by Tammy MacDonald | Jun 29, 2017 | 2017 Season
When the Sun Shines, the Fishing Shines
You’ve read this in other updates but some things are just plain true and deserve repetition: when the sun shines the pike fishing shines. In the early season water temperature is the #1 factor in pike fishing success—they just crave warm water. Clearly sun on the water is how the shallow bays get warm enough for huge fish to go into water just inches deep where they can be spotted and often caught.
In Week 3 we had more proof for the premise. When we had sunny days, our anglers just hammered them. When it was cool and cloudy, fishing was tougher. On this group’s first day on the water it was blue skies on Scott and all water in our fishing territory, all nine million acres of it. The trophy stack for our nightly after-dinner trophy announce- ments (it’s like dessert after dessert) was as thick as some of our massive pike. Twenty out of twenty-six of our guests got the trophy pike pins that evening. There was a whopping total of 40 trophy pike caught in a single day with four of them of 46” or better.
Foster Graf had quite a day, landing four trophy pike topped by his personal best, a fat and beautiful 47 incher, but dad, Mark Graf, did more than take pictures that day. He caught seven trophies with a 46 at the top end. Now that’s father/son bonding. Long time regulars Joe Calabresa and Joe Novicki teamed up for seven trophies on Day 1.
It was fun while it lasted, but a mean north wind and some clouds stopped the party. On the second day, our gang struggled a bit, cut- ting the daily trophy award stack in half. And then on the third day everything just shut down. We had a real blow from the north, making boating and fishing less than the enjoyable pursuit it should be. Instead of fishing most of our guests were playing cards in the main lodge, keeping warm and comfortable.
With rather large waves it wasn’t comfortable in the boats but a few weathered the storm. Rory Wright and John Kroner stayed out all day, even having shore lunch. John was rewarded with a 44” pike. Hunter Larson had a rough boat ride to a spot about 20 minutes from the lodge when he found himself tied to a 47.5” pike.
But the real story on that windy, wavy day was at the end of Bill Calabresa’s line. He and his partner were trolling for trout less than 100 yards from the island where Scott Lake Lodge is based. About 90 seconds after the big Shad Rap hit the water, Bill had a tug, a big one. In the wild wind and waves, it was an exciting fight but about 15 minutes later Bill had his biggest trout ever—a massive 45.5” beauty. They were back in the toasty lodge for lunch. That’s efficiency in fishing. There were only four trophies on the big screen after dinner when we show off the “catches of the day” but two were monsters.
The weather and fishing settled down for the final two days of the trip. Lots more big fish graced the TV screen. Jim MacDougall watched his 47’ pike go public. David Thome saw his 46 and 47, the results of one fine day on the water. But the best story of the week was the father/son quest for the 100+Club jacket, the reward for getting allthree of Scott’s gamefish in trophy size where the collective measurement hits or exceeds 100”. It’s a tough thing to do. Since both dad, Greg Larson, and son, Hunter Larson, had already caught big pike and trout, they flew on their final day to a river about 35 miles north of Scott Lake to find a big grayling. Their script turned into reality. Both landed big grayling and both hit the same number for their jacket—102 total inches. They will proudly wear their customized jacket as a reminder of a great 2017 adventure.
The rest of the group will have touchstones of their trip as well. Everyone leaves with a thumb drive full of photographs taken by their guide. And everyone leaves with the most important digital impressions—those neural imprints deep in the brain than can retrieve the magical moments of an experience without having to plug in anything.
by Tammy MacDonald | Jun 16, 2017 | 2017 Season
All the planning, all the checklists, all the float flights to this small island on the 60th parallel, all the frantic onsite preparations and all the worrying paid off.
The first week at Scott Lake Lodge unfolded beautifully.
The new deck on the main lodge was completed (about 12 hours before the first guests arrived); the expansion of the Last Cast Bar looked great (that was done at least 24 hours before the first guest saw it); all the wine, beer, pop, food was in the lodge; and, most importantly, all the new fishing reels were spooled and ready to go. In short, we were ready for prime time when the Twin Otter, Turbo Otter and Beaver all landed at our docks on the evening of June 9th. While we did our part well, unfortunately the weather didn’t feel like contributing to the fun. To be honest, we faced some ugly conditions over our first five days. It was unseasonably cool (make that cold) with some unfriendly north and northeast winds. Did that bother our first group of guests? Not really. Our customers fished and fished hard. They dined, drank, played cards, and fished some more, living by the time honored credo of “fish, eat, sleep and fish”. Did the weather bother the fish? Not really. The results? Not bad at all.
Despite some cold front conditions for part of the week, our intrepid anglers brought 92 trophy fish to their guides’ hands:72 pike, a dozen lake trout and eight grayling. While we’ve had higher numbers for our first week, numbers alone don’t define a fishing trip. We had a couple of dozen very happy anglers getting on the float planes after five full days of fishing and enjoying the many amenities at the lodge. Tom Kehoe III was especially happy. He was our first 100+Club member of the young season, landing a pike of 45”, a grayling of 17” and a very fat trout that measured 41”. His total trophy inches hit 103, easily putting him in that exclusive club that requires getting each of our three game fish in trophy size with the collective measurements of all three hitting or exceeding 100 inches. He will wear his 100+Club jacket proudly. Two other anglers, Danny Martindale and Mike Sackash, just missed the 100” mark but did get their Trophy Triple hats, catching all three of Scott Lake Lodge’s gamefish in trophy size (40” for pike, 35” for lake trout and 15” for grayling). Big fish honors of the week went to new customer Tom Tarantino who pulled a gorgeous 47-inch pike from one of Scott’s productive southern bays. Pike of 45 inches were landed by Dave Morrill, Pat Goebel, Harry Moulopoulos, Sr., Mike Kennedy, Danny Martindale, Aris Moulopoulos, Tom Kehoe III, Sam Hanna and even our Beaver pilot, Riley Epp.
There’s a story there. Riley had casually mentioned that his biggest fish ever (in a lifetime of fishing in more southern areas of Saskatchewan) was a 12-pounder that he caught when he was 6 years old. When owner Tom Klein got wind of that fact, he was determined to ensure that Riley beat his ancient benchmark this season. So during a fly out on Day 4 of week 1, Riley got in a couple of hours of guided fishing. Sure enough he landed a tank of a 45-inch pike, probably doubling the weight of his boyhood big fish. A few casts later he nailed a 44 incher. All in a day’s work.
There were lots of good days during our first week. Doug Roche Jr., on his eleventh trip to Scott, had his best day ever getting four trophies and “countless” other fish. Aris Moulopoulos got five trophies on a single day. Mike Kennedy landed a 45 and a 46 on a single memorable day. The fish during this early season were clustered in pockets of warm water, giving our anglers some explosive action when those pockets were found by our guides, a not surprising outcome considering our guide team has an average tenure on Scott of 15 years. There were times when it really was “catching” not fishing.
So our first week was by all measures (including the fact that Week 1 for 2018 is completely booked already) a success. Stay tuned for more fishing reports.
by Tammy MacDonald | Apr 25, 2017 | Guides
Christmas came quite a bit early this year for the Scott Lake Lodge Guide Team—Christmas Island that is, an exotic island more formally known as Kiritimati, part of the country of Kiribati. Whatever one calls it, it’s a piece of paradise.
That remote speck of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Fiji was the destination for this year’s Guide Retreat, a hallowed tradition stretching back nearly twenty years. Over the past two decades our guides have chased bonefish in the Bahamas, tarpon in Florida, sturgeon in British Columbia, permit in Mexico, sailfish in Costa Rica, peacock bass in Brazil to name a few. Now the flats fish and blue water offerings of Christmas Island, one of the most storied fishing locales in the world, are part of the collective consciousness of the Scott Lake Guides.
Kiritimati, a spec of land between Hawaii and Fiji in the Pacific Ocean
As we have discovered over the years, there is nothing quite like being guided to improve a guide’s skills; this trip proved that in spades. Led by an energetic and highly organized Head Guide, Bita Kairaoi, the Christmas Island guides from Crystal Beach Lodge were experienced, skilled, professional and very patient. Even during some hellacious winds and rain, these guys keep their poise and carried on, even though they knew that day would suck. It’s what all good guides do. As happens with all fishing trips, the guides make things happen. No one knows that better than eleven Scott guides on this trip, joined by General Manager, Jason Hamilton, and the two Scott Lake Lodge owners, Tom Klein and Ron Spork. Our guys do it for 16 groups every summer on the 60th parallel, just 59 degrees further north than Christmas Island.
The Scott Lake Lodge gang rendezvoused in Honolulu, the jumping off point for the trip to Christmas. Because he wanted the group to have a first-class meal before heading to a place famed for its fishing not its cuisine, Ron Spork arranged an extravagant dinner at Morton’s Steakhouse where we were lavished with course after course of sensational food and wine. We would not see food like that again for a week, but no one cared; everyone was focused on fishing. Looking out the window of the Fiji Air jet on a blue bird morning was amazing, I could see absolutely nothing to see but blue water until we circled the 10X15 mile piece of land 1, 350 miles due south of Hawaii. Prior to GPS, how the hell did pilots find this place? With the highest point of land about six feet, there weren’t any mountains to help. While taxing to the “terminal” (a modest building no larger than the main lodge at Scott), it was a bit odd to note that apart from the plane we were sitting in there wasn’t a single aircraft of any size parked by the runway. Once a week that Fiji jet is the one and only plane in or out. With no nearby airports to land on this would not be a place for a small private plane—where would you go? As we rolled to a stop the sixty anglers or so anglers on board (there are four operating lodges at Christmas) were buzzing with excitement, stretching their necks and wiggling in their seat—kids in a candy store. All the planning, all the fly shop shopping, all the packing came down to this: we’re here. After a very basic custom’s check and payment of $50 for a fishing license, we were met by the Crystal Beach crew. They handed us a coconut drink and festooned our heads with floral garlands; we were the royalty of the Pacific. Very classy. We jumped in the back of the lodge’s trucks, our commuter vehicles for the week, and headed to the lodge in heat that this intrepid group of Canadians were not quite used to. It’s hot at one degree north latitude. Fortunately, each truck had a cooler of beer, a beverage that would be as common a sight in the hands of our guides as a fishing rod.
“As happens with all fishing trips, the guides make things happen. ”
It would be tough to imagine a more picturesque setting than what greeted us when we parked in front of Crystal Beach Lodge. It had it all—palm trees, sand beach, vivid blue water, the atoll’s reef creating pure white surf: it was the whole package, but no one ogled the scene too long. There was gear to unpack and rig. Within an hour the scene in front of the cabins was a forest of rods and reels. With four to six rods each (you need a 7- or 8- weight for bones, an 11- or 12-weight for giant trevally, a surf-sized spinning or casting rig for blue water plus plenty of spares) we could have stocked a decent fishing shop, and those rods got plenty of use. These guys came to fish: we were all on the trucks for the short drive to the harbor at 6:00 or 7:00 AM every morning. Like fishing at Scott, the decision about fishing at Christmas is binary. At Scott, it’s trout or pike. At Christmas, it’s flats or blue water. We all mixed it up over the week.
Unlike flats fishing in the Bahamas, the shallow water wading here brought lots of unexpected encounters; there are more than bonefish hiding out on the miles and miles of flats. Nothing is more surprising than meeting your first triggerfish, a multicolored oddity that tails like a bonefish but is much more finicky eater. While they will sometimes take a well-presented crab fly, everything must be perfect with the cast and strip. When hooked they are a tough customer. Over the course of the week, many nice ones were landed. There were also bluefin and golden trevally to be found, all spooky and challenging. Of course there were lots of bonefish—it’s what Christmas is famous for. We got our share. Some had more luck (or skill) than others. Cory Craig, the Scott Head Guide, was the bone whisperer of the trip. He just could not keep them off his hook. At one stop I was fishing with a Christmas Island guide just a couple hundred feet from Cory who preferred to guide himself. With his fish-spotting eyes why not? Every time I glanced his direction that damn rod was bent. Over and over. Before I had my first bone to hand (with a guide calling the shots no less ), Cory had landed a dozen or more. It’s why his nickname is WCA, as in World Class Angler. He was the master of the flats on this trip.
The biggest fish from shallow water belonged to Graham Coulombe who found himself and his 12- weight fly rod attached to a massive giant trevally. Ripping out about 300 yards of backing, that fish clearly wanted nothing to do with Graham. With an audience of five other Scott guides, Graham kept his cool and kept the fish in check, finally stopping the run by really putting a nasty bend in his rod. These fish are incredibly strong. In an epic battle it was a long “pump and gain” game to bring the fish back but Graham was up to it. He brought the 50 pound plus beast close enough to shore for a tail grab. What a fish! What an experience! Most of the gang landed smaller versions of GTs on the flats as well as a bluefin trevally or two. Wading the flats at Christmas was like cruising around a supermarket, just picking treats off the shelf.
A fresh frigate bird in this alternate Galapagos
Another treat for many of our group was the abundance of seabirds, especially in some inner lagoons that were fished on two days of our trip. There were nesting frigates and boobies that allowed us to walk up within feet of their nests—the new chicks hanging on the most precarious of nests. It was just like being in the Galapagos Islands. The absence of any predators creates a unique opportunity to see bird up close and very personal, just a wonderful grace note to the week.
“The real payoff for Scott Lake Lodge and its guests was the team building process that played out. It was a beautiful thing to watch ”
The blue water teams had some real rocking and rolling over the week. It was blowing for many of the days and, after all, this is the Pacific Ocean. There were some guys green around the gills on the blue water days but the action trolling or jigging made everyone forget about the waves. There was no problem getting into tuna, GTs, wahoo or a wide variety of bottom fish, most unknown species for Canadian freshwater guides. Every day the blue water crews provided the raw material for our evening dinners and probably fed the families of many of the staff at Crystal Beach Lodge. On one day when the wind was down, a single boat brought back around 500 pounds of fish, mainly tuna which were in the 20-40 pound range—all fighting machines. Jan Phoenix and Ron Spork were the ring leaders of the blue water group, going out nearly every day. Jan, who fishes salt water for most of the winter, was looking for a big wahoo. That species eluded Jan but not Steve Lindner, aka Biff Piston, who on the last day nailed a huge wahoo of close to 50 pounds. Another big wahoo was taken early in the trip by Jordan Baker. On the trevally front, Jan Phoenix landed a very nice bluefin and Matt Cornell got a 50 pound plus GT while trolling off the reef not far from the lodge.
There was a wonderful rhythm to the week: up early, fish hard all day, come back for cocktails, conversations with the Christmas guides, some very fresh tuna sushi, more cocktails, lots more beer, fish stories, more beer, and then dinner of fresh fish and rice (with the occasional lobster dinner thrown in) served under the stars, then more beer—a very tough routine. It was not unlike the summer pattern at a lodge 59 degrees further north. Like at Scott the vibe here was quite comfortable.
While fishing was center stage all week, the real payoff for Scott Lake Lodge and its guests was the team building process that played out. It was a beautiful thing to watch. On the water and at the lodge the Scott guides demonstrated the mutual trust and respect that makes the Scott Lake Lodge fishing experience so rich and productive. These guys really like each other. Maybe the roughly 900 beers the guys put down was an element but I don’t think it was a big part of the chemistry that developed. This is a brotherhood, a remarkable group of men who have a passion for fishing and a solid capacity for working together. Not content with just a week together, about half the group went to Molokai, one of the Hawaiian Islands, to chase the monster bonefish that inhabit those flats. It’s never enough. For the other half of the group the fishing trip ended sitting in the crowded waiting area at the airport listening to the anglers from the other lodges tell their stories–stories about bonefish landed, GTs lost and casts missed. Just change the species to pike and trout and you have the Day 5 experience sitting in the Last Cast waiting for the Twin Otter. Fish stories are an echo of primal instincts; our species really hasn’t changed that much since the time when hunting and fishing were survival skills not sports. The fish stories from the Christmas Island expedition will bounce around the lodge and in the boats all summer. Just another chapter in the Scott Lake Lodge story.
by Tammy MacDonald | Sep 4, 2016 | 2016 Season
At the 60th parallel late August isn’t late summer—it’s fall. That means fall fishing at Scott Lake Lodge, one of our guide’s favorite times. The changing of the season with the heavy migration of geese, the gathering of common loons, and the subtle shift in the color of the birch trees brings out the best in Scott Lake and our network of eighteen fly out lakes. The final fifteen days of the 2016 season were no exception. The fishing was good, even great at times. The last three five-day groups of the season averaged 19 trophies per day, just under the full season average. But there was nothing average about the fish. These are the hard fighting or, if you will bear the alliteration, the fat, feisty fish of fall. As typically happens in mid-to-late August, the big fish go on the prowl. They are putting on the feedbag, putting on some pounds to cope with the long, quiet winter ahead. At any depth the burbot, whitefish, lake cisco and even other pike are not safe from the relentless hunting of these voracious predators. Just the kind of fish we like.
SOME BIG FISH STORIES
The biggest pike caught during these final groups became our best story of the year, maybe ever. Peter and Kay Myhre have been coming to Scott Lake Lodge for a few years now, at first mainly to escape the Texas heat. They would trade 65 degrees for 105 any day of the week. They took a liking to the place. Being first rate anglers, they started to get some big fish. In 2015 Kay topped the 100+Club leaderboard: she can set a mean hook. That was the year that she and Peter had a memorable day on one of Scott’s fly out lakes on the last day of the season. It was also their 47th year of marriage (watch the numbers here). On that crisp fall day, they both caught 47” pike, two casts apart. So this year would, of course, be their 48th year of marriage. (You’re getting ahead of me.) So they did another fly out and yes each caught massive 48” pike—two casts apart. We think it’s an interesting way of renewing one’s marriage vows. We look forward to their 49th summer together. Maybe.
They weren’t the only anglers who went the distance with some of our angry pike. Another good story here. Joe Novicki, who is the 2016 100+Club champ, decided to introduce his good friend, Subhash Desai, to the sport of fishing. Subhash had never, not once, fished before arriving at Scott Lake for our final five days of the season. What do you think happened? Of course, on his first day here, he catches, with considerable and unnecessary coaching, a 47.5” pike, quite a girthy one. Many serious pike anglers have spent a lifetime trying to catch a fish like that. All in a day’s work for Subhash. Joe, on his second trip of the season, had to keep up appearances: he got a 47 incher to complement the 48.5” and 51” pike he caught in June. Joe is a man for all seasons. Ron Spork and Taylor Lajoie also brought in 47s. Pike of 46” were taken by Carol Freking, Patrick Spork, Kay Myrhe, Julie Heinmiller and Sue Ellen Readinger. Those last three names prompt yet another story. On August 22nd, one of five consecutive sunny, calm days, Kay, Julie and Sue Ellen all got their 46s. On the same day, husbands Peter, John and Mark also got trophies, 42,41 and 40 respectively. I guess wives listen better to their guides than husbands, but we’ve known that for twenty years around here. There were still more big pike. Fish of 45” were landed by Patrick Spork (again), Rebecca Graf, Mark Readinger, Suzanne Billing, Ronnie Williams and Judy Schmidt. Some big trout also made the Tundra Times. Not happy with just a big pike, Ron Spork got a very fat 41-inch lake trout on Premier Lake, an adjacent lake to Scott, about an hour’s boat ride away. Keith Huss got a 40” laker on Scott. Two big arctic grayling were taken by the Myrhe’s—really big 19.5 inchers. Grayling of 18” were landed by John Heinmiller and Bill Russell.
THE “MORE” IN WORLD CLASS FISHING AND MORE
Our final fifteen days offered more than just big fish. There were outlandish shore lunches, featuring stir fries, gumbos and elaborate bakes, lots of moose and bear sightings, and northern light viewing. It takes the dark to see the light and by mid-to-late August it finally got dark enough to view this spectacular phenomena of the far north. They didn’t disappoint. It was during the wee hours some nights but the lights were there. Sitting around the big bonfire at the lodge is a late season ritual here. With drinks served to people sitting on wooden stumps in a totally bug-free atmosphere, no one wanted the nights or the lights to end. To sleep or perchance to watch the northern lights: that is the Scott Lake Lodge dilemma. Some guests did both at the same time in the hot tub—that’s living large. Conversations around the fire, in the sauna and at the dinner tables were animated and far ranging. This is a place, first and foremost, for people to relax and enjoy themselves. That they did, making it a great year.
THANKS!
As the last floatplane pulled away from the dock, the thirty strong team of guides, pilots, chefs, housekeepers, servers, maintenance men and managers (what do they do anyway?) gave out a big cheer. Then they realized that it’s over. It’s a strong, bittersweet feeling. Their lives back home are calling everyone, but the pull of this little island in the north is strong. It’s a great place to stay and a hard place to leave. But the season was over and now it’s shut down time. It was a season of big fish, big laughs and big friendships. It will be remembered as one of the best. Thanks to our staff and to our loyal customers who made all of the above possible. See you all in 2017.
