Thursday

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

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!!

Friday

Newsflash! 1st round draft pick Sweeney gets signed!

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!

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
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Taltson Bay 2010
Taltson Bay 2010
Taltson Bay 2010
Taltson Bay 2010
Taltson Bay 2010
Taltson Bay 2010
Taltson 2010

Brett Hendricks