Arctic Grayling Archives - Page 4 of 7

Case of the Angry Pike: The 17th Week in Review

by Jason | Sep 3, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

THE CASE OF THE ANGRY PIKE

After watching his third trophy pike just inhale his fly, a white whistler, Mark Baker shouted “Damn, these pike are angry”. After conversations with a bunch of other guides and guests it became clear that Mark’s comment was right on target: our pike right now are plenty mad at anything that moves near them. The strikes, often right at boatside, are savage and deadly. They don’t often miss their target. This is not an unusual late season phenomenon. We have watched this nasty angry pike behavior over nearly three decades of fishing at Scott Lake. For most of our guides fall is their favorite season. As the daylight shortens and the water temperature starts dropping, these far northern pike know that the clock for their heavy feeding is ticking down. They are on the move, putting on the feedbag. With our unusually warm water temperatures many of these pike are being caught in very shallow water. One of Mark’s fish came out of a two-foot-deep weed bed, typically a scenario for early June not the last day of August. In recent years though getting big pike on flies has become a season-long pursuit, not just a June thing. We had a dozen fly-fishing-only anglers in camp this week and they claimed 30 of the 85 trophy pike landed this week.

Adding the trophy lake trout and grayling into the mix, our Week 17 guests tallied an impressive 114 trophy fish. Maybe the trout and grayling weren’t angry, but they were still feeding. While our trout fishing bonanza has slowed down from previous weeks, (the trout are moving up the water column and can again be found in one to one hundred feet), we did have one monster lake trout this week, a fat 41-incher caught by Scott Sievert. Scott was on quite a run this week. He also got a 45” and a 47” pike. There were plenty of other Supersized pike (our term for pike of 45” or better): Mark Graf led the pike parade with a 47.5” beauty, along with a 45. Jared Sharer, Dave Delange, and Bruce Bennett all landed 46-inchers. And guide Paul Hamilton at the urging of his guest made a few casts and got his own 46. A few guests took time off from their pike quest to fish for arctic grayling. There were some dandies landed in the river segments between our fly out lakes. Rebecca Graf, Michael Bird and Mark Graf got 18s and Mark captured our biggest grayling of the season, a very chunky 20-incher.

Mark is on his second turn at Scott this season. He had already joined the 100+ Club from his stay in July but his giant angry pike and grayling pushed his total up to 108.5”, just a half-inch under Connor Patrick’s 109” from June. It’s a real horse race now. Mark still has time to hit that mark or even exceed it. Our all-time record of 110 inches is even in reach. Jeff Berg joined the elite club this week as well. Dave Dalvey and Mike Bird left the lodge with their Triple Trophy hats, getting trophy-sized fish of all three of our species. It was a week of big fish and big fun. The weather stayed mild all week with mild wind. It was a perfect week to be on the water, especially at Scott Lake Lodge.

September 2

Mark caught this fat fall pike on a fly his grandson tied for him

SEPTEMBER 1

These two have caught A LOT of big fish together over the years. Mark pulled in this 47.5″ Pike with Paulie today and reminisced about all of the other amazing fish they’ve celebrated.

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Week 16: Attack of the Bobcats

by Jason | Aug 31, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

THE ATTACK OF THE BOBCATS

Corporate Group Fishing Trip

When one hears the word bobcat there are usually two thoughts—either the furry but sometimes nasty feline wildcat or the neat yellow machines that push dirt around and do some heavy lifting. The only wild felines around Scott would be the illusive Canada lynx and the only thing that pushed dirt and lifts heavy objects on our island is the muscle power from our maintenance staff. But for our sixteenth group we had just over a couple of dozen of real Bobcatters at the lodge for a late summer corporate retreat. They took time off from building and selling those construction site staples to test their mettle against the lake trout and northern pike of the 60th parallel. And just like Bobcats can handle just about anything in the construction world, these Bobcatters handled the best that our big fish could offer. Like their namesake animal they just attacked our lakes.

The result was a pile of trophy pins and a lot of wonderful memories. The group brought exactly 100 trophy fish to their boats. These super-sales guys obviously know how to close a deal and set a hook. Many of those big fish were lake trout. Some were landed while casting for pike. While the temperatures have continued for this time of year to be extraordinarily warm here, the lake trout are responding to the calendar and starting their journey from the deep holes of our lakes to the shallow fall spawning areas. Trolling and jigging is still the path to big trout though. Our Bobcatters took plenty: 38-inch lakers were landed by Jeremy Holck, Jay Robinson and Russ Honeyman; 39s by Dustin Goodsell, Ron Hadaway and Tyler Todd; 40s by Brady Seavert and Scott Nelson. John Grandon got two of the biggest trout of the trip—a heavy 41 and a tank of a 42. But leaders lead. Jeremy Holck put together this trip and he put together a one impressive trout day, getting a bunch including a 40 and a 44-incher, just a blob of a lake trout.

The group dug up some big northern pike too: Brad Claus, Ron Hadaway, Billy Phebus, Jeremy Holck and Jon Grandon landed 44-inchers while Pier-Olivier Catonguay and Tyler Todd landed 45-inch beauties. But the big pike of the week belonged to Matt Ross who brought a massive pike a full four-feet long to his guide’s net. Sprinkle in a few grayling and you have a great fish stew in the making. On their last day at Scott the group had a festive shorelunch that included everything but fish stew. Fourteen guides served up six different fish dishes with all the sides. It was a perfect ending to a four-day escape from the real world of phone calls and meetings. While no one saw a real bobcat or the rare Canada lynx, several of the group saw bears and muskox along with our standard wildlife mix of loons, eagles and ospreys. It was week of great fishing and even greater fun—everything a corporate group fishing trip should be.

AUGUST 28

If you look at the tail, you can really tell how big this big ol’ Lake Trout is. Poacher and Jeremy got this beautiful 40 incher.

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Summertime Fishing Still: The 15th Week Update

by Jason | Aug 26, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, fly fishing, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

SUMMERTIME FISHING — STILL

Even though the calendar and yellow leaves on the birch trees give away the inevitable change into fall, summer is hanging on with everything it’s got. This late season it has stayed in the full summertime fishing mode with warm nights and very pleasant days. There have been a few windy days, but with the warm temperatures it just hasn’t been a big deal. The lake temperature is hovering around the 60-degree mark, only a couple of degrees cooler than the mid-summer temperature. A week earlier it looked like fall was creeping up on us, but this week we were still in summer mode and, it was wonderful. With no morning fog the fly outs were humming along like clockwork every day, and guests were eager to get into the boats for their day on Scott. Since our fishing territory covers roughly 9 million acres, we do get a variety of weather on any given fishing day. For the most part though, the rain gear stayed in the bottom of the waterproof bags each guest takes with them. With some northern lights, lots of bear and moose sightings and evening campfires as a bonus, it was simply a great week at Scott Lake Lodge.

Oh, yes and there were a few fish caught. Many hundreds if not a few thousand, but to be exact 150 of those fish hit our benchmarks as trophy fish (pike of 40”, lake trout of 35”, arctic grayling of 15”). That’s an impressive number but the size of many of those trophies was even more impressive. We had seven pike over our Supersized mark of 45-inches and nine lake trout over our Supersized mark of 40-inches. We have had just an incredible year with huge lakers. This week both Robert Watson and Brad Courvelle landed lake trout of 45-inches, ridiculously large lakers. With that pair of monsters, we are at eight lake trout over 45-inches for the season. To put that in perspective, over the previous ten seasons we had exactly that number–eight. Some years 42s or 43s were our biggest trout. This year trout that size have been routine, especially this week. Brad and his son Adam closed out their trip with three lakers over 40” on their last day, fishing right on Scott Lake, a 40, a 43 and the 45. Paul and Rebecca Sawyer also had a celebratory last day, also fishing Scott. They landed five trophy trout, including a 39 and a 41-incher. The big trout just kept on coming this week. Aubie Cambell and Mike Campbell got 39s; Todd Thorp, Adam Courvelle and Randy Dismuke landed 40s; Randy also got a 41 along with Suzanne Noble and Paul Sawyer; Aubie Campbell stretched a tape to 42-inches and Brad Courvelle put a 43 into his guide’s big net. That’s just an incredible number of big lake trout.

Big pike were also in the picture. Lots of them. There were 84 pike trophies with many over 45”. Mike Cambell, Tonya McGraw, Aubie Campbell and Adam Courvelle landed 45s, but the high drama belonged to Easton Schwalm. How many 13-year-olds can say they landed a 45” northern pike on a fly rod? We suspect not many. That’s one interesting show and tell for his school mates. Roger Evans went one inch better at 46 and Mark Bixler lead the pike parade with a 46.5” beauty. There were some grayling heavyweights as well. Brad Courvelle, Robert Watson and Roger Evans pulled 18-inchers out of the rapids and Suzanne Noble landed a 19. With all those grayling, pike and lake trout there must have been some 100+Club entries. Indeed there were: four anglers were inducted this week—Suzanne Noble, Roger Evans, Randy Dismuke and Robert Watson, a first-time Scott guest (those are rare birds around here) who hit 104 total inches, an impressive number but still way behind the 109 total inches claimed by Conner Patrick earlier in the season. That’s going to be tough to beat.

What can’t be beat is the smiles of our angles as they just enjoy being in a pristine wilderness with all the comforts of home (a lot more really—who has a personal massage therapist and chef or a wood fired sauna, a hot tub and a gym?). They were all sad to leave on a beautiful late afternoon, but many will be back next year and all will be back again. It’s just how it works up here. Summertime fishing at it’s best.

AUGUST 24

Brad caught this tank of a 45″ Trout as his last fish of the day. A big, healthy fish to wrap up their trip.

AUGUST 23

What a gorgeous shot of Roger Evans and an Arctic Grayling. The colours on these fish are always stunning.

August 22

Robert and Jordan found this one of a kind 45″ jumbo trout with a very unique growth.

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It Begins: The Week 14 Blog and Fall Fishing

by Jason | Aug 21, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

IT BEGINS – FALL FISHING

Sometimes you know in an instant when something is about to change. It was on the last day of the Week 14 group: a flock of 50 or so geese in an almost perfect V (the right side just a little longer than the left) flew right over our 12-acre island on the 60th parallel. They weren’t the first of the season, but they were low and loud, a reminder that fall is knocking on our door. There have been plenty of other signals that the season is about to shift gears. We had our first vivid northern lights show just a few days ago; the number of bright yellow leaves on the birch trees are multiplying exponentially, and a humble little plant, improbably named the Bastard Toadflax (Comandra umbellata), has started its transformation to brilliant red, the start of creating the multi-colored fall carpet for our tundra landscape. It’s early fall here and for most of our guides it’s the start of their favorite fishing period, fall fishing.

Fall fishing is often fewer fish but bigger fish. For the Week 14 anglers, it seemed like they got the best of both worlds—the action of early season and the size of fall fish. When the water starts to cool our pike and trout put on the feedbag, getting much more aggressive. Flies and lures are often inhaled rather than just taken. And their fight is definitely more prolonged and spirited than the same fish might have offered two months earlier. Our thickest girths and heaviest fish always come in late August and September. Fishing now is not in our shallow bays as in June but in or off structure—any structure like weed beds, rocky points or drop-offs. Wind on deep shorelines is often the guide’s first line of attack. And it’s been working. Our group had just over 100 trophy fish but in that number were some monsters.

Lake trout again were the top billing, both on Scott Lake and our fly out lakes, notably Selwyn. The father/son team of Dave and Adam Schauer had a banner day on Selwyn, landing seven trophy lakers with six of them over 39”. Adam had already taken a 40” lake trout off Scott. John Duro had a big trout day on Scott getting dozens including a 39-incher. Carl Tanner, his fishing partner, caught a 41.5” and a 43” lake trout on Scott. Chris Ellis bagged a 39.5’, a 40” and a 41” on Selwyn. Shane Fifield was on Selwyn for a 40-incher and long time Scott regular Frank Saraka got his tank of a trout there as well—a girthy 44.5” monster. The biggest of the week though came right the lodge’s backyard and it was massive, a 45-incher pulled in my Linda Watt. Linda also landed a 45-inch pike. Not bad for her first trip to Scott.

Yes, there were plenty of pike, both in numbers and size. Pike at 44” made their appearance on the big TV screen, during the after-dinner fish show, accompanied by their angling friends—Cave Schauer, Cooper Allen and Johnny Davis. Pike of 45 were landed by Cooper Allen and Jim Loken. Bobby Regan tied Adam Schauer with the biggest pike of the week at 46.5 inches. There were a few Trophy Triple hats handed out as well this week. Graham Allen, Cooper Allen and Johnny Powers all pulled off the hat trick of getting all three of our species (northern pike, lake trout and arctic grayling) in trophy size. Cooper and Johnny had enough total inches of their three biggest to earn entry into the 100+Club. They will be wearing a custom jacket from this fall fishing.

It wasn’t a particularly sunny week and there were a few showers but the atmosphere in the lodge was always bright and sunny. We couldn’t help but notice how the dozen first-timers at the lodge arrived as strangers here but left with many new friends. Sharing the experiences of fall fishing in this remarkable wilderness surrounded by a team of customer-focused lodge staff creates just the right environment for friendships to develop. It happens all the time. It’s a Scott Lake Lodge tradition. It’s why we often use the slogan “World Class Fishing and More”. That’s the “More” and it’s the best part.

AUGUST 19

When flying from Stony Rapids over the northern tundra, you will be surprised as a small city on an island appears beneath your float plane. The unique experience is bound to be worth it.

AUGUST 18

Watching storm cells but still catching fish in the sun on the fly!

August 17

As summer starts its transition to fall, we are seeing these big pike carrying a lot more weight. This is bulking season

AUGUST 16

This massive trout gave a great fight for Frank Saraka today. All of its 44.5 inches was the first fish of the day! Catch and release will let this old girl grow.

AUGUST 15

Kimiwan Falls is always a beautiful spot to check out when you’re here fishing on Scott Lake. Lake trout love the outflow and the water levels always fluctuate. Johnny and Cintia Powers had a lovely time checking it out!

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The Lucky 13s: The Thirteenth Fishing Week in Review

by Jason | Aug 14, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

Lucky 13 Fishing Week

Let’s call this group Lucky 13, named after the famous Heddon topwater lure of years gone by. They were lucky twice, make it three times. First, they were lucky to have missed the fire-related shutdown of the lodge. Second, they brought with them some perfect weather, five days of warm temperatures, mild winds and absolutely no rain. Third, they were seriously lucky with their fishing week. This group nailed 175 trophy fish including a bunch of really big ones. Especially lots of huge trout. This is what we call trout season at Scott. Early to mid-August is when the big ones head to the deeper parts of our lakes where, counterintuitively, they are easier to find and catch by trolling or jigging. How many? How big? Many as in many hundreds, maybe a thousand. But who’s counting. Just two guys, Peter Mancuso and Todd Gordon, had over 100 lakers to the boat in a single day. Jigging right over the holes was the key there. And big? The Williamson group, long time Scott vets, hammered the big lake trout. Their group of six landed fourteen lake trout of 40” or better on a single day on Selwyn Lake, one of our 24 fly out destinations. Jason Loughran on that day tied our season’s biggest at 45.5 inches, along with a 43, a 42, and two other trophies. Ken Williamson, Sr got five trophy trout with three of them over 40”. The rest of the Williamson crowd did almost as well: Jim, Al, and Leland got two trout over 40” and Tyler got one. That’s an incredible Troutfest: 23 trophy trout in one amazing day. That 40-inch “Supersized” mark was also hit by Les Stevens, Rollin Sears, Peter Mancuso, Russ Robertson, John Gobis and Brad Chapin. That’s a total of 20 lakers over 40 inches. In a typical season we get around 40 at 40”. Our lucky 13’s got half of a season in a single group. This group had the lake trout zeroed in. At just an inch under our “Supersized” mark, 39-inchers were taken by Jason Loughran, Jerry Kyle and John Gobis who got a pair.

Pike were in the crosshairs too for this fishing week. It was a phenomenal pike week with ten over our pike “Supersized” length of 45”. Tyler Williamson, Joe Underwood, Russ Robertson, Jason Loughran, Will Bixby and Scott Bixby got 45s. Will also got a 46 along with Tyler Williamson and Leland Williamson (those Williamson’s again). Scott Bixby on his last day here topped the group with a very impressive looking 47-inch beauty. And so many 44s: Russ Robertson, Rollin Sears, Ken Williamson, Al Williamson, Peter Mancuso, Randy Crawford, Jason Loughran, Luke Beeler and John Gobis all got fish that for many fishing trips is the big fish of the week. Just a long list at Scott. Jason’s name keeps coming up. He got a six-pack of pike trophies in a single day.

Only two anglers ventured out for grayling and both ended up getting entrance into the 100+Club. Tyler and Leland Williamson will get their custom jacket this fall but did leave with their Trophy Triple hats.

A week of great fish and probably better fish stories. It’s all in the Scott Lake Adventure. Not to mention the moose, bear and muskox sightings- Les Stephens and Rollin Sears saw all three species in one day, a first here. Next year they need to see the elusive wolverine!

OF FUN, FISH AND FIRE: The Week 10 Update

by Jason | Aug 1, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

Trophy Trout Lead the Way

Our Week 10 group had it all: good times at the lodge, giant fish and some drama to end the trip. The fun was obvious every evening. This was a group with long ties to Scott that knew how to have a good time. The evenings were celebratory and for good reason: the fish this group caught were huge. Our trophy count of 136 wasn’t top of the heap but the size of many of those trophies was extraordinary.

Where do we start? How about lake trout? We are in the middle of our prime “lake trout season”. The big lakers are now comfortably in their cool water-deep holes. Unlike anglers, lakers like water about 50 degrees which now translates to a depth of around 100’. On Scott, Premier, Wignes and the flyout lakes we have a lot of water that deep. Guides don’t have to motor far to stay in great lake trout holes. They found them this week. We had 45 trophy trout, our highest total of the season. These were not the barely over the trophy mark (35”) fish. Many were hogs with fins. Of the total trophies, 14 were over the 40-inch mark, our measure of “supersized” lake trout. Bill Williamson had a trio of monsters—a 40, 41 and a magnificent 45-incher. Usually, we get one or two 40s in a week and typically those would be the biggest trout of the week. This week we had 6 at 40. In addition to Bill’s trophy trout, other Williamson’s got in that game: Dylan Williamson, Lachlan Williamson and Ken Williamson Sr all got 40s with Ken adding a 41 and Dylan getting a 43. Nick Tallman and Jerry Kolek joined the 40” club as well. On the last very smoky day Mike Rogers landed a 41-incher which put him into the 100+Club at 104”. We’re not done with trout yet! It was our best big trout week of the season. Larry Rohan put on a big trout clinic. He got a 41 and a 45. One or two lake trout at 45 is typically a full season. We were at two early in the week. Then Connor Patrick, grandson of long-time guest Mike Rogers, added the third 45” trout, caught within 10 minutes of the lodge. It was 14-year-old Connor’s first trip to the far north. His fishing in northern Minnesota has been OK but he wasn’t prepared for what he experienced here. His giant trophy trout combined with a 46” pike and 18” grayling shot him into the front of the 100+Club ranks with a 109” total, showing grandpa just how it’s done. We thank our guide Steve Linder, better known as Biff Piston, for getting that big grayling after a three-hour effort. Everyone who knows Biff knows how much he loves fishing for grayling. Biff likes fish with big teeth. Congrats to all involved in Connor’s Quest. It was the Trip of a Lifetime at a very early age. We’re betting on 110 inches on his next trip up.

Our northern pike weren’t exactly shy this week either. In fact, it was also our best big pike week of the season. Ken Williamson Jr landed eight trophy pike on a single memorable day. Mike Rogers and Bill Harvey each had a single day with a 4-pack of trophy pike. The big news though was sheer size: we had 11 of our “supersized pike”, fish of 45” or better, in our week’s bag. The 45s came in pairs, at least for Mike Rogers and Jacob Williamson who both caught not one but two of those spectacular fish. Ken Williamson Sr got his 45 on the same day he landed a 42” pike and four trophy trout with two over 40 inches. Crazy wonderful day. At an inch up on the tape four anglers landed 46s, probably the first time ever we’ve had that many 46s in a week. In addition to the one Conner Patrick got, Rick Spork, Lachlan Williamson (you’ve seen that last name a lot) and Bill Harvey pulled a 46” beauty into their guide’s waiting net. Alex Spork had his personal best this trip, a dandy 47-incher. And on the last day in some of the heaviest smoke we have ever experienced here Mike Pendleton got a 47.5” monster to end his trip on a very high note.

But speaking of smoke we can’t leave this review of Week 10 without mentioning the f-word—FIRE. We have lived with fire here for nearly three decades. It’s part of the overall far north experience to see smoke in the distance. In this part of the world fires are not suppressed unless they endanger lives or significant infrastructure. We are in fact living in a fire dependent ecosystem in the Saskatchewan/Northwest Territories border region. It shapes our landscape. And it can shape our fears. Unlike many parts of Canada, we had a relatively low fire season in this corner of the north. Until last week. A major thunderstorm passed over the Scott Lake area just over a week ago. For 35 days we had not had any serious rain, even during those storms. The land was ready for the spark. It took quite a few days to turn those small fires into big fires, but with some fierce windy weather late in Week 10 we looked at a different world on the last day of our Week 10 group.

What had been irritating but tolerable levels of smoke turned into a thick blanket of heavy smoke on the morning of the final day. It gave us the worst smoke ever seen in our 27 years here. It was dead calm and the smoke just sat. To say the least, this was not good. We watched and waited for a safe window to fly our guests and many of our staff out in the floatplanes. The window opened just enough for just long enough. We got everyone safely to Stony Rapids in floats to the waiting Dash-8 to take them to Edmonton.

We could not in good conscience bring the new group north. A fire north of the lodge was just getting too close. It was a crushing disappointment for those who had assembled in Edmonton to have their shot at a dream fishing trip. But the rule has always been safety first here. We just couldn’t bring new guests into a situation with a known fire/smoke risk. It was the first time ever we have cancelled a trip during season (we’ve had a few ice-related cancellations at the front end of the season). We are currently preparing our island for the worst if a fast-moving fire to our north doesn’t burn out soon. With the right winds it could. The strong winds of July 30 did move out the heavy layer of smoke. Today looks better than yesterday. We will keep our August guests up to date on the situation. Rain is in the forecast.

WORD TO THE WISE:

SOME ADVICE FOR TRAVELERS GOING ANYWHERE IN THIS ERA: GET TRIP CANCELLATION INSURANCE. AIRLINE FLIGHT DELAYS/CANCELLATIONS COULD END YOUR TRIP TO SCOTT LAKE (OR TO ANY DESTINATION LODGE) BEFORE IT STARTS . WE STRONGLY ADVISE THAT TRAVELERS SECURE COVERAGE FOR JUST THIS SORT OF EVENTUALITY. THE RISK AT SCOTT LAKE LODGE IS EVEN GREATER SINCE THERE IS NOT A SCHEDULED FLIGHT BETWEEN EDMONTON (OUR HUB) AND STONY RAPIDS (OUR FLOAT BASE). IF YOU ARE DELAYED AND MISS OUR CHARTER IT WILL BE DIFFICULT IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO GET TO THE LODGE. NOT TO MENTION FIRES UP HERE.