Full on Fall Fishing! – The Week 18 Report

FULL ON FALL FISHING

When you think of fall in the far north, you naturally conjure many images: migrating loons and geese; the fall colors of brilliant yellow birch leaves, the smoky gold of tamaracks and the vivid reds of many groundcover plants; low scudding clouds, powerful east and north winds; wet boat seats from rain or heavy dew, and just maybe the mental image of an achingly beautiful day with puffy white clouds sailing through a perfectly sapphire blue sky mirrored in the transparent waters of Scott Lake. Well, our Week 18 crew saw all of the above (Day 4 was that perfect day) and enjoyed a very sensory week with the calls of the migrating geese and loons of several species, the pleasant smell of a nightly campfire by the main lodge, the wafts from the kitchen (duck, lamb, steak on the big Traeger to name a few) and the unmistakable pungent smell of just plain fall. It was Full On Fall—the real thing, not the teasing signs that we’ve had in prior weeks. For many of our guests, hailing from Arizona, Texas or even the upper Midwest, stepping off the floatplane onto the dock at Scott was stepping into a new and much cooler world, a wonderful transition. But not cool to the point of cold. For these five days it was just right for fall fishing, cool enough to be refreshing but not requiring five layers of clothing or gloves. Not yet anyway. Everyone fished all day, every day. And everyone caught a lot of fish with nearly everyone getting a trophy pin (25 of our 26 guests to be exact). There were plenty of trophy sized fish, a trophy count that hit the Century mark (exactly 100) for the second time this season. Most of those big fish were pike, 81, with only a few grayling this week. Just enough grayling though for one Trophy Triple hat. Paul Lorusso accomplished a rare “Done in One” day on Ivanhoe getting trophy pike, lake trout and grayling in a single day. There were plenty of big pike. Repeat guest Peter Myhre continued his torrid pace this season getting three 44-inch pike and a 45-and-a-half. Kay Myhre also got a 44-and-a-half pike along with Tim Maclean and William Friedman. William landed a 45-and-a-half pike as well, joining Rebecca Graf, Larry Noesen and Peter Myhre in the ranks of our Supersized pike collectors, anglers getting pike of 45” or better. Lake trout were in the mix too. In this transition from deep to shallow, some were hooked at 80 feet and others at 8 feet. They can be anywhere now making them harder to target but more of a surprise when casting for pike. We had 18 trophy-sized trout with Tess and Paul Rowland and Rebecca Graf landing heavy trophy trout. Jason Sikenga got a 40-incher and Shanna Bohac topped the big trout list getting a 41.5-incher.

Fall fishing is an exciting time to be at Scott. The days are shorter of course but the change of season brings its own magic. Everyone this time of year will get to experience two fall seasons—the one at Scott and the one back home in the lower 48. The northern lights were a no-show this group, but typically they light up the trip for our fall guests. The migrating birds, the fall colors, the frequent sightings of bears and muskox and the hard fighting pike made up for their absence. The senses were full to the brim. It was a great package.

P.S. There were no new 100+Club inductees this week but we did miss listing a couple of new members in our Week 15 update. On that week Adam and Brad Courvelle were part of one of our biggest weekly group ever of 100+Club members. With Adam and Brad we had eight that week. Brad at 106.5 inches is in third place on our 2023 list behind Connor Patrick and Mark Graf.