OF FUN, FISH AND FIRE: The Week 10 Update

OF FUN, FISH AND FIRE: The Week 10 Update

by | Aug 1, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

Trophy Trout Lead the Way

Our Week 10 group had it all: good times at the lodge, giant fish and some drama to end the trip. The fun was obvious every evening. This was a group with long ties to Scott that knew how to have a good time. The evenings were celebratory and for good reason: the fish this group caught were huge. Our trophy count of 136 wasn’t top of the heap but the size of many of those trophies was extraordinary.

Where do we start? How about lake trout? We are in the middle of our prime “lake trout season”. The big lakers are now comfortably in their cool water-deep holes. Unlike anglers, lakers like water about 50 degrees which now translates to a depth of around 100’. On Scott, Premier, Wignes and the flyout lakes we have a lot of water that deep. Guides don’t have to motor far to stay in great lake trout holes. They found them this week. We had 45 trophy trout, our highest total of the season. These were not the barely over the trophy mark (35”) fish. Many were hogs with fins. Of the total trophies, 14 were over the 40-inch mark, our measure of “supersized” lake trout. Bill Williamson had a trio of monsters—a 40, 41 and a magnificent 45-incher. Usually, we get one or two 40s in a week and typically those would be the biggest trout of the week. This week we had 6 at 40. In addition to Bill’s trophy trout, other Williamson’s got in that game: Dylan Williamson, Lachlan Williamson and Ken Williamson Sr all got 40s with Ken adding a 41 and Dylan getting a 43. Nick Tallman and Jerry Kolek joined the 40” club as well. On the last very smoky day Mike Rogers landed a 41-incher which put him into the 100+Club at 104”. We’re not done with trout yet! It was our best big trout week of the season. Larry Rohan put on a big trout clinic. He got a 41 and a 45. One or two lake trout at 45 is typically a full season. We were at two early in the week. Then Connor Patrick, grandson of long-time guest Mike Rogers, added the third 45” trout, caught within 10 minutes of the lodge. It was 14-year-old Connor’s first trip to the far north. His fishing in northern Minnesota has been OK but he wasn’t prepared for what he experienced here. His giant trophy trout combined with a 46” pike and 18” grayling shot him into the front of the 100+Club ranks with a 109” total, showing grandpa just how it’s done. We thank our guide Steve Linder, better known as Biff Piston, for getting that big grayling after a three-hour effort. Everyone who knows Biff knows how much he loves fishing for grayling. Biff likes fish with big teeth. Congrats to all involved in Connor’s Quest. It was the Trip of a Lifetime at a very early age. We’re betting on 110 inches on his next trip up.

Our northern pike weren’t exactly shy this week either. In fact, it was also our best big pike week of the season. Ken Williamson Jr landed eight trophy pike on a single memorable day. Mike Rogers and Bill Harvey each had a single day with a 4-pack of trophy pike. The big news though was sheer size: we had 11 of our “supersized pike”, fish of 45” or better, in our week’s bag. The 45s came in pairs, at least for Mike Rogers and Jacob Williamson who both caught not one but two of those spectacular fish. Ken Williamson Sr got his 45 on the same day he landed a 42” pike and four trophy trout with two over 40 inches. Crazy wonderful day. At an inch up on the tape four anglers landed 46s, probably the first time ever we’ve had that many 46s in a week. In addition to the one Conner Patrick got, Rick Spork, Lachlan Williamson (you’ve seen that last name a lot) and Bill Harvey pulled a 46” beauty into their guide’s waiting net. Alex Spork had his personal best this trip, a dandy 47-incher. And on the last day in some of the heaviest smoke we have ever experienced here Mike Pendleton got a 47.5” monster to end his trip on a very high note.

But speaking of smoke we can’t leave this review of Week 10 without mentioning the f-word—FIRE. We have lived with fire here for nearly three decades. It’s part of the overall far north experience to see smoke in the distance. In this part of the world fires are not suppressed unless they endanger lives or significant infrastructure. We are in fact living in a fire dependent ecosystem in the Saskatchewan/Northwest Territories border region. It shapes our landscape. And it can shape our fears. Unlike many parts of Canada, we had a relatively low fire season in this corner of the north. Until last week. A major thunderstorm passed over the Scott Lake area just over a week ago. For 35 days we had not had any serious rain, even during those storms. The land was ready for the spark. It took quite a few days to turn those small fires into big fires, but with some fierce windy weather late in Week 10 we looked at a different world on the last day of our Week 10 group.

What had been irritating but tolerable levels of smoke turned into a thick blanket of heavy smoke on the morning of the final day. It gave us the worst smoke ever seen in our 27 years here. It was dead calm and the smoke just sat. To say the least, this was not good. We watched and waited for a safe window to fly our guests and many of our staff out in the floatplanes. The window opened just enough for just long enough. We got everyone safely to Stony Rapids in floats to the waiting Dash-8 to take them to Edmonton.

We could not in good conscience bring the new group north. A fire north of the lodge was just getting too close. It was a crushing disappointment for those who had assembled in Edmonton to have their shot at a dream fishing trip. But the rule has always been safety first here. We just couldn’t bring new guests into a situation with a known fire/smoke risk. It was the first time ever we have cancelled a trip during season (we’ve had a few ice-related cancellations at the front end of the season). We are currently preparing our island for the worst if a fast-moving fire to our north doesn’t burn out soon. With the right winds it could. The strong winds of July 30 did move out the heavy layer of smoke. Today looks better than yesterday. We will keep our August guests up to date on the situation. Rain is in the forecast.

WORD TO THE WISE:

SOME ADVICE FOR TRAVELERS GOING ANYWHERE IN THIS ERA: GET TRIP CANCELLATION INSURANCE. AIRLINE FLIGHT DELAYS/CANCELLATIONS COULD END YOUR TRIP TO SCOTT LAKE (OR TO ANY DESTINATION LODGE) BEFORE IT STARTS . WE STRONGLY ADVISE THAT TRAVELERS SECURE COVERAGE FOR JUST THIS SORT OF EVENTUALITY. THE RISK AT SCOTT LAKE LODGE IS EVEN GREATER SINCE THERE IS NOT A SCHEDULED FLIGHT BETWEEN EDMONTON (OUR HUB) AND STONY RAPIDS (OUR FLOAT BASE). IF YOU ARE DELAYED AND MISS OUR CHARTER IT WILL BE DIFFICULT IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO GET TO THE LODGE. NOT TO MENTION FIRES UP HERE.

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July 27

Mike and Biff have shared a boat many times. Laughs, fun and big fish are the result every time!

JULY 27

Hey, they all count!

JULY 26

These amazing fish come from the depths and we are lucky to have seen them.

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Let the Good Times Roll: Week 9 Update

Let the Good Times Roll: Week 9 Update

by | Jul 25, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

WEEK 9 UPDATE

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL- MIDSUMMER FISHING

It’s midsummer fishing season in the far north. And considering that Scott Lake Lodge is just a long cast from the 60th parallel, that magical line that separates the busy world of the south from the empty expanses of the north, it’s pretty warm. Our only connection to the heatwaves down south is the comments from our guests about what they experienced back home. It’s wonderful to be where hot means 70s and low 80s. Those three-digit temps we keep hearing about are a vivid reminder of why a lot of our guests love coming to Scott in July and August. While most of our guests hail from the upper Midwest, an increasing number of our mid- to late-summer anglers are from the hot spots of Arizona, Texas, Florida and southern California. Some don’t even care if they catch a lot of fish (but they will); they just want some cool evening air that doesn’t come out of a machine. Our air conditioning springs from the 250,000 acres of cool water that surrounds our lodge. Our Week 9 guests spent a lot of time sitting on the Laker Lodge deck before and after dinner, just soaking in the view and the soft evening breezes off the lake. The Cornhole boards got a lot of use again this week. With our long days still hanging on (sunrise around 4:30 AM and sunset at 10:00 PM) it’s just hard to call it in day when soft late evening light of the subarctic is so intoxicating.

But there is a strong incentive to get up early—FISHING. That’s why all our guests are making the trip here. The long days and cool weather are just frosting on this very nice cake. It was another great week of fishing with 161 trophy fish landed. (Just a reminder: a trophy pike is 40”; a trophy lake trout is 35” and a trophy arctic grayling is 15”.) There were plenty of each species with 105 big pike, 35 trophy trout and 21 trophy grayling. The headline for this week should be IT’S TROUT TIME. As we have been reporting, the big trout have slowly migrated into their deep water summer homes where they can be effectively targeted by the experienced guide team at Scott (our 14 guides have nearly 300 years of combined guiding behind their tillers). The big trout were on the move. Of the 35 trophy trout eleven were what we call “supersized”, trout over 40”. Those giants were landed by Gratz Peters, Garek Peters, Rebecca Graf, Ron Spork, Betsy Spork, Maria Koszewski (a pair), Joni Schackmuth (also a pair) and two of our own Scott Lake team members, Evan Barlow and Graham Coulombe, who landed their monsters during our annual staff Trout Derby. All were impressive fish between 40 and 43 inches, except for one. Joni Schackmuth landed what will probably be the Lake Trout of the Season, a massive 45.5” laker. There were many others in the still huge 38 and 39” range caught thei midsummer fishing season.

There were also plenty of pike that graced the big screens after dinner. One was exceptional, a 47.5” beauty landed by Gary Peters. We had a pair of 46s, taken by Joni Shackmuth (a true switch hitter) and first-time guest Cole Boback. Three anglers got their “supersized” pike at 45”—Lou Koszewski, Eric Klein and Gary Peters. Mark Graf had an incredible single day, bringing a six-pack of trophy pike to his guide’s hand.

Some hog grayling were scored by Ella Boback, an 18” and 19”, and Scott Boback, a 19”. Four anglers left with their Trophy Triple hats, catching trophies of all three of our species: Garek Peters, Gratz Peters, Jarret Peters (it was a great week if your last name was Peters) and Ella Boback. Garek and Gratz upgraded their catches to comfortably reach the 100+Club level, each at 103.5 total inches for their three trophy fish.

A fine week: plenty of fish, some warm midsummer fishing weather, an exciting nighttime thunderstorm for a little drama and all the usual Scott Lake Lodge things—great dining, exceptional shore lunches and the kind of warm, embracing customer service that keeps our guests coming back year after year. Our thanks to all our Week 9 guests for bringing their good-time attitude to the island. See you next year.

JULY 25

Jim Hambright and Jordan had a great last shot at a big fish! This 38″ lake trout was a perfect catch on a hot summer day.

JULY 24

Out of over 100 days of working, the staff takes off one night of the season to do a trout derby. This year Evan Barlow won it with a 41.5″ Trout!

July 21

Joni and Jan and this 46″ tub

July 22

Doesn’t get much better than watching a Grayling jump on the end of your line in a wild northern river.

July 23

Chuck and Graham had a great sunny day in the north, bears and big pike!

Some Hot Fishing & The Case of the Missing Terns: Week 7

Some Hot Fishing & The Case of the Missing Terns: Week 7

by | Jul 17, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

WEEK 7 UPDATE

SUMMERTIME FISHING UPDATE AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING TERNS

First, the terns. The Common Tern is a striking beautiful and elegant bird: sleek in design, graceful in flight, wearing a smart black cap and sporting a very sharp red bill that leads the bird’s watery plunge to capture small fish. They are often seen flying with their small, silvery trophies. Just a very cool bird. We have been graced at Scott Lake Lodge with a colony of Common Terns within sight of our island. Every year they arrive and depart (early June and mid-August) on the same day. This has happened for the three decades of current ownership and probably for countless decades before. Except for this year. They arrived on time, and everything was normal with their excited vocalizations and aerial dances delighting our guests and staff. Then one day just over a week ago they were gone. All gone. Not a feather could be found on their breeding site, a non-descript exposed cobble reef perhaps sixty by ten feet and only a couple of feet above the water line. They had prospered there for years. Avian influenza? Their sworn enemy, the herring gulls? A parasitic jagger wandering by from it more northerly home? A mink, pine marten or wolverine that swam to their home? Only questions. No answers. A Scott Lake mystery. Our terns will be missed and remembered.

What’s not a mystery is why so many of the homo sapiens species return every year to their summertime fishing home. It’s obvious. They love the fishing, the food, the world class guiding and customer service, the serenity of our pristine wilderness backyard and of course the warm companionship of like-minded people. Our Week 7 guests had all of the above. The summertime fishing was wonderful. The catching wasn’t the best of the year, but it wasn’t the worst either. Sometimes good is simply good enough and it was. There were 99 trophy fish brought to the boats with plenty of heavyweights led by Nick Manship’s 46” pike. His dad, Mike Manship, on the last day weighed in with a fat 45. Other 45s were taken by Don Mewhort, Russ Gesme and, of course, Peter Myhre who continued his torrid run through the Scott Lake Lodge fly out lakes. Peter loves climbing into our vintage (but trusty) De Havilland Beaver, GQD, and exploring some of the nine million acres of northern Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories that we call home. What a week he had. On his first and second days of fishing he landed seven trophy pike (yes each day). On his third he got six. Then he had to rest on the fourth due to the wild storm that shut down for a day not only our fly outs but nearly all of the fishing on our main lake. Over his three five-days trips to Scott this season Peter has landed 47 trophy pike, an astonishing number. And he is coming back for more later this season. Tom Granneman and Russ Gesme were also into the multiple trophy game, getting nine trophy pike on a single day. Ron Donnall and Alan Carney had plenty of big pike also, each landing a 44-incher.

The lake trout summertime fishing action picked up considerably this week. It helped Tom Kehoe with his quest to join the 100+Club. Tom landed a 39” laker that with a big pike and grayling gave him 100 total inches from those three fish. His fishing buddy, Mike Sackash, had trophies of all three species and got the Trophy Triple hat but just missed the 100” mark. Other big trout were taken by Mickey and Randy Moret. The Kings of the Trout for the week though were two first-timers, the father/son team of Mike and Nick Hylant. They really got into vertical jigging for lake trout, a technique preferred by some guides. It worked. On a single day they landed 101 lake trout. Mike ended up with two trout trophies at 36 and 37 inches. Both anglers enjoyed a trophy experience with almost constant bent rods. They also had plenty of pike action.

The summertime fishing excitement wasn’t limited to fish. On a fly out to Smalltree Lake, all four of the visiting anglers—Tom Kehoe, Mike Sackash, Tom Granneman and Russ Gesme—watched a lone bull muskox swim across the Dubwant river. When the huge animal hit shallow enough water to walk he was a raging bull throwing a “bow wake” comparable to their boats. Check out this National Geographic quality video .

Lot of fish. Lots of fun. Wonderful memories were made. We expect most of our guests will return to our island next summertime fishing season, just as we hope our terns will come back to their rocky home.

JULY 15

Mike, along with his son Nick and Poacher, had quite a week. They always look to explore the north and catch some fish doing it. This 45 incher was an awesome catch.

JULY 14

Here we have some folks enjoying The Tundra Trail with Tom Klein. It is an incredible hiking loop in the Northwest Territories.

July 13

Can you even imagine this 46″ GIANT eating a topwater bait in 12″ of water?? Chaos!!!

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Scott Lake Lodge Living: Week 6 Update

Scott Lake Lodge Living: Week 6 Update

by | Jul 12, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, fly fishing, Island Life, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

WEEK 6 UPDATE

THE RHYTHMS OF SCOTT LAKE LODGE LIVING

It’s been a month now since the first floatplane landed at our dock on this magical island in the wilderness border country between the endless tundra of the Northwest Territories and the boral forests of northern Saskatchewan. Life has now settled into predictable, satisfying rhythms. The island wakes up around 6:30 AM when breakfast service begins, and the guides start filling their coolers and getting their gear set for the fishing day. Around 7:00 AM the pilots fuel their planes for the first flyouts at 7:30 AM. The breakfast traffic in Laker Lodge is hitting it’s stride around now and the activity across the island is picking up. Between 7:30 AM and 8:30 AM our anglers are stepping into their guide’s boats for a day’s fishing on Scott Lake or it’s two adjacent lakes, Wignes and Premier, or climbing aboard our Beaver and Otter floatplanes for a trip even deeper into the empty lands to the north. Then by 9:00 AM the island rests with all the guests and guides off on their daily adventures. The kitchen, hospitality and maintenance staff members relish the quiet and begin their daily activities keeping the island running perfectly and preparing the rooms and the dinner for the return of the anglers and guides around 6:00 PM. Everyday for 95 consecutive days these patterns unfold with a crescendo of energy and excitement after the evening dining when the trophy announcements detail who caught what where. The showing of all the big fish landed that day on the two TV screens in the dining room puts a capstone on yet another day of life at Scott Lake Lodge.

So, what did our Week 6 guests see on those screens last week? Plenty of big fish for sure. We had a good week but not a great week of fishing. It was week of unstable weather with a bouncing barometer, lots of wind changes, and precious little sunshine. Not the formula for the kind of pike fishing we expect here. It begs the question: How can a fish be some violently voracious sometimes and with some rapid weather changes become a shy little puggy dog hiding in the corner. Forget what a biologist might say. Pike act like emotional, sensitive creatures, reacting petulantly to any change in their environment. They like everything “just right” which means warm, stable and sunny conditions. Things haven’t been just right for a few weeks. Our guides had to dig deep and count on the patience of our anglers. Both did their job.

The trophy count at 99 big fish was lower than many weeks but there were some dandy pike taken. Twenty of those trophies were pike over 44”. Long time guests Peter and Kay Myhre together landed eight of those twenty. And Peter added four more at 45”, a remarkable run of big pike. Lots of our guests get into that class of 44-inchers: Brendan Ysura, Charlie Crawford, Jeff Parts, Nate Valenti, Josh Makal, Tarek Arafat found two 44″ pike on his trip as well. Nate Sonstegard had his personal best pike at 45” only to top it a few minutes later with a 45.5”. Brendan Ysursa hit his personal best with a 46-incher. At the very top of the pike parade this week was Nate Valenti who got a perfectly proportioned 47-incher on the same day he got three other trophy pike. Brian Kozlowski, Justin Philips and Peter Myhre also had four trophy days.

It was a weak week in the lake trout department. This is the transition period from cruising the shallow sandbars to their summer homes in the deep holes (70-150’) on Scott and the flyout lakes. In this in between time it’s tough to target lakers. Only Todd Phillips got a trophy laker this week. Things were quiet on the grayling front as well. Only the New Fly Fisher TV production team went after the arctic sailfish. The show hosts, a father/daughter team of Jeff and Alyx Parks, caught a bunch with an 18-incher their biggest. They also landed on camera some very nice pike including a 44-incher by Jeff. Watch for that show next winter. We will be sending out a reminder when it airs.

The week in summary: not the best week we’ve had, not the worst. We just take what the weather and fishing activity offers and encourage our guests to enjoy every fish, every meal, every shorelunch, every sighting of a loon, osprey or eagle, and every moment in this pristine wilderness. Every week is a good week to be at Scott Lake Lodge. No one gets on the floatplane back to civilization with anything but wonderful memories of an escape into a rhythm of life that only happens in the far north.That’s what lodge living is all about.

JULY 10

Sometimes the biggest part is just about spending some quality time in the boat with your family.

JULY 9

Brendan Ysursa caught this 44″ pike today in outdoorsman fashion. Some rain didn’t stop the fish from biting.

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JULY 7

Shoutout to Marcus who got his first pike on the fly!

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The Momentum Continues: Week 5 Update

The Momentum Continues: Week 5 Update

by | Jul 6, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

THE BIG MO

Trophy Fish Excellence

Momentum is a wonderful thing. We had big time momentum coming out of Week 4 when a season high (and one of our all-time highs) of 195 trophy fish were landed. The first day of fishing Week 5 picked right up where fishing Week 4 left off: it was gangbusters. The new group put 53 trophies in the boats on the first day, a top daily number for the season, and 44 on the second. The big pike were ravenous. Over those two days of warm weather four 44s, three 45s, four 46s and a 47 appeared on our nightly big fish of the day screening. That’s a season’s worth of big pike at most lodges. Then the temperatures dropped and so did our trophy fish totals, but we still managed to hit 131 for the group, not shabby at all. We did have some smoke in the air over the first three days which compromised the sight-fishing, but it didn’t seem to bother the pike. As long as the temperatures stay up so do the pike totals. And this was an almost all pike week. There were only a handful of lake trout and grayling (a dozen to be exact) landed.

Two of that dozen deserve a special mention. On the fourth day of our five-day “weeks” we had a Big Blow. The wind was ripping at over 40 miles and hour and the waves were a bit daunting. Most of our anglers liked the comforts of the lodge for that day with some card games at Laker Lodge, hikes on our Tundra Trail or just relaxing with a sauna or a book. But some did go out. Two of those brave guests were Julianne Harris and Chris Cervantes. They didn’t go far from the lodge. They didn’t have two. About two hundred yards from our main dock, they were trolling for lake trout in about 30 feet of water. Both got the lake trout of their lives, a supersized 40 and three-quarters for Julie and a 41 for Chris. Those were the only fish trophies of the day.

Our guests will probably remember those early days of the week when big fish seemed to be everywhere. It was a remarkable surge of wild action with so many quality fish. The big pike were the story. So many! Trophy northern pike of 44” were landed by Jim Kloote, Chris Cervantes, Adam Garvanian and Dave Morales II; 45s by Donna Quincey, Julianne Harris, and Susan Edwards; 46s by Dale and Jordan Pryor (same day), Jim Kusar and Steve Kozlowski. The best big fish story of the week though had to be Donna Quincy’s. On her first ever northern fishing trip she made her first ever pike catch quite memorable—a 47” monster. Yes, her first pike ever. She asked politely when it was in the net if it was a “big one”. Yes, Donna it was. Many hard-core pike anglers have fished for decades without getting one that big. She added a 45.5” trophy fish on the same day. Way to go Donna!

As it happens often, the big fish turn on at the same time. We had many examples of multiple trophies on the same day. Julianne Harris and Chris Cervantes really like Wignes Lake, a big lake connected to Scott and fished right from our dock. On two days they took the boat ride with wonderful results: nine pike trophies on one day and five on the other. A relatively new addition to our fishing empire, Wignes has become a popular destination for our guides. Our fly out lakes continue to pop out a lot of big fish. On Selwyn Lake the father/son team of Dale and Jordan Pryor landed eight northern pike trophies in a single day with two 46s. Another father/son team of Bruce and Steve Kozlowski got a cool dozen on the same lake with Steve getting a 46. (They also got five together on Sandy Lake.) Adam Garvanian and Andy Nardo picked up eight on Selwyn. Kevin and Susan Edwards got a mixed bag of six pike and grayling on Smalltree Lake. On the far east end of huge Wholdaia Lake, Gerry O’Brien and Andrew Troop got their mixed bag of nine trophies with all three of our species represented. Gerry earned his Trophy Triple hat there. Lots of big trophy fish. Lots of great memories, both on and off the water. It’s what we do at Scott Lake Lodge.

JULY 5

On his last day, Jordan reeled in this 40 inch fatty,

JULY 4

Sometimes you catch em’ right beside the lodge! Chris got this 41.5″ trout without going too far.

JULY 3

Andy and Paulie had a great time on a flyout lake today. Andy caught this beautiful pike and many more to go with it.

JULY 2

Steve and J5 found this 46.5″ Trophy Pike today on a flyout. Wow.

JULY 1

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