August 20-26. The Great Slave Mafia Report

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

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.