This is what we know for sure:

• We are fully aware of the severity of the situation and are taking it very seriously.
• We are preparing and planning to open our doors on June 9th, still 85 days away. There is a lot of time for the disease to peak and subside as seen in China. We are watching carefully and planning for any contingency.
• In consultation with medical professionals, we will take all necessary steps to ensure disinfection and safety for guests and staff both on island and in transit.
• At present our cancellation policy will maintain as per usual. In the unlikely event of travel bans during the season we will make a decision starting June 1, 2020 regarding a special case cancellation policy. We will keep our guests updated and individually contact them should this become necessary.

But summer is coming, and our preparations will continue. We want to fish as badly as you do.

We are 85 days away from welcoming our first anglers of 2020 on our docks and 86 days from first casts! As the season draws near, we are amassing literally tons of gear, lumber, rods, reels and other details for the long trip north either by ski plane, helicopter or floats. When you arrive this summer, there will be some surprises to greet you. While we can’t give them all away, a number of cabins will have major face lifts and Moose cabin will have migrated from its previous locale to a new location on the hill near Grayling and Ptarmigan. Old Moose will be a storage area. New boats will be awaiting their maiden voyage, part of a continuing increase in power as many new 30hp Yamahas will be ready to move you a bit faster on the fly out lakes.

With all of the new we will of course have a lot of what’s familiar. Almost the entire 2019 staff will be returning this summer: 27 out of 29, including all the guides. There will be three new faces on the island this summer, bringing smiles and a new perspective to continue our goal of providing the absolute finest customer service of any fishing lodge, anywhere.

Thank you for deciding to fish with us. We promise to work our hardest to ensure your fishing trip is all you want it to be. It’s going to be a great year and we can’t wait to see you on the dock!

We’re A Bunch of Sellouts

This is an official announcement: We are sold out for 2020! The actual moment was around the first of February when the last guest found their fishing adventure with us, but we didn’t want to net the fish before it was hooked so to speak.

Thank you all for your continued support in returning to our island each year. And also thank you to those anglers that have put their trust in fishing with us for the first time in 2020. Your business is appreciated, will not be taken for granted and continually earned.

But we all know life is unpredictable and cancellations do happen. Reach out to our Sales Manager Jon Wimpney if you would like to be put on a wait list for a potential opening this season.

And of course now is also a great time to get in touch with Jon regarding a 2021 trip. Give him a call at 306/209-7150 or send him an email. He loves to talk fishing anytime.

That time of the year is upon us. Thanksgiving is right in front of us and Christmas just around the corner. For most of our guests living in the northern half of the continent there is no need for a reminder: winter is here.

Speaking of our team, we are happy to announce that the full guide staff is returning along with nearly all of the shore staff . . . they must like it here. We attribute that dedication and loyalty to the unique culture that has evolved on our island among the guests and staff. This is just a fun place to be!

With the kickoff of the holidays we want to thank all of our 2019 customers for another fantastic season. Without your support, commitment and friendship, we simply would not be able to pull this off. Enjoy the holiday season with family and friends and don’t forget to tell them some fish stories. Send them our way if you think they would enjoy the Scott Lake Experience!

It’s Time to Book for 2020

This year a record number of guests chose to book again for 2020 before leaving the lodge, a feather in the cap of the staff and a testament to their hard work. We appreciate the trust of these “Scott Lake Regulars”.

It’s our Sales Manager’s job to keep Scott Lake Lodge full. Jon Wimpney who also guides for 85 straight days every season has done a fantastic job, selling out the place almost every year. This year should be a slam dunk. When the season ended, we already had 82% of our 2020 capacity sold. But that still gives you a lot of room to plan your fishing adventure.

For fifty days now, Scott Lake Lodge guests have been jumping in boats and floatplanes in quest of northern pike, lake trout and arctic grayling. Most have been quite successful, but it’s been a tale of two summers over those 50 days

There was the idyllic blue sky, warm summer breezes summer that about half of our ten groups experienced and then the windy, cold and cloudy “not quite summer” that the other half fished through. Of course, some of the groups had a little of both—that’s weather, but weather conditions dictate fishing success. We know our pike and grayling love warm, sunny conditions. When the sun hits the water, those species go a little bit crazy, sometimes a lot crazy. Why else would a perfectly healthy and otherwise normal fish rush to chew on a piece of metal, plastic, fur or feathers?

 So, our groups who had a lot of sunshine did bring in more and bigger fish, but everyone who came to this island on the 60th parallel caught a lot of fish. None caught as many as our second group at the lodge who enjoyed an early season heat wave that ran their one-group trophy count to 261, a record by a long shot. Our 8th and 9th groups also had perfect weather and big trophy counts. Our fifth group had to endure the worst weather of the season: it was cold and they had to work hard for their big fish. That’s just the way fishing is.

But the bottom line: after just fifty days or just under 60% of our season, a total of 1,631 trophy-sized fish were hooked, brought to the net, carefully and quickly measured and then released by the veteran Scott Lake Lodge guide team, now with an average tenure of sixteen seasons under their caps. That trophy number is impressive; we are well on our way to breaking the 2018 season’s record of 2,221 trophies, a record we thought would stand for years. After fifty days last year we were at 1,301 trophies. The mix is looking a little different this year with more pike and grayling and fewer lake trout.

The pike and grayling have more than made up for the relative absence of trout on the end of the line. We’ve had both numbers and size this season. Many anglers do count either by guestimate or by one of those damn clickers that guides hate. With both methods counts of over a hundred fish per person per day have been tallied. Counts of two, three or four dozen per angler have been common. We don’t count anything but trophy fish so those total fish counts can remain as memories with our guests but over 50 days it’s got to be a huge number, in the many tens of thousands.

Even the trophy number is huge. We’ve had some amazing days. Both Joe Daugherty and Peter Myhre (both come more than once) have tallied nine trophy pike in a single day and both have done it twice this season. Len Dorr had an eight-pike trophy day and four anglers (Josh Nardo, Bret Laing, Peter Myhre and Thomas Purcell) have had seven trophy pike days. With all those trophies there must have been some real hogs. Yes! We’ve had one 50 inchers already, taken by our Head Chef on a rare day off. There have been a pair of 49s (Bernie Heile and Suzanne Noble) and a bunch of 48s and 47s. There were a couple very notable lake trout—a 44” and a 45” with the best of the trout season still to come. For numbers and size, it’s been a very good year. If we had the cloudy half of our season in sunshine it would have been a spectacular year, but we take the weather day by day and fish whatever weather we get.