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Outdoors
RUNNING A WILDERNESS LODGE
As manager of Big Sand Lake Lodge in northern Manitoba, Rick Bohna thrives in his role of juggling several jobs at once.
By Brad Dokken
Herald Staff Writer
BIG SAND LAKE, MAN. - Keeping a wilderness fishing lodge ticking through a busy summer season is a challenge that keeps Rick Bohna wound up year-round.
Bohna, 42, manages Big Sand Lake Lodge for the Cree Indian community of South Indian Lake, Man., which owns the facility located 525 miles north of Winnipeg. In that role, he oversees a staff of 35, recruits visitors to fill the lodge and its four outpost camps, and juggles all the details that keep the place running. Considering the lodge's remote location, the logistics alone are staggering. Whether it's produce for the kitchen, beer for the bar or spare parts for a broken outboard, everything has to be flown in.
"I've been working a month and a half before I get up here," Bohna, of Winnipeg, said. "I sit there and run through scenarios in my mind during the off season. I try to picture everything. Every day, there's a new challenge that pops up. There's never a dull moment."
That probably explains why Bohna's fishing rods still stand packed in their protective cases behind the door in his office.
Training a key Unemployment is high in South Indian Lake, and Bohna says applicants far exceed jobs at Big Sand Lake Lodge. The community was relocated in 1974 after a hydropower project on the Churchill River flooded the original town. Bohna has a thick stack of applications from people in South Indian Lake seeking employment.
"These people want to work hard," he said. "They want to make things happen for you. It's prestigious to be up here.
"This is not just a job; it's a lifestyle, almost."
At the lodge, that lifestyle includes a zero-tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol among employees, Bohna says.
"I catch a whiff of booze on an employee, and the prop is spinning," he said.
Celebrity guests As a five-star facility, Big Sand Lake Lodge also is an occasional haven for the rich and famous. Among them are former President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter, who fished Big Sand in 1993. A picture of the president helping his guide measure a trophy pike occupies a prominent place in the lodge. Bohna wouldn't name names, but he said Hollywood actors and pro athletes also have visited the lodge seeking to escape the limelight.
Days at Big Sand begin with coffee delivered to each cabin at 6:30 a.m. That's followed by "hot breakfast" in the lodge at 7, "cold breakfast" at 7:30 and "no breakfast" at 8 a.m. Then, it's time for the trek down the lodge's 40 steps to the front dock to meet up with the guides for another day on the water.
Catching walleyes for shore lunch typically is first on the agenda, an assignment that usually takes only a few minutes to complete, and then it's off to fish pike or lake trout.
After a Canadian shore lunch of fresh-caught walleye, fried potatoes and beans on one of the lake's several sand-beach eating sites, there's more fishing on the menu until 6 p.m., when it's back to the lodge for supper at 7. That's followed by two more hours of guided fishing from 8 to 10 p.m. for those who haven't had enough.
The lodge and its four outpost camps are booked to capacity every summer.
"People are coming here for the fishing. That's first and foremost," Bohna said. "I'm dealing with people on holidays. It's a nice fit for me. I enjoy it. If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't take this much time away from my family" in Winnipeg. "I like to say I've put in more hours on this job than anything I've done in my life, and I haven't worked since 1997."
*On the Web: www.bigsandlakelodge.com.
Dokken reports on the outdoors. Reach him at (701) 780-1148; (800) 477-6572, ext. 148; or bdokken@gfherald.com.
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From bustling metro to untouched wilderness, you'll find experiences abound in Minnesota this summer. But before you can make memories, you have to make plans.
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