Manotak Lodge

Great people and better fishing.

Great fishing and wonderful hosts

Great Time there had fun fishing and the staff was very nice and the lodge was very nice and decorative. I think this was the best place to go for my first time in Canada and definitely worth a 16 hour drive.Thanks for a great time!!!

Caveat emptor- buyer beware I feel I need to write this review to warn others who may be considering booking a reservation at this lodge. The new owners of Manotak have a strict policy of “no refund of a deposit after March 1 (in advance of a stay) for any reason.” This is stated on their website (click: book your stay, rates, deposits section). Deposit refunds are only given prior to March 1. We were lodge guests at Manotak for 5 or 6 consecutive years. After putting down a deposit nearly a year in advance of our August reservation, we had a serious family emergency come up that prevented us from being able to go to Canada (we would be too far away from elderly parents who were having serious surgery). Since the issue on our end occurred after the March 1 cutoff date for a deposit refund, we were denied a refund. There was no compassion, just a lot of policy statements made in response to our requests. We canceled a month in advance of our reservation (in July), so the cabin could have been rented. We communicated the change as soon as we realized our predicament due to the impending surgeries, however we were told there are no exceptions allowed to the policy of no refunds after March 1 for any reason. We asked if we could transfer our deposit to someone else… surprisingly, the answer was no. Not sure why? We were told we will have a credit on an account for future use. Because of the two surgeries, and the fact that our aging parents are all still living, it will likely be some time before we could return to Canada. But after this experience with the new owners, we’re not planning on going back to Manotak. The owners complained about losing $1700 due to our cancellation, when they could have re-rented the cabin with a month's notice had they tried. They actually lost much more than this- the lifetime value of us as customers for the past 6 years is significantly more loss; but, they're wiling to forsake that for a $100 deposit. Buyer beware: if you aren’t willing to risk your reservation deposit, you might want to look at other lodges in the area. At the time of this writing, cancellations made in less than 30 days of the reservation result in a forfeiture of the entire deposit. Cancellations after March 1, result in a credit being issued. There are no refunds for any reason after March 1 and the deposit required per person is $250/person. See the lodge website to confirm these details. 2-24-16 Update: it's nice to see a friendlier tone from the owners edited response to my review. After threats of legal action and emotional email attacks from them in response to my honest review, this is refreshing. I did not have special deals with the former owners over the years, but I was always treated with professionalism. We were good customers! Sadly, the new owners threatened to pay a lawyer to try to stop me from posting a negative review; yet they never offered me a measly $100 refund? This shows where the priorities are (and aren't) I guess. :0( For clarification, the deposit amount at Manotak was raised the last year the former owners had it (2014) from $100 to $250 (maybe in preparation for the sale?). We thought the increase was steep, thus the former owners agreed to keep our deposit at $100 for the next year. That was the only "deal" and we had every intention of returning for our Aug week at the lodge. I don't know how the former owners might have handled a refund of our deposit due to our circumstances, and I will never know. I would hope it would have been better than this experience. Frankly, there are other lodges on the lake (at the time of this writing), that still charge $100 deposit per person for a reservation. And they're highly rated as a matter of fact! After this experience, I would never pay $500 up front as a deposit. If "life happens", it's a hefty price to pay.

Awesome place,great hosts friendly and very helpful. Lodge food was delicious. The walleye fishing was non stop excitement,we were there on opener and caught 14-28"ers consistently. Northerns(big) were feeding also if u want big pike!

Dock hands and cabin staff was very friendly and nice. We had a few issues while fishing and we brought it to the attentions of the owners and he seemed to careless about our issues. Overall disappointed and won’t be coming back.

Owners are caring and helpful. We had to evacuate red Lake due to a forest fire late evening and we pulled in here as some friends said there was still room. Didn't get there until after 2am and they let us park the tailer on the font lawn of their place and even ran an extension cord out of their house so we could have power.

Visited Manotak for the first time in September of 2016. The first thing we noticed was how clean and orderly the resort was. The second thing was how friendly the staff was. The food was amazing, the cabin was very clean and the boats were top notch. I need to emphasize how great the staff was - from the cooks to the dock hands. We booked our spring 2017 trip before we left. Thank you Christine and Steve for a wonderful fishing trip! Edit: Just returned from our 2017 trip. It was great to see the same friendly staff had returned. The fishing was fantastic - the meals were superb - just had a great time. We're already looking forward to our 2018 trip. Many thanks to Christine, Steve, Jeremiah and the entire staff.