The Final Fifteen

by Tammy MacDonald | Sep 4, 2016 | 2016 Season

At the 60^th 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 47^th 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 48^th 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 49^th 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 22^nd, 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.

The Beat Goes On

by Tammy MacDonald | Aug 20, 2016 | 2016 Season

Farewell to Summer

In most years the seasons at Scott Lake Lodge morph into each other seamlessly: you really don’t notice the divide between summer and fall. Not so this year. There was no ambiguity on August 18^th when a vicious north wind brought 50 degree temperatures and spawned huge waves that kept most guests on the island for the day. There were warnings. On August 17^th, with still balmy temps, giant Vs of geese were honking their way south, leaving their summer homes on the countless thousands of tundra lakes and ponds, heading to the grain fields of southern Saskatchewan. They knew that something was cooking. They beat fall by one day. Their friends continued flying through the night and into the next day by the thousands—it was the Grand Passage with all those geese getting a free ride south. There were, of course, other signs of the change of season. Many. We have a small reef within a few hundred yards of our island home. It is home every season to a flock of 40-50 common terns. Every year they all leave on the same day. They left, every last one, a few days before the big blow. The signals were everywhere: the ground cover was slowly taking on the reddish hue of fall; loons were flocking and calling wildly for about a week, feeding heavily and preparing for their long flight to the Florida coast; a few splashes of yellow popped out as the birch leaves start their annual transformation, and the tamaracks began adding some color to the lakeshores as they shifted from nondescript green to the haunting smoky gold of fall. But summer didn’t slip away. It just ended on a single day.

WHAT A SUMMER IT WAS

Summer is short here but so sweet. And what a summer this one was. We had our share of cool, cloudy day and rainy days but we had many of those perfect sunny days that bring our pike into the shallows where sight fishing—the purest form of angling—can be experienced. Many of our big pike were spotted by guides and targeted by our guests. We never have enough of those days but we had enough to run the table on virtually all of our fishing statistics.  In our last newsletter, covering the season through July 20, we reported some fantastic fishing success. In this newsletter we can report that indeed the beat did go on. The fantastic fishing did not stop; in fact, it picked up a beat or two. From July 21 to August 14 our anglers landed a total of 603 trophy fish—394 pike, 79 lake trout and 130 arctic grayling. While that’s a ton (more like four or five tons) of big fish, it doesn’t tell the whole story. We’ve always brought a lot of 40” pike, 35” lake trout and 15” arctic grayling (our trophy standards) to hand but we have never seen so many really huge pike like we have seen this year. In the past three weeks we added five pike of 47” or better to push the season’s number of 25 of these mega-pike. Last season we had 13 in that size range and last year was our best ever. We’re not breaking records. We’re blowing them away. And we’re not even mentioning all the tens of thousands of “regular” nice fish that are caught and released every season without anyone taking note except the angler at the other end of the line. It’s been an impressive season by any measurement, including the most important one—customer satisfaction.

THE ANGLERS BEHIND THE NUMBERS

These big numbers don’t create themselves. Our anglers earn them, one at a time. Anglers like Rick Spork who had a day he will never forget: he got the biggest pike of this reporting period, a 49 incher, but on the same day added a 45”,44.5”, 44” and 41.5” pike. That’s a day. Other anglers had days at the same adrenaline level. Chris Miller got five huge pike on a single day—a 47”, 45”, 44”, 43.5” and 41”. David Jansema was a guest at Scott 20 years ago, at the beginning of the current ownership’s tenure. He discovered that, other than the quality infrastructure and better food, nothing much had changed. He had a huge day with pike, getting his five pack of pike at 47”, 45”, 44”, 42.5” and 40” and upped the ante by adding a 37.5” lake trout. Then on the next day he landed a 46” pike. Yes Dave, the fishing is still good up here as it was twenty years ago, maybe better. On her first trip to Scott Lake Lodge, on a very memorable day, Beatrice Emens got a six pack of trophy pike with the biggest at 47”.

Monster pike don’t always come in packs like that. Typically, you get one fish-of-a lifetime in a lifetime. Or up here maybe once a trip. Chip Webster got his lifetime fish, a massive pike of 48.5” with a huge girth. Eleven-year-old (yes, really only eleven) Griffin Kristo landed a 48-inch monster and then added a 45 incher on his last day. He also talked his way into the guides’ weekly poker game and took the pot in Texas hold ‘em. (This kid has a future but the guides may not allow him to either fish or play poker next season. He’s making everyone look bad.) Pike of 47 inches were also taken by Jeff Ryan and Tom Jones. Many anglers hit the 46 mark: Bill Sandbrook, Sonya Boone, Jackie Fields, Betty Chadwell, Jim Borden, Ron Spork and Joe Sauger.

Pike are only part of the fishing story at Scott. There were 79 big lake trout taken in this 25 day slice of the Scott Lake Lodge season with 14 of those trout of 40” or better. These super-sized lakers were taken by eleven lucky anglers. Trout of 42” were caught by Mark Harangody, Dennis Hanggi, Jackie Fields and Arnold Alfert. Trout of 41” were taken by Joe Sauger, Beatrice Emens and Dean Jensen. Forty inchers were caught by Priscilla O’Donnell and Bob Lorber. But the clear King of Trout for this season was long time guest Mike Scheidt. He wasn’t happy with just one fish-of-a-lifetime. He needed four: a 43”, a 42”, a 40.5” and a 40” trout. Any trout near 40” is impressive. Our lake trout here are really, really fat, living the good life scooping up lake cisco and whitefish to become the equivalent of aquatic pigs, only stronger and faster.

Arctic grayling are in this game too. We had 130 over 15 inches. Wayne and Clay Parmley put on a grayling clinic, getting way too many and each getting a personal best of 19”. Alaine Emens and Ramon Clark also landed 19s. Bill Ehmann, Beatrice Emens and Dan Clark got 18s.

100+CLUB NOT SO EXCLUSIVE ANYMORE

With so many trophy grayling, it’s not surprising that the 100+Club has a lot of new members this season. Our mid to late summer period added a dozen: Jim Borden, Priscilla O’Donnell, Amy Towers, Beatrice Emens, Alaine Emens, Jackie Fields, Joe Parker, Arnold Alfret, Ramon Clark, David Jansema, Sonya Boone and Darrel Massie (who by the way had never fished before in his entire life). Getting into the Club is not easy. An angler has to catch a trophy of all three of Scott’s gamefish and the total inches of their three biggest trophies has to reach or exceed 100 inches. The math is easy (just get a 45” pike, a 40” trout and a 15” grayling for but the catching isn’t. At this juncture of the season the top gun in the Club is Joe Novicki with 108 total inches (helped a lot by his 51” pike). Rhys Reese landed at 107 inches and Bob Noble is close behind at 106.5. But there are still three groups to go and lots of big fish out there.

IS THE BEST YET TO COME?

Over the past nineteen seasons our biggest fish, especially pike and grayling, are caught during the second half of August. Will history repeat? With so many big fish already in the book: we have a total of 1,532 trophy fish, only ten under last season’s record total with fifteen fishing days to go. Can we keep the beat going? We’ll let you know in a couple of weeks. In the meantime think about your own 2017 fishing calendar. We now have a clear picture of availability for next season. We have had a record number of rebookings (guests who booked their same week, guide and cabin for the next season before they leave our island) but there are still plenty of openings throughout the season. Give our guide/sales manager Jon Wimpney an email today to lock in your fishing adventure. Be part of the 2017 story. Reach him at j5@scottlakelodge.com  The first step to your fish-of-a-lifetime is just an email away.

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Summer Season on Scott

by Tammy MacDonald | Jul 21, 2016 | 2016 Season

It’s summertime and the fishing, at least most of the time, is easy. Well it was easy most of the time, except when cold fronts creep into the 60th parallel. We had three days of cool and windy weather when our sixth group of the season was at the lodge, but they still caught a lot of trophies. Despite the often unstable weather over this early to mid-summer period, the fishing has been very stable, as in very, very good. Our spring fishing over the first fifteen days (June 10th to June 25th) of the 2016 season was sensational with intense action and some impressive trophy counts—so many huge pike, eleven over 47”. Fishing like that can’t be sustained over an entire season. Can it? You could ask the 130 anglers who fished between June 26 and July 20th. They would tell you that indeed it is possible. They landed 566 trophy fish with a staggering number of real hogs. The 25-day breakout: 358 pike, 148 lake trout and 60 grayling. Those are big numbers and they reflect some amazingly big days.

BIG DAYS

Over the past few weeks we have had some single day fishing experiences that will race the pulse of any Canadian angler right to the edge. Days that most anglers will only have in their dreams. How about a day when dad and his eleven-year-old son go after big trout for the first time after several Scott Lake trips of focusing on pike. Dave and Jackson Wanderer headed to the east end of Scott Lake to an area well known by all Scott guides. It always produces trout but rarely like it did for Dave and Jackson. While they caught only seven trout in their morning at Chester’s Hole, six of them were trophies. Jackson nailed a pair of 38” lakers, a 39”, a 40” and a 41.5”. Dad took a lot of pictures and contributed a 39” and 40” trout. That’s a good morning. Another father/son team, Gary and Garek Peters, had a very similar trout fishing experience. On a fly out lake Garek tied into a pair of 38 inchers, a 39”, a 40”, a 41” and a real hog of a 43”. Gary, like Dave, contributed a pair of dandies, a 36” and a 40”. You can’t make up fishing stories any better than this. The fishing stories just kept coming. Fishing buddies Ken Hartem and Rhys Reece had an even better day. Ken got five trophy trout with three over 40 inches. Rhys got three with two of them over 40. And together they added five trophy pike. That’s a DAY. Phil Nutt had one of those days too, getting trout of 39”, 40”, 40.5”, 41” and 44.5”.

JUST PLAIN BIG FISH

Typically, big fish don’t come in bunches. You earn them spending hours casting or trolling before you latch onto a big one. We had plenty of days where one magnificent fish made the day. Anglers who landed lake trout of over 40” (our standard for a “super-sized” trout) included Dave Bensema and Nicholas Kippenhan who both got a pair over 40. Ken Williams, Bob Noble, Greg Kippenhan, Gale Hamilton, Don Hunt, Doug Howard and Glen Perkins all had glorious memories of landing a trout over 40”—a true fish of a lifetime.

Pike were definitely part of the Big Fish story. They dominated it. In our 20 years of operations on Scott Lake we have never seen so many huge pike. We call pike of 47 inches or better “megas”. Over the past twenty-five days we added nine more megas to our season’s total. There were mega smiles on the faces of Bob Tiegs and Dan Jacobi who landed 49 inch girthy pike. The biggest smile though may have been on the face of Tamra Lee who early on her first morning of her first ever pike fishing trip she gets her first pike, a modest one. Then she lands her second pike ever, a ridiculously fat pike of 48.5”. You could hear the sobbing of grown men all over the north who have fished a lifetime without ever catching a fish like that. No crying though for Al Williamson, Tom Donaldson or Jerry Richardson who landed 48s. Nor from Dan Spielman, Ken Williamson or Harry Wilson who got 47 inchers. What a parade of pike!

HALF WAY TO A RECORD YEAR?

We are now at exactly the half way point of the season. It is on track to be our all- time trophy fish season. With 936 total trophies in the bag beating the record 2014 season of 1,542 is well within reach. We have already beat our all-time record for pike over 47”. Our record years were 2014 and 2015 when we had 13 pike over 47. In just a half season we have 20 over 47”. We are also looking at a trout record. We are sitting at 38 lake trout over 40” in the books, well on our way to a record. In 2014 and 2015 we had 30 trout over 40” for the entire season. So many big fish. We can debate the causes: more fly out lakes now numbering 18 spread over nine million acres of Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, better anglers, more experienced guides, better equipment, etc. But who needs to analyze fishing. It’s just fishing and it’s just fun. People quantify because it’s easy: it’s just counting.

BEHIND THE NUMBERS

There is no way to quantify the precious experiences of traveling miles over pristine waters to reach your guide’s “secret spot”, hearing the zing of your drag, watching an eagle take flight out of a spruce tree, hearing the enchanting loon calls at night or enjoying that first taste of really fresh fish at a shore lunch. The Scott Lake Lodge experience is certainly about fishing but much, much more. It’s about sharing this wilderness with like-minded people, watching the nightly “fish of the day” photographs together, enjoying a fine meal and yes, telling fish stories. All part of the adventure. And the story for 2016 is only half told.

THINK ABOUT 2017

If you are getting tired of just reading about fishing adventures, it’s time to send our guide/sales manager Jon Wimpney an email at j5@scottlakelodge.com While most of our anglers rebook for the following year before they leave the lodge, we do have a few spots open in our 2017 calendar. Camp opens on June 9. Check out the booking schedule and details on our website. But don’t think too long. You want to be part of the Scott Lake Fishing Adventure for 2017. Grab your phone, I-Pad, computer or any device you want and email Jon today.

Spring Fishing Fever

by Tammy MacDonald | Jul 3, 2016 | 2016 Season

Here on the border of Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, Scott Lake Lodge offers three distinct seasons during our eleven weeks of operations that begin on June 10 and end on August 29^th: two weeks of spring,six weeks of summer, and three weeks of fall. We don’t know what the summer and fall will bring but the two weeks of spring fishing are in the books. And what a first chapter to the 2016 fishing year. Three groups of anglers have thrown flies, spinners, spoons, plastics and about anything else you can put on the end of a line at the pike of the 60^th parallel. Were these pike picky? Not in the least. They have been ferociously attacking anything they can see in these clear northern waters.

SHALLOW WATER MADNESS

Our first three groups with five precious days each have witnessed some incredible scenes. Imagine standing in the front of a boat in a quiet bay. Off to your left near the grassy bank, in water no more than eight inches deep, you spot a rather large tail sticking right out of the water. You gently toss your spinner to the edge of the grass. There is an explosion. You have the fight of your fishing life and then the guide scoops up a magnificent northern pike. The tape does not lie—51 inches of controlled fury. This not long after you landed a 48.5” pike under similar circumstances. If you’re long time Scott Lake Lodge guest Joe Novicki you don’t have to imagine it. You did it! Just one in a five day string of memorable days where Joe boated ten trophy pike. His fishing buddy, Bill Calabresa, didn’t do so badly either, getting eleven total trophies with some monster lake trout—39, 41 and 44”. That’s a great five day run.  Fly out Team Lynch (Dave, Patrick and Mike) joined by fishing friend John Sanderson boated an incredible total of 20 trophy pike for the foursome. That’s great fishing.

IT’S ALL IN THE NUMBERS

For people who love the visual excitement of shallow water pike fishing, the first three sessions here at Scott are hard to beat. It’s all about temperature. When the sun beats down on our shallow bays, creating a temperature differential of about six degrees between the cold waters of the open lake and the warming waters of the shallow silt-bottomed bays, all hell breaks loose in those bays. It takes sunny days though. We didn’t get the sun every day and our second group of the season did get cheated with a three day cold front, but we got enough sun to write quite an opening chapter. The action was unreal. Conversations about landing 50 to 100 pike per day with many in the 35-38” range were common around the dinner table. And the trophy numbers were off our charts: raw numbers of big fish caught (not counting all the “ones that got away” stories) tell the story eloquently. In just fifteen days of fishing we racked up 370 trophy fish. The species breakout: 352 pike over 40”, 10 lake trout over 35” and 8 grayling over 15”. That’s around five trophy fish per angler. Sometimes numbers are better than words, if they are numbers like that.

The next set of numbers are even more inspiring: 32 pike over 45” with five of those at 47” (caught by Dan DeChamps, Don Granada, Dave Thome, Dave Lynch and John Sanderson (well his was 47 and a half); five at 48” (taken by Skip Jewett, Jake Jaffe, Joe Novicki, Mel Deane and Dave Thome, a double dipper; and of course that monster at 51”, fought to submission by Joe Novicki, a serious double dipper. We are on track right now to have by far our best trophy season ever. We’re not sure if the fish around here are getting bigger or our guides and anglers are getting better, but we do know that we have over the past five years been seeing many more huge pike. It’s enough to give one spring fishing fever.

CATCH THE FEVER AT SCOTT

Openings for the first three groups of our season are precious and rare. While there aren’t many openings for spring fishing at Scott for 2017, there are some. Our 2017 spring season sessions are June 9-14, June 14-19 and June 19-24. If you want to have a moment like Joe Novicki, watching a monster pike turn and savagely engulf your lure, give Jon Wimpney, our guide/sales manager, an email at j5@scottlakelodge.com  When? Right now of course. Get a case of spring fishing fever at Scott next year. We held our prices for 2017. Our packages come very well wrapped: charter flights from Saskatoon, SK, hotel on your southbound return, use of high quality fishing tackle, wine with our extraordinary dinners, complimentary soft drinks and all transfers to the lodge are included. Just get yourself to Saskatoon. Our guide team which now has an average tenure at this Lodge alone of 15 years (a number no other Canadian lodge can even come close to) will take care of you in the boat. Our experienced and dedicated shore staff will take care of you on our 12-acre island in the middle of fishing paradise. Get a conversation going with Jon, now.

It Begins Again

by Tammy MacDonald | Jun 21, 2016 | 2016 Season

JUST THE WAY WE LIKE IT

It has now been twenty years that the current owners of Scott Lake Lodge have watched that first float plane with guests appear on the southeast horizon line and then touch down on the inviting waters of Scott Lake. For some of those twenty openers, it took a high intensity effort to get this island on the 60th parallel ready for prime time. This was not one of those. In 2016 the early ice out made our preparations a lot more relaxed. For our staff there was even some down time the afternoon of June 10th. Thanks to the hard work of the thirty team members on the island everything was ready-clean, neat and organized, just the way we like it. When our first guests of the season stepped onto our dock, they enjoyed an atmosphere more like a family reunion (except the warmth wasn’t faked) than a business setting. That’s the way it is around here. Our new group quickly fell into the Scott Lake Lodge routine: enjoying great conversations, wonderful meals, relaxing moments on the expansive deck overlooking the lake, and of course catching a lot of fish-we mean a LOT of fish.

WEEK 1 ON THE BOOKS

As always the fishing in the early part of the season follows the weather. When the sun was out, fishing was out-of-control exciting. When it clouded over, things slowed down. We had some of each our first week. During the two nearly perfect, sunny days the action was sizzling with catch rates of 50-100 fish per person the common report. In the early season pike just crave sunshine. And many got a chance to feel those rays directly when they were posing for pictures. An absolutely beautiful 47″pike got to pose with his temporary keeper Tim Den Heuvel. Another 47 incher got the same opportunity with angler Dan DeChamp. A fat 46″ pike did the grip and grin show with Cory Brumbaugh and three anglers-Dave Wanderer, Don Pulver and Glen Tellock-got to show off their 45s. Lots of big fish. A total of 63 trophy pike were caught in five days and hundreds (maybe thousands) were brought to the boats. Early season is an exciting time. It was mainly a pike show but some trout were caught shallow including a gorgeous 41 incher landed by Bill Stephenson.

Our first group did get to see Mother Nature throw quite a tantrum. On June 15th, the last day of the session, the morning was cloudy but not especially threatening. But by noon there was a clear sense that it was time to get off the water. We had one of the fastest developing storms we have ever seen around here. All the boats headed back to port. Most beat the driving horizontal rain, pushed by winds of 40-60 miles per hour. A lot of spruce branches snapped off and people got a chance to test their rain gear but everyone made it back for lunch in the lodge where it was warm and dry. It was an “all’s well that ends well” experience for everyone. Just like that it was over. When it was time for the group to leave, the sun was out and the lake looked inviting for the next group.

THE EXPLOSION

THANK YOU FOR ANOTHER SOLD OUT SEASON

In earlier messages we forgot to thank all of our 2016 customers for making this another sold out season at Scott Lake Lodge. We are humbled that so many anglers trust us to provide them with a memorable fishing adventure. Every year we work hard to improve our service and our facilities. We just don’t believe in “good enough”. We always give it our very best and focus on consistent and constant incremental improvement.

ARE YOU THINKING JUNE 2017?

At Scott we give guests the right of first refusal to keep their week, their cabin and their guide. The first week is now history so we now can offer bookings for week 1 of 2017. The dates June 10-15 and the price ($5,795) are the same as this season. What will the fishing be like? Find out. These season opener trips are precious and rare. Grab one right now for June 10, 2017. Our Guide/Sales Manager, Jon Wimpney, will respond to your email questions or bookings every night as soon as he gets off the water-no rest for the wicked. Contact him ASAP at j5@scottlakelodge.com A $1,000 deposit holds your spot. Be on the first to throw a line next season. So stop thinking right now and start typing that email!