Week 17 in Review: A Farewell to Summer

Fall Fishing is on the Way

For a few groups now, we’ve been circling the idea that fall fishing is on the way. There have been hints, yellow leaves on the birches, the sky a slightly darker shade of blue, and it gets dark just after supper. This week, the northern summer did its best to convince us the change in season was still weeks away, temperatures in the first few days were in the high 80’s even touching 90 degrees Fahrenheit, or 32 Celsius for our Canadian staff. It was hot, shorts off the dock in the morning kind of hot! What a feeling to be wet wading a wild river in the Northwest Territories at the end of August and watching grayling launch themselves after dry flies. Sight fishing for pike in water measured in inches instead of feet. It was an amazing week, the first three days, people were wondering how it could be warmer on the 60^th parallel than at home. Then, all of a sudden, about 3 a.m. on the fourth morning, fall came. Canada geese led the charge from their tundra nesting grounds, and the north wind followed. Fall was here. The fish, however, were still hungry and cooperative as fall fishing begins.

Our anglers were lucky this week; 149 total trophy-sized fish were landed, of those 87 were pike, 54 grayling, and only 8 big trout came to the nets. This is a transitional time for the trout as they begin to spread out in the water column, preparing for their fall spawning season on cobblestone reefs.  Todd Schroeder was the top trouter, catching a 39 and 38” laker. Susan and Kevin Edwards added a couple of big trout of 37 and 36.5” on a tundra adventure to the far north.  While trout were a bit tougher to catch, the pike were plentiful and found in shallow water this week. 87 big pike were brought to hand, admired and gently released to fight another day. Some were even made famous on our nightly photo essay aptly named…Fish Porn.

Peggy Light was our top pike angler this week, catching a giant 47.5” northern as a part of an incredible day filled with seven pike over 40”.  Deed Whitney had a similarly epic day of catching six big pike on the fly. In all, ten fish over 45” were caught, Tom Granneman and Shad Smith with the 46” mark, Dennis Schroeder and Chris Goggans hit a pair of 45.5”s. A few big fish at the 45” mark from Todd Scroeder, and Tom and Pete Granneman made for some furious big fish action.

Desiree Curfman found a big grayling in the Mary River, an incredible start to a day that ended with the sighting of some Barren Ground Grizzlies…a sow and three cubs, truly an experience of a lifetime.  Chris Reimer and Susan Edwards both caught some 19” arctic sailfish. The week ended with both Peggy Light and Susan Edwards eclipsing the 100” mark to earn jackets and become new members of the 100+ Club. The real trophy was the weather, the Northern Lights, time by the bonfire, and the laughs and memories that permeated the lodge each evening.

Week 10 in Review:  …Wait Five Minutes

“If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.”

It’s the adage about the way weather can change on a dime in the north country.  Our anglers this week nearly wore their dry bags out pulling rain gear and layers out, and stuffing them back in. The skies were moody, more like fall than mid-summer, rain showers passed through frequently, and the wind… blew.  We passed out all of our loaner sets of rain gear this week, and extra layers for many. It didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of our anglers; they toughed it out and caught some damn nice fish!

Grayling were on the agenda for many anglers this week; the romance of wading a wild river in search of a truly unique and northern fish lured them in. Ultralight spinning setups and 4-weight fly rods were the order of the day, and an astounding 53 trophy-sized grayling hit the long-handled river nets.  Dylan Williamson caught a dandy 19” arctic sailfish at the Wholdaia outflow on his way to the 100+ Club. Ken Williamson Jr. also caught an 18.5” for his 100+ jacket. Grayling of the week went to 13-year-old Griffin Beckman, on his first trip to Scott, he found a 19.25”er on his way to a truly incredible week. Guide Biff and Grandpa Mike Rogers found were great teachers. Griffin got into a 38” trout and giant 48” pike to become the pace setter for the largest trophy total of the year…for a few days.

Tyler Sadonis, John Bowen, Matt Hochstein all got into some great grayling fishing, as did Kevin and Zac Fischer. Paul Fischer was into the Grayling and paused to catch a 44” pike from shore in the rapids!  Scott Lake first-timers, a father and son duo of Lance and Landon Marcinek made some lifetime memories this week. They started out on the grayling rapids with some incredible fishing. Lance nailed a massive 4-foot pike the next day, while Landon got into a 41” laker and 45” northern, entering him into the 100+ Club. A big trout for dad earned his jacket.  The last cast of the final day was a big one for Landon. He tossed the fly out into a bay in Premier Lake, and his line tightened into a big pike…48” of buzzer-beater northern came to the net for a pair of 48’s for the father-son team. Landon took over the 100+ lead for the year.

After 4 days of tough weather for the crew they were rewarded with an idyllic summer day in the north to cap things off, light winds and sun.  The last day magic wasn’t done, Mark Jansen set the hook into a couple of dandy lakers, a 38.5 then a fat 41.5”er.  Nick Tallman waited until the last minute to hook into the top trout of the week…an old warrior at 42.5” that landed him into the 100+ Club, his dad Jim had already got a Trophy Triple.

A little bit (or a lot) of bad weather didn’t deter the group from having a good time, the sauna was rolling as was the hot tub with lots of anglers warming up after a day on the water. We had lots of running miles logged on the Tundra Trail and other eskers, good wine drank and overall, a fun time even without the