April Check In 2021

Apr 13, 2021 | 2021 Season

Big Northern Pike by Mike

It’s that time of year when thoughts (often right in the middle of a meeting) drift to blue water, gentle breezes and of course tight lines. After the year we have all endured, those thoughts are especially persistent.
While there are still a lot of unknowns yet about the 2021 season at Scott, it is clearly OK to start thinking about fishing and to binge some virtual fishing excitement.

Making Lemonade

With the border closed and the Lodge empty, we decided to make some lemonade out of those sour lemons. We brought in a 12-person work crew to revitalize the island infrastructure. It proved to be an extremely productive summer, constructing new buildings and re-staining all 28 log faced buildings on the island. That alone took two people almost the entire summer, but it was worth it. The entire island is refreshed and looks amazing.

Despite it all, last summer was an extremely productive one for improvements around the island.

The New Fly Fisher TV Show

While the border for our US customers was closed last summer, it didn’t matter to the Canadian-based crew of The New Fly Fisher, a video production company that pumps out great fly-fishing shows. We managed to convince the New Fly Fisher team to visit a totally empty Scott Lake (boy, that was a tough sell.)

Led by host Phil Rowley, the crew had all 160,000 acres of Scott and Premier Lakes to themselves and made the best of the opportunity, capturing some dramatic top water pike action and some surprisingly great trout action in mid-summer—all on fly rods. Unlike most “grip and grin” fishing shows, The New Fly Fisher productions teach as well as entertain. Drawing on the talent and expertise of our own Scott guides as well as the film crew, the producers provide detailed descriptions of fish behavior, habitat, presentation methods and of course gear—all fly anglers love to hear about rods, lines and flies.

For the pike sequences the show focuses on top water flies with smashing results. There is nothing in fishing film quite like the slow-mo of a pike engulfing top water flies. For the trout action, Phil shows that lake trout are not just an early or late season activity. With the right lines and techniques even mid-summer lakers can be talked into a dance on the end of an 8wt. Combine the exceptional Scott Lake fishery and guiding with good electronics, tackle and techniques and you’ll put lake trout on the end of your line in any season.

Sit back and enjoy the full 45 minute episode.

It’s the next best thing to being there!

Ask a Guide – They Know What Works

If you’re in the market for new raingear don’t ask your neighbor what he buys and don’t go shopping in southern, sunny cities. If you happen to be in places like Vancouver, Seattle, Minneapolis or Boston, you might find good stuff, but why not just go online and get some guide-tested stuff? 
 
Scott guides are on the water for 90 days every season, and you can be sure that some of those days will feature a hard, cold rain. They know what works and what doesn’t. As the expression goes: there is no bad weather, just bad gear. Too many guests year after year arrive at the 60th parallel with a thin wind breaker and zero rain pants. Nothing like a soaking wet southern half for the duration of a 10hr day on the water. 
 
Our crew has some good advice. Looking at the charts below, there is some variance but the trend is clear. Our guys like Simm’s ProDry jacket and bibs the best. An almost equal number of guides like the Cabelas Guidewear line. They offer a lot of models notably the Guidewear Xtreme parka and bibs. For Helly Hanson make sure you shop in the Sailing Collection. Most of their website is just urban wind breakers. The jackets and bibs in the Sailing Collection are the most bombproof, driest and warmest made but like many good things, they are not cheap. 

Keep Calm and Fish On

Whatever happens with the damn border this summer make sure you go fishing somewhere. We will be ready and more than willing to take care of our guests when the time is right. We know the fish are ready!