Jason, Author at Scott Lake Lodge

Week 17 Recap: A Fishing Vacation

by Jason | Sep 2, 2024 | 2024 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

“A FISHING VACATION”

A good time on a fishing trip isn’t measured exclusively by a tape measure. That was the working philosophy of our Week 17 anglers. If we use the FHBA (Fun Had By All) measurement, this week was at the top of the list for the year. People had a great time. Over the years we have observed that our guests in August tend to be a bit less fanatic (or is that fInatic?) than those earlier in the season. They like to think of their trips as a fishing vacation not quests to capture their personal best. This group definitely fell into that category. There were many late morning starts and early returns throughout the week and even some “I think I’ll stay on this beautiful island” days. The group was motivated to have a good time not set a lodge trophy record. The pressure was off, and the good times just rolled along.

Life on the island was simply wonderful this week. We had three glorious evenings of spectacular northern lights, one with guests sitting around the bonfire by the main lodge. Unlike earlier in the year, no one had to stay up until the wee hours to experience this northern delight. Some of the best displays were visible by 10:00 in the evening. We had magnificent dinners every night. We had exciting wildlife encounters, including a day where guests saw all three of our large wildlife critters—moose, black bear and muskoxen. We had an incredible amount of fun watching the exploits of our group on the TV screens after dinner; the hoots and hollers as people celebrated their catches were probably the best of the season. We had the first glimpses of fall color as the birch leaves started to turn yellow and the ground cover to reds. We heard the loons in the evening along with the first groups of migrating geese. We had some sunny days and some cloudy or windy days (this is fall up here), but conditions were always OK to fish. Most importantly we had a lot of laughs all week. And we had a lot of bent rods, but the trophy count for the week was the lowest of the season at 72, one of only two weeks where that number didn’t have three digits. Go back to the opening line: it’s not always the length of the fish but the enjoyment of the experience. Big fish decide when they want to eat not the angler.

Plenty of big fish did decide to eat. Peggy Light had one of the best single days of the season on a fly out to Selwyn Lake. She landed ten trophy pike with the top three at 44.5”, 45.5” and 46”. Peggy has had a lot of trips to Scott but never had experienced a day like that one. She landed many more near-trophy size and dozens of heavy mid-30” pike. She was busy cranking in big fish all day. The fish of late August are not the pike of early June; they are clearly different looking and different at the end of the line. They are putting on the feedbag for winter. While they are more spread out in deeper structure (weed beds and drop-offs along rocky shorelines), they are more aggressive than the pike earlier in the season. And they are so much heavier. The girths of late August and September fish are about 30% greater than the same fish from June. They are fat, ferocious and quite feisty. When they turned on, they really turned on. Nancy Mahaffee had a three-trophy day and a four-trophy day. Included in her haul were a pair of 46-inchers. Her husband, Joe, wasn’t exactly shut out. He also landed a 46 at Gardiner Lake on his final day on the water. Both Nancy and Joe got trophy lake trout and Arctic grayling and went home with the Trophy Triple hat. Three-trophy pike days were enjoyed by Joe Velas, Katherine Velas and Dave Russo. Two big pike came off Scott this week: Harry Readinger landed a 45-incher and Dana March got a 45.5-inch fat, fall pike. Two dandy lake trout were caught this week, a 38-incher by Dave Russo and a girthy 40-inch Scott Lake beauty taken by Jeff Seitzinger.

The fishing action was great all week on Scott and throughout the fly out system. There were many reports of 50-60-70 fish days. While down from our average, the number of big fish was enough to keep all our guests quite happy. When trophy-sized fish come too easily, they aren’t enjoyed as much. The big fish of Week 17 were cherished and celebrated. And no one left the island without a deep appreciation for the pristine wilderness they encountered in their five-day fishing vacation adventure. The northern lights and wildlife sightings were frosting on an already very tasty cake. The summary judgment for the week: WONDERFUL.

September 2

We entered September with a full light show! The sky had Northern Lights dancing all week.

September 1

Look at that belly! Dave was all smiles after this catch with Cory on Flett Lake. Another great day in the books. #canadianfishinglodge #catchandrelease #pikefishing #orvisflyfishing

August 31

Maureen hauled in this Pike with Jordan, making for two awesome days on the water! #catchandrelease #womenwhofish #pikefishing #orvis

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Week 16: Party Time

by Jason | Aug 30, 2024 | 2024 Season, Arctic Grayling, Guides, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

“PARTY TIME”

Let’s call it a Fishing Party

During some weeks at Scott Lake Lodge, the fishing is serious, very serious. For many of our adventures in the far north, the anglers are intense, a bit predatory, focusing every ounce of their energy on their quest to get the biggest fish of their lifetime. That’s understandable. Many have dreamed about their Canadian expedition for weeks, months or even years. They want to squeeze every possible experience out every minute, every fish. They are right at home at Scott Lake Lodge where we celebrate the angling culture. But then some weeks there is a wonderfully different vibe—the “let’s just have a good time feel”. That was the tone during Week 16. Ron and Betsy Spork invited a couple dozen of their family, friends and business associates for a private week of fishing, feasting and fun at Scott. It became a fishing party. There were leisurely dinners, lots of card games, challenging cornhole games, raucous cheering when a big fish appeared on the TV screen during the nightly “fish of the day” programs, and relaxing moments in front of an after-dinner bonfire. It was a more casual, relaxed week. Not that there weren’t plenty of big fish landed.

On the first day of the four-day trip an impressive total of 49 trophy fish were landed. Leading the pike parade was the Leader of the Pack, Ron Spork, who contributed five trophy pike with a 43- and 45-incher. (Betsy Spork added three more trophy pike to the boat’s total.) Patty Thompson was right behind Ron with four trophy pike including another 45-inch beauty. Lonnie Thompson and Trevor Rusnak added 44s to the proceedings. Jake James had a big day on Scott Lake with a trophy pike and two big trophy lake trout, one stretching the tape to 41-inches in length with a massive girth. On a flyout to Labyrinth Lake Jerry Kolek and Jim Ossner got into a mess of Arctic grayling and plenty of pike. At the far end of Wholdaia Lake, Patick Schatz and Matt Karras caught more grayling than they thought existed in all of Canada. Both landed 19-inchers in the fast waters of the Dubawnt River, no small accomplishment. Twenty of the group got trophy pins that evening after dinner. The good luck was well spread around on that memorable first day.

But weather is everything when fishing these parts. The big storm forecast for the second day did materialize. Even in the protected waters around our island, the wind and waves were just too much. Only a handful of guests went on the lake and none for very long. This was a day for the fish and the anglers to relax. It was a complete shutout for the anglers; no trophy pins were handed out that evening after a festive dinner of Smoked Salmon (or a Pork Schnitzel for those who loved the red cabbage side dish). But it wasn’t a lost day. The wood-fired sauna was cooking all day; the hot tub was busy as was the spa with a full day of massage. A few even ventured into the workout facility. Some days a fishing party need to rest. Everyone had a relaxing day, catching up, renewing friendships and grabbing a nap.

Fully rested and raring to go, Team Spork hit the water hard on Day 3 of their trip. They were ready. Just like the first day, our fish were eager to dance. It was another great day with 27 trophy pike, eight trophy lake trout and a bunch of grayling. Ron Sport again led the way with another 5-trophy pike day, topping out at a 44-incher. Brothers Bill and Rick Spork each landed three trophy pike as did Rick’s wife, Brenda. Patty Thompson bagged a trio of nice lake trout with a 39-inch beauty as her top trophy. Jerry Kolek caught a 38.5” laker that gave him the coveted Trophy Triple hat. With a 35.5” laker Jim Ossner also did the Hat Trick. The trophy pins distributed that night were nothing though compared to the meal our chefs prepared for the final dinner of the trip.

The last half-day of fishing featured another culinary delight. This time it was served on a broad Scott Lake beach with fifteen guides preparing the shore lunch to end all shore lunches, the classic fishing party meal. It was a sunny day with waves to keep the pike in a feeding mood. Plenty of northern pike were caught that morning to provide the basic ingredient for a classic Canadian shore lunch. There were pike wraps, stir-fried pike, baked pike, “slobster pike” (pike tidbits slowly cooked in a lot of butter and garlic—deadly good), and fried pike with a variety of secret sauces. Put some corn and beans on the plates just for the color. Then add a big bowl of the Canadian cultural icon —Poutine, the unbelievably good mix of French fries with cheese and gravy. Top it all off with an over-the-fire apple crisp for desert and you have the elements of a meal no one will forget for some time.

The entire week was over-the-top fun and warm companionship. It was the kind of week that Scott Lake Lodge specializes in—making everyone feel like this place was built just for them. And everyone would be right.

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Week 15 Recap: Trout Time

by Jason | Aug 27, 2024 | 2024 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

“TROUT FISHING TIME”

For most of the summer big pike have ruled the waves of our blog posts. Finally, it’s trout fishing time. Our “freshwater tuna” (that’s how hard they fight) are now down in the deep holes of our lakes where our experienced guides with the latest electronics can target them. They showed up in both numbers and size. Matt and Amanda Yackel gave the vertical jigging technique a shot and tallied 306 lake trout (yes, they counted them) in one memorable day. Jigging doesn’t get our biggest lakers, but it does rack up the numbers and who doesn’t enjoy having a doubled over rod almost continually during a day on the water? With an average size of around six pounds each, the haul that day was close to a ton of trout. Trolling spoons deep is the technique to land the bruisers in these parts. Our guides did a lot of that this week, finding our guests many hundreds of trout, catching 21 lakers over 38”, a fat and feisty fish. We did have a clear winner in the Lake Trout King of the Week category. Brad Courvelle has landed a lot of lakers here at Scott over his three trips here but never one that stretched the tape to 44-inches, one of our biggest of the season. It was a brute taken on a flyout to Flett Lake, one of our best flyout pike lakes. A pair of 40-inchers were taken on Selwyn Lake by Colleen and Larry Lee. Another 40-incher was landed on Scott Lake by Megan Wolff. Lakers of 39 were taken by Jason Ziegler who got a pair that size and Rebecca Sawyer. Trout of 38-inches were caught by John Baumann, Laurie Yliniemi, Paul Sawyer and Amanda Yackel. It turned out to be our best trout week of the season.

Late in the season when the trout go deep, the Arctic grayling come shallow as the rivers connecting our flyout lakes drop in volume and become very fishable for light weight tackle, either ultra-light spinning or 4-weight fly rods. We had a record number of trophy grayling this week with 69 over 15-inches. Brad and Adam Courvelle had a wild grayling afternoon on the Dubawnt River about 100 miles east of the lodge. They caught dozens of grayling and 16 of them were over 18-inches including some 19s and a 19.5-incher. Rebecca Sawyer caught an 18-incher as well. Paul and Rebecca Sawyer, Amanda and Matt Yackel, Aubrey Hegge and Megan Wolff also took a pause in their quest for big pike and trout and caught grayling on our rivers. While grayling don’t make our headlines often and while not all our anglers appreciate fish without teeth, grayling provide for those that enjoy light-tackle fishing one their most satisfying northern experiences. While lake trout and pike can be caught many hundreds of miles to the south, grayling are a species of the far north. And they are a cooperative fish. When conditions are right, they will attack anything the right size that resembles a small fish or a bug of any kind. We have an expression here about fly fishing for grayling. We have studied fly fishing success for grayling here over almost three decades and have concluded that there are only two flies that work for grayling: “those that float and those that don’t”. Catching grayling on dry flies is as entertaining as fishing gets.

While pike didn’t make the top of the week’s marquee, they weren’t exactly hiding either. We tallied just under 100 trophy pike. The total was lower than in many weeks but there was a baker’s dozen over 44-inches. Mark and Amy Occhipinti, Judy Withrow and Chris Hegge hit the 44-inch mark. Karen Flynn, Amanda Yackel, Mark Occhipinti and Adam Courvelle added an inch with Brad Courvelle landing a pair of 45s on the same day. Mike Withrow and Larry Lee got 46-inchers and Rebecca Sawyer and Aubrey Hegge landed the biggest pike of the week at 47-inches. Aubrey’s was a buzzer beater on Scott Lake on the last day. When pike turn on, they can be caught in bunches. Both Jim Flynn and Chris Hegge got five trophy pike on the same day. Larry Lee had a day he will never forget getting a 46.5” pike and a 41.5” lake trout on the same day. There has to be an Honorable Mention for Tom Bauman who on the same day caught three pike between 39.5 and 39.75-inches, just a fingernail short of our 40” trophy size. Now that’s an honest guide!

The weather was a mixed bag for the Week 15 crew. We had a little of everything—some sunny days, some rainy days, some cloudy days but the fishing was remarkably consistent. And as every week the wildlife show went on with sightings of muskox and moose as well as the standard loon, eagles and ospreys. We did get the first hints of fall this week with some birch leaves starting to turn yellow and a few early-bird geese heading south. We had a brief northern lights display one night, but the night skies were generally quiet this week. As the nights get longer and darker, there will be a lot more displays in the weeks ahead. And there will be more giant fish too. We are getting near the end of our season but based on our history the best is yet to come.

August 23

Just like 2023, Brad & Jan found massive Trout. When the front fin is almost as big as the head, you know you have a tank. #troutfishing #canadianfishinglodge #catchandrelease #seewhatsouthere #OrvisEndorsedLodge

August 22

Megan and Nuggs spent the day fishing for Grayling & Pike and ended up reeling in this beautiful Northern to reach a Trophy Triple!! The smiles in the photo are just a glimpse into the good times they had! #pikefishing #catchandrelease #seewhatsouthere #canadianfishinglodge #arcticgrayling #makingmemories #OrvisEndorsedLodge

August 21

Judy and Nick made for another great day on the water with this beauty! #pikefishing #seewhatsouthere #makingmemories #findyourwild #OrvisEndorsedLodge #canadianfishing

August 26

Photos like this really make you appreciate what these northern lakes have in store. #catchandrelease #canadianfishinglodge #pikefishing

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Week 14 Recap: Some Heavy Hitters

by Jason | Aug 20, 2024 | 2024 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

“Some Heavy Hitters”

Trophy Pike, Trophy Grayling, Trophy Lake Trout

It’s late summer, the heat of the pennant races and it’s time for some baseball talk. Going 2 for 5 in a game is darn good, a .400 average. It’s been 83 years since a major leaguer hit .400. That was Ted Williams who also happened to be a great angler. So, for Scott Lake Lodge to bat .400 during its 14th week of the season is more than good. Over the week we had two spectacularly beautiful days, one OK day and two cloudy, cool, rainy, windy days. Which days do you think were the two hits? If you’ve been following this blog over the years you know. Sunshine drives quality pike and grayling fishing. No exceptions this week. The two warm, sunny days averaged 49 trophies per day; the three not-so-nice days averaged eight. Sunshine is fishing catnip; the pike and grayling go a little crazy.

To hit .400 though, you need more than ideal weather. You need some sluggers. And we had them. We had anglers who could handle our trophy fish—pike over 40”, arctic grayling over 15” and lake trout over 35”. Our Week 14 team hit doubles, triples and homeruns every inning. When the dust on the basepaths settled, the home team had 107 trophy pike, 44 trophy grayling and 13 trophy lake trout for an impressive total of 164 big fish, some very big. We had eleven anglers who “super-sized” their trophies by landing pike over 45”, lake trout over 40” or grayling over 18”. We saw some seriously big fish on the big TV screens after dinner every night. And this is mid-August when fishing in most Canadian lodges in Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan start to see their fishing fall off. In the areas to the south their big days are in June and early July. In August the water just gets too warm. In the cooler waters of the far north, our big days and big weeks happen throughout the season. Our first seven groups of the 2024 season averaged 146 trophies per 5-day session; the next seven, starting July 21 and wrapping up August 18th, averaged 151, demonstrating that any week of our season could be sensational; it all depends on the weather, not the calendar. Anytime is the “best” time to be fishing along the 60th parallel. Up here we don’t miss many pitches.

So, just who were the big hitters of Week 14? So many! Leading the hit parade though would have to be Mark Velleca who really hit one out of the park, getting an absolutely beautiful and girthy pike, a 49-incher, tying the mark for the biggest of the season. Another longball hitter was Jim MacDougall who brought to home plate (well his guide’s net) our biggest lake trout of the season and one of our biggest ever, a powerful 45.5-incher with a massive girth; ten other trophy fish were part of his batting production.

Many other anglers made contact with big pike using their fly, spinning or casting rods as bats. We had six anglers land 44-inchers (Dave Schauer, Dave Morales II who got a pair, Dave Morales, Stephanie Tilton, Bill Schuneman and Amy Blackstone); two got 45s (Dave Schauer and Susan Saraka); one got a 46-incher (Sam Velleca) and one (Stephanie Tilton) got an impressive 47-incher. We didn’t see many trophy trout, but we had some nice ones: in addition to Jim MacDougalls’ monster we had a 38-incher (Tom Olson), a 39-incher (Dave Morales II) and a pair of 40-inchers landed by Dave Morales. Grayling were a big part of the Week 14 game. Super-sized grayling (over 18”) were landed by Jim MacDougal, Amy Blackstone, Carl Sparks and John Replogle. At a distant fly out river, Carl and John hit a grayling bonanza, using fly rods to bring home 35 trophy grayling as well as a few trophy pike. Trophy Triple hats were handed out to Cintia Powers, Dave Morales, Dave Morales II and Jim MacDougall. The two Daves and Jim had enough big trophies to join the elite 100+Club with Jim gunning for our MVP award. He’s sitting at the top of our 100+Club leaderboard, currently edging out Jim Hambright with a 106.75 total inches for his biggest pike, trout and grayling.

There were other trophies as well. Kathy Lawler went home with some amazing northern lights images in her camera. With a lot of cloud cover and the full moon hanging around, she earned those, staying up until 2:00 AM on two different nights to hit her visual homerun. Everyone had trophy dining experiences with the Lamb Fesenjan, Lobster Risotto, Salmon Wellington and Beef Bourguignon scoring the highest. All things considered Week 14 was a winner, in contention for winning our Week of the Year award. It didn’t have the most trophies of the season, but with a 47” and 49” pike along with a 45.5” lake trout it was an All-Star week, definitely a contender.

P.S. While the Billy Jean King/Bobby Riggs tennis match was the great Battle of the Sexes, we saw a close battle here with seven couples in camp this week. In terms of total trophies landed who won? It was perfect, just like the Week: a tie 31 to 31.

August 19

It’s as big as the head looks. This deserved a drumroll!! Mark and Poacher got this once in a lifetime pike yesterday. This year has been unreal. #canadianfishing #makingmemories #canadianfishinglodge #orvis #catchandrelease #findyourwild #OrvisEndorsedLodge #seewhatsouthere #pikefishing

August 18

What a catch!! Jim hauled in this absolute tank Lake Trout that measured in at a staggering 45.5″. Now, that’s how to cap off a trip to Scott! #troutfishing #catchandrelease #canadianfishinglodge #makingmemories #canadianfishing #OrvisEndorsedLodge #seewhatsouthere

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Week 13 Recap: The (Hot) Dog Days of Summer Fishing

by Jason | Aug 17, 2024 | 2024 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

“THE HOT DOG DAYS OF SUMMER FISHING”

If, like many of our customers, you hail from the upper Midwest, you’ve heard the expression “The Dog Days of Summer”, referring to the hot, muggy often miserable weather of late July and August. For anglers though it specifically referred to that time of summer fishing when you just can’t catch fish, especially pike. According to this perspective, pike lose their teeth in August and can’t feed at all. Of course, pike don’t lose their teeth and don’t stop feeding, but in the overly warm waters of the northern US this time of year, pike are very hard to catch. In the cool waters along the 60th parallel, our pike love heat and sun. We had it and that Northwoods legend was contradicted 147 wonderful times at Scott Lake Lodge during our early August, Week 13 session. And these big pike had plenty of teeth, somewhere around 700 each. Our pike know that fall is coming and they are putting on the feedbag.

It was, on all fronts, the perfect week to be in the far north. There were five consecutive blissful days of sunshine, warmth (shorts and T-shirts were the uniform of the week) and highly cooperative northern pike, Arctic grayling and lake trout. At Scott Lake the “dog days” became the “hot dog days” where everyone felt like the King of the Lake and feasted on all the sight fishing opportunities as the big pike moved into the warm shallow water. The result of the great weather combined with the experienced guides and enthusiastic anglers was a total of 181 trophy fish. In that total were some dandy big fish: there were 21 pike over 44 inches with seven of those at 46 inches or better, including two 48s, and six lake trout over the magic mark of 40 inches. Add a bunch of nice grayling and you have an incredibly productive week of summer fishing.

John Underwood led the pike parade with a day every angler dreams about but few realize. On a flyout to Selwyn Lake he landed dozens of pike. That’s not unusual, but to connect with pike of 40.5, 43.5, 45.5, 47.5 and 48.5 inches on one day is quite unusual. His fishing partner for the day, Brad Chapin, had the same kind of day with trophy pike of 41.5, 42, 43.5, 44.5 and 47 inches. That’s ten huge pike in one memorable day. The father/son team of Scott and Will Bixby had the same kind of day on a fly out to Wholdaia Lake where they caught 11 trophy pike including a 45 and 47-incher. Ketta and Russ Roberston had an eight-trophy day with a 45 and 46-incher. Those are all big days. But almost everyone at Scott had a big day. Pike of 44 inches were taken by Steve Pfeifer who got a pair, Dave Underwood, Will Murray, Ken Williamson Sr, Scott Bixby, Amy Brown who also caught a 45-incher. Scott Bixby got one of those and Will Bixby ended up with two 45s. Upping the ante Ketta Robertson, Jason Loughran and Bob Weyers landed 46-inchers; Will Bixby and Brad Chapin got 47s and the monsters of the week, girthy 48s, were caught by John Underwood and Steve Harty. Giant trout were taken by Lachlan Williamson who caught a 40.5- and 41.5-inch laker; Will Murray had a 41-incher; Wallis Higginbotham pulled in a 41.5-incher and topping the trout list was Taylor Rizza who on the last day at Premier Lake, adjacent to Scott, landed one of our biggest of the season at 43.5 inches. Bunches of trophy grayling were pulled out of flyout rivers by Taylor Rizza, Wallis Higginbotham, Lachlan Williamson along with Bill and Chris Hudspeth. Those grayling, along with their trophy lake trout and northern pike, gave Taylor Rizza, Chris Hudspeth, Wallis Higginbotham, Will Murray and Lachlan Williamson the Trophy Triple hat. Wallis, Will and Lachlan got enough total inches of our three trophy species to join the elite 100+Club.

With the warm weather there was plenty of water sports with some swimming, kayaking and paddle boarding. As frosting on the cake, the northern lights made an appearance. And there was plenty of real cake in the form of tempting desserts after the elegant evening dinners. Everything was sweet during this glorious week of summer fishing in the far north.

August 14

On the last day of Tayler’s trip, she hooked onto this big ol’ Lake Trout!! This, along with a trophy pike and grayling, brought her into both the Trophy Triple and 100+ club!

August 13

To finish off the week with this monster Pike, what great memories! Joe and Biff enjoyed the sun, good fishing & smiles all around! #catchandrelease #pikefishing #OrvisEndorsedLodge #makingmemories #seewhatsouthere #findyourwild

August 12

Will caught this mega Pike with Poach today! With the sun shining and the fish biting, the days keep getting better and better! #catchandrelease #pikefishing #canadianfishinglodge #makingmemories #seewhatsouthere #findyourwild

August 11

What a way to spend your summer vacation, catching big Pike on a beautiful summer day in the NWT! #makingmemories #pikefishing #catchandrelease #canadianfishinglodge #OrvisEndorsedLodge