Fishing lodge owners have a sinking feeling that they are in for a second consecutive summer of zero net income.
“We’re all hoping that this summer will be back to normal but, realistically, it is not looking that way.” La Broquerie resident Jerry Dunlop owns Dunlop’s Fly-in Lodge and Outpost just past Thompson. While he understands the need for ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, he says the closure at the Canada-US border is threatening his ability to make any money at all.
“Guys like myself need an international market to survive,” he states.
Americans, who are right now prohibited from entering the country for recreational purposes, make up roughly 90% of the customer base for fishing lodges, according to Dunlop. Though the remaining 10% are Canadians, he says the two weeks of mandatory self-isolation required of those entering Manitoba makes even those customers inaccessible.
Without making light of the hundreds of businesses that have adapted and pivoted to function within the current climate, he says certain players in the tourism industry have not had the same opportunity.
“Without an open border, everything else is irrelevant,” he says. “We’re all in or all out. The operating costs are huge and we cannot operate at even half capacity.”
Dunlop says the pressures faced by fishing lodge owners are an amalgamation of those felt across the province. The venue, he says, provides food and so is subject to all restrictions governing the restaurant industry. It also provides lodging and so must regard those rules as well. In addition to that, it is a place where people from separate households gather, an activity which is currently forbidden. Finally, it is above the 53rd parallel, which is oftentimes ruled by its own unique set of COVID-19 regulations.
“Imagine what would happen to any business that has no income for two years,” he says. “It’s like a farmer that is missing the harvest.”
Clarence and Twyla Bergen of De Salaberry are struggling with similar restrictions at their lodge in northern Ontario. Bergen says he and his wife are trying to maintain optimism, but it is difficult.
“It definitely is not a spot you want to be in your career,” he says. “The odds of us opening are probably hovering under 50%, but we still plan on being ready to open given the event that we will be able to.”
Like Dunlop, Bergen’s operation, Guardian Eagle Fly-In Fishing Resort, relies heavily on American traffic. Well-aware that turning his focus on local clientele would be less lucrative, the Bergens want to keep their facility operating, even it is at a loss.
“If we can be up there and bless a few Canadians, even if we are not making money, we would probably still look at that,” offers Twyla.
Ruffo’s Sportsman’s Lodge Owner Ruffo Schindler agrees with the bleak assessment.
“The industry is almost exclusively an American client base and so this does not just mean a reduction in sales, it means no sales at all,” he states. “I don’t think there is much hope, to be quite honest. The industry is in big big trouble and may never go back to the way it was.”
Schindler lives in Mitchell but says ordinarily he would be scheduling trips up to his lodge in northern Saskatchewan by this point in the winter. Like Dunlop, He recognizes the reasons behind the ongoing border closures and is all too aware of the consequences.
“I think the scariest part is that nobody can see past this virus and so it is impossible to plan. I am certainly not counting on a season this year and beyond that… well boy, we got to hope and pray we can get past this thing.”
Schindler says some fishing lodges in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario will be able to target Canadian clientele more easily as their venues are easily accessible by roadway. For himself, and others in the same boat, he says the season does not look promising.
There are only three viable months of the year in which fishing lodges can stay open before the waters freeze over and the resorts become inaccessible. Considering the present global circumstances, none of the lodge owners expect the provincial public health orders will change enough by June to allow them to operate. Schindler, Dunlop, and the Bergen family each extend their warmest wishes to their fellow fishing enthusiasts across the border and urge those within the province to make a point of heading north this coming season.
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