Anchor Inn Resort Blog - Home

This year, 2009,  produced good fishing at Anchor Inn Resort .  The following are the winners of the fishing contest:

 No one entered their walleye in the contest, but there were a lot of nice walleye.   There was an abundance of small walleye which indicates there is a strong class of fish coming up.   The stocking of Sand  and Little Sand Lakes continue through the combined efforts of the Sand Lake Property Owners Association and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.  This Fall a total of 1,897 pounds of fingerings were stocked.  The cool summer and abnormally warm September did impact some of the usual patterns of fishing and hunting.

Fishing Opener for 2010 is Saturday, May 15.  Make your reservations now for the opener!!

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is considering implementing new limits of only five each on Sunfish, Perch and Crappie on the Sand Lake Chain.  You will have an opportunity to voice your opinion on their website www.dnr.state.mn.us during a public comment period next spring, summer and fall.  If this were enacted into the regulations it would take place in 2011.   Your opinions and comments make a great deal of difference.

 The best hunting this year was the grouse.  Field and Stream has ranked the Chippewa National Forest as the Number 1 grouse hunting location in the United States.  We had several parties who were flushing better than 20 birds a day.   The Whitetail deer herd is down.  The DNR just reported that the  statewide harvest is down 19% from last year and the Grand Rapids area is down 26%.

We pride ourselves on meeting the needs of our guests.  Improvements in our facilities are ongoing to make your stay with us comfortable.

In 2008 we opened our new cabin 7 which provides four bedrooms and two bathes for large groups or small groups who wish to have ample room and modern facilities.  This unit has a large living room with a 37 inch flat screen television hooked to cable.  You also will enjoy wireless internet access.  The living room adjoins the dining and kitchen so that you can enjoy the company of your party while relaxing, eating, and cooking.  All of these areas open to a deck and view of Little Sand Lake.  Call for details or special pricing depending on availability.

We continue improvements on resort property. The big project for 2009 was installing insulation and pine ceiling on Cabin #1, the A-Frame.  Prior to opening in 2010, we remodeled; installing new carpeting, rebuilt the lakefront wall with new windows, and created a second bedroom from the large living room.

New Pine Ceiling, Fans & Lights

The new fish cleaning house is nearly complete.   You really need to plan a fishing trip to clean your catch in our deluxe facility.

Five cleaning stations is our new fish cleaning house

We hope to make improvements on the bait house and shower house in the coming year.

The bridge replacement project scheduled for  August 2010, has now been rescheduled for post Labor Day 2011 to allow time for tribal cultural considerations. There will core digs in the area effected by the construction to ensure there are no Native American remains.  The wooden bridge has been a memorable location to many generations of anglers.  The new plans include a fishing platform on the north side of a concrete bridge as well as wider road  and shoulders.  This will provide a safer location for vehicles and pedestrians.   There are also plans to include curbs and a sidewalk back to the Anchor Inn drive entrance.  We are working on plans to restore the shoreline of  river to native vegetation which will be disturbed during construction.  Although road traffic will only be open from the west, the river will remain open for boaters and anglers.  If you need directions when traveling to Anchor Inn Resort or to area attractions during construction we will be glad to assist you.

Thank you to all our customers who stopped by to see us at the sport shows this year.  We enjoyed talking with customers and  all of the potential customers and hope that you had an enjoyable winter.   Please keep Anchor Inn Resort in your vacation plans and contact us if you have further questions.  We will see you this summer at Anchor Inn.  Come and enjoy our Legendary Hoosier Hospitality.

Bud & Gin's 60th Wedding Anniversary

Your hosts had a busy year. Bud and Gin enjoyed a trip to Florida during the winter and a trip back to the Earl Park Fall Festival to celebrate his 60th high school class reunion. Grand-daughter,
Sarah, graduated from college. They surprised her and parents, Randy and Kim, by attending the ceremonies. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in October along with all their children. The Kitterman Family sang at the Sand Lake Alliance Church. A pig roast followed with sharing of photos from the past 60 years and capped off with singing from a local folk singer, John Perkins, enjoyed by neighbors from around the Sand Lake community.

Cheryl and Dan continued the work on construction of their Geodesic Dome Home down the road from the resort.

House dome on left; garage dome on right connected by entryway

Carol and Tom began construction of their Northwoods home next door to Rick and Peg.

Exterior of Tom & Carol's complete

Both houses are under roof and interior work and finishing of the exterior will begin next year. All of the family members assisted on these projects.

Randy and Kim have begun initial planning for their future cabin in the woods.

Dan completed his third season at Anchor Inn. Rick and Peg have completed six seasons. Bud and Gin have completed twenty-five seasons. Tom and Carol are looking forward to retirement in about three years. Anchor Inn has been in the Kitterman family since 1968, forty-one years.