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
