Pine Ridge Resort News & Views

This is our 16th year at the resort and there remains only one person who has been to the resort each of the 16 years that we have been here. Bob first came to the resort in 1954 with his family and has been back most of the years in between. Not all the same people come with him each year but Bob has always made it. Over the years, there have been a lot of pictures of Bob on our website with various family members and the fish they catch. Bob is here this week with wife, Linda, three of his kids, Pat, Sarah and Nora and several grandkids.

I was reluctant to take his picture in a Bears shirt but since that’s all he wears, I had little choice.

Bob is pictured here in his optimistic mode.  You see, it’s Ice Cream Social time and Bob thinks he is going to get that pan filled with ice cream.  He went off and pouted when I very politely explained to him that it wasn’t going to happen.

He has also developed this annoying habit of reminding me that he is one day younger than I am.  A couple of years ago we were comparing all our aches and pains and we discovered our birthdays were a day apart.  He hasn’t let me forget it since.  Fortunately I do have one up on Bob.  You see, I still have most of my hair and most of what I have is still primarily the same color it was 40 years ago.  Obviously, that isn’t true for Bob.

Bob and his family were almost our first guests 16 years ago and we certainly look forward to having them back each year.  He loves his crappie fishing and is still finding crappies this week when everyone figured the crappies had spawned and headed to deep water for the summer.  I’m taking him walleye fishing tonight out on Woman Lake.  Winds will be about 20 mph.  A great walleye chop.  Bring the Dramamine, Bob.

Thanks for a great time, Bob, and we’ll see you next summer.

While relatively new the resort, the Klingenschmitt family has quickly become part of our resort family.  They have just departed after their second  year staying with us.

Helmut and Mary Ann, Marcus, Martin and Hans

While many family’s like to wait until later in the summer to vacation for the warmer water  and the swimming, these guys like to fish and come when the fishing is the best.  Almost too good from Helmut’s standpoint (that of fish cleaner).  He figures he cleaned over 200 fish during their visit last week and from the looks of the fish house, I would agree.  They found both the bluegill and the rock bass in the shallows among the fallen logs and emerging lilly pads and had a great time.

But fishing did not occupy all their time.  The boys loved the kayaks and spent lots of time paddling around the lake.  Martin’s arms aren’t quite long enough to make the kayak go where he wants it but by next year, he’ll be able to keep up with his brothers.

Thanks, again for staying with us and we certainly look forward to seeing the whole family again next summer.

The week’s not half over and it’s been pretty exciting so far. Some very Big Fish!!! have been caught along with lots of other fish. Saturdays are usually pretty uneventful as far as fishing is concerned. Guests are busy checking in, getting stuff settled in their cabins, getting boats launched and generally relaxing. But not this Saturday. Before we could even get all the boats in the water, a giant muskie, lurking off the shoreline, bit into Ken Mickevicius’s crappie lure and the fight was on. Took about 10 minutes but he got it to the net. Got the hook out, measured it (50″), took a few pictures and turned it loose.

Great fish and what a great start to a fishing trip. There must have been something in the air that day because it wasn’t long after that Tom Jacklin, having only arrived a few hours earlier and fishing with son, Todd, landed this beautiful 4 lb. smallmouth bass. Exceptional fish. Tom and Todd have been fishing with us for many years now and this is the biggest fish I recall Tom catching here at the resort.

With such exceptional fishing at the beginning of the week, I should have been prepared for more. It came today. Greg Rein, his father, brother and sister have been staying here at the resort for about 6 or 7 years. Greg loves to fish but has never caught anything real big. He changed that today.

On consecutive casts, he caught these two largemouth bass. First cast brought in the fish on the left, 5 lb. 7 oz. Getting that on the stringer and feeling pretty good, he baited up again and tossed his line out. 4 lbs 11 oz. Back to the resort for pictures.

But that isn’t the end of Greg’s story today. As I was sitting here writing this entry in the Blog, Greg comes up to the office and tells me to bring the camera. Now he’s got a 36″ northern weighing in at 12 lbs. on the stringer. I’ll get a picture of that on the web site on our “Big Fish” page. He is trying to release the northern but so far the fish is having trouble.

And what about the ice cream? Every Sunday evening, all summer long, we invite our guests to our ice cream social. Our first gathering was this past Sunday. It was a bit cool but that never stopped anyone from eating ice cream. Here’s the proof.

That’s Todd and Tom Jacklin on the left and the Klingenschmitt family on the right. Hard to beat great fishing and families getting together at the lake. More later.

Pictured below are Rob, Tammy, Steve and Jeanie Ferenz. Rob, Steve and Jeanie are brothers and sister and Tammy is Steve’s daughter. They have been coming to the resort now for the past seven years, missing only in ‘06 when Tammy was having Steve’s second grandchild.

But that’s not the whole story. Rob was only 4 years old when he first came to the resort with siblings Steve and Jeanie and their parents. That was a few years ago. Now they are back with grandkids and we love having them here.

They all love to fish, Tammy maybe most of all. I have previously posted pics of Tammy kissing a big crappie she caught a couple of years ago. I could show you that picture but here’s another picture of Tammy in a slightly different pose.

If that’s a little dark, that’s Tammy with a cigar holding a night crawler up to her father. They keep telling me Tammy’s camera shy but I’m not convinced.

We’re looking forward to seeing all the Ferenz family again along with the kids. Tammy’s oldest son Alex was here for a couple of days earlier in the week along with brother Chase. The baby will probably make the next trip. Got to get these kids fishing early.

Thanks for coming and we look forward to seeing you all again next summer.