Flathead Lake Lodge

We know you have all seen the pictures of the monster pike caught by Lodge staff over the last couple of years. A few years back, Sous Chef Zach hauled in a 49 inch 28 lb monster. Then last fall Chase Averill landed a 46″ 31lb hog on an 8 weight fly rod out of Flathead Lake. What we didn’t know until recently is that Chase’s fish would have most likely been the North American record for a Pike caught on a fly rod.

Check out this article in the Daily Interlake about another local angler.

Well…Chase’s lack of smarts to have his fish properly weighed and recorded probably cost him the North American record for pike on a fly…but he did get the picture of the Month, so we’ll consider it a second place prize.

Nothing quite reminds you  it is spring in Bigfork like the abundance of food, wine, music and over-fed happy people wandering around town during the annual Taste of Bigfork. Each year the many different restaurants, bars, and wine shops put their award winning talents and dishes in front of the hungry locals  for an all day eating peruse through town.

The Lodge’s very own Chef Brian Lesyinski prepared a Smoked Buffalo Lasagna to much praise. His Recipe is below, so now the only thing to do is go whip it up and enjoy!

Smoked Buffalo Lasagna – (Serves 8…or 2 Cowboys)

Ingredients

2 yellow onions (smoked and diced)

8 tomatoes (smoked and diced)

1/2 lb all natural, grass fed ground Buffalo

3 bulbs of Garlic (smoked and diced)

1/4 c tomato paste

1/4 c chopped fresh basil

2T brown sugar

2Tchopped fresh oregano

1T fresh thyme

1/2t dried red peppers

1c tomato sauce

15 lasagna noodles

30 oz ricotta cheese

1c grated parmesan cheese

2 1/2 c smoked mozzarella

16 oz fresh spinach – (Sauteed in olive oil, cooled and chopped)

2 eggs

Salt & Pepper

Sauce

Cook buffalo in large pot over medium heat. Add smoked onion, dried red pepper, smoked garlic. Turn heat down and add smoked tomatoes, tomato paste, fresh basil, fresh oregano, thyme, brown sugar and tomato sauce.

Lasagne

Cook noodles in large pot of boiling salt waer until almost tender…about 7 minuets. Drain, cover with cold water. Combine ricotta, Parmesan, and mozzarella cheeses, spinach, salt and pepper to taste. Mix in eggs.

Drain pasta & pat dry. Spread 1/2 c sauce over bottom of 13″x9″ baking dish. Place 5 noodles overlapping to fit. Spread half of cheese & spinach mixture evenly over noodles. Spoon 1 2/2 cup sauce over cheese, spread with spatula. Repeat layering with 5 noodles, remaining cheese and spinach mixture 1 1/2 c sauce. Arrange remaining 5 noodles over sauce, spread remaining sauce over noodles and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of smoked mozzarella.

Cover with parchment paper & aluminum foil. Bake lasagna 40 min at 350 degrees. Uncover and bake until hot and bubbly…about 40 minuets. Let lasagna stand 15 min. before serving and enjoy!

Congratulations to Flathead Lake Lodge Barn Manager Mr. Jason and his lady friend & former FLL wrangler Miranda Knowles who took home a couple of custom-made saddles, purse money and the title of Champions at the Lolo Peak Wrangler Team Roping Championships.

Jason and Miranda took 1st place int he Featured Roping with a combined time of 30.26 seconds for 4 runs.

Check out their winning run in the video below…fast forward to the 9:11 mark.

 

A little unknown fact about Bigfork is that the village is actually not incorporated. This means the town runs on almost 100% vollunteerism to keep it character and accomplish the towns issues.

Earth Day is no different. Each year hundreds of Bigfork residents spread across Greater Bigfork with gloves and garbage bags in hand, pitching in to Clean the Fork before the busy summer season arrives.

However, on the Sunday following Clean the Fork might be when the true die-hards show up to clean. For over 30 years a group of Bigforker’s and Averill’s have shown up at 6am the following Sunday to ‘Hose the Streets’, often braving near freezing temperatures. Thanks to all those who helped get Bigfork cleaned up for the Summer, and especially gang who always show up to help clean the streets downtown. It is the continued spirit of volunteerism that truly makes Bigfork the unique little town it is.

Well, we thought it was spring here in the Flathead Valley…but then we remembered we are in Montana and it snowed 4 inches out of nowhere. So, with our snow boots put away for the season, we figured what better way to stay warm than a little Flathead Lake Lodge Trivia. Hopefully you all have been studying up before another great summer on Flathead Lake is here.

Good Luck!

(If you are on Facebook go to https://www.flatheadlakelodge.com/ to take the quiz!)

Happy 100th Birthday Glacier National Park!

This summer marks the 100th birthday of the Crown Jewel of the Continent, Glacier National Park. ‘The Park’ as it is known around here is just a short 40 min. drive away, and we encourage all our guests to either visit the park before or after their week at the Lodge, or definitely for a day during their week at the Lodge.

This year will truly be a unique year to visit as The Park is planning numerous events, celebrations and exhibits making the trip even more worth the 100 year wait. Visit the parks official Centenial website for more information.

It was another great Dude Ranchers Association annual meeting this year in Billings, MT. The DRA had a great turnout with over 150 ranch owners. As always, it was a great time for the industry to come together and tackle current issues as a whole. Nonetheless, there is never a shortage of laughs and characters that always make the DRA conventions an entertaining off season weekend.

Well, it is no secret to those who have spent plenty of time riding through the Ranch mountains that there is more than a healthy population of ‘Nice’ Whitetail Deer. This definitely did not go unnoticed to a couple of life long friends and lodge pals, Allan Haggar and Mark Thiel.

The pair joined us this fall for a great week of hunting, laughing and well…more laughing. We don’t want to spill all the beans on their hunting exploits, [after all, there is a better than average chance stories will vary both in facts and details] but lets just say there was more time spent laughing then there was hunting.

Every year as the snow starts to fly and the Holiday Spirit starts to work its way into our daily lives, hundreds of Bigfork’ers and friends meet early on a late November morning to decorate the town of Bigfork. Each year the crowd grabs their coffee and hot chocolate [Schnapps and Baily’s optional], elf hat, lights, pliers, bows,Christmas Trees and scatters about town working with their different groups and Flight Leader to decorate the different buildings down town. Each year the volunteers earn a new ranking, Militarily speaking for their help.

It truly is a unique experience as 200+ community volunteers of all ages gather for a fun filled day that not only has the town looking beautiful it has its dwellers feeling good too. Bill and his family, Laura, Melinda and Nicole have joined us twice now for this great day. With a couple more years and we might have to refer to Fireman Bill as simply, ‘General Fireman Bill.’ It is a great way to start off the holiday season and we are glad some old Lodge friends have been able to share in the spirit over the years.

Fall has become a great time to fish for pike in Flathead Lake. Until recent years, pike weren’t present in Flathead Lake in numerous numbers. A non-native fish, they aren’t regarded as a true sport fish by the locals and are very predatory. The last couple falls have been great fishing off the shores of Flathead Lake as can be witnessed by the two pike caught the last two years by staff. Chase Averill caught a 46″, 31lb. monster this fall on a 8 weight fly rod and last fall our sous chef caught a 49″, 28 lb. dandy.