Week 13 in Review: A Return to Summer and the Start of Fall

In five days, it happened… we felt summer’s fleeting grip on our subarctic home slip away for another year. There were clues for a few days now, the fall skies turn a slightly different shade of blue, our resident tern colony headed south for warmer climes and most notably, it’s getting dark.  Sitting a few hundred yards from the 60^th parallel, so much of our summer is characterized by almost twenty-four-hour daylight. Not too long after the evening trophy announcements, the sun is setting, letting those northern lights shine over Scott Lake. It’s a great time of year.

Our guests for the thirteenth week enjoyed samplings of both seasons, hot and calm to rain and wind, it didn’t dampen their spirits, nor did it slow the fishing down. This week, big fish were coming in with great frequency; exactly 200 trophy-sized pike, lake trout, and grayling made their way into the nets for a quick measurement and release.  That’s incredible fishing! By the numbers, 123 pike over 40” were landed, 20 big lakers, and a season best 57 grayling trophies.  As with many of the other weeks, once the guides and guests found the big fish, they came in bunches; many of your week 13 guests enjoyed days with 4, 5 and 6 big pike. Many photos were Airdropped in the office with well-deserved bragging rights going out to friends and family at home! Scott Lake veteran Jim Williamson was a top trout man this week, hauling a 42.5” fish up from the depths of Selwyn Lake. Jack Chapin got his arm workout in reeling up a big 42” trout, as Skylar Hribar did with a 41”er. Tyler and Bill Williamson added a pair of 40” brutes as well.  The strength and stamina of lake trout is almost unmatched in the world of freshwater fishes. They grow slow, live long and are top predators in these deep northern lakes. The minute you hook into on…you know it!

We waited until the last few minutes of the week for the biggest northern to be caught. In the final moments, Amy Brown hooked into a giant. It finally hit the net, and the boat broke out in celebration…good thing her husband Matt was paying attention, the net with 48” of jumbo pike almost took a swim toward freedom. It sounds like a fishing story that will be retold more than a few times! Earlier in the week Fin Higginbotham scored on a fat 47” pike, to one up himself from an earlier 46”er.  Fin’s big one ties the pike larger than 47” tally from the whole season in 2024!   Matt Brown tossed a fly out and got a big old 46.5” northern to chow down. Tyler Williamson added a 45.5 and a 45 while Bill Holvey a 45” to round out a fine week of supersized pike.

The grayling rapids were busy places; some walked and waded, others used the high water to advantage and fished from the boats. All our grayling anglers found success, and a lot of it! Wallis Higginbotham and Bill Holvey led the way with a pair of 19.5” grayling.  These arctic sailfish were key in the “Quest for the Jacket”, we had 4 new members of join the 100+ Club this week, Alex Mark, Skylar Hribar, Fin Higginbotham and Ken Williamson.

The sauna was lit most of the week, we drank wine by the fire, stared up at Northern Lights and the Perseid Meteor shower. We laughed, told fish stories, applauded the photos each evening and just had fun. Enough fun, the group decided to all come back next year to do it again.