Welcome to Meggisi. If you made it here, either by happenstance, or by referral, we are happy you visited. This website basically is the internet “base camp” for a group of guys who love fishing lake trout on one of Ontario’s finest lakes when most people still don’t have their gear even picked out for the season. You’ll probably see some of our plans and lists and such here. That’s all good. If you have questions, feel free to email Kris.
The Patriarchs
We would be remiss if we didn’t first mention three venerated gentlemen who first introduced our crew to this lake. Jim and Harold first visited Meggisi in the early 1980’s when they flew in on their own Republic RC-3 “SeaBee” floatplane. Jim and Harold were best friends — both corporate attorneys from Minneapolis — and avid outdoorsmen. Jim, having flown in the Army, and Harold, having taken up lessons on his own, invested in the SeaBee together and flew lake-to-lake in northern Minnesota and northwest Ontario on fishing expeditions. They always preferred lake trout, but walleye and small mouth bass were often on the menu of many a shore lunch or evening camp meal.
As they headed into retirement, they sold the SeaBee and enlisted outfitters to get them to the private lakes among the Queen’s Land of Ontario. Rusty Meyer’s Flying Service owned several camps on lakes that were on the Trout River drainage north of Rainy Lake, with Meggisi being the prize lake. For a few years they scouted and learned the honey holes of the lake. Then they decided to let another close friend in on Meggisi.
Dave was a commercial real estate finance and operations guru from the Twin Cities. He met Jim and Harold through transactions and dealings in his trade and soon learned that there was another level of fishing beyond the walleye, bass, and northern of the weedy western Minnesota lakes he was used to fishing. Jim and Harold invited Dave up to Meggisi in 1986 for his first fly-in outpost camp fishing experience. He was hooked, to say the least.
The camp Rusty Myers owned was primitive but functional. It was an A-frame cabin with a single room and four bunks. A single propane cylinder ran a range, refrigerator, and gas lights. Fishing rods were not allowed into the cabin because the rod tips would invariably knock off the mantles for the gas lights. (The globes had been broken and missing for years.) Baths were done lakeside, as were the dishes. The outhouse was 30 yards away, and had a pleasant view of the lake.
As Jim and Harold aged, Dave being the youngest of the three was able to bring his sons up to Meggisi over the years. Now his sons, having three decades of Meggisi trips under their belts, have been able to invite others to enjoy the wonders of the lake named by the first nations people for the eagles.
Camp Meggisi has changed hands another couple times, and through the years has become more modern and refined. The old cabin was abandoned and burned in 2008 and a new modern cabin with full solar power, running water, and other comforts of home, was put up. The improvements have been enjoyed by many parties each year, but only one has been able to trace back their pedigree and experience to those we call “The Patriarchs” – Jim, Harold, and Dave.