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Personal Passion leads to Luxury Lodge
When Ted Cawkwell wasn't busy farming and operating
a customer spraying business near Kelvington, he pursued his passion
for fishing. That eventually led to his current business, giving
customers the opportunity to indulge their passion on four pristine
lakes in northern Saskatchewan. But, there were some intermediate
steps along the way.
Cawkwell's passion includes ice fishing –
hard water fishing, as he calls it – so he bought ice fishing
equipment and offered an outfitting service to others. This led
to Ice Dreams, an outfitting company offering snowmobile tours
as well as ice fishing.
"The next winter I ran into the people
at New Sask Community Futures," Cawkwell recalls, "and
they helped me buy a 'fixer-upper' fly-in fishing camp. I wouldn't
have been able to do that without them."
While he was looking for other fixer-uppers
Cawkwell stumbled across an area in northwest Saskatchewan just
south of the 60th parallel with seven rivers and four lakes that
had never been fished. He conceived the idea of a luxury lodge
in the wilderness, and he did his homework to make sure it would
work. He locked up the exclusive rights to fish the rivers and
lakes. He joined the board of the Saskatchewan Outfitters Association,
talked with other lodge owners and asked questions at various
trade shows. When he was ready he brought in shareholders, sold
his farm and customer spraying business and built Milton Lake
Lodge. (If you really want to get away from it all, you have the
options of a mini-lodge or outpost experience. Visit www.miltonlakelodge.com
to see the lodge and its surroundings.)
"Financing came from New Sask CF, Business
Development Bank of Canada and BMO," says Cawkwell. "I'm
a hands-on general manager, and there are 16 staff to ensure our
customers enjoy a luxury experience. About half of our customers
come from the US, 45 per cent from Canada, and the remainder from
other parts of the world."
The lodge offers four or eight-day fishing experiences
from mid-June to mid-September. During the winter Cawkwell, an
administrative assistant and a couple of guides prepare for the
next season and market the lodge to sport fishers. "Our
customers are the elite sport fishers who are looking to catch
those trophy fishes," he says.
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