Welcome to Fall Fishing…Scott Lake Style – Week 12 in Review
WEEK 12 UPDATE
WELCOME TO FALL FISHING, SCOTT LAKE STYLE
It happened suddenly on the fourth day of this group. Fall fishing arrived. It’s not the fall on the calendar which is still a long way off, but it was the first feeling of fall. Maybe it was the slant of the light, just a little lower. Maybe the cool slap in the face of the morning air or just the crisp edge even a sunny day. Or was it the terns? Just a couple of hundred yards north of our island on the 60th parallel there is an exposed reef where a colony of terns has nested for as long as anyone can remember, probably hundreds of years. The come, about 60 strong, every year, arriving right after ice out. On Day 4 of Week 12 they made the big decision: they were heading south. On Day 3 there they were, noisy and agitated always, flying around any boat that gets too close, adding a little excitement to the day. On Day 4 the reef was empty; they were gone, not a feather to be seen on the rocks. First day of fall, for sure. One more signpost for fall—the first northern lights viewing of the season. While the lights were a bit ephemeral, they were still impressive, a preview of the more sustained and dramatic shows ahead.
Early Fall Fishing
So, how’s early fall fishing? Pretty damn good! Our early August anglers hit it hard, on cool, cloudy, sunny days. It didn’t matter: they fished and fished hard, pitching their offerings eight or nine hours a day. And many of those offerings were well received. The trophy count was right in line with the last several weeks—120 with a nice mix of pike, lake trout and grayling. That number included some dandies. The lake trout were in the spotlight again. Everyone gets excited about big trout—they are the ultimate freshwater predator. Whatever prey they want, they get. Some were fooled by shinny imitators. Bret Walker convinced a huge 43.5” laker that his spoon was really a whitefish. It was our biggest of the week but not by much. Nick Degaetani was right behind with a fat 43. Jim Tallman got a 40 as did Doug Abraham who added a 39 to his troutfest. Priscilla O’Donnell just missed the supersized mark with a 39.5” laker.
Northern Pike Fishing
Most anglers at Scott Lake Lodge are here for the northern pike fishing and it did not disappoint. There is an adrenaline rush when a hefty pike smashes into your fly or lure at lightning speeds that just can’t be matched. Pike don’t have the stamina of lake trout, but they know how to put on a show. Like with the lake trout top spot, it was Bret Walker who pulled the longest tape with pike, a 46.5” dandy. The pike parade was a long one. Dave O’Donnell landed a 46 along with a 45. The father/son team of Jim and Nick Tallman had quite a day, landing clones—a pair of pike each exactly 45.5 inches. And Jim got another 45.5” pike a couple of days later. Must be his favorite number now. A number of guests hit the 44- inch mark: Dave Wanderer, Randy Northcutt, Kathy Scott, Todd Kalish, Ryan Robbins and Chris Budeski. For fishing lodges to the south of Scott a week like this one would represent an entire season of big pike. Just another week here.
Grayling Trophies
Some big arctic grayling trophies were in play too. Jeff Towers and Ryan Rich almost got 20-inchers, a rarely seen number here. But they were quite happy with their 19.5” beauties. Nick Degaetani and Ryan Robbins pulled 19s out of the rapids and Nick Tallman supersized at 18”. You know what’s next. With all those big graylings, there had to be some hats and jackets earned. Indeed. We had plenty this week. The Trophy Triple hat was placed on the heads of Nick Tallman, Priscilla O’Donnell, Amy Towers, Jim Tallman and Nick Degaetani with the final three in this list upgrading to the 100+Club jacket. Nick had a big number at 106 total inches, putting him in third place for the season behind Kim Brown’s 106 and Mark Graf’s hard-to-beat 108.5”. But Nick did something no one else has done here: he got the QUAD, adding a lake whitefish, a 15-incher, to his trophy total. Whitefish are a wonderful gamefish but quite elusive. The QUAD has been done only a few times.
So early fall sounds pretty good. Add the typical great customer service, the solitude that guaranteed on our lakes, the elegant dinners and a moose and muskox sighting or two and you have a perfect week in the far north. See you next year.
Welcome to the Summer! Week 6 Review
Welcome to the Summer! Week 6 Review
WELCOME TO SUMMER
Sometimes your cherished guest is late, but you will let him (or her) in the door. So, it is this season: summer was very late but we’ll let her (summer is definitely a her) in with welcome arms. Summer gave early notice of arrival on the last day of our 5th group. It was sunny and pretty nice. From the first day of our 6th group, we had full blown summer and some very serious HEAT. At last. What do people do when it’s gets warm? They go out and play. And so do fish. But pike play for keeps. They attack, savagely. Due to a long-planned Cabelas’ itinerary, this group had only four days to have fun and catch fish. They made the best of it. Everyone got into lots of pike, even our youngest angler of the season. Gavin Faggen is only nine years old. He caught his first ever pike on his first day at Scott. He caught a 45-inch monster on his third day. Now that’s a learning curve. Where does a nine-year-old newly minted trophy slayer go from here? Back to Scott Lake Lodge of course. He will probably tag a 50 incher before he can legally drink a beer.
Gavin wasn’t the only big fish player. As he always does up here, Peter Myhre just keeping getting trophy after trophy. On one of his trophy-filled days he got a pretty good poker hand—pike of 43-44-45-46 and 47 inches. Yes, all in one day. There were plenty of others holding good cards. Scott Farrow, part of the Cabela’s Signature Travel group, landed a 45” and a 46.5” pike. Brian Kozlowski got a 45 incher. Everyone of our anglers got to wear the trophy pike pin, an impressive accomplishment. The trophy count just got over the century mark, also impressive. There were many lake trout caught in shallow water but only two hit the 35” trophy mark. One, a trophy trout on the last afternoon, got Kirk Carlson his coveted trophy triple hat.
There were a few sun-burned ears and noses but that was a small price to pay for welcoming in summer. We thank the group for bring the warm of the sun and their sunny smiles.
Topwater Pike Attack!
Podcast Episode #3 – All about bears
Join in with the winter Scott Lake Lodge Crew as they recount some bear stories from quarantine at the lodge.
Three Part Harmony: Week 7 Update
THREE-PART HARMONY: WEEK 7 UPDATE
As we approach the mid-point of the 2019, the music is changing. For the first six weeks we had one beautiful and loud note—pike. Our other Scott Lake Lodge gamefish (the arctic grayling and the lake trout) were mainly MIA. It was a lonely note. No longer! With the grayling and lakers now playing well in our waters, we have real music, with three-part harmony. As has been noted several times in these updates, it’s been a very cool summer and, while no heat wave has entered the scene, some seasonal movements (down and up) are showing up. While the warming surface temperatures are pushing the big lake trout down, that same trend is pushing the grayling up where there are a few more bugs to keep them busy near the surface. So, thirty-five days into our season, we’re catching some nice lake trout on the bottom and lots of grayling on tip. Its’ no longer a one-note pike show.
Not that pike have not been a big part of the show. They are–big time. During this week, there were probably 3,000 of the aggressive “tundra sharks” caught with 117 reaching our trophy status of 40”. With lots of big fish on the prowl, some went way over that mark. There were 45 inchers landed by Peter Myhre (he also got a 46), Gary Parzych and Dave Wallace. Eight-year-old Colton Erickson landed a fish he will remember 50 years from now—a girthy, beautiful 45.5” pike, almost as long as Colton is tall. Bruce Bush had quite an introduction to Scott Lake Lodge. On his first trip to Scott Bruce had two-thirds of the giant pike hat trick, landing 47 inchers on consecutive days. Welcome to the Scott Lake Lodge family! Steve Nicholas had top pike honors of the week, getting a monster that stretched the tape to just under 48”. The very honest guest and guide called it 47 and three-quarters. A bunch of anglers landed a bunch of big pike in a single day: Peter Myhre with seven, Dave Bensema and Bruce Bush with six, Peter again with five and Jerry Kyle with four. When the fishing is good here, it’s very good.
So, pike were still the main act, but they had to share the stage this week. Arctic grayling made a big splash (many splashes) this week. Over 50 trophy grayling were landed on the inflows or outflows of our fly out lakes. Most were taken on 4-weight fly rods, some on ultra-light spinning rigs. No fish in the north has more dramatic coloration with vividly spotted dorsal fins or a feistier attitude. If you match the tackle to the size, it’s an exciting gamefish. We had some dandies this week: 19 inchers, a very big grayling in these parts, were landed by Mark Graf, Colton Erickson and Wyatt Erickson; 18s were taken by Garth Olds, Ted Erickson and Angie Erickson. These fish, the second part of our three-part harmony, added an interesting, more contemplative, contrast to the smash-mouth pike fishing.
And the third part? Our big lake trout, after randomly cruising the cool surface waters for over a month, have finally started to drop into deeper water where they can be more effectively targeted. Some nice trophy-sized trout were taken. Trevor Myers and Mark Graf landed 38s. On the last day on Scott, James Finney got his biggest laker ever, a fat 40 incher. On a memorable day on one of Scott’s 22 fly out lakes, Mark Graf and his son, Foster, found trout heaven. They landed around 90 lakers and one was a heart stopper. Foster knew he had something big when his line just plain stopped; he wasn’t snagged, but he had just hooked a huge lake trout. About fifteen minutes later he saw the fish in his guide’s big net. He needed a big net to land this massive lake trout with a huge girth. A quick look with the tape showed 45” before the magnificent beast went gently back into the lake. Foster and Mark had been through this before. Seven years earlier, almost to the exact day, Mark landed a 46”X28” trout that he nicknamed Tubby. Well, Foster got Tubby II and the Foster story isn’t over. Earlier in the trip he landed a 46” pike and a 17.5” grayling, giving him membership in the 100+Club with a whopping 108.5 total inches, one of the highest totals ever.
It was a great week for big fish. A total of 183 trophies were taken. Everyone in the lodge caught multiple trophy fish. We almost ran out of trophy pins. The three-part harmony was very sweet music indeed.
