Week 17 in Review: A Farewell to Summer

Week 17 in Review: A Farewell to Summer

For a few groups now, we’ve been circling the idea that fall 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.

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.