Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge

Vic Karlson's report from July.

2011-09-27T12:57:00.002-07:00

An update from our trip w/e 7/23/11. Another year with anxiety after our gear (rods this time) did not arrive on a direct flight from Chicago. We celebrated near midnight under the sunny sky in Yellowknife as the cabbie delivered our misplaced musky sticks. We arrived in camp to find just Don and his wife there, the staff would be boating in from Fort Resolution later in the day. After a quick breakfast we headed out and found the pike to be just as hungry as they were last year. Gene Somenek, Mark Shiels, and myself landed 140 pike over 40" during the week. Our biggest fish was 47" and we all caught at least one 46. Sharing the lodge with us were two excellent fisherman from Minnesota, Craig and his 12 year old son Jake. They bettered our totals by landing 105 trophies with Jake taking a 47 inch beauty to edge out his Dad for big fish honors. They also caught many nice walleyes up to 26" trolling the river and off the island rocks. Best baits were Johnson Silver Minnows, Grinders, Bulldawgs, and assorted spinnerbaits. Fish were spread out around the islands and throughout the Taltson river itself. The fish were brutal on tackle and people, I broke one extra heavy rod landing a trophy and blew up a new Shimano reel. Also felt the pleasure of a treble pushed into my shin past the hook bend with the brute still attached to it. Maybe next year I'll try full body armor to protect myself better. Had fun trading stories with the young guides and spent a great night in Calgary on the way home. We will return again next year in persuit of the elusive 50" that Gene swears he had on until he didn't. Vic Karlson

REPORT FOR WEEK 8/27 - 9/3/11 By Dale Shinavar

2011-09-26T06:53:00.003-07:00

REPORT FOR WEEK 8/27 - 9/3/11 By Dale Shinavar

This year our group of 6 was low on experience but high on enthusiasm. It included one 2nd timer and two newbies to pike fishing. Before going to Taltson these three had caught one 34" pike between them! Many Taltson veterans have had to graduate from entry level pike pursuit to the next level - Northern Wisconsin/Minnesota, then Ontario, then Manitoba or Saskatchewan before ever arriving at Great Slave. Of course now these guys are now totally ruined and will likely turn down offers to head north on a one day drive to southern Ontario for some 30 inchers and a chance at a 38 incher. It is pretty funny to see one of these new guys catch a 38 incher within the first 15 minutes on Day One fishing and rush to take a photo. By the end of the trip that same guy is trying to avoid a mid-thirties fish attacking his Grinder at boat side!

This was by far the wettest and coolest week we have had. We got blown off the lake for two days (went upriver) and put away the sunglasses for almost the entire week. Of course the pike loved this and were cooperative all week. We caught 74 trophies spread though the expected locations - the weed beds, lake side of the islands, rock points, and the river channel. Our biggest fish were caught early in the trip (49", 47", 46”) night trolling a Bull Dawg "Pounder" in the river channel. There may have more caught this way but we only had a couple of these monstrosities and they were destroyed by day two.

A major trip highlight was a most unusual wildlife sighting. While fishing just north of Beck's our guide saw a couple of "moose" on the distant lake shore bluff. As we motored a little closer it became clear that these were not moose. Legs were too short and not tall enough, but too big to be bears. There in front of us (and not fleeing) was a group of 8 musk ox. Musk ox have never been sighted this far south of their normal Arctic tundra range, but here they were. We got some photos and they are posted here.

Another oddity was a trophy “ no spots” pike. There is a photo posted on this one. It did not have the silver/blue color of the blue pike, but more of a bronze/gray color of a musky.

Compliments to our cooks (Tracy & Katya) for excellent food. And thanks to our 3 guides. A basic requirement of Taltson guiding (because there are so many big fish caught), is that fisherman are not landing the fish. Especially inexperienced pike anglers. By the end the week there were only minor finger injuries... no super glue or duct tape needed this time around. No serious hook extractions either. All in all another great Taltson experience.

Third week of July report

2011-09-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

We had a really special trip to Talston Bay the 3rd week of July.

It was hot, but tolerable. Mornings were cool but by Noon the Sun came out and it really warmed up.

This was our first trip to Talston Bay and we shared the camp with Vic Karlson, Gene Somenek, and Mark Shiels. All great guys and I hope I have a chance to fish with them again someday.

Fortunately for us they were returning veterans so they gave us a few pointers and sent us off in the right direction.

The wind blew almost every day from the East. A couple of days it really whipped up but it didn’t really affect our fishing much.

We seemed to have rain squalls blow by us every day. It never really rained that hard on us. We only suited up on a couple of occasions.

The majority of the fish we caught came from the channels massive weed beds between the camp and tower island. It’s not hard to miss.

I would guess the water temperature to be around 70 degrees. Plenty warm to take a dip.

The water was not deep around the weeds maybe 5 to 6 feet at the most and the weeds were really in great shape. Lots of oxygen coming off those weeds and lots of bait fish hanging around them.

The perfect storm for big Pike! If you got to shallow you caught little fish.

One evening the guides decided they had had enough of the hot weather so they tried their hand at water skiing. It was good humor watching them try to get big Dean up on 2 skis.

After about 10 attempts and nothing to show for all of the work they finally gave up. We finally went back out fishing.

The land of the midnight sun was truly that. We fished every evening until at least 11 PM. One evening we fished until 12:30, and ran out of gas trolling back to the lodge.

Fortunately we were able to shake enough fuel out of the tank and into the line to get the motor to fire up and run the remaining block back to camp.

At midnight you could have still read a newspaper outside it was that light. I am not sure when it got light in the mornings as I was so tired from fishing for 14 – 15 hours I usually slept until 7.

Fishing was good in the evenings, the heat went down but the mosquitoes really came out. Without bug spray you couldn’t fish after 10 PM.

The flies were really bad during the day when the sun was out, which was almost every day. After lunch they really got pesky, I’m talking about the ankle biters.

You needed long pants and socks as bug spray didn’t seem to help that much with the flies. The Bulldogs (horse flies) were something to behold.

At times we literally had hundred in the boat at a time. For some reason the guy at the back of the boat running the motor, which was usually me, had the joy of dealing with most of the flies.

I guess they liked the heat coming off the motor. The Bulldogs didn’t bite unless you got wet. Once wet however get ready! Usually around 9 PM they all disappeared.

Let’s talk about the fishing! It was truly one of the best places I have ever been for big pike. I have no idea just how many fish we caught in a day. A hundred plus I would guess.

I can tell you however we caught several linkers.

My son who was 12, caught 6 – 44”, 4 – 45” and 2 – 47” monsters! The biggest I managed was 44” which I caught 4.

Needless to say there was some serious ribbing going on at the end of this trip. I think he reminds me almost weekly how he managed to school me on big fish.

The fish were concentrated in the Cabbage Beds. Weedless lures worked the best like the Silver Minnow. However you could throw other non-weedless baits in some of the open areas.

Big spinner baits worked well as did some of the big plugs. We did well on Hell Hounds & Phantoms and some of the spoons. However at the end of the day we always seemed to go back to the spinner baits.

All of the guests at camp fished the same weed bed. I already mentioned that the fish were concentrated so they really got pressured by about the 4th day.

Most of the fish we were catching by that time had been previously hooked by one of us. It’s unfortunate that all of the fish were stacked up in such a small area.

We ran up the river for a change of pace and managed a couple of trophy fish. I think 43” was our best in the river. We also fished hard around the

rock islands and managed to pull a few nice fish. I think we had 2 – 44” fish and several over 41”. We also gave Thubin Bay a spin but found nothing but small ones.

It was inevitable that at the end of the day we all ended up back at the same spot. After supper when the guides got done fishing with their clients they went fishing for fun and guess where they ended up?

The big weed bed. Two more boats with 4 more fishermen. At times it was a traffic jam and finding an open spot got to be somewhat challenging.

We trolled big Jake Baits up the channel and caught some really dandy walleyes. They just slammed the big plugs. The Walleyes we caught were 20’ – 26”. Nice fish!

Next time I’m bringing some jigs and twisters for a change of pace! My guess is that a person could really pound the Walleyes if you targeted them which we didn’t

The camp was nice, even though we didn’t spend much time in it. Our cabin had a major mosquito problem. The first night I must have killed 50+. We ended up sleeping with head nets on.

The next day we spent an hour plugging up all of the cracks and openings with clear packaging tape. I’m bringing duct tape next year. That helped and we ended up with only a couple dozen in the cabin.

So on with the head nets. The problem was that it was hot so putting something over your head at night made it really uncomfortable. The next night we just lit a raid coil and sucked up the smoke.

At least we had no more bugs!

All in all it was a great trip and we are really looking forward to giving it another try next year. Right now I have a whole year to live down the whooping I got on the water by my 12 year old son!

Until next year good fishing to you all.

Craig & Jake Lenz

August 20-26. The Great Slave Mafia Report

2011-09-09T12:04:00.002-07:00

The Weather was too damn nice! We went on a fishing trip and a business meeting broke out!

Taltson 2011….August 20-26

Is it at all possible that could be a problem? Well for the group fishing it certainly was!! Don’t get me wrong, the fishing was still the best 99.9999% of fisherman will ever hope to experience…but for us…a little cool weather would have brought some more fatties into play.

The group of John Mich and Rick Sweeney

Jamie Riani and Bill Kallenburg

and Steve Schmitt and Jim Zarfass

again put a hurt on old Mrs. Esox Lucius during their weeks stay. The group, with the help of golf counters, tallied over 1600 fish for week, with an amazing 124 , 41inches or greater. Jim Zarfasses 47” was the largest in camp.

The fisherman were greeted with temps in the low 70’s and southeast winds for the first three days…sure great weather if you’re in Wisconsin but this is NWT….some 2500 miles north of the cheese state. We wanted 50’s…clouds…maybe a sprinkle or two, hell a flake or two besides Zarfass would have been great, however good weather was to be the norm for the entire weeks stay, we adapted.

Normally a bit of wind from the north and whatever combined would cause the rock islands to explode with fish, but that wasn’t to be. Thankfully the weeds were as good as they’ve been in many years and the fish cooperated in them. Certainly the night trolling bite was a staple as well, with fish being caught well after 11pm on many nights. This night trolling bite for a species of fish that aren’t supposed to be great after dark continues to amaze us…but we’ll take it!

Baits where as they always are for this time of year….Spinnerbaits, Bulldawgs, any and all Storm plastic baits. Colors…natural, wild and everything in between.

Mishaps? Sure!! With three in the group north of 60 yoa…nobrainer! Some hooks in hands..some slashed hands due to fish handling, maybe a broken rod or 4…but we are happy to report no helicopter needed to be dispatched to camp…no stitches were used (maybe warranted) but not used…no chucks of meat needed to be extracted from anyone’s windpipe…and there was enough Ambien, Tylenol PM’s and earplugs to handle snoring, talking and night terrors (yes I said night terrors…don’t ask)

We were treated to the incredible cooking of Tracy once again and her kitchen helper Katya…this was far more than 6 dudes from the states could ever hope to have spoiling them. Our Friday was business formal day and the girls went out of their way to make our lunch experience that day…something to remember.

As I always say…”this is the best pike fishing local in Canada”…and it proved it once again for all of us. 360 days seem like a year away.

John

( a very rare blue pike )

Early August report #2

2011-09-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

From Tim Stewart:
Ok so here we go. Two guys from Minnesota show up at camp to fish pike. We were not sure about what we were getting into as we had been to plenty of other camps and been underwhelmed by the fishing. We jump in a boat with the guide stop at the weed edge at becks third cast we land a strong stout 43 inch pike. Bryan and I gave each other a look and I said” game on.” These first timers put almost 600 fish in the boat,586 to be exact 61 of them 41 or better. Two of these monsters came out true 46 inchers no squeezing tails or adding on a little here just true big fish, All hand landed with a quick pic and back for more.

After the first day Bryan said “you know we can’t fish any were else now” . Most of our fish came on rad dog’s in the weeds or madusas out in the open. Becks weeds during the day river channel morning and night. Thubin was nothing more than a boat ride. Next time we will know not to bring all that other stuff, It just is not needed. I will however do some forearm and hand exercises as the both were in pain by the end of the week. Thanks for letting us in on your little secret of the North.

P.S. It also was a lot of fun to talk to those folks coming out of Plummer’s and show them pic’s, as they had at least that week not such a good week. If you land any customers from there I will only take a small cut.

The Golla report from early August.

2011-09-06T12:14:00.005-07:00

Just back from an Aug. 6-13 trip. Curiously, my daughter, Julie, and I caught exactly the same number of trophies (over 41") as my first trip 2 years ago, which is/was 43. I must say that Julie did most of the heavy lifting, and at times I felt primarily like a camera man. The most remarkable thing, however, might be the bulky average size of the fish. If you chose a 4-inch bracket that would encompass our most typical-sized fish, it would probably be 35-39" or 36-40". There were A LOT of Big, heavy, burly fish, and when you spot them about 100 stalks of cabbage to dig into and slice through, they can kick your ass just fine, thank you.

The trip got off to an inauspicious start, however. On our first casts, we BOTH snapped the cork handles of our rods right in half. By the end of the first hour, all 3 of Julie's rods, and 2 of mine, had done this. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" No one at camp had ever seen or heard of this happening. My third "first string" rod went on day 3. Upon investigation, there was a subtle dent across my (standard Plano) rod tube, right at that same level, so apparently the tube took a very heavy and sharp blow, and then bounced back to almost normal shape, but the damage was done. Still pretty bizarre. With the crap that the TSA (inspects my rod tube most of the time, and likes to jam stuff back in) and baggage handlers dish out, I' m not buying any more rods without lifetime warranties. By the way, if this happens to you, here is the solution: get a Clorox-type jug, cut off the top and bottom, and slit open the remaining plastic cylinder. Cut in half, that will give you enough to wrap 2 handles stoutly enough to not bend. Then secure with Duck Tape (don't leave home without it!), and you're back in business.

The massive weed bed between camp and Tower Island was the biggest fish magnet, with some off the island itself. Just little ones at Thubin. Went upriver one half day, and caught 4 over 39" (incl. a 45). Biggest of the trip was a 46", by Julie. Some in the trolling channel, too. The other boat in camp, Tim and Bryan, did as well or better than we did, mostly using big, gaudy spinnerbaits (bigger than most of the stuff I had). We had a fair amount of wind, but topwater was fun when it was calmer. I usually drifted back to the old reliable Johnson spoon, and firetiger may have been superior to plain silver or gold. Julie has a favorite spoon, and that is no mean feat to have success in those weeds with a spoon-- has to be small, light, single hook (which is sure nice for the fish and fish handlers, too), and further buoyed by a trailer.

I never put on my rain pants, sweatshirt, or hooded sweatshirt, and I only used my rain jacket (as a windbreaker only) for 2 evenings and the ride upriver. Can't complain about that (but it was pretty windy 4-5 days).

Now, OK, guys. We have a definite lack of fishing reports this year. Don't be shy. Don't be modest. Let's hear from you! Like Jamie says, "There's no shame in talking about kicking ass, in the company of others who also kick ass!" And somebody can certainly post an "angler profile" (so I won't look like a tool being the only one besides Jamie).

Tight lines and solid hooksets, Jim Golla

P.S.Best story: I hooked a 14"-er on my first cast upriver, which was promptly slashed by a BIG fish. I tell Julie to "throw that rubber thing that looks like a pike". She (Julie) does, and she (the fish) also "does", all 43 1/2 of her. Many boatside ambushes, and many "companion" fish following in hooked fish, seemingly always bigger than the one you've got on! No other species can give me the rush these guys do.

And finally, I promised I would do this: I made a big mistake going to laker's unltd on Athabasca last year. I would urge you not to make the same mistake.

The first 2011 reports are in!!!

2011-06-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

Here's the first report from Herb Guarascio:

Got back yesterday from the "arctic". Highlights from our fishing trip to Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge on June 11 to 17, 2011 include:

Being joined this year by my sons James and Joe, as well as Matt. (Doug had to work.)

The Numbers:
Biggest fish was Joe's 48.5" northern pike out of "Beck's" or Hook Bay. It was just enough to edge out Matt's 48 last year which in turn had edged out Joe's prior Ontario record of 47.5, so the brotherly competition continued. Not sure what Joe's 48.5 weighed but all the fish were BIG and HEAVY. I bet the 43" fish were close to 30 pounds! So, go from there... Next year, we bring a scale and will use a cradle to weigh some.

My biggest was 46". As an added bonus, she came straight out of the water and "danced" vertically on her tail. We had more than one trophy completely clear the water by more than a foot! The fights were amazingly insane - better fights than even last year. One almost pulled Matt in on the strike, and that's saying a lot. There were many boat side strikes (including when you accidentally dropped your lure in the water) and many times I thought we'd break a rod against the side of the boat with "runs" under and around the boat. Tons of fun - literally!

Matt's biggest this year was 45 and James was 44 (though the guide lost one for James at the boat that looked like it might have been bigger while trying to hand land it).

Everyone of us caught 6 to 9 REALLY nice fish that were 42" long or longer.

We had well over 60 trophies between the 4 of us (over 40"). Frankly, we stopped counting and measuring for trophies after Wednesday unless they looked like they were 42" or more, just to go easier on the fish. Releasing them in the water had the added bonus of getting your lure back out there quicker during the famous "turn on" or feeding windows. Our guides appreciated it too since they both looked like they need half a dozen stitches in the hand after getting bit or hooked while releasing fish. (Good thing we brought first aid kits with fancy supplies and adhesive stitches.)

For our Ontario fishing buddies, where 38" is a trophy, I know we had well over 100. Honestly, just too many to count. Really.

We didn't usually do daily tallies but one day, James and I caught 150 pike and walleye between the two of us.

The walleyes were really "in thick" this year. For whatever reason, we hit those perfectly with our week. There were places you could catch them every cast. They were the hardest fighting walleyes I have seen anywhere. And like the Northerns, the walleyes were FAT. Without ever fishing for them, there were days when we caught several dozen just while fishing for Northerns. There was no need to target walleyes; they hit "Doctor Spoons" and musky bucktails. Most were 20" to 26". We kept a few stringers for the camp that were so heavy it took two of us to lift them.

Matt caught a 29" walleye that was 9 to probably even 10 pounds.

Everyone set a personal record of some sort....what else can you say? Great fishing, as always.

I will try to send a few pictures later.

The Wildlife and Outdoors

I have enjoyed wildlife since I was a kid, so it was a real treat to be surrounded by it for a week. And overall, we had nice weather, so in the "land of the midnight sun" where it never gets dark in mid-June, it was hard to come in off the water. Many a night we were still fishing after midnight.

We had a 500 to 600 pound black bear wander out to Beck's Bay while we were fishing. Our guide said it was a mature 5 year old, but "only average" in size. It was really an amazing creature. I thought the guide had been bluffing when he said he wouldn't let me skip lunch and leave me behind to shore fish "because of bears".

We had quite a few moose sightings. To our guides, its like having someone offer you a free black angus steer for your freezer, so for the rest of the week they were...."prepared". Fortunately for the mooses, they didn't make encore appearances.

It must have been mating season for the whooping cranes. They were dancing around in the marsh.

The eagles were everywhere. We saw 5 in on place at the same time. We got some great videos and photos of one from 15 feet away.

When we got off the plane in Yellowknife, NWT, James and Joe laughed in disbelief at how big the mosquitoes were. One night, James got 40 bites on his right arm that he left out of his sleeping bag. After that, no one cared about the warning labels against indoor use of mosquito coils. Our roomed looked like LA smog in the summer, but you could sleep without donating a pint of blood.

For the Taltson Bay regulars-
They claim the water is even lower this year. It didn't seem like it to me, but Don and others would know.

Becks was good to us, as always. Thubin didn't turn on until the very end of the week and even then didn't have the really big fish it held for us last year....probably a hand full of trophies at 41 or 42. But man, was it fun when it was "on" and you had a hit every cast.

In general, the fish seemed more scattered this year. They were outside Becks and at the same time way back in the shallow bay; and sometimes right down the middle. Though you would find the occasional "pot of gold" (say where the wind had pushed some to the back of one bay or on the wall), in general, it was one or two at a spot one day, and none there the next. You usually had to move around vs just camp out in Becks or Thubin.

The weeds grew a lot just during our week. The cabbage was still well below the surface, but you had to pull through it in spots by the end of the week. After Sunday, we had a week of warm sunny days so it grew a lot.

Lure size, shape, or color seemed irrelevant.

The diamond mines are in full swing and new ones are in the plans. Yellowknife hotels are booked solid.

It was great to fish with Rick and Steve again, and also a lot of fun to have Taltson first timers Mike and Tom (and James and Joe).

We had a great trip. I wish you the same!

~~ <*)########<

The next report comes from the team of Mike Podracky & Tom Driscoll. Mike writes:
I just returned from my trip to the Trophy Big Pike Camp with my long-time Lake Erie fishing partner, Tom Driscoll. Also in camp with us were Herb Guracio and three of his sons (Matt, James and Joe) along with Rick Sweeney and Steve Ciambros. First, it was a great group of hard core fisherman like Tom and I. It was a pleasure to be in camp with them, and I was amazed to find people who fished as hard as us. Rick and Steve took the prize, however, for staying out the longest each day. Very impressive they could pump out casts like that all day long.

The fishing more than lived up to our high expectations. The weather really cooperated as it drizzled the first hour or so we were in camp, and not a drop after that. The winds basically were cooperative too. Now on to the results.

Tom and I caught 25 pike over 41 inches between both of us. Our best day was ten trophies when the fish were suicidal hitting any lure that landed in the water. Conservatively, we caught about 110-115 pike between 38-40 inches. We fished Thubin two days: one day was good and the last day very good. The fish were smacking the Stalker in Thubin with abandon, although we missed more bites that we caught with the Stalker. We fished part of the other five days in and around Becks, and the main river channel. Tom and I both caught our largest fish at 45 inches at Becks. Everyone in the group caught as many if not more trophies than even we did. Herb's sons are quite the fishermen.

The best pike baits were the Stalker in firetiger, a Mepps Musky Maribou bucktail, gold doctor spoon and silver/gold Williams Wabbler. I loaned Tom my only Williams Wabbler that I brought along, and hadn't fished with in ten years. He caught most of his trophies on it and refused to give it back even hiding it from me at night.

It was also amazing how many walleyes we caught and their size. We landed about 125-130 walleyes during the week "accidentally" while fishing for pike. Probably 25% of them were 24-25 inches with the biggest at 26 1/2. Those walleye hit so hard sometimes you thought it was a pike. Tom caught one 14-15 inch walleye that a large pike attached while reeling it in. As usual, the pike released the walleye before it was landed, but that was exciting.

A large number of hawks hung around Becks most of the week. A few times we fed one particular hawk a small walleye, and it was awesome to see the hawk swoop down and snatch the fish with those huge talons. The talons looked as big as my hand. We also saw about a 500 lb black bear near Ray Beck's old cabin that lumbered away after sniffing us. The bear must not have liked the smell of pike slime.

Tom and I never fished so hard in one week, and hit the wall around day five. We rallied later that night, and finished the week strong not wanting to go home. Bruce ran a good camp and our overall experience was terrific. The great group of guys we fished with made it even more so, and we thank them for their friendship during the week. The best testimonial I can give the Trophy Big Pike Camp is we will be back in 2012 ready to do battle as the lodge lived up to its name. Also, we will be much more educated on how to catch those huge fish.

Mike Podracky & Tom Driscoll.

Lodging and booking UPDATED 4/13/11

2011-03-14T05:18:00.008-07:00

Hi all!
Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge is proud to announce a partnership with the Yellowknife Inn. Guests needing lodging in Yellowknife before or after their trip are encouraged to contact the Yellowknife Inn @ 1-867-873-2601. Just mention you will be staying at Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge and you will be given a discounted rate of $129.

______________ ______________________ ______________________________

Here are the bookings as they stand right now ( April 13,2011). Further updates will be posted as bookings come in. Please bookmark this blog and check back often.

May 28 - June 4 OPEN
June 4 - June 11 Italians (10 total / closed)
June 11- June 18 Herb Guracio Group + Rick Sweeney and Steve Ciambros (8 total / closed)
June 18- June 25 Dave Adams Group (8 total / closed)
June 25- July 2 Phil Meese and son (2) +s two others booked (2) + Keys group (4) ( 8 total / closed )
July 2 - July 9 OPEN
July 9 - July 16 OPEN
July 16- July 23 Vic Karlson/Gene Somenek + Mark and Andy Shiels + Craig Clenz and son (6 total /closed)
July 23 - July 30 OPEN
July 30- August 6 OPEN
August 6- August 13 Jim Golla and daughter + Tim Stewart and Bryan Neel (4 total)(4 available)
August 13- August 20 Simus group ( Full / closed)
August 20 - August 27 Mich Group (8 total / closed)
August 27 - Sept 3 Shinivar Group (6 so far. 2 spots available)
Sept 3- Sept 10 Horton group (8 total / closed)

Profile of Jim Golla aka "Pikeman"

2011-03-14T05:18:00.006-07:00

Name: Jim Golla
Age: 56
Occupation: Gastroenterologist (you know, the one with the flexible 5 foot lighted tube that has an a-hole on each end of it).
Background: I live in OK, but grew up in the only county in Minn. without a natural lake. As a boy, I fished Green Lake in central Minn., a clear lake with extraordinary structure. ( Roland Martin just did a smallmouth show from there on today's episode.) My depth finder was a heavy sinker on clothesline cord, wrapped on a rolling pin. Northern pike were the biggest fish available to me, and we just sort of hit it off, I guess. I love the sneer, the attitude, the teeth, the slime, the gorgeous spots, etc., etc. I can't believe my parents let me take out our old steel pontoon and 9 1/2 Johnson by myself when I was only 9-10 years old. Often I'd dunk perch for them, since every pike I ever cleaned had perch in its belly. While catching the perch for bait (with worms), I'd get excited when the perch all of a sudden would turn off. That meant Mr. Big was back in town - a pretty cool system for a kid. Then, my Dad took me to Canada when I was 16. The biggest fish was 14 lbs., and I couldn't believe how unbelievably great it was! Second trip - same thing. Funny how those "fabulous" trips that gut hooked me for life would now be considered a total disaster.
My wife and I took our 3 kids to a flyout numerous times, until increased fishing pressure caused the fishing to crash (with a stunningly rapid thud). Since then, we've sampled Manitoba, Saskatchewan, NWT, and Alaska, with some hits and some misses along the way. I'm not a guy who likes to "play the field". I like to find a place that I can "get married to". Laugh if you must, but my license plate and e-mail address are both "Pikeman". I'm done trying to explain it. I just love Northern Pike!

What brought me to Taltson? I'm afraid that's another long-winded story. It was on my "short list" from magazine articles, I guess, Then, 2 years ago, I'm packed for a trip to Lac La Martre, and the scumbag owner calls me 5 DAYS BEFORE I LEAVE that "he is financially unable to open the lodge this year" (after he has all my money, of course). REALLY? ARE YOU SERIOUS? Well, thanks to John and Don, we hurriedly made some lemonade out of that lemon, and I was made welcome at Taltson. Here's hoping that that unhappy story winds up being a blessing in disguise, long term. [By the way, LLM is under new ownership, so don't hold the other jerk's sins against the new guy.]

Biggest at Taltson: 46" (hey' I've only been there once).

Favorite Lures: Really? you guys don't mind spilling all your "secrets"? Oh, all right. Bucktails, Vibraxes, Spinnerbaits, Johnson spoon, Kamlooper spoon (another long story, should you ever have the misfortune of sharing the lodge with me), bunny flies, and assorted "big rubber fish".

Stories: Only been there once, but it did show me the biggest walleye I've ever seen (32+, by my wife). Got chased into a hut by a T-storm one day, then caught a 43" on the first cast afterward. On an umpteenth pass at Thubin, it seemed time to try something different, so I went with a spinnerbait, and asked my son (2000 miles away, at home), who is the spinnerbaitmeister, to send me some psychic energy. First cast=43 1/2". My wife made Don a blueberry pie during another T-storm break.

2011: I'm taking my daughter up the 2nd week of Aug. She won't like me saying, but she (despite being an excellent fisherwoman) has the family's "smallest lifetime biggest" at 47". We'll see what we can do about that!

Comment: Like I said, Im not a guy who likes to try a different place every year, so I'm hoping to commence a long relationship with Taltson (seeing that many of you are thusly "married" to her already). When asked, I will say that if you have a place where you can consistently get 2 trophies per person per day, you are usually going to be wasting time (and money) looking for a better place. From what I know so far, that bar seems too low, when it comes to Taltson, however. To be continued.............

Jim Golla with a monster caught from The Thubin Trench

Angler Profiles

2011-03-07T12:24:00.004-07:00

( to get on the Taltson Bay E-mail list for updates, please drop me a line at jamie@customfish.com and Ill add you to the list. Thanks)

We're going to be starting a new feature here on the blog: ANGLER PROFILES! As an elite group of 60ish of the best anglers on the planet, it's nice to be able to know who is who when the stories are told.

Please copy the questions, put them in an email and send them to me jamie@customfish.com and I'll put them up on the site. Feel free to send me a great picture too!
Thanks all!!!

Name:
Age:
Occupation:
Fishing background:
What brought you to Taltson Bay? :
What's your biggest pike at Taltson? :
What's your favorite lure(s)? :
What are your best Taltson Stories? :
When are you going back this year? :
Comments?:

_____________________________________________________________________

Name: Jamie Riani ( webmaster for Taltsonbaypike.com and the facebook page)

Age: 41

Occupation: Large Format Digital printing / owner of Customfish.com

Fishing background: I started fishing during family trips to Tomahawk WI when I was a little kid. As a teenager I honed my skills on some of the toughest waters to succesfully fish; Salt Creek in Addison, Il and it's chain of retention ponds catching carp, green sunfish, and largemouth.
I graduated to Lake Geneva where I fished for a decade and then Delevan where I have fished for the last 10 years. We chase pike, bass, walleyes and musky.
I'm an avid smallmouth angler, lucky to have a home within blocks of the DuPage River where I often wade or kayak. I also fish The Fox River as well as several area lakes for smallmouth and largemouth. My biggest smallie is a 23". Biggest largemouth a 22.5"
I also have a nicely stocked 2 acre bass pond outside my back door which keeps me and my son busy with bass and crappies.
I fish Pipestone in NW Ontario every year as well since 2005 targeting huge Smallmouth and bonus muskies & pike.

What brought you to Taltson Bay? : It was a dream trip for me. Much like most of us, I had heard about it from a couple friends who have been there multiple times. I have a love for pike fishing due to my years fishing Tomahawk.

How long have you been going to Taltson? : 4 years so far. 2007 partnered with John Mich. 2008-present partnered with Bill Kallenberg.

What's your biggest pike at Taltson? : 47"

What's your favorite lure(s)? : I go with the Savage Gear 4-Play ( 8"), The Storm Kickin' Minnow, Bulldawg, Mepp's Muskie Killer, Dick Pearson's Grinder.

What are your best Taltson Stories? : Oh man..there's alot of them! From dressing up in luau surfer hawiian clothes with Kallenberg, blasting Beach Boys tunes and decorating our boat with tiki gear, a skull, and a dancing hula girl to wearing a cowboy hat for most of the 2009 trip. I've done a couple "lodge surgeries" on crewmembers with Krazy Glue and hockey tape..those were all fun. I took a leak down by the burn pile in 2007 and didn't realize there was a bear 20' away ( that was a mess!).
But I think the best was a 2 hour span in 2008 when Billy and I sat in one spot in Beck's Channel and caught one huge trophy after another! It was no more than 30something degrees with a 20mph wind from the north ( June 3rd I think). We've NEVER been so cold in our lives but we couldnt leave the bite. It was the most unreal and painfully awesome fishing I've ever seen at Taltson!! INSANE!

When are you going back this year? : August 20th. That's our week now. I thought June was cool, but with 3 Augusts under my belt, I dig August more.

Comments?: I'd just like to say that I am very very proud to do what I do for the camp as the web guy and I'm proud to be an alumni member with a group of roughly 60 of the most hardcore anglers on the planet. I think it's pretty cool that we are a rather elite and exclusive group And even though we may not know each other personally we know the photos, faces and names of our fellow great pike anglers. Basically I think that we fish the best pike waters on Earth and we all kick ass doing it!

Jamie with a nice mid 40's pike from the trolling trough. August 2010.

2011..The year of the beast!!

2011-01-27T15:54:00.004-07:00

Welcome to the 2011 fishing season at Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge. We look forward to seeing the regular alumni as well as reading their upcoming reports. And we really look forward to seeing the freshmen of 2011 have that first eye opening "HOT DAMN!" experience.
Ahhh..remember the first time you landed on The Taltson?? It was like the first time you.....um...nevermind...

So... We have a few months to go. I've archived all of the previous reports and photos ( look on the right and click thru 'em.) . BUT..I GOT TIME ON MY HANDS!!! So, if ya got anything you want to share about 2010, send it on over to jamie@customfish.com and I'll get it on here. If you have ONE super-memorable fish and a story, please share it with us. We all love hearing about each others triumphs up there. After all...we ARE the best of the best, and a very elite group. There's no need to be shy about kicking ass in the company of others that kick ass :)

John, Steve and I would like to take the time to say THANKS to all the alumni who stopped at the All Canada Show booth. It's always great to see our fellow pike fighters.

Start sharpening hooks, people!! It's almost time to drive some metal thru some teeth!
This year is gonna be epic!!

And dont forget to join the FACEBOOK PAGE!!

August 21 - 28 2010 report

2010-08-31T18:59:00.006-07:00

Well the Aug 21-28 numbers weren’t what we’ve experienced in the past…we still have all our fingers and nobody drowned. Now that’s not to say both of those points weren’t in jeopardy during the stay however.

With water down a conservative estimate of 2 to 2.5 feet, the normal weed bite was a tuff one to have. Low water and increased water temps made finding active fish always a challenge. However perseverance, some luck and a lot of water coverage produced very good numbers for those involved.

The weed thing still had its high points, and the rock bite was there when the wind cooperated. The trolling bite, though slowed, still kicked out some fatties. It continues to amaze me that we can troll these big fish up well after dark, and with this years full moon in full swing, fishing these pigs took us to 11:15pm some nights.

Our weather was really too nice for the NWT in late August, with temps in the high 50’s to low 60’s each day and plenty of sunshine to boot. I truly believe that we could’ve benefited from a cold snap during our stay. Even some beach wear made an appearance during our week…but then those clowns would wear kilts to a black tie affair.

Hats off to Candace and Tim for an outstanding job taking great care of our every need during the stay. The meals were incredible; the coordination of everything in camp was smooth as silk due to their attention to detail and always going above and beyond.

So I’m sure you’re asking yourself where are the fish numbers……..well I can say that 47” was touched three times during the week. As far as the other fish are concerned, six anglers accounted for 1167 pike during the stay, with 97 fish measuring 41” or greater. We’ll have a better break down of who caught what once photos arrive for submission. Again the shear number of fish in that 37” to 40” class is mind boggling. It only serves as a reminder that this is truly the greatest pike factory on North America, and after 18 trips to this pike Mecca myself, this spot hasn’t missed a beat.

John Mich
LOOK Kids! It's the John Mich Show
(with special guest Rick Sweeney)

And then there's the rest of us.

<*))))))))>< ~~~~~~~~~~ Week of August 28 to September 4th

This was my 10th trip to Taltson and it was another great one. First the weather – the best I have seen
with temps in the mid-50s to low 60s the whole week. A couple of very breezy days and about an hour
of light rain during the entire week. The group included only 2 guys that had been to Taltson before.
The biggest lifetime pike caught prior to our trip by the 6 newbies was 40”. Several of the group had
never pike fished before and one member had almost no fishing experience. So with this band, anything
could happen - and it did. Biggest fish - 48” caught by Bob Lefebve who had never gotten even a 41”
trophy prior. Largest 3 fish (47, 45, 45) – Darren Huelsman, non-fisherman prior to this trip. We even
broke the pike only in the fall code and figured out where to catch walleyes (12-15). I was worried about
having a bunch of new guys handling all these big pike, but there were no mishaps. No one got a serious
hook in them, no broken rods and no one took a swim!

Now the details. As mentioned by previous groups, there was low water and it changed the fishing.
The weed bed was a couple of feet shallower and I believe held fewer daytime fish. The lakeside rocks,
islands and points produced well when wind was coming in from any westerly direction. Anything else
caused mud to flow in from the back bay and no big fish. Going upriver was a little hazardous due to
low water and the rocks, but produced surprisingly well. We should have gone upriver more often.
Fish were caught sporting big whitefish tails sticking out into their throat. And the evening bite was
excellent. A conservative estimate is that at least half of the trophies were caught after dinner (730PM
to 1030PM).The overall numbers were very good considering the experience level of the group – 115
41”+ trophies and over 500 between 36” and 40”. These new guys realized they were in for a big time
when 5 nice fish including a trophy were caught off the dock before we even got in a boat on day one.
Boat trophy counts –

Bob Lefebve – Bill Lefebve – 25
Bill Huelsman –Darren Huelsman – 24
Tim Weiss – Homero Garcia – 30
Dale Shinavar – Steve Billmyer - 36
Another excellent Great Slave trip.

--Dale Shinavar

<*))))))))>< ~~~~~~~~~~ September 4 - 11 Report from Dale Horton.

This being my third trip to Taltson, this was the best weather yet. Many of the days were in the 60 and low at night was in the 40. We had six in our group. Like everyone knows who have been to Taltson, it is hard to explain to people how good this place is. I had a couple of friends in camp the week before us for their first trip so it was going to be fun to meet them at the dock. I know they would have a great trip but I was still worried " what if". I could tell by their faces as I got of the float plane they had a great trip. First thing said "it was a trip of a life time". The father had the big fish of the week, a monster 48". You can read the rest of their trip when they post.
Back to our week. We ended up with 127 trophy pike over 41". The biggest was a 30 plus pound 47". Most were caught of the wind blown side of the islands. When the wind wasn't blowing the guy's would move out and troll the sand flats with pretty good luck. The 47" was taken there. The weed bed was very slow compared to normal. Like groups before us have said the weed bed was thinner than normal , with more grass than cabbage. A few trophies were caught there but not like in the past. The river bite was hot and heavy at times. It seem that early in the week it all happen in the first hour. As the week went on the bite lasted longer into the night. At the end of the week we were catching big fish the whole while we were out there.
Two of our guys went after walleyes and did very well. If I had to guess they caught well over 100. The biggest being 28". Thanks to them we had some very good walleye dinners.
Hot baits for pike were bucktails, bulldogs, spoons and grinders. Walleye baits used were small bucktails and jig with twisters. The guys said they caught a number of trophy Pike while fishing for the walleye on the jig. Also lost many trophies on the jig!
One day we did take a trip to the end of the islands toward the east arm for trout. Only one trout caught. Many small pike in the bays that were fished. One very heavy 44" pike out far when fishing for trout. If had to do again we would not take that trip again.One interesting thing we found on the way was some very large weed beds about half way down located out in the middle. Could be worth a future trip to fish. I would guess about 45 minute boat ride.
We never did make it up the river this year. With the water low we didn't want to take a chance of damaging motors.
The food! What can you say except the food was fantastic. I'm sure everyone went home with a few extra pounds added.
Photo's will come as soon as I get them from the guys.
Thanks to Don, John Mich and everyone else at Taltson for another great trip. We look forward to our next trip to the best Pike Waters anywhere! Dale Horton

The Taltson News for July 29,2010! REPORTS!!!!

2010-07-29T14:21:00.004-07:00

Hi Taltson Members! Jamie here again with more reports, photos and news!!
First we have to start this entry with a reminder taken directly from the main site's "What to Pack" section" PLEASE READ IT:

" Food, drink, and snacks
Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge is a full service American Plan destination. All 3 meals are served daily in our main lodge dining room.

Optional extras to bring:
Individual instant drink mixes
Jerky, trail mix, sunflower seeds, etc...
Any additional alcohol, tobacco, and provisions can be purchased in Yellowknife. (All beverages are available at camp, i.e. water, beer, soda.)

*** Maximum weight allowed is 50lbs. Any additional fees based on weight assessed by the float plane service will be passed onto the anglers. Please consult your airline for updated restrictions.***"

Just to be 100% clear; Beer, pop, coffee and water are ALL available in camp. Please feel free to inquire about current pricing of beer and pop in camp. If you decide to bring in your own cases of beer or pop you WILL personally be tagged for the overweight float plane charge. Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge is NOT responsible for this charge. ( as a guest myself I strongly suggest staying away from any additional fees incurred by the float plane airlines. As you can imagine, the prices/fees near the arctic circle is substantially steeper due to a premium set on fuel).

Ok...so we got THAT elephant out of the room. ON TO THE FUN!
I got some kick ass reports in! Check this out!!!!

The Adams group was at camp July 3rd thru the 10th. High winds, cold and rain made fishing difficult the first few days.
Here's a few pics of some beautiful fish that we got. Jim Adams, pictured with Bruce Balsillie, got the biggest of the trip, a beautiful 47", 45" and many others. Clarence Jass got a 44", 43" and several 42's. Other members of the group caught 46's, 45's, etc

And we have MORE Pics and a report!!!:

Andy Shiels writes,

We have an absolutely outstanding trip. First off, compared to Beck's, it felt like my dad and I were staying at the Ritz. The food was excellent and the hospitality was great. Onto the fishing... Between my dad and I we caught 49 northerns 40" or better and 40 that were 41" or better. I caught the largest fish of the trip at 48". I started off the trip with my 2 fish being back-to-back 45". Here is the breakdown of our trophies:

40" - 9
41" - 10
42" - 13
43" - 4
44" - 7
45" - 4
46" - 1
48" - 1

Although we did not catch nearly as many fish as we did our previous time during the month of June, the average fish was bigger this time. We were extremely fortunate with the weather the entire week. It was basically 70-75 degrees every day with a mix of sun and clouds. As a matter of fact, we only had to pull out the rain gear for a short period of time one day. I think the consistent weather was the main factor in our success. Also, we had very little wind to contend with which also made the fishing easier. The two guys (Vick and Gene) who were also up there at the same time as my dad and I could not have been more of a joy to be around. We all got a long so great that they are coming to Rockford this Tuesday for a 36 hole golf match with my dad and I to reflect on how outstanding the fishing was.

We had a couple of overcast days on the weed bed just south of Tower Island (where the taltson comes through) where nearly every fish we hooked was a trophy. Like I previously mentioned, the fishing was much different than what we experienced before, but equally as good. Some mornings my dad and I would would only catch 15 fish, but 9 were trophies. The hot lures were a gold johnson spoon with a white double mister twister tail along with black/orange grinders and pink bucktails. Although, the Johnson spoon outperformed both of those baits by at least 3:1. Something about the spoon being pulled through the weeds 6 inches below the surface with the white twister tail fluttering that was driving the big pike nuts.

Great reports guys!!!

And just for fun I'm gonna put up the official Taltson Bay video.
Fish on O' Taltsoners!!

Newsflash! 1st round draft pick Sweeney gets signed!

2010-07-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

Our August 20 group would like to welcome the 2010 1st round draft pick for Taltson U to the team. Filling in a last minute roster change that puts him in the lineup with Mich, Riani, Kallenberg, Rothblatt, Schmitt, and Jimmy "The Pope"..... We are proud to announce the two time pike champion. Returning for a encore fall appearance ! The master of disaster! RICK SWEENEY!!
Welcome aboard, Rick!
-Jamie-

The Hendrick's Report!

2010-07-09T09:17:00.001-07:00

Last year our biggest problem was ice. If you read my account of last year’s trip you will quickly see how much the main lake ice affected our trip ( it didn’t affect the fishing at all as we simple crushed ‘em). So we booked this year’s trip one week later in an attempt to avoid any more hard water problems. While we didn’t find any ice this year, what we did find was wind- and lots of it. Basically the wind blew from a different direction everyday anywhere from 25-50 MPH. When your 7 a.m. alarm clock is the main lodge flag ripping and snapping 200 feet away, you know the wind is humming.

Basically we fished most days in 1-4 foot rollers regardless of the spot. Not a big deal but it really begins to wear you out from a boat control and casting perspective. It affected the fishing as well, anytime we got periods of calm we simply hammered them. One calm afternoon Bill Smith and I caught 22 fish over 38 inches, about 10 forty inchers and 6 trophies. On one calm night my brother and Bill did about the same numbers from an anchored position in the mouth of Beck’s. I also watched one of the Italian boats catch what looked like about 30 trophies one evening. When we got back to camp I asked what they caught; they measured 24 fish that evening- only four of them were under 40 inches giving them 20 trophies in about 3 hours.

When the wind blew the fishing was tough, when the wind laid down it was business as usual. While we didn’t rack up the huge trophy count we did last year, we did catch an insane amount of 38 and 39 inch fish. Probably close 200 between the four of us and about 60-70 Forty inch fish that just missed being trophies.

The fish were also all built like footballs this year. Must have been the water temp because the amount of fight in all them was not what you usually find in the spring. Multiple 10- 20 foot runs out of almost every fish over 36 inches was very common.

Our trophy count for the week came in at 37 pike over 41 inches for the four of us. John once again had the most with 15. Everybody in our group caught two or more fish 44 inches or bigger. John and I each caught three 45’s. My poor brother had two nights where he literally caught 10 or more forty inch fish. He deemed himself the “40 inch World Champ” with probably about 35 of them for the trip.

The best lures were Johnson Silver Minnows with a white trailer, gold Doctor Spoons ( which was weird because the best color for Johnsons was silver), Williams Trophy Spoon ( silver with green prism tape), Bulldawgs in bright colors in the smaller spring size, and Mepps Musky killers ( best color was all green/blade/ green body or orange blade/ black body).

Also did pretty well on brightly colored Double Showgirls and bass sized fat shallow running crankbaits.

I had a full report from the Rick Sweeney and their best lures were by far Super Stalkers, a bigger crank bait with a curly tail. I knew the wind had killed the bite because we could hardly sniff a fish on the prior week’s best lures or anything bigger than what I listed above. I also want to note that the Italians had a lot of luck on homemade swim baits that were pretty close to Sebile Magic Swimmers. I will definitely have a few those in my box next year.

Brett Hendricks

Brett Hendricks

Report time! The first groups of the 2010 season!

2010-06-17T20:14:00.007-07:00

The first is from Herb Guarascio and his son Matt:

Far exceeded expectations at all levels.

Some people say they "caught a ton". Matt and I caught 3.25 tons during the week. Really.

Matt had 40 trophies (40" or more inches). His first fish caught was 47". Second fish caught was 45". His biggest of the trip was 48". I had back to back 45.5"s for my two biggest pike ever. I had 19 trophies of 40+" (For those of us used to Ontario trophies of 38", Matt and I caught 90 of them! - that's a lot of hats).

Matt caught his 12 personal best pike. I caught my 7 personal best. All of them 43" or more. All FAT fish, most with another fish (walleye or small pike) visible in their gut; some with the tail still visible in their throat.

We caught 777 fish. (I had a counter.) Almost all northerns, but of course some walleye snuck in. Matt caught a 26" walleye.

On 4 of 7 days we averaged a fish every 3.5 to 5 minutes (which included fighting the fish, removing hooks, some photos of trophies, etc). Ie, many spells of non-stop catching. You expected a fish almost every cast. On those 4 days we caught over 120 fish (167 was best day).

First and last day were in the 70s. Other days were cold and 30+mph winds. Cold enough to wear long underwear, 2 sweat shirts, rain gear, and more including wool socks. Matt wore winter gloves a few days. Ice was on main lake as we flew in, but far from shore where we fished.

We fished in a small stream and caught a trophy northern. We also caught a bunch of trophies the last night fishing from "shore" on an rock reef in the middle of a bay where you could see trophies explode on your surface lure literally at your feet. That was really fun. It was like seeing what happened at the other end of your line .

Sun set about midnight but never went far enough below the horizon to ever get dark. You could read the paper at 1 a.m. By 3 a.m., it was bright as midday.

With cold and wind, mosquitoes and bugs weren't bad on the water, and ok on shore.
An amazing experience. Tons of big fish, and the hardest fighting pike I have experienced to boot. The big one that got away - there has to be one - pulled our three man boat around and even turned it. (Needless to say, I loosened my drag after that brain freeze.)

Almost caught a hook in the face, but no casualties. Some sore muscles (that's good news.) Matt had to get out and push the boat at one point when we were beached trying to get back into a shallow bay. Lots of fun "side stories".

We go all that way and the other 2 guys in camp are from Naperville.

No, I didn't fish around the clock. Too tired from catching for 8 or 9 hours.

Lots of photos. Even more memories.

<*)))))))<~~~~ The next report is from Rick Sweeney: It was a fantastic trip again. I'm guessing that with early ice out we really got into some post spawn pigs ready to forage. Weather and food excellent like last year. For a cheap rate we upgraded our flight to first class on the way to Edmonton. Four hours of lots of leg room was worth it especially when the aircraft was only a 70 seater. Fished Beck's and Thubin (nothing back in Snuff Channel) for 7 days and nights. Saturday when we got there Beck's was on fire: 25 38"- 40" and better 12 41" and better (largest 47") 38 walleyes Sunday and most of Monday slowed due to rain and a front. By Monday evening things picked up again and we alternated between Beck's and Thubin The rest of the week. W-Th-F in Beck's was crazy. Two things different from 1st week last year ; 1. No Coneys (early ice out sent 'em up the rivers early) 2. The weight size of the 37" - 40" fish. I have never seen fish that fat and they probably looked a lot like your August fish. Totals for the week for Steve and Rick: 71 40" or larger 53 41" or larger (Steve 27 Rick 26) 73 Walleyes Trophy Pike breakdown: 13 41" 12 42" 8 43" 6 44" 5 45" 4 46" 3 47" Lures: Super Stalker worked best. Magnum Bulldawg so-so compared to last year.Johnson silver minnows, single hook Doctor spoons, single hook 3/4 oz. Cleos,and any size Bucktail depending on wind, water depth, or fish location. Thanks for your help and let me know if for some reason you need a substitute in August. Regards, Rick <*))))))<~~~~~ Be sure to check out the FACEBOOK page for Taltson Bay as well! And also check out Customfish.com and the fishing report there too! Taltson Bay IS the worldwide leader in World Class Pike Fishing!
If you would like updates on when reports get posted, please send your email address to webmaster Jamie Riani at jamie@customfish.com ! Thanks!!

( HINT*** The facebook page has even MORE stuff on it! Become a fan today!)

Urgent note about flights!!!

2010-04-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

It appears that First Air has cancelled its afternoon flights from Edmonton to Yellowknife without notifying passengers. In additional, all the major online flight booking sites will still allow the flight to be booked. I've heard from several guests that they has stumbled upon this on there own and have begun the process of changing flights.
Please check your flight info.

Guess where we are now!

2010-03-20T17:47:00.001-07:00

Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge

Promote Your Page Too

2010 booking dates

2010-01-23T11:08:00.006-07:00

Thanks to all of the Taltson Bay Alumni Members who have booked for the 2010 season.
If you would like to reserve any of the open spots, please remit your deposit of $500 per person ASAP; Balance due May 1, 2010.

The bookings so far are:

June 5-12: Sweeney group / Herb Guarascio and his son Matt.
4 open spots are available for this week

June 12-19: Hendricks group / Group of 4 from Italy.
0 open spots are available for this week

June 19-26 Kesler / Switzer
0 open spots available for this week

June 26- July 3: Lentz group / Group From Italy
0 open spots available for this week

July 3-10: Adams group
0 open spots available for this week

July 10-17: Victor Kalson and guest
6 open spots available for this week

July 17-24: OPEN FOR BOOKING

July 24-31: OPEN FOR BOOKING

July 31-August 7: John Simus group, 0 spots available for this week.

August 7-August 14: Rudy group*
*5 DAY TRIP 4 Open spots available for this 5 day week

August 14-21: Newell group
0 Open spots for this week

August 21-28: Kallenberg/Riani/Mich/Brenton/Rothblatt/Schmitt
0 Open spots available for this week

August 28-September 4: Schinivar group / Bill Huelsman and guest
0 Open spots available for this week

September 4-September 11: Horton group
0 Open spots available for this week

September 11-September 18: OPEN FOR BOOKING

September 18-September 25: OPEN FOR BOOKING

It's gonna be a great year!!

And don't forget to get some alumni gear at our online shop! http://www.cafepress.com/monsterpike

Report from Sept 5-12, 2009

2009-10-07T13:51:00.001-07:00

9/5 to 9/12/09

First, about the weather. Of all the previous trips I have taken (8), this was the wettest and windiest. We did not need our sunglasses until the afternoon of day 6. Our group had 3 first timers with high expectations and Taltson did live up to it’s reputation. Our group of 7 had 145 trophies (41”+) with about 400 other big fish (“Ontario” big -36-40”). Our biggest was a 48” whopper. One of our group messed around a little bit and came up with 5 or 6 walleyes.
Weed beds were the biggest producers, probably because the islands, and rock points stayed muddy most of the time with winds blowing out from the Back Bay.. The river was productive in our one trip up there on an extremely windy day. Night fishing in the channel was just “OK”. No big nights and things were mostly shut down by 930PM. The whitefish run was nonexistent during our week as noted by camp owner Don when he checked his test nets in the river and off Tower Island.
As far as what baits worked best, it was a toss up. We caught fish on whatever was used. Some of our group threw smaller Mepps musky killer and 4.5” Doctor spoons while others used more standard Taltson fare – Bulldogs, big swimbaits, Grinders and similar big baits. Taltson produced as expected – the best place on North America for big pike.

Trophy Fish Counts – 145

Dale H. solo - 21

Erv E. (19) – Uncle Lee H (10) total– 29

Frank M (31) – Greg E.(15) total– 46

Dale S (30)– Steve B (19) total– 49

I hope we all are able come to Taltson at almost 80 years old like “Uncle Lee”…..and get 10 trophies. Another great trip to the Taltson !!

-- Dale Shinavar

August 22-29 group report!

2009-09-01T12:51:00.006-07:00

Jamie here back from Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge on Great Slave Lake, NWT, Canada.
Had a great trip! We caught a grand total of 1,652 pike landed by hand. 207 were of trophy status ( 41"+ ) and the largest came in at 48".
Fall is the time for really heavy fish and this year was no exception. We caught many that were just under 40" yet still hit 20lbs!!!

The first set of pictures that are in are from Jamie Riani & Bill Kallenberg.

Jamie & Bill scored a total of 379 fish. The trophy numbers are:
41" - 11
41.5" - 3
42" - 13
42.5" - 2
43" - 5
43.5" - 2
44" - 5
44.5" - 1
45" - 2
Jamie had 21 trophies.
Bill had 23 trophies.
Biggest for both anglers was 45".

This next set is from John Mich & Bob Brenton's boat.

John and Bob scored a total of 529 fish. The trophy numbers are:
41" - 19
41.5" - 6
42" - 19
42.5" - 5
43" - 10
43.5" - 2
44" - 4
44.5" -
45" - 2
46" - 1
47" - 1
48" - 1
John had 30 trophies. His largest fish was 47"
Bob had an unbelievable 43 trophies! His biggest fish was a 48".

The third set of pics is from Art Rothblatt and Steve Schmitt.

Art & Steve S scored a total of 356 fish. The trophy numbers are:
41" - 4
41.5" - 6
42" - 10
42.5" - 2
43" - 6
44" - 1
44.5" - 5
48" - 1
Art had 20 trophies. His biggest was a 48".
Steve S had 20 trophies. His biggest was 44.5"

Marc & Steve scored a total of 388 pike. The trophy numbers are:
41" - 16
41.5" - 1
42" - 6
42.5" - 3
43" - 11
43.5" - 4
44" - 7
44.5" - 3
45" - 1
45.5" - 1
46.5" - 1
47" - 1
Marc had a total of 29 trophies. Biggest fish was a 46.5"
Steve had a total of 27 trophies. Biggest fish was a 47"
They are also the reason why we are now banning ALL trucker hats, hair spray, and red pants from camp. We do however still allow security pillows and wubies.

** reminder to all guests: Send your photos, videos, reports and stories to jamie@customfish.com and I'll get them up asap. **

Taltson Video ReMix!!! And new pics.

2009-08-17T17:41:00.002-07:00

We got some new photos in courtesy of Clarence Jass who just got back!
Here's a nice 44 and a fabulous 50!!

PLUS!! The latest video remix by Jamie!

And here's a different hardcore version for those who like things a bit louder and heavier.

We got more pics in!!!

2009-07-21T04:24:00.019-07:00

Check these out and feel free to leave a comment!!
Click on the images to see them full size.
Annnd... ( cheap plug coming up.) For an even LARGER size, send your pics to customfish.com and put it on the wall!

Report from Jim Golla. Week of June 27th

2009-07-14T05:27:00.005-07:00

Before I get into my first trip to Taltson, let me inform/remind you about the "3 stages of fishing." The first stage is all about numbers, pretty universal when we're kids, when we keep a count of HOW MANY fish we catch. Stage 2 is all about size, a 'trophy',a 'wallhanger' (replica only, of course), that "fish of a lifetime", HOW BIG of a fish can we catch.Stage 3 focuses on the method: gotta be on a flyrod, or maybe on a fly/lure you made yourself (don't tell me about the trophy you caught on 6-8-10 lb. line-I'll have to kill you, and then I'll be in prison, and you AND THE FISH will be dead, which doesn't work out too well for any of us.) I'm pretty much a stage 2 guy, although clearly stages 1 and 2 blend together when we start counting "trophies" over a certain size. Also, on a slow day, I can slide back toward stage 1 pretty easily. There have been times when I've entered stage 3, too, but mostly I want to do whatever is most productive at a particular time (which, no doubt, is at times a fly.)
All that came to mind midweek of our trip (my wife and I- Bobby said it was the first woman he had ever guided). We logged 13 trophies that day,along with countless athletic, knuckle-busting, rod-bending, motor-loving, under-the-boat-diving 'teenagers'. At the end of the day, I wondered out loud, "Do you think we caught 100 fish today?" Hearing no dissent, I decided to keep count the next day. Now, precise fish counts are not truly exact (was that last one #22, or is this next one #22?), but suffice it to say that I lost interest around #115-and I'm quite sure we had caught more fish the day before. Literally a ton of rompin', stompin', lure-chompin' Esox in 2 days! We went in June 27, and there was still a fair amount of ice on the big lake, but we really only saw the thick fog bank it makes in the distance a couple of times.It was gray and cool most of the time, and we only got out one evening, mostly due to parades of popcorn thunderstorms that were frequent companions. That left us with 43 trophies (including 1 walleye that might be the biggest I've seen)--maybe not jaw-dropping for you "regulars", but a pretty damn good pike trip any way you slice it. Topped out at two 46's (one outweighing the other by about 8-9 lbs., I'd guess.) Best story= the mid-40's fish that stole a lure right out of a 36-38incher's mouth at boatside (alas, they both got away.) Many entertaining doubles, of course.
The lodge gets to "rest" for a couple of weeks, now, so I envy those of you still planning to go this season. Pinch those barbs, and release'em right, so this quality fishery lives on. Esox rule,
Jim Golla

Oh..oh..this is good! The first group!

2009-06-16T09:44:00.004-07:00

This in from Brett Hendricks. Sounds like they had a hell of a trip!!
<*))))))))>< ~~~~~~

Well, where should I begin? A group of us had been kicking the tires on this trip for the better part of five years and finally decided to take the leap of faith this year. Bottom line - great decision.
Day 1 – Fred Hodge and I arrived in camp a few hours before the others in our group due to the float plane taking everybody in on two trips. After getting organized in cabin 2, Fred and I headed down to the dock to throw some casts before the others arrived. Fred’s first cast with an orange Mepp’s #5- boom a super fat 38 incher. After fumbling through my bag for some pliers and assisting with the release my first cast was greeted by his twin brother. Two casts, two 10lb pike. Not a bad start.
Our other four partners finally arrived around noon and after stowing gear and getting squared away everyone was scrambling to get their rods together and start fishing. The scene on the front dock was somewhat comical with four guys tossing various spoons and small bucktails. On about his third or fourth cast John nailed a 42 inch trophy about 5 feet from the camp’s water intake pump. It was just the beginning.
Due to severe ice on the main lake (more on that later) our guides were unable to get to camp from Fort Resolution. No big deal. We had a few trophy pike newbie’s with us so we decided it would be best to go 3 x 3 in each boat so each crew had some big pike handling/releasing experience in the boat.
We fished around the Beck’s and the Tower Island inflow, and while we didn’t get any more trophies that first day, that was all about to change…

Day 2- With marked maps and John Mich’s advice, we tried getting into the Back Bay because of all the success he and his groups have had there in the past. It wasn’t going to happen. Due to extremely low water levels (or high sand levels depending on your view) there was no way you were getting a boat into the Back Bay. The water was 6 inches deep in many places, and what seemed like deeper channels only lead to more clay and sand. After about an hour and three or four route changes we abandoned the idea and headed over to Beck’s.
We picked up a few good fish and a few smaller trophies. Inconnu were also on the menu, and with everyone wanting to catch a fish they had never caught before they definitely were a welcome bonus. The wind had turned the entire Beck’s area into a glass of chocolate milk so around 10:30 a.m., my boat- with Bill and Mike Smith decided to head up to Thubin. It was about to get ugly.
Thubin started with a few snot rockets and hammer handles and then somebody upstairs decided to throw the big fish switch. For three hours we basically had a 36 inch+ fish coming to the boat every 2 minutes. 38, then a 39, then a 44, then a 39, then a 40, etc, etc. This went on until about 2 o’clock and we had to head back for lunch. While we only boated 5 trophies in that stretch, we must have caught at least forty other fish in the 38 to 40.5 range.
We returned after lunch with the entire Taltson Bay armada and began right where we left off. For the next two hours anywhere you looked somebody’s rod was doubled over, somebody was taking a picture, somebody was getting out the cradle, etc. All in all I think the four boats put about another fifteen trophies in the book and double that many 38- 40.5. John also caught the biggest pike of the trip that day with a fat 48 incher falling to orange and black Mag Dawg.

Day 3- We wanted to rest the Thubin area after basically carpet bombing it with four boats the day before. We fished around the islands, the Tower Island in-flow, and the river channel by camp. The walleyes were still pretty spotty but we were catching a lot of nice Inconnu and large pike. We didn’t catch any huge fish on day 3 but we did manage another seventeen trophies with most of them right around the 41-42 inch range.
Day 4- We decided to hit the Beck’s area hard as the other group (Rick Sweeney and Steve Ciambrone) had been having considerable success in that area for over two days. The wind had picked up and there was a good “walleye chop” on the entire lake. Apparently the pike all got the same memo that day - “EAT”, and they did. We simply hammered them all day. Mike Smith borrowed a Drifter Tackle Super Stalker from one of my boxes and at the time I didn’t think much of it- (should’ve brought more). Every time we looked over at their boat, Mike was reeling in another fish. The whole group hammered fish all day and it didn’t seem to matter where you cast or if the boat had drifted out of position. Johnson Silver Minnow’s (they all end up silver anyway) and Doctor Spoons were on fire. The Super Stalker which Mike aptly named “Gilbert” was the hottest lure by far. Rough estimates say that Mike and “Gilbert” caught close to 150 fish that day and that his guide asked him to take the lure off on several occasions. When the smoke cleared on Day 4 our group had racked up another 22 trophies and enough 38-40 inchers to get the tape out at least another fifty to sixty times.

Day 5- THE ICEMAN COMETH
ICE- Some people like it in their drinks, others use it in their coolers to keep things cold. Some guys even like to fish through it. Unfortunately, none of brought our augers or Vexilars.
Because we had left Thubin alone for two days we thought it would be good to head back down and visit all our new pike friends in the Thubin River again. Big mistake. After a couple of hours of mediocre fishing we decided to pull the plug and head back to Beck’s, the big girls just weren’t in Thubin that morning. About a mile out of Thubin and still 3- 4 miles from Beck’s Camp we ran into a small problem. Ice- and lots of it. A wind shift had pushed the entire ice flow on Great Slave hard against the south rocky shore. This wasn’t some broken up slush or 1 inch thick skim ice me and others in our group have busted through a hundred times in the past while duck hunting. We are talking a literal iceberg/glacier anywhere from two to five feet thick. Can’t go through it, can’t go over it, can’t go under it, got to go around it…………….by foot.
We ditched the boats in a small protected cove and set off up the rocky shoreline towards Beck’s in hopes (picture us praying to God) that Rick and Steve from the other group would be there fishing and could boat to camp for help. To make a long story short- we got to Beck’s ( after about 3- 4 miles of pretty good hiking), they were there, and we borrowed their boat and went back to the last open water where we had left Fred, Bill, Steve, and guide Lester. After some shuttling around we were all back in camp around 6 p.m., minus three boats and some fishing gear. Some of guys went out that night while most of us stayed in camp. The whiskey, cigars, and wood burning stove somehow outweighed going back out that day. All in all it was a crazy day that only yielded 4 trophy pike and one trophy nature hike. We missed out on some great fishing as Rick and Steve put thirteen or fourteen more trophies in their boat by fishing the Beck’s area with light spinning rods and small spoons ( they were bored with their musky sticks and Calcutta 400’s).
Day 6- Down three boats, we again had to do some logistical changes to get everybody fishing. Three of us piled into Don’s small transport boat he runs back and forth to Fort Resolution while the other three guys went fishing with Lester ( guide). While things were a bit cramped we all managed to have a great day of fishing. Happy to not be hiking or staring at an ice flow we fished in and around Beck’s and the Tower Island in-flow all day. The walleyes really picked up and I think most guys boated about 20- 25 of them while casting for pike. The Inconnu where also still hitting. We only managed ten trophy pike, but the walleyes and inconnu really made it a good day.

Day 7- The Finale
Started the morning by running down towards Thubin and retrieving our marooned fishing vessels. It was a site for sore eyes to have all our gear and boats back. A south wind had pushed the ice flow back out a good ten to fifteen miles into the lake. Fished around Beck’s with limited success- not sure if was the brown water or because we had fished it hard all week- but with the open water Thubin was calling our name. Got there and it was on. Me and John hit four trophies in the first 20 minutes we were there. The other boats joined us and everybody was slamming big fish. Again, Doctor Spoons were on fire. Unfortunately, the wind shifted a little bit and everyone started worrying about the ice again. In the hour or so everybody was in Thubin we boated about ten trophies and another twenty 38-40’s. If we could have stayed I think we could have easily put another three to four trophies in each boat before lunch. Back around Beck’s and Tower Island things were a bit slow until John and I headed into the Beck’s channel mouth. It was like we stumbled into a bee’s nest. For the next hour and a half we slammed one adult pike after another. We probably caught close to twenty five fish in that time span with the smallest being 38 inches. With seven trophies in the boat and running forty minutes late for dinner we decided to wrap it up.

The Pike totals for the week for each guy looked like this-
John Rozek- 42, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48, 41, 42.5, 41, 42.5, 41.5, 41, 42.5, 41,44, 45, 41, 43, 41.5, 43, 44, 47¾, 42, 42, 41, 44, 41, 42.5 ,41
Brett Hendricks-41, 41, 42, 43, 42.5, 41, 42, 41.5, 44, 45, 42, 41, 42, 45, 42, 43
Fred Hodge- 46 ½, 41, 41, 41.5, 43.5, 43, 41, 41, 42, 44
Bill Smith- 44, 42, 42, 43, 41, 41
Mike Smith- 43, 44, 41, 42, 42, 44, 43, 42, 42, 42.5, 44, 42, 41.5 43.5
Steve Smith- 42, 42, 44, 42, 41.5, 42

Summary- A great trip with some adventure thrown in and the best pike fishing any us had ever experienced
Hottest Lures- Doctor Spoons, Johnson Silver Minnows, fat bass type crankbaits, large Bulldawgs, and “Gilbert” (Drifter Tackle Super Stalker)
Hottest Spots- Beck’s Camp, Thubin, and Tower Island inflow/outflow

*** Note to all! please remember that you can add a comment to this post. So feel free to add something; stories about specific pictures, memories, tales, etc. Also feel free to send me anything I should add about your trip. Send to: jamie@customfish.com ****

Brett,
That's a fantastic report! Kudos!
Jamie

The 2009 fishing season has begun!

2009-06-09T08:57:00.002-07:00

Welcome back, friends!
It's been a very long winter for all of us and we're all chomping at the bit to get back to Taltson Bay!!
As I write this the first group is in camp. I hear they are having a pretty good week! The ice came off the river 2 weeks earlier than normal, but there is still ice against the shore at Fort Resolution. I hope that group #1 sends us some pictures and stories that we can put up here for the rest of the alumni to read.
Send fishing tales and photos to jamie@customfish.com.

We have a list of the groups so far courtesy of John Mich.

They are as follows:

June 6th through June 13th
Brett Hendricks
John Rozek
Steve Smith
Michael Smith
Bill Smith
Fred Hodge

Rick Sweeney
Steve Ciambrone

June 13th through June 20th
Mike Carroll
Carl Ahlemeyer

July 24th through August1
Pat Murphy ( Yes.. THE Pat Murphy, of the Flying Murphys High Wire Trampoline Team)
Jim Hickey
Andy Strouse
Jim Petrossi
Bill Petrossi
Dom Petrossi

August 8th through August 15th
David Adams
Jim Adams
Mark Mohney
Tom Boyle
Lee Boyle
Clarence Jass

August 23rd through August 30th

John Mich
Robert Brenton
Steve Schmitt
Art Rothblatt
Jamie Riani
Bill Kallenburg
Marc Erickson
Steve Feiner

September 5th through September 12th

Dale Shinavar
Steve Billmyer
Dale Horton
Irv Ewald
Frank McCurdy

May 30 – June 6 Open
June 6 – June 13 8 booked
June 13 – June 20 2 booked
June 20 – June 27 Group from Italy
June 27 – July 4th Open
July 4 – July 11 Open
July 11 – July 18 Open
July 18 – July 25 Open
July 25 – Aug 1 6 booked
Aug 1 – Aug 8 Open
Aug 8 – Aug 15 6 booked
Aug 15 –Aug 22 Open
Aug 22 – Aug 29 8 booked
Aug 29 – Sept 5 Open
Sept 5 – Sept 12 6 booked

IMPORTANT NOTE TO GUESTS! PLEASE READ!

2009-02-12T08:45:00.002-07:00

The postal code on the front page is incorrect.
Please make checks payable to:
Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge / Res Delta Tours
Don Balsillie
12810 95th Street
Grand Prairie, Alberta Canada
T8X1N0

*** PLEASE NOTE THE CORRECT POSTAL CODE IS T8X1N4 ***

Also..we are in the process of putting together a calendar of which guests are going and WHEN.
We HIGHLY RECOMMEND that the number of guests be limited to ensure the best quality angling experience possible. Please check back this week for the calendar update.
PLEASE call John Mich directly for availability of booking dates. (630) 710-1777

Taltson Bay....The Movie!

2009-01-13T14:21:00.002-07:00

Here's the movie link:
http://taltsonbaypike.com/taltsonbaymovie.html

The feature presentation is 10 minutes long. Please leave the window open for a few minutes to let it upload on your browser.

Feel free to leave a comment below.

Thank you,
Jamie "The Oliver Stone of Taltson Bay" Riani

Porn Page!!!

2008-10-09T09:33:00.001-07:00

You got a few minutes?
Hit this link. Let all the pictures upload.
Get some kleenex.
PIKE PORN CLICK HERE!

Enjoy!

The report from Group #2 ( early june)

2008-10-08T11:08:00.003-07:00

Attached are pictures of our fish from this year. I have more pictures that I will attach in subsequent emails so I don't overload your server. We caught so many big fish this year (over 41 inches) that we didn't bother taking pictures of most of them. After a while, if a fish wasn't 45 inches or bigger, it went right back into the lake.

A group of four of us went up the first full week in June, including one rookie making his first ever fishing trip to Canada. We met John Mich and his group as we arrived at camp and they told us they had huge success in the back of Taltson Bay. Naturally, after storing our gear, that's where we headed first. While we caught a mess of average fish, we didn't catch many monsters. So in the afternoon, we came out to the rocky shore and fished around the islands where we did considerably better. After dinner, we tried trolling in the channel, again with limited success. By the end of the first day, we had boated a combined 15 big fish, hardly what I expected, but we were just warming up.

Sunday morning, we again spent time in Taltson Bay and Snuff Channel, and caught a few more big fish. By afternoon, the wind had shifted and the entrances to the Bay became muddy. So we head out to Thubin. Best decision we could have made. We hammered em. Hour after hour. In that four hour stretch we boated 27 big fish, including Chico's 50 inch monster, the biggest fish my group has boated in 6 years at Don's. We trolled a bit more in the evening and caught a few big fish, but the guys were pretty tired so we called it a day around midnight.

The next morning, we packed a lunch and headed back for a full day at Thubin, and the big fish were still there, in droves. It didn't matter whether you threw a doctor spoon, an in-line spinner or the wackiest thing it your box. They hammered everything. We couldn't move from one location to the next without screaming at everyone NOT to cast, for fear they would catch another fish and we'd have to stay a while longer. Not that that was a bad thing, we just wanted to try other parts of the Thubin river mouth. By the time we headed back for dinner, we had boated an incredible 36 big fish...all in and around the mouth of Thubin.

Tuesday we had planned to go up the river to show the rookie the falls, which turned out to be a pretty good idea. Not because we caught a lot of big fish, we didn't, but because everyone was fairly well spent from battling gators the last day and a half. The trip was enjoyable as we saw dozens of eagles and assorted other wildlife, but the water in the river was so low we could not get past the falls. We caught 13 big fish during the trip up and back, mostly where Snuff came in, but by and large, it was a resting day.

Wednesday we headed back to Thubin, but the winds had shifted turning the water a lovely shade of chocolate brown. We hi-tailed it out of there after about a half hour and headed over to Beck's where we had had only limited success the days before. That all changed. The wind was coming from the SW and they were stacked up like cordwood The entire bay to the south of Beck's was loaded with big fish. They seemed to particularly like the PapaDoc bigger doctor spoons that could be slow rolled closer to the bottom. We went back to Beck after dinner and slayed em again until we returned to camp utterly exhausted at about 11:30. All-in, 31 big fish on Wednesday.

Thursday was a travel day, so we got up late and fished around camp until about 2:00 pm. We caught eight more big fish, but it was mostly a chance to have a beer, smoke a cigar and regale stories of the incredible fishing week we just had.

In roughly five full days of fishing, including the "resting day" up and back from the falls, we boated 110 pike over 41 inches. The largest was Chico's 50, followed by two 48's, three 47's and more 45's and 46's than we could count. This was my first June trip up to Don's. Our previous trips had all been in August. I have top tell you, I don't know which one I prefer. The fish are obviously in different places at different times of the year, but they're there. And Chico's 50 inch monster shattered the myth that all the big fish are caught in August. The debate is on as to when we come back next summer, but one thing is certain, we'll be back. Without a doubt, Don't has the best big pike fishing in North America.

Rudy (Four Poles) Radasevich
Chico (Set the Steel) Albert
Bill (Gator) Thompson
Paul (Structure) Himes

** Editor's note: Hi all. Jamie here. As the guy who runs this site I take certain liberties. As you guys know I like to have fun. So...I thought you Alumni Members might enjoy this.
We get alot of photos. Over 1,000 this year so far. And of those 1,000 there are 2 that are the most "honest".
Here they are:

They gotta start here....

to get to be 50"!

August & September reports

2008-09-05T08:49:00.008-07:00

August/September reports

Okay, here's the mid August report for the Murphy Group at Taltson Bay.

The trip started on a bit of a sour note, as our new favorite airline, Air Canada, managed to lose two of our rod cases. So, three of the four in our group got on the float plane with no rods at all. Many thanks go to the gents in our companion group who lent us their spare rods, and literally saved our vacation. Thanks again guys.

And the story can now be told, Pat Murphy had a trophy fish yank one of those borrowed rods out of his hands, and into the water it went!!! Talk about Angry Angler! Just as I was strategerizing on going for a swim... Thank the fishing gods for cork handles! The evil-doer went to the weeds, the rod floated up, we chased it down, grabbed it and landed the fish!! Just another ho-hum day at Taltson Bay.

Well, the lack of back-up rods hurt us some, to be sure. The fact that we have never been to Taltson hurt us a some to start, and the weather bit us, just a little, for a couple days. That's all for the excuses. When we got hot, we stayed hot for a good while. I gotta tell you, it was a blast! Once we figured out the weeds, and the key tips that John Mich and Don provided, we caught fire and nailed 'em! This place can be truly amazing. At times, it seems that there are fish everywhere! Another thing, when Taltson Pike are fired-up I have two words for you. Guided Missiles! We had some SAVAGE strikes, right at the boat. Several BIG jumpers. Very, very exciting stuff.

Anyway, here are the "documented" stats for the Murphy group of four. That's right, documented. We kept an accurate scoreboard in both boats. 451 northern pike, 3 wayward walleye (damn good lookin' walleye too), and one extremely aggressive clam. Jim Hickey has now angled a clam in each of his two trips to Canada. We hope he can keep that streak alive next year!! Back to the stats. 48 pike of less than 25 inches. Taltson Bay wigglers. 57 pike at 25-30 inches. Nice fish in Wisconsin. 123 pike at 30-35 inches. Not bad, some pretty hefty 33's too. An astounding 172 pike at 35-40 inches. And 51 beauties at 41 inches plus. No complaints here, mate!

Part of the fun for our group has become keeping an accurate account of our catch and then crunching the numbers. We crunch 'em hard! Jim Petrossi had the best single day with 44 fish. Jim's brother Dom had a day during ugly weather in which he only caught 7 fish. BUT, the last four he caught were trophies! The two Jims tied for big fish with 45's. The day Jim P. caught 44 fish, I only caught 24. BUT, 6 of mine were trophies! At the end of the day though, when I look at the totals for this trip, I'm convinced we will go back to Taltson Bay. Check this out. Just a shade under 12% of our catches were trophy Northern Pike. 38% were Pike between 35 and 40 inches. So, are you tellin' me that almost 50% of all the Northern we caught were 35 inches or better??!! That's incredible. We will be back, and with all our gear next time! We'll make a run at the record!

( editor's note: Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge has no direct affiliation with Air Canada.)

Here's the Schmitt group report for late August:

The Steve Schmitt group has just returned from the great waters of Taltson Bay. The week was a mixed bag of warm calm weather in the mid 70's then turning to cold windy wet conditions in the mid 30's. The pike fishing for this group was all over the board as one might imagine.

The weeds that have been a staple for any fall junket continued to pump out fish, with a 48.5" being the largest from the weeds and for the group (picture to follow we hope). The trolling was a little off for the group, but still a large percentage of fish 41" and above (trophies) were taken using this method.

The group of six still had in excess of 100 pike 41" and above for this hodge-podge weather trip. The Alien Eel by Savage Gear again was a champ for many of the fisherman.

( Editor's note: Does anyone else notice the heart shape on the bottom fin of that last fish. Looks like Steve caught himself the Love Fish. That's sweet Steve.)

Here's the report from the August 30, 2008 group:
Our week started off like yours ended – cold, wind, rain Saturday and Sunday. The weather Monday was a little better with no rain but wind. Few trophies Saturday and Sunday but the place turned on by Monday. Lots of trophies. Sunny, calm and warm on Tuesday, so the bite decreased a little. Wednesday thru Friday was very good with temps in the 50’s and enough wind to give us a chop. On Friday a short trip half way up river produced only a couple of trophies. The night channel bite was outstanding on two nights but for the most part but was ending by 930pm. We pounded the weedbeds and did very little off the rock points because the water out there was muddy most of the week. The Horton boat got a surprising number daytime trophies in the channel.
The Horton boat

Total trophy count – my boat 49 trophies. Horton boat 60 trophies.

The number of fish 36-40 was greater than any other year I have been there.. We couldn’t keep them off the hook. Our guestimate for the 2 boats would be 300+ fish

36-40 inches. This is a good sign for 3-5 years from now. The biggest fish was 46.5 inches. A little disappointing and the 1st time in my 7 years a 48 was not caught among the group.

Here's the final group of 2008's numbers:

boat 1 bob/frank
roughly 550 fish, 109 over 40"
2- 48"
2-46"
2-44"
boat 2 mark/dan
450 fish
70 over 40"
1-45"
3-44"

you can bet that about half to a third of our fish were right about 40"

Group #1 & Group #2 are back

2008-06-10T10:08:00.011-07:00

I really hope you are viewing this on a high speed connection because as usual I have a ton of pictures.

I don't have everything in yet as far as photos and videos. Plus I have something special in store for everyone in the form of a feature length video but that's going to take some serious time. We're figuring probably about 30 man-hours to complete it. So you now have something to look forward to.

This report will be revised a couple times as additional info comes in, so please bookmark it and check back often. You'll see new pictures, videos, specs and numbers.

Ok...so on with the Group 1 show!
The players were Jamie Riani & Bill Kallenberg, Dick Kessler Jr & Dick Kessler Sr., and Bob Brenton & John Mich

Great Slave still had a fair amount of ice on it even after we left. Upon our arrival the main ice pack was within 1 mile of us. Due to a steady southeast wind the ice was out of sight in a couple days.

The back bay water temps were generally in the high 40's with the occasional 51 showing up here and there. The main lake water was substantially colder which made ANY area that had warmer incoming bay water an instant goldmine. Some areas had pike,walleyes and inconnu (shee fish) so condensed that you could fish in a 200 yard area all week and do just fine.

Technically we were a couple days early. The first day or two were still the best fishing on the continent, but as the week went on the fishing got better and better. The tell tale sign that we were indeed a little early was the easy with which we found, targeted and caught a couple dozen inconnu. By week's end they had all but disappeared from the shallows.

The spring hot spots (which John can further explain if you want more detail...just leave a comment and he'll read it) were Snuff Channel, Becks' Camp, The Back Bay, Tower Island Inflow, Beck's Channel, Horseshoe Bay and the mouth of the Thubin River.
The Inconnu hot spots were Beck's Camp and Tower Island Inflow.

The walleye hot spots were Beck's Camp and Snuff Channel ( Snuff Channel is about 20 yards wide and 6 feet deep of tea colored water. If you took a sideways slice of Snuff you'd see a layer of dirt/rock, a solid layer of walleyes, a thin layer of pike, and a layer of water over that. I'll put it to you this way: We caught 120 walleyes in 2 hours. Most of the guys swear by a Beetle Spin there. Jamie swears by a Salmo Roach diving crankbait. It was not uncommon to reel in a 24" average size walleye on every cast or two. BUT...regarding baits for walleyes in June, we caught them on bucktails and larger pike plastics just as easily sometimes. So basically you can try anything. They aren't too picky. )

The pike hotspots were...well...anywhere we fished that had water. But seriously, all of the spots mentioned so far. The Back Bay is probably the best option if conditions are right. But Beck's and Thubin and Snuff each had their days were no other water in North America was going to compare.

The lures used: I'm going to change this and update it later with specifics. But for now let's just start with these: Savage Gear 4-Play, Savage gear Alien Eels ( FAR BETTER than a Bulldawg FYI), Dunwright Lifelike Pike 8", Savage Gear Rattle Shad, Bucktails, Bucktails and more Bucktails (save the silver blades please. Whites, yellows, reds, pinks and oranges worked better 10:1) and Doctor Spoons. Again..I'm going to update this so check back.

Koi sushi,anyone? (Savage Gear 4-Pal in Koi pattern)

This 43"er "found" Nemo.

Custom Modified Nemo Slider by Customfish.

As per usual I'm going to start with some scenery and other "interesting" shots.

And now some from the players themselves. The first slideshow is from John and Bob's boat.

Next up is a double slideshow. The first is of Jamie and second of Bill.
Why 2??? Because when you go fishing with Jamie (who co-owns www.customfish.com) you're gonna get internet-famous. There were over 200 pictures and videos taken in that boat with the promise to Bill " I'll make ya famous!". So instead of killing your computer with one massive slideshow I'm gonna split it up into 2.
Here's Jamie:

And here's the star of the trip, Bill!

Numbers! It's all about the numbers baby!
We have the totals for boat #1 and boat #2.
Boat #1 (Kallenberg & Riani) had a total of 594 fish.
Jamie with 302 and Bill with 292.
34 trophies (Pike 41"+). 17 for Bill and 17 for Jamie.
Our largest Inconnu was caught by Bill: 41" / 18lbs.
Most walleyes were in the 22-28" range.
The trophy pike numbers for Boat #1 were: 41,43.5,42,41,41,42.5,46,43.5,41,41,41,45,41,
41,46,43,45,45,43,41,41,41,41,41,41,41,42.5,
43,45,42.5,42.5,45.
Yeah I know. It's just sick. And that's just two guys' numbers.

Boat #2 (Mich & Brenton)Had even better numbers. They caught 143 walleyes, 648 pike and 4 inconnu. They had 33 pike over 41" (trophies).

Here's some of my personal trophy numbers that I kept track of on the water courtesy of a golf scorer and a Sharpie Marker.

( Those numbers were only as of thursday. We still had a way to go.)

Here's some of the baits that really kicked ass. Take a close look at them and notice the teeth marks. These baits were responsible for hundreds of big pike.
The Customfish Malawi Bucktails.
Before:

After ( That's the 3RD tail on it!)

Before:

After:

Savage Gear 4-Play: Let me stress that we had every intention of bringing back these baits in pieces. We expected the paint to be taken off by the hundreds of pike that were caught on them. But as you can see, even after thousands and thousands of teeth biting into them they are in suprisingly great shape. We give the hardware and paint a 4 star rating and recommend this bait as a mainstay for this trip. The only thing we might recommend is that the hooks be changed out to a size larger due to the sheer number of fish on this particular excursion.

One of my all time favorites, The Salmo Roach: This one bait has been one of my top muskie producing baits. It took a Trip to Taltson Bay to put this bait into retirement.

The Storm Kick'n Minnow: This bait held up suprisingly well and withstood dozens of fights from pike, walleye and inconnu.

The Savage Gear Alien Eel: Keep in mind that this ONE bait caught over 20 big pike before it was broken in half! The average Bulldawg lasts 1-2 fish. This bait really took a beating and a hell of alot of punishment. You'll see it hanging from the mouths of big pike in some of the previous photos...and it's all the same bait. I brought ONE on this trip and it paid off BIG!

Group #2's trip seemed to be pretty spectacular!
I havent heard the numbers but I did manage to get a hold of one of Group #2's fish.
A 50" MONSTER!
When I get more from the group I'll put it all up. Keep checking for updates please.
(If anyone wants to send info/pics, please send to jamie@customfish.com)

HOLY %#@&!

June 1st trip update

2008-05-08T05:06:00.005-07:00

For those going on the may 31st-June7th trip here are the sunrise/sunset times for the first week:
Jun 1, 2008 3:57 AM 11:16 PM 19h 18m 36s + 4m 07s
Jun 2, 2008 3:56 AM 11:18 PM 19h 22m 35s + 3m 59s
Jun 3, 2008 3:54 AM 11:20 PM 19h 26m 25s + 3m 50s
Jun 4, 2008 3:52 AM 11:22 PM 19h 30m 06s + 3m 40s
Jun 5, 2008 3:50 AM 11:24 PM 19h 33m 36s + 3m 30s
Jun 6, 2008 3:49 AM 11:26 PM 19h 36m 56s + 3m 20s
Jun 7, 2008 3:47 AM 11:28 PM 19h 40m 06s + 3m 09s
Jun 8, 2008 3:46 AM 11:29 PM 19h 43m 03s + 3m 03s

the weather temps for the area have been steadily rising and are expected to be in the 40's-mid 50's all week. High accumulations of snowfall are melting in Alberta. The fishing in back bay areas should be prime, weather permitting.

Please remember to check on the main site for packing instructions. CLICK HERE

Lure recommendations for early june are:
Bucktails,bucktails and more bucktails,
Sluggo type lures
Doctor spoons & Johnson silver minnow spoons.
shallow diving cranks (8"long or less)
your favorite topwater lures
Salmo Slider
Mepp's #4 & #5 Aglia

We're also recommending lures from Savage Gear for pike and walleye fishing. We've been testing out their line of products and have found them to be excellent so far.
Click the banner to see the lures available.

Contact Stuart Green at the Montgomery,IL facility for ordering instructions:
Stuart.Green@svendsen-sport.com

Please remember to bring a quality digital camera, rechargeable batteries and at least a 1meg memory card. We will be posting photos here on the site regularly.
Use the highest settings on your camera so that if you need the services of Customfish for your trophy, it'll look great!
Click THIS banner!

If you have any trip questions please feel free to send John Mich an email at trophypike@gmail.com.

<*)))))))))><
One final note:
The trips that the Taltson alumni embark on quickly reach legendary status. I think all of us have seen the look of astonishment from the other people that we tell our tales to. I have a solution for that problem.
On our last trip we had 5 people. We fished for 6 days. We landed 1,043.
It's that 1,043 number that is hard for people to grasp. So I say show them all 1,043!
Feel free to share this visual aid with your audience members.

Have a great trip everyone! See you up there!

signed,
Jamie Riani
Webmaster & Taltson Pro Staff Member

To return to the homepage just click here

The 2008 season is about to begin!

2008-04-29T06:20:00.002-07:00

The first group is scheduled to be there in the first week of June.
You're going to want to check in and see what happens. We're going to be adding alot of new video, reports, pics and stories about monster pike and walleyes.
The last-week-of-August-2007 group landed 1,043 in a week between 5 people. This time we are shooting for the 1,500 mark for 4 people. So stay tuned....this is about to get scary.

Taltson. Version 2.0. The SHOP is OPEN!

2008-01-13T19:04:00.001-07:00

CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO HOME PAGE

So...how do you like the new site? Feel free to drop me a line at jamie@customfish.com and let me know what ya think! It was a ton of work and a couple straight weeks of time along with several hundred photos to get it just right. We hope we've done the world's greatest trophy pike fishing destination justice.

It was nice to see everyone at the All Canada Show and the Chicago Musky Show. John, Steve and I would like to thank everyone who stopped by the booths to chat and book the next great excursion. Please send me an email (jamie@customfish.com) if you would like to get email updates and news on a regular basis!

Just a reminder to all of our fellow taltson alumni; Send me your pictures from trips and I'll be happy to put some up right here in the fishing report section. In other words...I'll make ya famous! And I wont pull one of satan's tricks and keep your soul.

Plus don't forget there is a new apparel shop set up for you guys! Be sure to take a look in there. Ya might see something you like.
CLICK HERE TO SHOP!
Here's some samples of what is available. There's much more in the shop so please click the link to see all of it.

Plus...you can post a comment at the end of each post you read. And don't forget to send me your pictures as well.
Here's some pictures sent in from Richard Schmitz, Taltson veteran pikie hunter! Nice ones Richard!

Signed,
Jamie Riani (jamie@customfish.com)
Webmaster & fellow Alumni at Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge

For booking please contact John Mich:630.710.1777

CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO HOME PAGE

"Top of the world, Ma!" August 22-September1, 2007

2007-09-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO HOME PAGE

**Warning**
The report you are about to read is multiple chapters and tons of pictures. If you are concerned with band-width or loading times please leave the window open, grab some coffee or make a sandwich and come back to the fully loaded page. You wont want to miss anything that we're putting up. Thank you.

<'))))))><

Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge report for August 22-September1, 2007

John,Steve,Jimmy,Art&Jamie

Hi everyone! Jamie here from www.customfish.com! I'm the webmaster for Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge. The next couple of reports are going to be done by yours truly; a rookie at Taltson Bay on Great Slave. Although I'm a veteran angler with several merits to my credit, I wasn't sure if I would be up to the task of going after the largest northern pike in North American Waters. What you'll be reading and seeing are pages taken out of my fishing report. So sit back and enjoy.....because I aint the "normal" fisherman".

Intro
You've all been waiting. I hear ya. But you gotta understand that there's alot to write. There's a ton of pictures....probably 300. There's 15 different videos. I mean, we caught over 1,040 pike! 123 of those were between 41-50" long! I did surgery on John! Art got impaled!! Steve almost killed the lady at the airport! Jimmy made up words that haven't even been invented yet! I soiled myself when that bear was 20' while I was taking a leak!!! Good GOD people, It was mayhem!!!!!

Enjoy.

OK..ok...I can hear you pitching a fit over there. "NO FISH?? All we get is scenery and a couple of dorks on a plane??!! WHAT A SCAM!!!"

Relax, people. I'll give ya one more to set the mood. Trust me...it'll be worth it. What you're about to see borders on insanity.
So...smile....and say "cheeeese".

<'))))))><

Chapter 1
-Tools of the trade-

As I started packing for the trip to Great Slave I asked alot of questions regarding what I should bring, especially where lures were concerned.
It became apparent to me quickly that I really had no clue what I was in for. Even being a seasoned 20 year muskie angler I was way over my skis. I had 3 boxes of lures which John Mich, Art Rothblatt, Steve Schmitt, Mike Warnick and Rob Kolar went thru and tore apart. What I was left with was basically 2 trays out of 10 that would make the cut. At first I had my reservations about their deselection of a couple grand worth of my lures, but I now have to admit they were right. These guys have logged in more time up there than some of the guides, especially John who is a 16 trip veteran to Taltson Bay.
So...being the outdoor reporter that I am I feel it is my duty to share some of our best-of-the-best lures that are proven on Great Slave. I'm sure the group will feel it their duty to shoot me for giving away the secrets. But after all, as webmaster for the site it's my obligation to keep you informed so that you too may have a trip of a lifetime.
Sit back. Grab some coffee. And do a little window shopping. These are the weapons of choice.

Mind you, the lures shown are the "fall" lures of choice. For a spring trip just downsize. INstead of a Mepp's Musky Killer, go with a #4 or #5. Instead of a 12" jointed creek chub, go with an 8" model, and so on. You can also get away with using heavy bass rods instead of muskie rods in the spring.
Other recommended items to have in your tackle bag would be bolt cutters, a towel, a medical kit that includes hockey tape and Krazy Glue (more on that later), a headlamp for night fishing, jaw spreaders (tie them to the boat please), bug spray, and a good digital camera so that you can send pictures to jamie@customfish.com and also get yourself a Life Size Trophy Print! (How's THAT for a plug?!)

There's one more lure that isn't pictured. It's the nuclear missile in the arsenal. It's the King of Sting. The Master Of Disaster.
Our favorite colors are pink/purple, black/orange, and chartruese/white/silver.
Want to know what it is? You have to watch this video.

The Dick Pearson's Grinder is unbeatable out there during the day, as Mr. Mich just showed you.

<')))))><

Chapter 2
-Humiliation is a dish best served cold-

I arrived back home on the morning of sunday, September 2nd and as I sat in my favorite chair with my son we flipped thru a few channels on the TV. We came across a fishing show or two and my 2 year old said to me "Dada..that's a BIG fish!" when he saw one of the famous TV anglers catch a pike of about 36" somewhere in Wisconsin. I didn't even think about my answer. I said it in such a matter-of-fact way after spending a week on Great Slave.
"No it's not. Those guys have no idea what a big pike is."
Cocky, right? Yes. Cocky indeed. There's a transformation that happens when you fish Great Slave. You earn the right to be cocky. You come back home knowing that you've been to the best waters in North America and you've fought some of the biggest pike on the planet...and a few times you've even won. After spending a week being beat up by hundreds of pike that are bigger than anything else in the water, you earn the right to tell anyone holding a 36" pike " You don't know what a big pike is." And you earn the right to smile and walk away from any other lodge owner that boasts about his entire camp getting 5 trophies that week.....Taltson fishermen get that in a day, per person.
Let me put it to you this way; I've been pike fishing in Wisconsin for 30 years. I think I cracked the 40" mark exactly ONCE. At Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge we did it 231 times in a few days. Heck, my SECOND cast from the dock granted me my 2nd largest pike of my life. We hadn't even unpacked yet! I hadn't even stepped into a boat yet! Jimmy grabbed it, unhooked it and let it go back in the water. He smiled at me and said "That's just a baby. You'll catch a ton of those this week." It was at that point that I knew the stories I had been hearing for years were indeed possible.
The stories that I'd been told ranged anywhere from 312 trophy pike 41"-50" in a single week, to a trophy caught on a sock and another on an apple core, to fighting 2 20lb pike at the same time in the same boat. These are stories that I thought HAD to be embellished a little. They couldn't be all true! A pike on a sock?? An apple? 2 huge pike at once?? I was even told that when I see a 36" pike following I'll be ripping my lure out of the water because there'll be a 42" in back of it! It all sounded impossible! And as I sit here on my computer with a 5 foot tall lifesize Trophy Print of me and my 45" pike next to my desk I think to myself " God d--m...it's all true. It really IS that insane. It really IS the best of the best."

What we hear from people once in a while is this " is it a drive-to lodge?"
Answer: No. You'll be flying to Yellowknife and then to camp.
BUT...here's the good part! Our crew takes an annual trip to Pipestone Lake, Ontario which is 1 hour north of International Fall, MN. We drive. IT TAKES US LESS TIME TO GET TO TALTSON BAY BIG PIKE LODGE. The flights are great and it's way more comfortable watching a movie on a plane than watching the entire states of Wisconsin and Minnesota go by. It is a bit more expensive to fly than drive, but as with most things in life 'You get what you pay for'. You can catch snakes in Ontario or serpents in the Northwest Territories.

There was one downside to my trip. As webmaster for Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge I was "working" while fishing. It's my duty to let the cat out of the bag about this little secret. I have been assigned the task of letting the rest of the world know that there is a place where the elite can be challenged and the average fisherman can be a part of an angling experience that is unmatched. I had to take a few hundred pictures, a couple dozen videos, and alot of notes so that you'll be as well informed as possible. That all being said, if I wasn't "working" I would have caught a thousand! But as it turned out I did just fine with that pot of gold at the end of the pike fishing rainbow.

<')))))><

Chapter3
-Pike Fiction-

So...here we go. On with the show!
I'll start out with a few of my favorite shots. Hopefully they'll help to tell the story that is Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge in better visual detail.
We'll start out with a couple shots of your arrival:

How big is too big of a bait? We don't know the answer to that. Look at what this pike just ate. Got anything that big?

Shots of doubles are always entertaining. We had a few instances during the week. Here's a couple prime examples. I'll even toss in a video.

Seeing as how Customfish.com is a company founded on the principle of catch & release. Here's john with one of over a thousand that will fight another day.

Speaking of catch and release and how well it works; take a look at these two shots. Same 42" trophy. Caught 2 days apart. John got her on tuesday and I got her on thursday. How's THAT for some aggresive pike?!

We have a couple of fish that we caught that I think are just cool shots because the fish ate alot.
I want to know just how much can a pike eat and STILL want to hit a 12" bait.

<'))))))><

Chapter 4
-The Usual Suspects-

"And poof. Just like that, he's gone." -Kaiser Sose-
We missed a few fish during the trip. Actually we missed more than a few. On trolling runs we had fish hit so hard that they'd knock the bait out of the park and not get hooked. We pulled in more than one Musky Innovations Bulldawg that was literally bent in half with no fish on the end to show for it. Other fish got off mid fight, probably due to barbless hooks being manditory in the Territories. Others would follow a bait to the boat like ghosts and try to hit it as it was being pulled out of the water for another cast (those usually got caught on a short follow up cast). But even with the missed fish we still cracked a thousand.

The following photos are slideshows of the individual team members with some of their finest catches. There's more of a couple of us than others, but that's because John and I were making sure we had enough for the site, articles, etc. Ok..ok..so John and I got carried away like paparazzi following Pam Anderson. But hey...it was my first trip there.
We'll start out with Steve Schmitt.

Steve is a multi-trip veteran at Taltson Bay and he really knows the lake. He has caught literally thousands of pike on Great Slave and has taken dozens of trips elsewhere around North America in search of big fish. He takes great pride in being able to tell people honestly that there is not another camp in North America that equals Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge for numbers and size of pike. You can contact him as well as John Mich on the homepage www.taltsonbaypike.com if you'd like to ask him specifics.
Stever! Take it away!

Up next we have Jimmy Z.

We don't list a last name for Jimmy because when you steal as many hearts as Jimmy does, you border on criminal. He also stole the Big Fish Of The Week with a mammoth 50" monster! You'd think a retired Chicago cop wouldn't steal so much. But he's earned the right, being another mutli-trip veteran angler on Great Slave. His weapon of choice is the in-line spinner and he wields it like a semi-auto with a hair trigger. There's not many people that are beating Jimmy when it comes to trophy pike on a Mepp's.
So let's have a candle light dinner with Jimmy The Heartbreaker.
Jimmy...It's all you baby. Take it away!

This next character is an enigma.

Art Rothblatt is a mild mannered accountant by day and a cigar totin' pike slayin' madman by night who'd fit in perfectly in a Tarantino film....If Tarantino made a movie about fishing. He's the silent giant of trophy pike fishing, following Teddy Roosevelt's advise to "Speak softly and carry a big stick". If it came down to Art Vs. Babe Winkleman...I'm taking Art. But if you throw in Ernest Hemmingway into the mix I might go Hemmingway....but only if Art got impaled with another 5/0 hook thru the hand. ( a little inside humor there. But yes, Art did take one thru the hand and had to bow out a day.)
Art also has dozens of trips across Canada and the U.S. under his belt. He has called Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge his primary trip for several years now due to the promise of monster pike that Great Slave always delivers.
Oh...and his wallet is the one that says " Bad Mother ...... " (Again...inside humor for all you Tarantino fans.)

Arte', swing that big stick Roosevelt!

Then there's me. Jamie Riani.

I'm a veteran angler who spends alot of time on the water around home, in Wisconsin and on Pipestone in Ontario. I'm first and foremost a smallmouth bass fisherman, which actually helped alot on this trip. Ya see, these pike don't really act like your traditional pike. They are much more like smallies with a touch of walleye and a hint of muskie. They love rocks. They make a fast moving river channel a primary home and nice comfortable weeds a secondary dwelling. They often times school up. They suspend 2 feet off the bottom in strong current. And they basically used every kind of spot/structure that I fish for smallies in. So in that respect I got lucky. I was able to pick of a 44" monster from a spot that in my mind screamed "SMALLIE EDDY IN FAST CURRENT!"
I have several smallies to my credit over 20" and one at 23". I'm also a halfway decent walleye angler with a 28"er to my credit. I fished muskies for a couple decades and got pretty good at that. And as far as largemouth bass go...fugetaboutit! I've got more big largemouth than I can count. And my pike skills before this trip? I thought I had that in check.
I was wrong.
Real wrong.
I'll be the first to admit that the first day of this trip will put you in your place as far as pike fishing goes. You DON'T win all the time. There ARE some fish that you just won't bring in. You'll get your heart broken 10 times a day. You'll see fish up to 50" follow that hooked 38"er and then lazily swim off in disgust. And I, ladies and gentlemen, wasn't quite ready to get my butt handed to me like that by a fish. I was humbled in the first couple of hours. Plus...there's the whole hand landing thing. John Mich has it down to a science. I, being of the muskie-mind, am used to a net and a longer process. Here you've got about 1 minute to secure a 41"+ pike, get him unhooked safely, measure, take a picture, and release it. Needless to say John hand landed 90% of my fish for the first two days until I re-learned how to safely and effectively land a monster pike without hurting myself and/or the fish.
I was humiliated. Humbled. Put in my place by a fish. And I wouldn't change it for all the tea in China.
So...here goes. My own photo gallery of battles that I won. ladies and gentlemen, I give you...well...me!
I call this show.....

And that brings us to John Mich.

No one has spent more time at Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge other than the owner and staff. John doesn't use a guide...he IS a guide. He's cocky....because he can be. He's logged in more hours, guided more trips, outfitted more groups and caught more pike than even he can count at this point. He's a 16 time trip veteran. And he's one hell of a guy to have in the boat. His main concern on this trip was my success as a rookie, and that's something that you just don't find too often. I myself do the same on smallie trips that I outfit and I can tell you that it takes patience and alot of giving of one's self. There isn't anyone more knowledgeable about the waters of Taltson Bay. Up there he is "The Man" to beat. It was a pleasure to be in the boat with him...and even more of a pleasure to Krazy Glue his finger back together after taking a 5/0 hook courtesy of one pi**ed off trophy pike. Ah..Now you see why you need Krazy Glue and hockey tape. ( *Hint.. go back to the customfish site and you might just see that video. )

OK..so let's get on to the John Mich Show. First I'll give you one video just to show you how smooth this guy is. Keep in mind he's got a pike on that's bigger than most people will catch in a lifetime.

We have alot of pictures for John as I felt it was needed to take a lot of shots. Again...I was working. So instead of putting up a dozen or so I'm gonna let most of them roll. After all, John is the guy who is almost single handedly responsible for bringing this place into the known universe for the benefit of us. Before he found it you would have never had known there was a camp on the Taltson River at all. If you have any questions about anything regarding plans for a trip please contact John via the homepage. www.talstsonbaypike.com ( 1-630-710-1777 to book thru John).
Ladie's and Gentlemen...It's The John Mich Show!

Chapter 5
-" Great Slave 2007. Behind the scenes. "-

If you've made it this far you now get to the fun stuff. The Stories.
Every trip has stories. Chances are that if you are looking at this site you're either a serious fisherman who has been on trips or you know us...either way you've surely got some stories as well. So I know you know what I mean.
I mentioned a bear before. Remember? Well, I'd been expecting to see a bear all week and hadn't. So on the morning of our departure to come home I woke up before anyone else at aboout 7am. The coffee wasn't on yet. Everything was dead silent. It was a nice moment for me to just go for a little walk.
If there was ever a time to see a moose or a bear down by the water's edge I figured that 7am would be a good time. So I quietly got another layer of clothes on and went for a stroll down the glacial rocks to the dock. Standing at the water I looked around, seeing no bear or moose. I listened to silence, hearing no bear or moose.
oh...wait...did I mention I had to take a leak?
Yeah. By the way I had to take a leak.
Like I said, everyone was still asleep. I didn't want to go walking all the way up to the lodge washroom and wake everyone up by opening a couple doors nor did I want to go to the old outhouses because...well...when you get there you'll know what I mean. They're fine facilities for the purpose but they're also kinda in the woods. And at 7am it's probably not the best place to have a one on one with a moose. So I just kinda did my thing near water's edge in back of the shed. Kinda....
Ya see, I decided to stop when I looked over to my left and saw a bear silently come thru the bushes to check out who was markin' territory on his trail. Oh...and did I mention he was about 20' away??! Scared the..well...pi## out of me!
I guess it was just Taltson Bay's way of letting me know that I didn't conquer anything on my visit. I was just a guest. And I stayed and left on their terms. I tell ya what, there's nothing like a bear next to yer a$$ to let ya know that you aren't all that, Jack.

---------------------

Did I mention that Art and John got hooked? No..not on drugs! By fish.
Art took one straight thru mid-hand. Nice and clean. It was out as fast as it went in. Thank God for the barbless hook rule up there! That little injury was so clean that it didn't really seem to effect him all that much. What DID take him out for a day was the monster pike that spun on his grip and probably did a litlle ligament damage to a finger. It's a typical sports injury but it'll take you out of fishing as fast as it'll take you off a pitcher's mound. Still, Art got back in the boat a day later with said finger taped up to the one next to it. He STILL caught trophy pike post injury. I think both injuries made him more aggrivated than anything. I seem to recall him walking back to the boats muttering something like " Ok...Now I'm gonna get medevil on their a$$..."
John's incident was a little more...um..graphic. He was unhooking a particularly nasty 42" monster when she decided that she had had just about enough of him. And folks, there's not a whole lot you can do except hold on for the ride when a 42 decides to go mental and invoke it's psychostrength while in your hands. Unfortunately for John that ride included a 5/0 going in one side, out the other and then being taken out..um...sideways by a really pi##ed off fish in about 1/100th of a second. All I can say is thank god it happened in a too-fast-to-think-about-it-way. Hell...in the pictures John is smiling for the camera.
It's been a week now and from what I saw of John's finger today it looks pretty darn good. What I had learned as a mixed martial arts trick came in pretty useful in the Territories.
My Krazy Glue surgical expertise can be rented out for your trip. Think of me as a doctor on call.
*Tip. Don't wear gloves unless they are 100% punture proof Kevlar or chain-male. Art and John both got hooked because the hook caught the glove. If you are going to wear a glove please test it first by putting a hook on it and attaching a 20lb weight to the hook. Drop the weight a few feet to duplicate the force of the fish going mental. If the hook didn't go thru, wear them. If it did, leave them at home.*

You have to give it up to John and Art. They got tagged by the opponent and stayed in the ring and kept fighting. I know alot of other grown men that would have been calling a float plane to go home. Just remember, if you do happen to get hooked it's not too bad. There's no barbs so backing it out is reletively painless. Bring hook cutters just in case. Some aniceptic should be in you tackle box anyway along with a first aid kit. Plus, now you know my Krazy Glue trick coupled with John's hockey tape trick. Remember to only use Krazy Glue OVER the skin..not IN the wound. The locals can alsos help you out with local remedies which work. And...oh...by the way, if you feel like you HAVE to call in a float plane for a hook injury to your hand just keep this in mind: When you do get back into Yellowknife they'll use a now-standard hospital method on your injury. That method includes 1) anticeptic 2) Krazy Glue and 3) tape. That method also applies in the states too. So basicaly..don't freak out. You're gonna be ok. And I just saved you about $5,000.

Sometimes Pain is good.

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John and I are big guys. We're what you may call "neighborhood" types from the Chicago area. John is a veteran cop and my favorite thing to do other than fishing is boning up on fight related sports. So basically it takes alot to get to us. We laughed about having to do "lodge surgery" and even put some of it on video.
BUT.....a man's got to know his limitations.
Have you seen Jaws? Do you remember the scene when they first see the shark from the boat?
Hooper says " That's a 20 footer."
To which Quint replies " 25. 3 tons of 'em." as the shark slips under the boat.
Ok...keep that scene in your head.
John and I were doing quite well during our nightly trolling passes in the river channel where it spills into the delta. We had continuously scored with trophies as did the rest of the crew in this particular area after dark. So when John had a 40+ next to the boat in the darkness it was nothing unusual. We had our routine down for each fish. Turn on the headlapms on our hats and both of us would have them spotted on the fish to make is as light and safe as possible.
Well...we had our lamps trained on John's fish. Like tunnel vision. Everything was going smoothly while John calmly worked on his fish in the water boatside.
I said everything was going smoothly, right? Ok...well that all ended when one of us moved our spotlight out a few feet and saw a HUGE pike lurking just under the surface making a direct path to John's hands in the water. It was at that moment when it looked just like the shark in Jaws as it passed under The Orca. John dropped his fish and sent himself reeling back into the boat in a hurry. I, being the kind of person I am, excalimed in an excited laughter tone "HOLY S###!! DID YOU SEE THAT THING!! IT WAS GONNA TAKE YOUR HAND LIKE A LURE!"
I've seen alot of weird things in fishing. But I have NEVER seen a mid-high 40's pike deliberately come to the boat to try to "steal" something (John's fingers) from a low 40's pike that's being unhooked. Nothing bothered this thing. Not the lights. Not the boat. Not me. Not John. Not all the noise. It didn't care...it saw something (John's hands) moving and was well on it's way to getting it's way. And I was almost out of Krazy Glue.

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Well, That about wraps it up. I hope you enjoyed the stories, the pictures, and me soiling myself due to a bear. Hopefully everything that I've put up here will make you want to experience everything that Taltson Bay on Great Slave is. It sounds a little intimidating. Possibly even a little scary. You'll get humiliated a few times by a fish. You'll lose some fights and get your heart broken. You'll see some fish that you didn't think even existed at that size. But you'll also have the time of your life and you'll leave as one of the best fishermen on the planet. You'll be able to judge any other camp and any other fisherman in North America because you will have fought the best and made it back home with a smile.
It aint Everest, but for trophy northern pike fishing.....yeah, it's Everest.

Please drop me a line at jamie@customfish.com and let me know what you think. Also feel free to fire off any questions and I'll get them answered by John and Steve.
Don't forget to bokmark this site and customfish.com. We add stories and pictures on a pretty regular basis.
Thanks everyone!

Jamie

Ok...ok..I'll give you the video of John getting Krazy Glued just because it cracks us up.

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Report for September 2-9, 2006

2006-09-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

Just returned from another great trip to Great Slave Lake.
The weather was as advertised...no cold...managable winds. The fish cooperated as well. Me and my partner from MN connected on 56 pike over 41" for the week, with a 48" being the best for the boat.
The pattern for the week was weeds when the wind wasn't blowing, rock when it was. Grinders, Rad-dogs took the lions share of the fish in the weeds, were as Bulldawgs ate up fish on the rocks and in the channel at night. And yes I said night. The late evening fishing into night consisted of trolling Bulldawgs on short lines in the river channel. The king of the night blind does well up there after dark. In fact with the full moon week, there were times when the bite wouldn't end until 11:30pm. One night Steve and his partner Rob Kolar finally decided enough was enough and came in at that time. I'm not sure how many trophys Steve's boat came in with for the week, but 45 over 41"s seems about right. The daily big fish pool was won with fish of 48", 47", 47", 46.5", 44", 46.5", 44".
Book your trip for next year! There's alot more big pike to be caught at Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge! Contact me on our homepage http://taltsonbaypike.com/

John Mich

Recent pictures from 2006

2006-07-31T13:04:00.000-07:00

Here's some recent photos from our latest trip to Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge. We'll be adding even more when we go back in September!

John Mich's report for June 2006:

Spring sprung weeks early up in the far north, 4 weeks by some estimates, and we had to battle early weeds...warming waters....a cold front and north winds that dropped the water temp 10 degrees in 2 days...and of course more "skeeters" than I've ever seen in my life.

The first two days of the trip were as I've had and dreamed of. The weather was 65 degrees and the fish were in 3 feet of water. Burning pink, chartruese and firetiger bucktails in 1oz was the key to contacting active and aggressive fish. My partner and I totaled 28 pike 41inches and over those first two days, with my 47" being the big fish of the weekend and for the week as it turned out. Then the bottom dropped out of it.....rain...north winds and more rain dropped the water temps, muddied up the water and turned our positive fish into slumbering giants.

We still did manage trophies during this two day period but they were far and few between. We passed our time fishing for walleye in a 15 foot wide channel called Snuff Creek. We caught numerous walleye to 26 inches with a 28" as the groups biggest. It seemed all they needed was a beatle spin slow rolled and they ate it up. What do I mean by numerous? Well how about 30 in an hour from 18 to 26 inches between me and my bud....with the majority being 22's and 23's!!!

The weather freshened up and the fishing improved the remaining few days, though we didn't get the numbers of biggins as before, but my partner and I did come away with 52 pike 41 inches or greater for the week. And as the week progressed the fish were beginning to move to their more summer spots. Pre-emergent cabbage in 5 to 6 feet of water held fish that most times wouldn't get there till July. Needless to say the weed growth was WAY ahead of schedule. Was it my best trip out of 11 spring trips there? No...but it was at least #6 and still better pike fishing than anywhere on the planet. My best year was 85 pike 41inches and above...so spoiled I am. Hope you enjoy the photos...and when you're ready let me know. Going again in Sept this year!

Welcome to Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge

2006-01-06T10:22:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the Taltson bay Big Pike Lodge photo and reports page.
We will be adding more info and pictures of trophies in the coming days.
Please continue to stop by and check out what's new here at Taltson Bay!

We have a comment section set up at the bottom of the pictures. If you have a comment or question please feel free to drop us a line and it will be answered shortly.
For any other questions please contact us by email at trophypike@gmail.com