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
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