Saying Yes Without Overthinking It
Ladies Tamarack Takeover had been on my radar for years before I finally said yes. I heard about this trip from my best friend Taylor, who’s gone the last three or four years. We were at the St. Paul Ice Show together, and she kept talking about it like it was her paradise. The way she said it, how she lit up, and how it sounded like exactly what she needed every winter. I trusted it immediately.
Taylor also helped me with content creation at the St. Paul show, so we’d already been in that rhythm together. There’s a lot of fun and laughing when we’re together. So when she finished chatting with Paul and Cid at their show booth she said, “you should sign up,” it wasn’t a maybe, it was a yes this time.
So I called right away and signed up. Honestly, even that phone call told me a lot. Todd is the owner of Tamarack Island Wilderness Lodge. On the other end of the phone, he just sounded like a good human. You can tell when someone’s running something because they love it. Not because they’re trying to be flashy about it. That was my first clue I was about to land somewhere special.
The Season of Life I’m In
Every New Year, my friends and I choose a word to define the year. My word for 2025 was grow. My word for 2026 is refine. That word has been sitting on my shoulders in a way that’s hard to explain unless you’re living it. In business, life, and really everything. I want to do better, be intentional with what I choose, and choose things that actually make me happy instead of constantly operating in work mode.
Fishing is part of my work in the content world, yes, but I sometimes grow tired of constantly feeling like work is all it is. I’ve missed that simple girls-trip peace that used to fill my cup. I’ve met so many of my best friends through women’s fishing spaces over the last five or six years, and I wanted that again. I wanted to genuinely enjoy fishing with my best friend at Ladies Tamarack Takeover without everything turning into content brain and deliverable brain.
It also felt a little risky in the best way. I didn’t know this neck of the woods. I’d only ever fished Lake of the Woods near Baudette before. This time was different. Nine miles from mainland Ontario. A new experience. New memories. Just fishing.
Now that it’s concluded, I realize I needed it in more ways than one. Independence factor. Bonding with Taylor in the place she’s always called paradise. The warmth of new people. In a soft way I didn’t expect, it made me miss my husband too. Not in a sad way but rather a “wow, I love coming home to you” way.
Jay supports me taking time for myself. He holds down the fort. He’s a wonderful man. I don’t take him for granted. But it’s good for me to be reminded how much I appreciate him, and how lucky I am to have someone who doesn’t make me feel guilty for going and doing something for me.
The Drive North and the Moment Work Shut Off
I booked in December, so it wasn’t a long wait. But I was counting down the days. Finding out our Instagram friend Breanne was going too made it even better. We’d been chatting online for several years and the idea that we were finally going to meet a friend from another country in real life was just very cool.
On the drive north, excitement filled Taylor’s Tacoma. We left around 5:30 a.m., crossed the border without issue, grabbed coffee and snacks, and watched the miles disappear.
The second we unpacked the truck and started loading our gear into the sleds for transport across the lake, my work brain shut off. Done. Gone. That was the point.
Nine Miles Across Lake of the Woods
We made it up to Morson, Ontario at a boat launch and waited for transport. Kelsey had just arrived, too! So three of us would be heading to the island together.
Paul rolled up with a side-by-side hauling sleds behind it (Paul is Todd’s son). Taylor opted to jump on a snowmobile, and Kelsey and I climbed into the side-by-side once all of our gear was packed.
That ride across Lake of the Woods during Ladies Tamarack Takeover was about thirty to thirty-five minutes and it felt like stepping into something completely different. Pressure cracks. Scattered islands. A bright, calm day with barely any wind. One of those perfect winter days where everything is still, but alive.
The thing that hit me the most was realizing how far we were actually going. It was like… yeah. We’re really crossing THE Lake of the Woods. We’re really headed out there.
Then Tamarack Island came into view.
It stood alone. The only clearly populated island I could see. Snowmobiles lined along the shore. Cabins tucked into cedar and pine. That faint hum of a generator you could barely hear. And that moment of, “wow, this is my home for the next four days.”
Tamarack Island: Rustic, Cozy, and Full of Good People
We stayed in Cabin Three. It was adorable. Rustic, but well-managed and well-kept. Cedar walls. Full kitchen. Two bedrooms. Bathroom. Everything you actually need to settle in.
There’s no running water on the island in winter, a small price to pay for a great time. You can boil water and do the pressurized shower setup if you want. I chose simplicity and did Dude Wipe baths the whole trip. Zero regrets. LOL
The lodge is where the social life lives. Meals served at a big table, a satellite TV, a tackle shop, and merchandise. We would watch the Olympics and the Super Bowl here.
But the thing that makes Tamarack feel like Tamarack is the people.
Todd, Paul, Cidney (Cid for short), and Andrew are the kind of people that instantly make you feel safe. It felt like a Midwest family. It didn’t feel like a business. It felt like someone welcoming you into their extended home.
Todd in particular is exactly what I expected. A big teddy bear. Funniest laugh. Infectious energy. I call him “Tamarack Todd” because he really is like the papa of the island. The stories he told all weekend had the whole lodge cracking up.
The pace shift was real. My body physically slowed down once we got there. Breanne walked into our cabin and it was like, “Dang. We’re all here.” Unpack. Plan. Snowmobiles. Fishing. That was it.
The Women Who Made It What It Was
Ladies Tamarack Takeover is women-only, but it doesn’t feel like a big “thing.” It just is. Eight or nine of us, all there for the same reason. No ego. No competition. No weird energy. Just women who love to fish.
I met Taylor back in 2021 at Ladies Midwest Meetup. She had caught a really nice crappie, and I offered to take her picture. That was it. We just clicked and never really looked back. Taylor has the most infectious laugh. The best energy. She’s been through a lot with her breast cancer. She calls 2025 her surviving year and 2026 her thriving year.
Seeing her in her happy place was everything. It made sense. I understood why she comes back. I understood why she needs it and being there with her deepened our friendship in a way that only shared adventure does.
Meeting Breanne in person was seamless. She is the same person she is online. Outdoorsy. Kind. Funny. Grounded. Our humor clicked immediately. It felt like she fit into the friend group without effort.
Women in outdoor spaces just show up differently, in my opinion. Patient. Encouraging. Celebratory. Always willing to help and teach. There wasn’t competitiveness. It felt nurturing. Everyone was there to fish, yes. But also to be good to each other and make new friends.
Friday: A Quick Bite and an Even Better Sunset
Friday at Ladies Tamarack Takeover was about getting into rhythm. We snowmobiled a few miles out (after a silly tip-over LOL), fished together, caught walleyes in a quick bite window, laughed constantly, and soaked in the fact that we were actually there. The sunset was unreal, too. They don’t call Ontario “Sunset Country” for nothing!
Then dinner back in the lodge. More stories. More laughs. Sleeping hard because fresh air does that to you.
Saturday: The Day I’ll Replay Forever
Saturday was the highlight of my Ladies Tamarack Takeover trip.
In the morning, we followed Cid up eleven miles from camp to a crappie spot. Andrew had headed up earlier and prepared the hardhouse. When we got there, space in the main shack felt tight, Kelley had a hub to set up, so Cid offered Taylor and me an Otter flip-over, the same Otter Lodge I use, to go set up on the backside of an island. Taylor and I looked at each other and immediately said yes.
Cid and Andrew got us set up out over a basin off the backside of the island. Two snowmobiles. Flip-over shack. Gear. It felt like we were on our own little planet.
And then the fishing started.
I couldn’t even get my Finicky Fooler set up fully before I caught a jumbo perch. Right away, Taylor caught a really nice crappie. From there it was consistent, every ten to fifteen minutes, packs of fish would slide through of big perch, slab crappies and a few walleyes mixed in. It was steady action that kept us laughing all day because we couldn’t believe how fun it was.
We were giggling and sounding off ridiculous little vocal stims. Taylor kept singing, “Turn around…” every time a fish would rush in and then refuse to commit.. and then we bursted out into full song. It sounds so stupid typing it out, but it had us crying laughing.
At one point Taylor hooked herself in the finger and I semi-freaked out. I didn’t want to mess it up and hurt her; I’d never done it before. Taylor once had to remove a treble hook from my head in the past. So my brain was like, “Okay Sarah, don’t be useless right now.”
We did a quick Google search, confirmed the braid hook removal trick, and handled it ourselves. I turned my Osmo off because I was nervous I’d mess it up. It ended up being the easiest thing ever. Wrap braided line around the hook shank, steady tension parallel with the skin, and a quick yank – it popped free. We celebratory screamed, high-fived and got back to fishing.
That was the independence moment for me. Not because I’ve never done hard things, but because this was all the way out there eleven miles from camp; we girl-bossed it and continued to have an absolute hell of a time crushing slabs.
We caught fish, laughed all day, and rode back at sunset like little Canadian cowgirls on snowmobiles. A day I’ll remember forever.
We had a camp fish fry with all of our catches from Friday evening and Saturday – nothing beats a fresh one.
Sunday: Slow Bite, Slower Pace, and Exactly What We Needed
Sunday was slow. Like, slow slow. The pressure was weird across camp and honestly across the Midwest. Taylor and I took a later morning, fished a shack about three miles from camp, and we could see fish, but they weren’t committing.
We moved to another day shack, not marking much of anything. I had pulled up two walleyes and Taylor had one. At one point we were literally laying on the floor of the shack because we were exhausted and it just wasn’t happening.
So we went in and took a much needed nap. We weren’t missing anything and didn’t feel like forcing it. After a full day of adventure on Saturday, it felt right to let Sunday be quiet. After waking up, we decided to skip the night bite and just relax. One of the things I love about most of my friends is they’re very go with the flow and don’t feel the need to push our bodies when they’re telling us to chill out.
I walked around camp with my camera and treated it like a little photography mission. The cabins. The snowmobiles. The shoreline. The rocks and trees. The little details that make a place feel like a place. It was the perfect reset.
Monday: One More Push and the Best Dinner on the Island
By Monday the group was smaller. Four of us stayed: me, Kelley, Kris, and Taylor.
Kris took a solo day and Taylor, Kelley and I went back up to the spot eleven miles away. Slow bite again, but there were still moments. Kelly caught a huge crappie and a huge walleye. Taylor caught some nice crappies. I couldn’t get on the board up there, so Taylor and I broke away for an hour to go back toward our island area.
That’s when I finally got on the board. Perch. Crappies. A small walleye. Nothing giant, but it felt good. We bounced back around, fished another shacks, and had a little busier window later in the day. Again, nothing giant. But it was fun. It felt like a solid final day.
Gratitude crept in hard Monday night. That “this is ending” feeling. Taking more photos. Sitting in conversations a little longer. Laughing so hard our stomachs hurt, even when everyone was tired.
This evening’s dinner was the best of the trip in my opinion: Smash burgers with caramelized onions, mushrooms, bacon, egg, and Todd’s homemade fries. Todd’s fries are the best. I will die on that hill.
Leaving, Missing Home, and Loving the Life I Came Back To
Tuesday morning was sad, and leaving Ladies Tamarack Takeover hit me harder than I expected.
I was excited to go home because I missed Jay and my dogs and I really wanted a hot shower. But I was also not ready for it to be over. The nine-mile crossing back felt long. Flurries rolled through and it went a little whiteout for part of the ride. Honestly, it felt fitting. We had incredible weather most of the trip, so of course the goodbye ride had to feel a little dramatic.
I rode passenger with Andrew in a caravan, with the rest of the crew stretched out behind us across the lake.
On that ride back, I just kept thinking about how much I loved it. How badly I want to go back next year. How good it felt to take time for myself and remember that I’m allowed to do that.
I kept thinking about Jay. I missed him. Not in a dependent way, but in a warm and grateful way. Being away reminded me how much I love coming home to him. How supportive he is of me taking trips like this. How he holds down the fort without making me feel guilty. How he’s his own capable person. How we both make space for each other to have our own adventures. I don’t take that for granted, but it’s easy to forget how lucky you are until you get the distance to feel it again.
Read Jay and I’s latest adventure here: https://sarahkozlowski.co/party-on-poygan/
Taylor and I hit the road, got coffees, sushi for lunch, and made it home safely late afternoon.
What This Trip Refined in Me
This trip made me feel lighter. It reminded me that I need to keep choosing things that fill me up, not just things that look productive.
It showed me again how much I love women-centered outdoor spaces and how good it feels to be around women who are patient, encouraging, and genuinely happy for each other.
It also reminded me of something I already know, but it felt good to feel it again. I am capable.
People online might assume that because Jay and I fish together, he’s doing all the heavy lifting, but that’s not the case. I know exactly what I’m doing. Fishing isn’t something I tag along for, it’s something I genuinely love to do.
Maybe that’s the lesson from Ladies Tamarack Takeover. It’s not some cheesy “life-changing” thing, but a reminder that when life pulls you toward something that sounds fun and good for you, it’s probably worth saying yes.
Because sometimes you cross nine miles of ice, land on a rock island that feels like a new extended family, and leave with more than fish photos.
You leave feeling like yourself again. I cannot wait for next year.
If you’re craving a place that forces you to slow down in the best way, Tamarack Island Wilderness Lodge is worth looking into. It’s not flashy. It’s not overdone. It’s quiet mornings, long days on the ice, big family-style dinners, and the kind of reset you don’t realize you need until you’re out there.
Nine miles from mainland has a funny way of clearing your head.
Visit them here: https://www.tamarackislandwildernesslodge.com/
