Minnitaki Lake Outpost

We've just returned from a monumental fish fry at Sioux Lookout's Winoga Lodge after a day on the ice. It was a savage feeding session centred solely on fish. No plates, no cutlery, no salad, no beans — just chunks of walleye, pike, and whitefish fresh from the deep fryer. We had arrived the previous night, and owner Dick Mansfield had shown us to our cabin — a voluminous cedar log structure that could easily sleep 10. It has a full kitchen and bathroom with hot water and baseboard heating, backed up by a wood stove. 'It's a little cramped for 2 of us,' I joke, as I survey the vast living room, dining room, dual bedrooms, and loft. Mansfield's home sits amidst a cluster of cabins along the shore of Abram Lake just outside Sioux Lookout and serves as a base of operations for their winter guests. There's an island in front of the house where a log lodge and a collection of picturesque cabins built in the 1920s accommodate guests through summer. He's one of those exceptional lodge owners who actually fishes a lot, about 160 days a year. In fact, he and his son, Troy, guide practically all of their ice-fishing clients. In an area where there's really more water than land, the Mansfields like to keep their clients away from the dangerous ice of narrows and current areas, and put them on fish. Ellis strikes first, catching a 17-inch walleye on a black tube jig. Troy and I follow with several fish. Of course it doesn't hurt that the action is nonstop, plucking whitefish, pike, and walleye from shallow water. Another full day on the ice passes all too quickly. I land a gorgeous 38-inch pike. Knowing that a half-hour snowmobile ride will deliver us to the warmth and hospitality of Winoga Lodge, I'm quite content to turn up my collar and angle into the blackening evening.