A WONDERFULLY AVERAGE WEEK

Average gets a bum rap. In our media-saturated era, everything must be way above average to be respected. If you don’t see words or phrases like “the next level”, “over the top”, “stupendous”, “sensational” or “tremendous”, you just want to tune out. What if average though was still good or even great? Take our Week number six. Having average weather (some sun, some rain, some clouds but not much heat), having a group of anglers with average experience (some pro level, some early in their angling careers), and having the imperfect but functional marker of an average number of trophies (at 143 to the boat which was higher than three of the previous weeks, but way below the other two—so average), it was a classic average week.

But those are just numbers. Let’s look at an average week of fishing at Scott Lake Lodge. We did realize our #1 goal here: everyone we talked to had fun and had a safe trip; that’s the top priority of management here. No one at the dock when the floatplanes landed to take our group south was eager to leave, especially those who did have some extraordinary days on the water, like Bog Hoagland who landed six trophy pike in a single day, or Tim Fierbaugh, Frances Sun and Tom Granneman who had five. Our guests who thought skill, luck or some combination of those two elements caught super-sized fish certainly didn’t think their trip was average. I’m sure Paul Granneman, Dan Spielman, Frances Sun, Tim Fierbaugh or Tom Granneman didn’t think their 45” pike were average. Without a doubt having a 46 incher on the line didn’t feel average to Jeff Christiansen. What about experiencing the fury of a monster 48.5” pike? Ask Dennis Hetler. He did it in an average week, but that’s about as far from average as you can get. Tim Fierbaugh battled successfully with a 41-inch lake trout. That’s a lifetime memory. While smaller fish, the big grayling of the week (fish of 18” or more) provided some huge angling satisfaction to the lucky group (Frances Sun, Frank O’Neil, Craig Brown, Randy and Mickey Moret) who went to our northern rivers to bend their light rods against the current and beautiful, high-jumping arctic grayling.

An average day doesn’t describe the “Done in One” Trophy Triple days of Dan Spielman, Frances Sun or Craig Brown who landed trophy-sized fish of all three of Scott Lake Lodge’s gamefish in one day. Frances had a very special day because her three big ones totaled 102 inches, putting her in the exclusive 100+Club. There were, of course, many moments that just can’t be quantified: enjoying the traditional and delicious fresh pike shore lunches; the sight of a soaring eagle; the unearthly calls of the common loon at night; that first bite of the prime rib, the duck confit or the New York strip steak—just a few of the twelve entrees served to our guests. Maybe the most above average experience was the warm feeling of being in a room full of excited, happy anglers who loved this northern experience. If this was an average week, we’ll take it. It was wonderful.