Week 1 in Review – Good thing fishing was hot!

The construction crew arrived on the 9^th of May, hopped off the helicopter and found themselves waist-deep in snow! Yikes… it was looking like a late spring. We needed some serious melting before float planes could land. Like clockwork, spring marched northward every day, rain and warm weather worked as hard on the snow and ice as our crew did getting the island looking top-notch. June 2^nd came around, and we had enough room to land an Otter. A few days later, Scott Lake was ice-free… it was time to go!

The first group of anglers hit the island with great anticipation of the first casts of 2026T. the weather wasn’t perfect, but that didn’t stop our crew and their plans to set the bar extremely high on the fishing front. Our staff also set a high standard on the first week, the team was in fine form, the kitchen, maintenance, hospitality, pilots and guides, we were rolling!  The weather was cool, but the fishing sure made up for a little wind and cloudy skies.

The pike and trout were ready to do their part, also. 132 trophy-sized fish hit the nets, along with many others; the reports of great numbers of nice fish were circulating around the Last Cast at Happy Hour. There were 116 pike eclipsing the 40” mark for the first week, a lofty tally for our lucky anglers. Our top pike went to Derek Shelt with 48.5” giant, Derek was lucky enough to have the top pike on week 1 last year also!  He also found some supersized northerns 45 and 45.5”. Next up were 4, 46”ers landed by Mark Graf, Peter Leonovicz, Dave Jakes and Sam Hanna, then a 45.75 from Chase Masuga and a 45”er for Paul Hanna. The big girls were hungry after the spawn and ready to find some warmer water. Many anglers caught pike with burbot or whitefish tails sticking out of their mouth, both major forage species for the predators we love to chase up here.

Robert Berk held top trout honours with a tank 43.5” laker trolled up in shallow water. Doc Klein landed a 40” trout, as did Dane Olson, who, after a productive day in the grayling rapids on Ingalls Lake, tallied the first Trophy Triple and 100”+ Club entry of the season.

The buzz in the lodge at suppertime was incredible; fish stories were compared, laughs and smack talk could be heard, while we were treated to some incredible photo montages on the big screens. What a way to lead off 2026, as clouds gave way to 2 perfect fishing days to wrap up the week…here we go!

Want to get on the list for 2027? Check out our info here: http://www.scottlakelodge.com