“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.

WEEK 6: “THE BEAT GOES ON” WITH STEADY FISHING

We were coming off a record-breaking trophy week at Scott and it would have been reasonable to assume that our big fish needed a rest. But the bruiser pike, fat lake trout and acrobatic arctic grayling had no intention of taking a break: they kept on their quest for an easy meal and ended up instead on our Week 6 “Stat Parade”. But as is our policy and practice at Scott all were returned to the lakes and rivers, ready to be fooled again by future anglers. It was another exciting week on the water with 167 trophies landed; pike lead the parade with 130 trophies in the net. The generally warm and sunny weather kept our pike active and roaming the shallow waters like heat-seeking missiles, always looking for their next meal, even if the tail of their last one is sticking out of their mouths. At one large group shore lunch for our island staff two of the eight pike kept for the occasion had burbot (one of the favorite prey species for pike) in their bellies. This is our summer: all our critters are active now. Our local wildlife species were on the move too with numerous sightings of moose, bear, eagles, osprey, loons and even a rare fisher. That last critter was a visitor right our island.

It was our second consecutive week where everyone of our guests landed a trophy fish. Even on good fishing weeks that’s not always the case. Luck is not evenly distributed. Nor is fishing skill. This week everyone enjoyed the thrill and adrenaline of that big jolt on the other end of one’s line. Of course, some guests had more of the luck/skill combo than others. It’s always the right place/right time. Wholdaia Lake, a Scott flyout lake, was the right place for many of our guests during Week 6. That’s where Kevin Hassett picked up a single-day six-pack of trophy pike and where Jamie Hasset and Matt Parker had a four-pike day. Dan Keenan found Wholdaia’s waters friendly enough to hand him five trophy pike in a day and Bob Noble got his five-trophy day there too. Smalltree Lake handed Andy Puzder his five-trophy pike day. Randy and Amber Lail joined forces for an eight-trophy pike day on Selwyn Lake. Nancy Wehl had her four-trophy day without getting into a float plane by landing her big pike on adjacent Wignes Lake.

The big fish were taken all over our nine-million-acre fishing universe. And big fish we had. Our guides like to categorize our trophy-sized pike into “regular” (40-43”), “mid” (44-46”) and “mega” (47-50”) trophies. While this group didn’t get a “mega”, they did land a bunch of “mids”—18 to be exact, well spread around our group of anglers. Pike of 44” were landed by Matt Parker, Dan Keenan, Bill Woodard, Roland Larbig, Mark Bixler, Ray Hedgecock, Jamie Hassett, Sarah Hackworth, and Randy Lail while 45-inchers were landed by Kevin Hassett, Bob Noble, Mark Bixler, Amber Lail, Jamie Hassett, Josh Makal and Missie Scheider who along with Suzanne Nobel also put a 46er in her guide’s huge net (we don’t like to lose big fish at boatside).

Some impressive arctic grayling were in the mix this week. As the rivers that connect our lakes start to drop down in volume, the grayling fishing gets better and better. This was our best week of the season so far for the “sailfish of the north”, a name given to describe their large dorsal fin. While they are not sailfish size, they are tough fish for their size, often providing an exciting acrobatic display. There were 25 trophy grayling landed this week including some very large ones: Andy Puzder had an 18.5-incher; Mark Bixler got a 19 and Craig Hackworth got a pair of 19s while Cindy Bixler landed a 19.5-incher, about as big as grayling get around here. There were a bunch of Trophy Triple hats (earned by guests who land a northern pike, a lake trout and an arctic grayling in trophy size) handed out at our nightly trophy ceremonies. Bob and Suzanne Noble, Mark and Cindy Bixler, Andy Puzder and Matt Parker all took home a memento of their fishing adventure, but Bob, Suzanne and Mark upgraded to the 100+Club and earned a custom jacket showing that their three trophies added up to 100 total inches or better, a mark of angling achievement. There needs to be special mention of one of the most unusual catches at Scott Lake Lodge—the lake whitefish. The whitefish is clearly a gamefish but mainly feeds on tiny nymphs (small aquatic bugs). Rarely do they hit a lure or fly. But Dan Keenan landed a 25-incher. In early September a few of our anglers do target whitefish when they congregate at an inflow into Scott just before their spawning season but it’s been many years since one was caught “accidentally”.

Now a third of our way through the 2024 season, the logistics and various operations here at Scott are running smoothly and predictably. Thankfully the very short WestJet strike did not prevent a single guest from making it to the lodge. While the weather hasn’t been perfect (not quite enough sunny days), it’s been good enough to ensure that every day since June 9th has been a fishing day. There has been only one day where some guests decided to stay onshore due to nasty weather. The weather is pretty simple up here. If the wind is from the north or east, it’s cold and pike fishing is slow. If it’s from the west or south, it’s warm and the pike go into attack mode. We’ve had winds from all compass points but rarely two days in a row of the same. That keeps life interesting for our guide team as they try to find just the right shoreline or bay where the water might be just a little warmer and the pike slightly more aggressive. With an average tenure of 15 years at Scott and 20 guiding they can handle it. Steady fishing it is.