WEEK 11 UPDATE
IT’S THE LAKE TROUT RETURN
In last week’s highlights we gave the abundant lake trout of Scott Lake and our many fly out lakes a clear ultimatum: they had just a few more days to figure out where they should be! Apparently, they listened. While only sixteen trophy lake trout were caught in the prior fifteen days, our Week 11 anglers in just five days slid an impressive 23 trophy trout into their guide’s waiting net. These were not a bunch of barely over the line trout either. Nearly all were in the high 30” zone and many were monster trout; there were ten that broke the 40-inch supersized mark. Incredibly five of those 40s were landed by one angler on one day. That lucky and quite skillful angler was Rod Pace. He totaled seven trophy trout that day, his biggest a whopping 44.5” with two 42s, a 41, a 40, a 38.5 and a 36 backing it up. Now that’s a day of lake trout fishing. His son, Austin, added three more for a boat total that hit double digits. That is a day the Pace team and their guide will remember for the rest of their lives. Another big trout that the angler will not soon forget was on the end of the line of Kim Brown. On the last day of her trip, she tied into a brute of a 42-incher that put a 100+Club jacket in her future. She ended up with a very impressive 106 inches with that trout, a 45” pike and a 19” grayling. The big trout parade wasn’t over: Ron Spork got a pair of 41-inchers; Win Scott laned a 41.5- and a 40-incher. Dana Albright almost hit the 40-inch mark but was very happy with her 39.5” beauty. So, from typically being buried in the last paragraph of our reports, lake trout made the headlines for Week 11. Lake Trout season at Scott is late but officially ON.
Terrific Trophy Pike Fishing
There were some big fish besides trout. Pike trophies did outnumber trout trophies by over two to one, but the lakers were more impressive. Down from the prior week, pike trophies still were in the bragging range at 73, so big pike weren’t exactly sleeping, especially the big ones: we had eleven pike over 44 inches. Ron Spork got a pair of 44s while Austin Pace, Rod Pace, Win Scott, Aris Moulopoulos, Levi Rosenberg, Lonnie Thompson and Eric Davis all got 44-inch northern pike. At one more inch, we term our pike supersized and we had a few of those. Aris Moulopoulos landed a pair of 45s; the father/son team of Todd and Levi Rosenberg got theirs on the same day, and Kim Brown brought a 45 to the boat. It was by many anglers’ accounts a sensational week for those “almost” trophy sized, the 38s and 39s that typically are the hardest fighting fish in the lake. Let’s just say it was a terrific week for both lake trout and pike.
Arctic Grayling Trophies
We can’t forget Arctic Grayling either. They had their moment in the sun with 24 trophies, five in the supersized category of 18” or better. Dana Albright pulled a pair out of the rapids, a 19 and a 19.5”, tied for the biggest of the season. Bill Russell and Kim Brown landed 19s. Scott Sheldon caught an 18. Now that’s enough big grayling to produce some hats and jackets. Indeed, Trophy Triple hats were earned by Todd Rosenberg, Dana Albright, Win Scott and Kim Brown. In addition to Kim, Dana Albright and Win Scott entered the celebrated 100+Club where the total inches of all three of our trophy species hits or exceeds 100”, not an easy feat. Congrats to them and to all the Week 11 guests for hitting the trophy FUN mark. Everyone had a great time, as reflected in the bar tabs for the week. The abundant sunshine certainly had something to do with it. After many less than sunny weeks, we had four and a half days of glorious sun and pleasant breezes—just a perfect week to be in the far north.
