WEEK 12 UPDATE

“FIRE AND RAIN”

In his memorable song “Fire and Rain” James Taylor covered perfectly the story of our Week 12 anglers. Like Taylor they did see fire and rain, but they saw a lot more rain than fire. Fortunately, the fires that swept through the Scott Lake region in late July were nearly out by the time this group landed at Scott Lake on August 3rd. There were still a few isolated flames along the lake shores and some smoky areas. But the rain, both nighttime and daytime, over the first four days of the trip put out every smoldering hot spot. By the end of the fourth day, the fire story of summer 2023 had a peaceful ending. Truthfully it was a rainy, dark week with only a few glimpses of sunshine and blue sky.

But that didn’t seem to bother the fish too much. As the primary entertainment of the week, they didn’t fail, offering up just over 100 trophies. As almost always with fishing, there were slow days, hot days and days that are in-between. With “just” over a dozen trophies, the first day would land in that slow day category, considering the elevated standards of fishing here. On the second day the fishing got a bit warmer, enough to call it an in-between day. There were just under two dozen trophies including Amy Tower’s 45” pike and some huge grayling taken by Dave and Priscilla O’Donnell (more on those fish later). The fishing was building and by the third day the fishing was hot, very hot—one of the best days of our season—even though it started with a very cold morning with some rain and fog that made it feel like September. In fact, many noted that it felt like the first day of fall. While it didn’t look like a great fishing day, it was with 26 trophy pike and 19 trophy lake trout landed. The big ones were well spread out among our guests: 22 of our 26 anglers got at least one trophy that day, some very nice ones. Tina Walker used a fly rod all day and was rewarded with her first big pike on the fly. It was 44” big. Priscilla O’Donnell got a 44.5” dandy. Todd Kalish landed a pair of trophy pike, the biggest a hefty 45-incher. Big lakers though were the headlined story. Lake trout of 38 or 39 inches were caught by Mike Skogen, Mike Schiedt, Tony Trusso and Priscilla O’Donnell. The really big trout were on the prowl too. A lake trout of 42” is huge. We don’t get a lot of those, but we had three on a single day. The lucky and tired anglers (these brutes really fight) were Jeff Towers, Amy Towers and Dave O’Donnell. A day couldn’t get much better.

The next day did get better for Ryan Robbins and John Milano who both connected and “Supersized” with 40” lake trout. Tiff Skogen and Tony Trusso were just a half-inch under that mark at 39.5”. Brian Rauser got a 39-incher into the net and Mike Kelly got a 38”. It was a trout fest. Tina Walker, Mike Scheidt, Anthony Maurice and Jerry Kyle also landed trophy trout on windy and rainy day—weather lake trout seem to love. But even sun-loving pike have to eat sometime: Dan Romine found a 44” pike at the end of his line. A heavy morning fog had cancelled all the fly outs on the fourth day, but Scott Lake was in a giving mood with a total of 20 trophies landed.

For the last day the sun finally came out and blessed the lake with warmth. Many ended their trip with a blissful shore lunch in the sunshine. Others kept up a full fishing day with some great results. Jeremy May, Brian Ash and Jerry Kyle all landed lake trout in the 39-inch zone. The Tower group headed to Lefty Falls, the most spectacular places we fish, where they loaded up on Grayling. Thanks to a few grayling fly outs, a lot of Trophy Triple Hats were passed out this week. Pricilla and Dave O’Donnell got theirs and all four of the Tower group (Amy and Jeff Towers, Anthony Maurice and Ryan Robbins) left with some new head gear. Pricilla, Dave, Amy and Jeff all upgraded to the 100+Club. All have been frequent club members over their many years of Scott Lake fishing.

While the sun wasn’t out a lot for this group, on the final day they could have sung along with James: “There have been sunny days I thought would never end”. It was a wonderful ending to a great week at Scott Lake Lodge.

WEEK 11 UPDATE
“IF A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST AND THERE IS NO ONE TO HEAR IT . . .

Was there a Week 11 at Scott Lake Lodge? Depends. The calendar certainly noted the passing of the days between July 29th and August 3rd. With no guests on the island for five days, there were no float planes flying, no boats leaving the docks every morning, and no raucous dinners in the evening. We could have heard a tree falling. Just a quiet island with a few hardy souls who did almost no fishing (well, just a little). The great fishing games of Scott Lake were not played. Let’s just call it the 2023 Scott Lake Lodge All-Star break. And there were All-Stars on the island who stayed to protect and defend this 12-acre island on the 60th parallel. They started their defence right after the hurried evacuation of all the guests (and many of our team members) using powerful pumps and fire hoses to spray the entire island, hoping some water would stop any flaming cinders from landing on the parched ground.

Thanks to a dramatic wind shift from north to south the fire that was bearing down on us did a 180-degree turn and furiously burned its way up the north arm of Scott Lake. Then Mother Nature took over with four days of on/off rain. She did a much better job and brought our world back to normal. It was the first rain in well over a month. Just in time. Our home in the north was secure. And our All-Stars could play other games, like catching up on sleep and doing dozens of odd jobs that get lost in the fast pace of normal operations. There was a profound sense of community as the group sat down for meals at one long table in the main lodge. And an even greater sense of relief. One highlight of the week, was what we thought could be the last Tundra Trail hike before it burnt, nearly all the crew took part in this fun outing. Tundra Trail it turned out was saved.

On August 3rd guests returned to the lodge with the balance of our team members. We just all pretended that we were back to Week 1, Day 1. We were back in business with a sharp focus and high level of energy. On August 4th we had even more rain, the steady soft kind of rain that finished off any remaining smoky hot spots left. The smoke and fire that closed the lodge for the first time in 27 years (not counting Covid of course) was in the rear-view mirror. There are large areas on the northwest and north arms of Scott as well as big chucks of adjacent Premier Lake as a reminder, miles of charred timber. But as it’s done for millennia in the far north, the land will heal, and the forests will return. It’s all part of the natural cycle here. We just happened to be in the middle of it.

We all extend our sympathy and empathy to the 26 guests who made it all the way to Edmonton only to be sent home without making a single cast. It was the right call but still a major disappointment for the Week 11 guests—the lost week. We will put extra effort on July 29, 2024 to welcome those same guests and put on a great fishing show. Same time, same lake—no fire!