Wednesday

Report from Sept 5-12, 2009

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

Tuesday

August 22-29 group report!

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. **

Monday

Taltson Video ReMix!!! And new pics.


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.

Tuesday

We got more pics in!!!
















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

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!

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!

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

Thursday

IMPORTANT NOTE TO GUESTS! PLEASE READ!

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

Tuesday

Taltson Bay....The Movie!

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