WEEK 8 BLOG POST
NORTHERN FISH STORIES—TRUE ONES
Show and Tell
How about a fish story? Imagine that you just turned nine years old. Now imagine that you are on a cool fishing trip way, way up north with your mom and granddad. You get in a big noisy airplane with floats under it and fly to an even more distant lake. You’re in a boat on a sunny day and you happen to look over the side and see a monster fish. Without really thinking you cast a big fat piece of plastic called a Sluggo in front of it. The fish quickly turns its head, streaks toward the lure, and engulfs it. All in a flash. You hang on for dear life. With some coaching from the guide and mom (but no help) you eventually bring it to the side of the boat where the guide slides a net under the huge fish. It’s over. You have just caught a 48” pike (a fish of a lifetime for any angler) and you are only four inches longer than the fish. That’s quite a fish story but for Cole Booth it’s a true one. He has pictures to prove it. By the way, mom, Jessica Word-Booth, landed a 46 incher the same day and Cole also landed pike of 42, 43 and 44 inches on that once-in-a-lifetime day. Now that’s a story for Show and Tell this September.
100+ Trophy Pike
Every guest during this amazing week had a fish story or two. Now Peter Myhre is a bit old for Show and Tell but he would have quite a tale to spin. In these five days of July Peter landed 31 trophy pike. Over his three group stay Peter did something no one else at Scott Lake Lodge (or maybe anyone at any Canadian lodge has ever done): he brought to the boat 106 pike over 40”. No that’s not a misprint. Over 100. In that incredible number were nine pike of 45”, five of 46” and two of 47”. Those are lifetime totals for most veteran pike anglers and Peter did it in just fourteen days.
Personal Bests
All our guests caught a bunch of fish, and many caught their fish of a lifetime this week. Scott Bixby had a great fishing trip already with a 44 under his belt, but on the last day he landed a very girthy 47 incher. The 45” mark was hit by several guests: David Wallace, Bob Smith, Tom Matthew, and Reece Rhys. On his first day off since he landed by chopper on the island with the early work crew in late May, Dawson Sawchuck had a chance to do more than maintenance work. He got to spend a full day fishing and he took full advantage of it, landing his personal best pike of 46”. There was a great trout story too. On a rainy cool day trout fishing seemed to be the best ticket for Bob Smith. He got a very fat 40” laker not far from the lodge. Along with his big pike and a 19.5” arctic grayling that trout gave Bob a Triple Trophy hat and the coveted 100+Club jacket with an impressive total of 104.5 inches. A pair of 18” grayling were taken by Mark Graf as well. The best time for big grayling is still ahead as the rivers start to lower and the aquatic insects start hatching. Watch for more grayling news in future reports.
Thunder plus Heart Pounding Action
For a week that started with a violent thunderstorm that delayed our guest’s arrival by three hours, the week turned out pretty darn good. It was our highest trophy total of the season at 146, mostly big pike. Lots of fish stories will be told and retold by people lucky enough to visit this far northern wilderness. And these stories are all true.
