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.
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
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
<*))))))))>< ~~~~~~
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
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
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
http://taltsonbaypike.com/taltsonbaymovie.html
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Thank you,
Jamie "The Oliver Stone of Taltson Bay" Riani
Thursday
Porn Page!!!
You got a few minutes?
Hit this link. Let all the pictures upload.
Get some kleenex.
PIKE PORN CLICK HERE!
Enjoy!
Hit this link. Let all the pictures upload.
Get some kleenex.
PIKE PORN CLICK HERE!
Enjoy!
Wednesday
The report from Group #2 ( early june)
Attached are pictures of our fish from this year. I have more pictures that I will attach in subsequent emails so I don't overload your server. We caught so many big fish this year (over 41 inches) that we didn't bother taking pictures of most of them. After a while, if a fish wasn't 45 inches or bigger, it went right back into the lake.
A group of four of us went up the first full week in June, including one rookie making his first ever fishing trip to Canada. We met John Mich and his group as we arrived at camp and they told us they had huge success in the back of Taltson Bay. Naturally, after storing our gear, that's where we headed first. While we caught a mess of average fish, we didn't catch many monsters. So in the afternoon, we came out to the rocky shore and fished around the islands where we did considerably better. After dinner, we tried trolling in the channel, again with limited success. By the end of the first day, we had boated a combined 15 big fish, hardly what I expected, but we were just warming up.
Sunday morning, we again spent time in Taltson Bay and Snuff Channel, and caught a few more big fish. By afternoon, the wind had shifted and the entrances to the Bay became muddy. So we head out to Thubin. Best decision we could have made. We hammered em. Hour after hour. In that four hour stretch we boated 27 big fish, including Chico's 50 inch monster, the biggest fish my group has boated in 6 years at Don's. We trolled a bit more in the evening and caught a few big fish, but the guys were pretty tired so we called it a day around midnight.
The next morning, we packed a lunch and headed back for a full day at Thubin, and the big fish were still there, in droves. It didn't matter whether you threw a doctor spoon, an in-line spinner or the wackiest thing it your box. They hammered everything. We couldn't move from one location to the next without screaming at everyone NOT to cast, for fear they would catch another fish and we'd have to stay a while longer. Not that that was a bad thing, we just wanted to try other parts of the Thubin river mouth. By the time we headed back for dinner, we had boated an incredible 36 big fish...all in and around the mouth of Thubin.
Tuesday we had planned to go up the river to show the rookie the falls, which turned out to be a pretty good idea. Not because we caught a lot of big fish, we didn't, but because everyone was fairly well spent from battling gators the last day and a half. The trip was enjoyable as we saw dozens of eagles and assorted other wildlife, but the water in the river was so low we could not get past the falls. We caught 13 big fish during the trip up and back, mostly where Snuff came in, but by and large, it was a resting day.
Wednesday we headed back to Thubin, but the winds had shifted turning the water a lovely shade of chocolate brown. We hi-tailed it out of there after about a half hour and headed over to Beck's where we had had only limited success the days before. That all changed. The wind was coming from the SW and they were stacked up like cordwood The entire bay to the south of Beck's was loaded with big fish. They seemed to particularly like the PapaDoc bigger doctor spoons that could be slow rolled closer to the bottom. We went back to Beck after dinner and slayed em again until we returned to camp utterly exhausted at about 11:30. All-in, 31 big fish on Wednesday.
Thursday was a travel day, so we got up late and fished around camp until about 2:00 pm. We caught eight more big fish, but it was mostly a chance to have a beer, smoke a cigar and regale stories of the incredible fishing week we just had.
In roughly five full days of fishing, including the "resting day" up and back from the falls, we boated 110 pike over 41 inches. The largest was Chico's 50, followed by two 48's, three 47's and more 45's and 46's than we could count. This was my first June trip up to Don's. Our previous trips had all been in August. I have top tell you, I don't know which one I prefer. The fish are obviously in different places at different times of the year, but they're there. And Chico's 50 inch monster shattered the myth that all the big fish are caught in August. The debate is on as to when we come back next summer, but one thing is certain, we'll be back. Without a doubt, Don't has the best big pike fishing in North America.
Rudy (Four Poles) Radasevich
Chico (Set the Steel) Albert
Bill (Gator) Thompson
Paul (Structure) Himes
** Editor's note: Hi all. Jamie here. As the guy who runs this site I take certain liberties. As you guys know I like to have fun. So...I thought you Alumni Members might enjoy this.
We get alot of photos. Over 1,000 this year so far. And of those 1,000 there are 2 that are the most "honest".
Here they are:
They gotta start here....
to get to be 50"!
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