinct, or gift as I refer to it, that puts them, or so it seems, in sink with nature. Omer is one of those people. As Omer tells it, Amphibian Lake and the Pigeon river system is an incredible area to hunt because moose and bears love waterways, especially ones that offer so many creeks, and beaver dams, like this one does. Bears rely on beavers as a food source and the beaver dams facilitate the fresh growth of willows and water lilies, which the moose feed on. Tomorrow would be the day, and I slept soundly.

Another reason that Amphibian Lake Lodge is a great place to hunt is that until you go on the bear hunt, which is typically late in the day until sunset, you can fish all day, which I did. I caught so many pike and walleye that the day evaporated quickly and before I knew it, another fantastic dinner was set in front of me. I was so hungry; dinner was over quickly as well. Omer looked and me and said, “Lets go get a bear.” I walked back to my room and did the super man change from fisherman to enthusiastic hunter. I was outfitted in Wrangler Pro Gear camo and Irish Setter Buck Tracker boots before you could say Gander Mountain or Bass Pro Shops!

Omer sprayed us both with the same bug repellant and informed me it was important to do this, because bears have an excellent sense of smell. Bears also have incredible hearing and although they can’t see very well, they do sense movement. He told me, that once we reach the area where we get out of the boat, it is very important to be quiet and walk carefully. As we approached the stand, that dark and eerie feeling again came over me. It was quiet, to quiet. We climbed up into the tree stand. Omer sat next to me and whispered that if I had to move, do it cautiously. After a short while, a cool breeze started to blow and it felt good. The leaves in the trees danced as if something was about to happen. Then something did. Omer, nudged me and I looked up. There was movement about 60 yards off and straight in front of me. Then, I saw two ears, a head, and it was coming toward us. As Omer had informed me, you will see the bear before you hear them. You never hear them. With each of the bear’s steps, he came closer. Each step was cautiously and preciously measured. There were two trails the bears were using and this male chose the path to the right. I watched in amassment as the male bear came into full view. The thoughts raised through my mind from when I first found out I was going to do this, through my preparation and now I was right in the middle of it. My heart started to beat so fast and so hard, to me, it sounded like a drum solo! I went to position my gun. The bear instantly looked up at us! I froze and waited for him to look down, which he did. I again, went to raise my gun. The bear looked right at us! He paused and looked back down at the ground. He wearily became interested in the food. I raised the gun almost into perfect position and then, the sleeve of my jacket brushed against the tree! The bear glared at me and I felt as if he was looking through me. My heart beat faster, and the adrenaline surged through me, this was more than I ever imagined. I barely remember actually firing the shot that harvested my first black bear. Omer looked at me, smiling and said, “You did it, nice shot, you got him!” The next thing I remember is Omer laughing and saying “Look at your hand.” I was shaking so bad, I to, started laughing.

As a traveler, and outdoorsman, this was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. As with any experience there are a lot of people who were involved in this from the start. I would like to say thank you to Dan and Brad from Smileys Sport Shop (www.smileyssportsshop.com) for taking their time in instructing me with shotgun and rifle consultation. I also want to thank Travel Manitoba (www.travelmanitoba.com) for another amassing adventure in one of the most beautiful and bountiful provinces in all of Canada. Thanks also and definitely go to Omer and Lucille Vincent who manage Amphibian Lake Lodge. It’s the perfect place to hunt or fish and sets the seen for any adventure. As Omer would say,” I’ll show you something”. I would hunt and fish with Omer Vincent and Jackson’s Lodges and Outposts at anytime and anywhere! For more information you can access www.jacksonslodge.com and/or call 1-204-345-8322 for accommodations and availability. This was a fantastic opportunity, which I gladly took and got to witness how Amphibian Lake Lodge, bears it all! "
   -

"Jackson’s Lodges and Outposts - REEL ADVENTURE
One of the most incredible adventures I have ever been on! I usually write what first comes to mind when trying to recount what I just experienced, and that thought not only brought a smile to my face, it made me want to repack my bags and go back! My good friend Ric Johnson again joined me on another exciting trip to Canada. This time we were headed back to Manitoba, courtesy of Travel Manitoba and as the guest of Shaun Jackson and his family owned Jackson’s Lodges and Outposts. One of the easiest destinations I have ever traveled to, the direct flight from Chicago’s O’Hara airport to Winnipeg went by quickly. Followed by an even quicker 50-minute drive to Jackson’s Adventure Air float base. Then we boarded on one of my favorite floatplanes, a DeHavilland Turbine Otter and less than an hour later, we landed on the water (I love that!) in front of Jackson’s Amphibian Lake Lodge. We never saw it from the air. It is tucked away off the shores of Amphibian Lake, which is part of the Pigeon river system. It’s the only lodge on the entire river. As we were soon to find out, the four-star full service American plan lodge has a capacity of just 16. You and your guests will literally have the entire system to yourselves! The best was yet to come, and started much sooner than expected!

The cheerful smiling faces of Omer and Lucille Vincent immediately greeted us and we were not even off the plane yet! As you set foot on the dock, you can not help but notice the one of a kind gazebo that over looks the lake and is used for shore lunches, story telling and watching the sun set over the magnificent birch trees that line the river. Omer took our bags to our cabin, which had four individual beds, dressers with plenty of space and a bathroom with a great shower. Lucille showed us the dining area and living room that featured satellite T.V. beautiful wood walls adorned with trophy mounts of bear, moose antlers, and large walleye. The four table dining area off the kitchen gave me the feeling of family dining as I was growing up. Omer comes in the side door off the deck, looks and Ric and myself and says, “You guys want to go fishing?” With the excitement of two over grown kids running into each other as we headed out the door to our cabin, we said, “YES!”

Available to all guests are the 14-foot aluminum boats that comfortably fit 2 anglers and are powered by reliable 15 horsepower Yamaha 4 stroke engines. Omer decided to take us to one of his many walleye “hot spots”. Ok, lets be honest, Amphibian Lake is probably the best walleye fishery I have ever been on for walleyes in the 3-pound range. We left the dock motored 100 ft and caught walleye. We went to the nearest point, and caught walleye. If you could hit the water at all, you caught walleye. And not small fish either. Our walleyes averaged 18-22 inches, and I am by no means a “good” walleye fisherman. These were in most cases fat fish that hit shallow running crank baits, jigs, minnow baits, spinners, and I even caught several bigger walleyes on buck tails while we were fishing for Pike! I digress. Omer took us to shinning falls, which is a series of majestic waterfalls that once you round the bend, will leave you breathless. The sound, the colors, and oh yes, the large amount of fish that we caught was the way to start any trip! On our first night there, it took us less than 10 minutes to boat a fish! I had a hit on my first cast, from the dock!So we fished for two hours before it was time to come in for one of Lucille’s home cooked meals.

To say the meals were well prepared would be a major understatement. For example, one night we had seasoned rib eyes, fresh vegetables, onion soup potatoes (those are awesome!) and for dessert, cherry Jell-O pineapple cheese cake. Every night we had a great meal followed by delicious dessert. You will not go hungry there. When you are at Amphibian Lake Lodge, you are treated like part of an extended family. At dinner, stories and jokes are told and laughter is barely contained by the high ceilings.

On the second day we were there, Ric and I caught over 100 fish between the two of us. We both love to fish for pike, and the Pigeon river system has northern pike, walleye, perch, gold eye and whitefish. The pike have a lot of forage to choose from and we caught to many to count. Most of the Pike were in transition, after spawning and in the process of setting up their summer positions. When we found new weed growth, which was just coming up, we found pike. We had a lot of Pike in the mid 30-inch range that were some of the heaviest pike I have seen anywhere. These are river fish and they are strong and mean. We caught bigger ones just below 40 inches, and honestly, we lost bigger ones as well. This is a good body of water for numbers and size.

Jackson’s Lodges and Outposts consist of two main Lodges. The fore mentioned Amphibian Lake and farther south is Caribou lodge, which harbors many Master Angler size small mouth bass. They also have 9 outposts camps and 3 tent camps. Jackson’s has been a family operated business, by Shaun, Bob and Marlene with 19 years in the lodge industry and over 32 years in the aviation industry. Both Shaun and Bob are commercial rated pilots. Their new float base in located in Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba and they utilize DeHavilland Turbine Otters, DHC-2 Beaver, Cessna 185, Navajo and a Navajo Chieftain.

One of the many features I like about Amphibian lake Lodge is that we got to spend so much time fishing. We fished early, came in for lunch, went back to fishing. We came in for dinner, and we went back out fishing. If we decided to keep some fish for shore lunch, Omer cleaned them, and Lucille came up with a different way to prepare them each day. Not only the fishing but also the wildlife that abounds this river system is incredible. Bears, moose, bald eagles, and beavers that build dams the size of boathouses are all around you. This place is so easy to get to, yet you will feel so far away. That is truly a remarkable quality.

We so enjoyed our time not only fishing but spending time talking and laughing with Omer and Lucille. This is not only a great place for family and friends, but corporate groups would do well to consider this an option as well. Omer has been a fishing guide since he was 16 and a hunting guide for over 20 years. Since bear and moose hunts are also offered, we heard some incredible stories. Omer and Lucille are extremely well organized and make a great team. Lucille stated, “To us this feels like our own cottage.” They treat it like their own and treated us like family. They have been married for 31 years and there is a definite mutual admiration and respect for one another, which shows, and that were, passed on to us as guest. I felt like I was staying with my aunt and uncle all week!

Ric and I caught well over 300 fish during our stay. We would like to thank Travel Manitoba (www.travelmanitoba.com) and especially everyone at Jackson’s Lake Lodge for a magnificent time. They can be reached on the web at www.jacksonslodge.com or by phone at 1-204-345-8322. I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel, and fish in some extremely incredible places. Amphibian Lake lodge was not only one of the best it was a reel adventure! "
   -Unknown

"Courtesy and professionalism made my weekend journey the most enjoyable of my life. Given the opportunity, I will be back in a heartbeat. The guides know where all the best fishing holes are - we could barely get one fish off the hook before we caught another. Also, they really know how to prepare a fish dinner. Delicious! Truly an inspired weekend!"
   -F. Bertrand

"I caught the biggest fish of my life while at Jackson's; it was the happiest day of my life."
   -J. Smith

 

 

 

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