WEEK 20 FISHING UPDATE

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST

What a glorious way to end the 2022 fishing season: a highly enthusiastic, upbeat group, five days of perfect fall weather, brilliantly painted lake trout swarming the shallow reefs, clear star-filled nights with a couple of northern lights appearances, and a Scott Lake Lodge team that even after working for 95 straight days pouring every ounce of their talents and energy into those final five days. It was a remarkable ending to a season often challenged by wind, rain, fog, cold fronts, or a vicious combination of the above. This week was as smooth as the butter on morning toast. While the total trophy count wasn’t the highest of the season, it was substantial (100 right on the nose), it had something no other week had—the visual feast of seeing the brightly colored lake trout in just a few feet of water. For a few anglers who hit the right reefs, catch rates of well over a hundred trout per day bent their rods and their minds.

Fall Trout Extravaganza

For the entire season our anglers were pulling big lakers from the depths—50 to 100 feet. Even though the “Trout on Top” show was a little late due to the warm temperatures, they did show up and thrilled our Week 20 anglers. Many of these trout were the colorful males, showing up first for the annual mating dance, but some heavy females were also moving around the edges of the reefs. The real (or maybe reel) bonus: fighting lakers with fly rods or light spinning tackle; it’s an entirely different experience than bringing in lakers with stiff trolling rods. The end results can be same but for many the fall trout extravaganza is far more rewarding. There are few freshwater fish (musky, peacock bass or golden dorado are contenders) that earn the title of hardest pound-for-pound fighting fish. Lake trout in shallow water on light tackle belong on that list. Their endurance and speed are legendary. Case in point: Mark Yokem is an avid and experienced fly fisherman who had set a lofty goal of landing a 40-inch lake trout on the fly. Sure, it’s good to have goals but on his first trip after lakers to set the bar that high? His guide just said “OK—we’ll try”. On his very first morning (early that morning) his guide took him to an inflow at the northwest corner of Scott Lake. It’s a spot well known for lots of small males who are starting a short migration to a couple of connected lakes. We always get lots of trout there but only rarely anything over 35”. When Mark said, “I’ve got one”, his guide shrugged and was thinking about where he should go next. But the rod was bent to the cork, and this went on for about fifteen minutes. Then the fish surfaced. The big net came out in a hurry. When it was all over, a very fat lake trout was in the net, exceeding Mark’s goal by an inch. Check the box: goal achieved. Shortly thereafter he landed a 41” pike—the symmetry was great. Check another box. Welcome to Scott Lake.

40 Inch Lake Trout

Mark wasn’t the only guest to have a 40-inch goal. Long time Scott regular Andy Johnston had the same number in mind. Another fly fishing addict, Andy has landed a lot of trophy trout here on the fly but never cracked that magic 40-inch mark. At an outflow on a flyout lake Andy had his best ever fly fishing experience with lakers, one of this favorite fish. In rather strong current Andy induced lakers of 37, 39.5 and 40.5” to grab his extra-large streamer. He landed all three. Check his box. Many other big trout ended up on our guest’s lines: 40-inchers were landed by Sonya Boone, Scott Wilson and Dave Swindlehurst; a 39 by Chris Troupis; a 38 by Dough Jacula, and 37s by Paul Rowland, Jack Keys, Jim Troupis, and Xavier Garijo who got a pair. It turned out to be the best trout trophy week of the season with twenty-one trophy trout out of many hundreds (maybe thousands—we don’t count every fish) of lakers.

40 Inch Northern Pike

There were plenty of big pike as well with 43 trophies taken. Jack Keys had the top pike at 46 inches. Paul Rowland landed a 45. Both Chris Troupis and Rebecca Graf got 44s. Grayling were on the fishing menu as well. Some big ones were taken. Ron Wamstad took a 19-incher on his four-weight fly rod. Mark Morse and Ernest Hoover landed 18s. Some anglers just couldn’t stop getting big grayling. Paul Rowland put seven trophies in his guide’s net including a 19.5-incher that looked more like a football than a fish. Andy Johnston had a big grayling day getting a baker’s dozen trophies with a 19-incher at the top.

Beyond Fishing

After all this fishing success and focus how did our anglers have time to do anything else? They did—squeezing ever moment of enjoyment out of their trip. There were many diversions: a group hike on the Tundra Trail, canoe paddles, an evening bonfire, long soaks in the hot tub, some slow cooking in the traditional Finnish sauna, cigar smoking on the main lodge deck, late night poker tournaments and lots of time at the Last Cast Bar and the Lake Lodge Bar. Add the pleasant summer-like temperatures, daily on-time (no fog) fly outs, timely arrival and departure flights and you have the recipe for a perfect week. It’s like we scripted it. And this script had a storybook ending with a dinner party at the Renaissance Hotel in Edmonton. It was simply a wonderful week to end the 2022 season.

See you all next summer! Now go fishing somewhere else.

WEEK 18 FISHING UPDATE

HERE COMES THE SUN!

What a difference a day makes. Our intrepid anglers for Week 18 arrived on a weather-delayed changeover to find cloudy and windy conditions. After settling in everyone, of course, hit the water for a half day and they did OK. Taylor Abernathy, our 90-years-young guest, did some nice moves in the boat to get the biggest fish of the day—a beautiful 45-incher. But it looked a lot like the previous week when the sun graced the waters for just two hours. However, the next morning dawned bright and clear. That two-hour sunshine mark was eclipsed before the first boat or plane left our docks. What followed was four days of almost continuous sunshine; only the final afternoon got partly cloudy.

Great Pike Fishing

The fish followed the time-tested script: sun equals great pike fishing. After a week of resting our savage tundra sharks started hitting anything that moved. There were some fantastic days. Rebecca and Mark Graf had a five trophy day; Gerald Tiefenbach and Paul Croegaert combined for six trophies; Nancy and Marvin Wehl had their best day ever on the water, landing five trophy pike, including a 44 and a 45, two trophy trout and a big bunch of trophy grayling, the biggest at 19” for Nancy and 18.5” for Marvin; Ron Juergens, who has fished all over Canada, had one of his best pike days, teaming up with Joel Snyder for six big pike and a bunch of almost trophy-sized. But the best “big day” story belongs to the father/son team of Mike and Adam Strobel. On the second day at Scott, they had a great day, getting five trophy pike but Adam got four of them. There might have been a little trash talking there. On the third day, dad showed he still had the good stuff: he let Adam take the pictures while he put seven trophy pike in the guide’s net with one a fat 45”. Father knows best.
There was no shortage of big pike. In addition to all those mentioned above, there were a bunch of 44s caught—Eric Klein, Mark Graf, Paul Larusso, Jim Kusar and Peggy Light hit that mark on the tape. Joel Snyder, Mark Graf, Trent Kusar, and Jeff Berg put the tape one inch longer with 45s. That’s a lot of big fish. And we’re not done. What’s a fishing update without mentioning the Lake Trout?

Trout On the Move

While the trout are now moving up the water column in a pre-spawning move, the big ones are still deep. Liz and Ed Snyder, with a little help from their guide, found them. They had an epic day. There is no other word. They landed ten trophy lake trout, great but not a headline. six of them were over 40 inches long—that’s a headline. Liz got the biggest at 44 inches, one of the biggest of the season. The picture tells the story. Gerald Tiefenback landed a 38” and Paul Croegaert got a 39” lakers. Lots of smaller trout were taken while anglers were casting for pike. In just a few days the first waves of lake trout will be on the spawning reefs, visible in only two to five feet of water. Add some great grayling fishing and you end up with a great week on the water and two new members of the 100+Club–Marvin and Nancy Wehl who did it all this week.

Everything Swimming and Dancing

Fish weren’t the only critters swimming in the water. It was an unusual wildlife week with some rare sightings. How many people have seen a porcupine swimming? Jeff Berg and Peggy Light have now. We also had guests who watched swimming otters, a muskrat (quite rare in these parts), mink, pine martin and black bear. But it was a black bear on terra firma who was the big show. We had on Gardiner Lake a spectacular blonde black bear (yes black bears vary in pelage color) that did a dance right in front of Mark and Rebecca Graf and their guide Greg Hamm, who came by boat answering a distressed radio call from our Beaver pilot, Evan Barlow. Evan had been chased (in a non-threatening way, if that is possible) around his plane before he could jump in. Then the bear grabbed a coil of rope, rubbed his back against a tree and did these amazing dance moves. This was a very big bear. The video is priceless. Nothing could top that bear dance, not even the great northern lights, the Tundra Trail hike or the two evening bonfires. It was the kind of week everyone dreams about for their fishing vacation. And that’s what we do best up here: make fishing dreams come true.

WEEK 15 FISHING UPDATE

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

Another gorgeous week at Scott Lake Lodge. For the third straight group summer made a visit to the far north. And when the sun shines on the lakes and forests of the border county between the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan there is not more beautiful place anywhere on the planet. Perhaps there’s a bias there but it’s what we keep hearing from our guests. And we believe them. We know one thing for sure about sunshine up here: it really turns on the arctic grayling. Often overshadowed by the heavyweights of our lakes (the northern pike and lake trout), the grayling is clearly the iconic species of this part of the world. You will not find them in the lakes of the upper Midwest, not even in Michigan which has a city named for them. Our most visually stunning fish, the grayling’s dramatically high dorsal fin is its calling card, but its coloration—a bluish/silver accented with a dash of pink/purple iridescence—is a feast for the eyes. With appropriate tackle (ultralight spinning or a 4-weight fly rod) it’s a worthy gamefish, often putting on an acrobatic show. And sun on the water makes them crazy as many of anglers discovered this week.

Arctic Grayling: Showtime

Two of our gang, Andrew Troop and Paul Barth, put on a grayling clinic on a remote river about one hundred miles from the lodge. No one watched it but the eagles, osprey and loons, but they had an incredible grayling experience landing twenty-five of trophy class with seven over eighteen inches. Taking off some time from their pike quest, Darrell Massie and Bill Sandbrook landed three over eighteen. Michael Hammes and Greg Limback landed a dozen trophies and Armond Arci caught a pair of 18s, our supersized designation. It was time for this remarkable fish to come out of the shadows.

Pike and Trout Trophies

It is Scott Lake; pike and lake trout are still the main show. Our home lake kicked out two 47-inch pike on the last day. John Kreiling and Bill MaGraw were on the other end of those lines. Tracy Kreiling and Tony Madonia had a big day on a fly out lake bringing in nine trophy pike. Darrel Massie landed a 45; KelseyGilbert-Kreiling and Maureen O’Leary caught 44s. There were some of the other heavyweights in the mix this week. Jay Kreiling got a 40-incher; Tony Madonia landed a 41 and Maureen O’Leary had the top trout of the week with a very heavy 42-incher. That big trout with her 44 pike and a 18” grayling earned Maureen admission into the 100+Club with a very respectable 104 total inches. Congrats to Maureen on joining the exclusive club and getting the jacket. Bill Sandbrook and Armond Arci just missed the 100+Club but did leave with the Trophy Triple hat and lifetime memories.

Beyond Fishing

With the beautiful weather there were many relaxing and leisurely shore lunches enjoyed. The Kreiling group added some special blends of margaritas to theirs. Why not? The evenings featured great dining, some poker games, cornhole throwing and just lake watching from the big deck off the main lodge. The annual Massie/Sandbrook fishing contest tradition was continued but ended in a tie, each group getting exactly the same number of fish, something that’s hard to do; but the ladies did have the biggest fish. Scott Lake was again visited by the herd of muskox that have taken up residence near Scott Lake. Jim Bourgeois and ______Hutchinson watched this remarkable ice-age relic cruise the shoreline in the far northwest corner of the lake.

Beautiful weather, plenty of big fish (119 trophies to be exact), great dinner conversations, the evening serenade of loon calls, eagles soaring, and just the sheer pleasure of being in a remote, pristine landscape—just another week in Paradise.

WEEK 14 UPDATE

SUN, FUN AND FISH (LOTS OF FISH)

Some weeks at Scott Lake Lodge it just all comes together. In this space we attempt to celebrate the time our guests spend at the lodge, but we also try to tell it straight. The straight dope: it’s been the absolute worst weather year here in our 27 seasons. Lots of rain, clouds, and cool or cold north winds. Then finally in mid-August the sun comes out for five straight days (just a few storm cells—one big one—mixed in) and the Scott Lake world becomes a fishing paradise. So, lots of sun with several totally cloudless days mixed with lots of fun. Jamie and Kevin Hassett witnessed three wolverines swimming across a lake and saw a herd of muskox. Yes, that’s fun and rare. There were many guests enjoying the hot tub, sauna, a bonfire, northern lights viewing, cornhole tournaments (heavy action from the Bill Rau group), a scenic trip to spectacular Lefty Falls by the Warner group and traditions continued by many including Joel Tune and Dick Emens who have fished together at Scott for nearly two decades. We had father/sons and father/daughters and tight family groups. It was the right group at the right time: the week we had been waiting for, the lots of fish week!

Record Breaking Number of Trophy Fish

And fish? Yes, lots of fish. There was a record season total of 166 trophies landed, nicely mixed between pike, arctic grayling and lake trout. And many whoppers—fish of angler’s dreams. Six anglers entered the 100+Club, another season record: Dick Emens, Joel Tune, Bill Rau, Kevin and Jamie Hassett and Cooper Allen. Cooper’s dad, Graham, didn’t quite make the club but did get the Trophy Triple hat and he could not have been happier about that outcome. So many big fish!

Lots of Big Pike

First all the pike. Marcia Hunt whose last trip was twenty years ago got a pair of 44” pike while dad, Don Hunt, landed a 45. Richard Emens had an incredible pike trip with three 44s and three 45s. Tim Fierbaugh, Johnny Powers, Joel Tune and John Bennett all pulled 44s to the guide’s waiting net. Jamie Hasset, Bill Rau got 45s and Dave Anderson got a pair of 45s, our pike supersized standard—one was an absolute pig of a pike. Tim Fierbaugh had the top pike of the week at 46 inches.

Lots of Big Lake Trout

Then the big trout bonanza—the best crop of the season. A lake trout is one of the strongest freshwater fish. A 40” lake trout is a freight train. We had plenty of those this week. Bill Rau, Jamie Hassett and Kevin Hassett brought in 40s. Kevin added a 42. Chris Fierbaugh got a 41.5” and Tim Fierbaugh got a 41 and a 42.5-inch laker. On the last day Cooper Allen scored a fat 43, but the biggest trout of the week was Joel Tune’s 43.5” monster from Smalltree Lake which is a new lake record there.

Lots of Big Arctic Grayling

Fishing buddies Joe Tune and Dick Emens really got into the big grayling. Joel got 18 and two 19.5-inch beauties. Dick used his fly rod to get our first 20-incher of the season and added an 18 and three 19s.
When the sun hits the water of Scott Lake and our 24 flyout destinations wonderful things happen to the fish and the anglers. It was just a great week. Thanks to all our guests who enjoyed the sun, fun and fish.