Week 17 Recap: A Fishing Vacation

A good time on a fishing trip isn’t measured exclusively by a tape measure. That was the working philosophy of our Week 17 anglers. If we use the FHBA (Fun Had By All) measurement, this week was at the top of the list for the year. People had a great time. Over the years we have observed that our guests in August tend to be a bit less fanatic (or is that fInatic?) than those earlier in the season. They like to think of their trips as fishing vacations not quests to capture their personal best. This group definitely fell into that category. There were many late morning starts and early returns throughout the week and even some “I think I’ll stay on this beautiful island” days. The group was motivated to have a good time not set a lodge trophy record. The pressure was off, and the good times just rolled along.

Life on the island was simply wonderful this week. We had three glorious evenings of spectacular northern lights, one with guests sitting around the bonfire by the main lodge. Unlike earlier in the year, no one had to stay up until the wee hours to experience this northern delight. Some of the best displays were visible by 10:00 in the evening. We had magnificent dinners every night. We had exciting wildlife encounters, including a day where guests saw all three of our large wildlife critters—moose, black bear and muskoxen. We had an incredible amount of fun watching the exploits of our group on the TV screens after dinner; the hoots and hollers as people celebrated their catches were probably the best of the season. We had the first glimpses of fall color as the birch leaves started to turn yellow and the ground cover to reds. We heard the loons in the evening along with the first groups of migrating geese. We had some sunny days and some cloudy or windy days (this is fall up here), but conditions were always OK to fish. Most importantly we had a lot of laughs all week. And we had a lot of bent rods, but the trophy count for the week was the lowest of the season at 72, one of only two weeks where that number didn’t have three digits. Go back to the opening line: it’s not always the length of the fish but the enjoyment of the experience. Big fish decide when they want to eat not the angler.

Plenty of big fish did decide to eat. Peggy Light had one of the best single days of the season on a fly out to Selwyn Lake. She landed ten trophy pike with the top three at 44.5”, 45.5” and 46”. Peggy has had a lot of trips to Scott but never had experienced a day like that one. She landed many more near-trophy size and dozens of heavy mid-30” pike. She was busy cranking in big fish all day. The fish of late August are not the pike of early June; they are clearly different looking and different at the end of the line. They are putting on the feedbag for winter. While they are more spread out in deeper structure (weed beds and drop-offs along rocky shorelines), they are more aggressive than the pike earlier in the season. And they are so much heavier. The girths of late August and September fish are about 30% greater than the same fish from June. They are fat, ferocious and quite feisty. When they turned on, they really turned on. Nancy Mahaffee had a three-trophy day and a four-trophy day. Included in her haul were a pair of 46-inchers. Her husband, Joe, wasn’t exactly shut out. He also landed a 46 at Gardiner Lake on his final day on the water. Both Nancy and Joe got trophy lake trout and Arctic grayling and went home with the Trophy Triple hat. Three-trophy pike days were enjoyed by Joe Velas, Katherine Velas and Dave Russo. Two big pike came off Scott this week: Harry Readinger landed a 45-incher and Dana March got a 45.5-inch fat, fall pike. Two dandy lake trout were caught this week, a 38-incher by Dave Russo and a girthy 40-inch Scott Lake beauty taken by Jeff Seitzinger.

The fishing action was great all week on Scott and throughout the fly out system. There were many reports of 50-60-70 fish days. While down from our average, the number of big fish was enough to keep all our guests quite happy. When trophy-sized fish come too easily, they aren’t enjoyed as much. The big fish of Week 17 were cherished and celebrated. And no one left the island without a deep appreciation for the pristine wilderness they encountered in their five-day adventure. The northern lights and wildlife sightings were frosting on an already very tasty cake. The summary judgment for the week: WONDERFUL.