"Circle" It On Your Calendar - Twice...

Ch – Ch - Ch Changes

And yes, there were going to be several, but more on that as this story develops.

For the past several years, Kenny Gold and I have been very fortunate to have spent two weeks each July on Great Bear.

We usually stay at the main lodge during the first week, with the second being at Plummer’s self-guided option, Arctic Circle Lodge.

We have visited what we simply call “Circle” on three prior occasions, and to say that we have become thoroughly captivated by the place would be an understatement indeed.

The area around Circle, which is located on the McTavish Arm, is in my humble opinion, the most picturesque on the entire lake. The seemingly endless number of fiord like bays and inlets feature high, sheer cliffs that display all manner of mineralization, which burst into a kaleidoscope of brilliant colours when illuminated by the sun. The water is for the most part crystal clear, where it’s not uncommon to look down into the depths and see the catch of the day swimming lazily along beside your boat.

And speaking of bays and inlets, many are within close proximity to the lodge and can provide shelter when the weather is not cooperating, meaning that you can fish in relative comfort and safety, regardless of what mother nature may toss your way.

Lake Trout are seemingly everywhere, and can range in size from the perfect shore lunch fish to the gigantic trophies that Great Bear Lake is famous for. As an added attraction if you decide that a break from Trout would be in order, there is also some exceptional Pike fishing on hand. Additionally, there are Grayling in the area as well.

So, having left our fishing gear at Circle the previous year in anticipation of a return visit, we decided to stay for two weeks, with plans to fish some new water – of which there is much to choose from – and work some areas that we had previously visited somewhat differently, and maybe even a bit harder than in past years.

June 26 - And We’re Off!

Planes, Trains and Airport Shuttles

One change being tossed our way in 2024 - in addition to the small matter of the change in lodge ownership that took place this spring - was that our trip was to run from Friday to Friday, rather than Saturday to Saturday, which has been the case for as long as I can remember. Apparently this change was brought about by the air charter company Summit Air, for reasons that are not, to me at least, entirely clear.

In any event, because you have to be there early enough on Friday morning to catch the charter to the lake, and there are no regularly scheduled flights to YK that will get you there in time to do so, if you plan on going fishing, you had better get there the day before.

Therefore Kenny and I booked a flight to Edmonton on Wednesday, together with one to YK the following morning.

Fortunately everything went smoothly, although not unlike last year, the poor dude who sat between us on the Toronto/ Edmonton leg will no doubt require some form of intense therapy.

Once on the ground and having collected our luggage, we grabbed the shuttle over to our hotel, the Holiday Inn & Suites in Nisku, which is only a stone’s throw from the airport. It has decent rooms that are reasonably priced, a pretty good restaurant, really cold draught beer, and free 24 hour shuttle service to and from the airport.

But having said all of that, there was the slightly vexing matter of the rail line that runs adjacent to the hotel.

It brought to mind the scene in the iconic movie My Cousin Vinny, where an ear-piercing train horn startles Vinny and Miss Vito awake in the middle of the night. So what you may ask would have triggered this seemingly random memory? What brought it to mind was a package of ear plugs the hotel had placed in my room next to a small card that had the following printed on it:

“We can’t do anything about the trains, but these might help you sleep.”

And yes indeed there were a number of trains that made their presence known throughout the night by blowing their damn horn each time they approached the nearby level crossing.

It sort of reminded me of a hotel where I once stayed in Nakina, Ontario. This place was so close to the tracks, that when a train came barrelling through, which fortunately did not happen with great frequency, the room shook, and you would swear the train was coming right through the wall. So on a comparative basis, I suppose that my Edmonton experience was not so bad after all.

June 27

Go North, Canadian North

The second leg of our pilgrimage to YK was to be on Canadian North Airlines. We were impressed with the service the last time we flew with them, and this time around it was equally as good.

Our flight actually took off a bit EARLY, we arrived right on time, and were served a very tasty hot breakfast without having to book a seat in Business Class. Good on them, and if you have a chance to fly with Canadian North – take it.

Unlike the change in our trip schedule, one thing that thankfully hadn’t changed was that we were welcomed at the airport in YK, by none other than Yvonne, Plummer’s official greeter and guest wrangler, together with Darrell the Shuttle Guy, who immediately took charge of our luggage, and then drove us over to the Chateau Nova where we would be spending the night.

After checking in, Kenny wanted to pick up a few things, so we called a taxi and went off to do a bit of shopping.

I’ve mentioned before that YK is a very cosmopolitan city, with the taxi drivers in particular being a rather eclectic lot, that hail from everywhere on the planet. Our driver today was originally from Nigeria, and what a delightful individual he was.

While Kenny was off buying things, he told me that his first 17 years in Canada were spent in Toronto, and the last 7 in YK. He said he was thinking of finally retiring, and when I offered the opinion that he looked far too young to retire, surprised me when he said that he was in fact 65 years old. I told him that he didn’t look a day over 40, and asked him how he managed to retain such a youthful appearance.

He said there were 5 things that kept him looking youthful, energetic and young at heart.

• Have lots of kids. He has 7 and numerous grandchildren, but had always wanted to surpass his dad who has 12 children and 40 grandkids, but went on to explain that sadly it was not going to happen. And while he didn’t specifically say so, I suspect his wife likely had some input into that decision.

• Exercise regularly.

• Don’t smoke.

• Drink in moderation, and

• Make love to your wife every day. See bullet point #1 above.

While we were chatting, Kenny had gone into Shoppers Drug Mart, ostensibly for the purpose of picking up a bottle of distilled water for his C-Pap machine. Knowing Kenny as I do, and because he had been gone a rather long time, I told our driver that I’d be willing to bet he will turn up with everything but the water.

Sure enough, I spotted him walking across the parking lot carrying 2 large bags of chips, sans bottle of water. When he was about to enter the taxi, I asked him where the water was, and received a blank stare, closely followed by an impressive stream of profanity in reply. The driver and I were literally in tears we were laughing so hard, as we watched Kenny stomp back into the store.

June 28

So I Thought This Was Supposed to be a Story About a Fishing Trip???

I know, I know. Don’t get your shorts in a knot, it’s coming. I’m almost through all of the lead up and background stuff, but hey, then again some of it is pretty interesting. Don’t ya think?

Another couple of welcome changes that came our way were that the hotel dining room was now open for breakfast at 7am (I don’t recall them being open for breakfast at all last year), and that the shuttle to the Summit Air base was going to pick us up at 8:30, rather than somewhat earlier which had been the case in years past. We were therefore able to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, and even managed to catch up with Greg Seegert, otherwise known as Bird Man, who would be staying at the main lodge this week.

When asked how his birding had been going, he told us he had now reached a milestone of sorts having observed 3500 different species. This sounded very impressive until he informed us that the Grand Kahuna of birders had surpassed10,000.

Our luck continued flight wise, with wheels up at 9:30, and we had a smooth 1hour and 15 minute flight to the strip at Bear.

Upon disembarking we were greeted by both Chummy and Chuk, and then made our way down the path to where the boats would take us over to the main lodge. It’s worth noting that while the walk down the path is relatively sheltered, and is therefore usually a haven for every bug in the NWT, I did the walk in a short sleeve shirt, and didn’t receive a single bite – and yes, I did shower this morning.

Once at the lodge I was able to grab some lunch and catch up with Aunty Mo, Reid, Alex, Terry, Brad and a host of others. For me it’s always one of the highlights of each trip to reconnect with so many familiar faces, albeit usually briefly, most of whom I haven’t seen, and some cases heard from for an entire year.

While at lunch, Mike Downer was kind enough to gift both Kenny and I a Eppinger Husky Senior spoon called a Flame Thrower. This spoon, which was designed by Scotty Orr, was a rare one indeed, and had been hand painted by none other than Jennifer Eppinger herself. I immediately retired mine, with the intention of putting it on display in my tackle curio cabinet back home, while Kenny on the other hand decided to use his, and when doing so managed to loose it within minutes of putting it in the water.

Scotty is the Vincent Van Goh of spoon designers, and in addition to the Flame Thrower has to his credit the Black Betty, Malibu Barbie, and one that is festooned with bright colours, featuring what looks like a single eye that I didn’t catch the name of. John Cleveland, who works for Eppinger and would be joining us at Circle this week, quipped there may have been some hallucinogens involved when he came up with some of these designs.

There were going to be 2 flights over to Circle, so Kenny and I told Chuk that because we were staying 2 weeks, and therefore not in too big of a hurry, we would catch the second one. We then spent the next couple of hours hanging around the tackle shop, chatting with various guides and guests who had come in to gear up for the week ahead.

We got there around 2:30, and were greeted by our new hosts, Tina and Darrell (#6 on the change-o-graph if you’re counting), that would be replacing June and Dean, who were our camp commandants for the previous 3 years.

These were going to be some very big shoes to fill, and fill them they did in spectacular fashion. Not only was the service and the food excellent throughout the week, Tina outdid herself in the kitchen, whipping up of all things homemade ice cream, and also produced the best Beef Barley soup that Kenny and I had ever tasted. In addition to ensuring that the mechanical side of things were working, Darrell made sure that our gas tanks were full every morning, freshly charged sonar batteries were available, and was always at the dock waiting to lend us a hand off loading our gear and such at the end of each day.

While everyone else went out on the water, Kenny and I decided to take our time unpacking and gearing up, and in doing so figured we could save all of our energy for tomorrow, and hit the ground running right after breakfast.

John and Jim, who would be fishing exclusively with fly rods for the entire week, gave it a go in the general vicinity of the lodge, and while they saw quite a few fish, could not entice any of them to take a fly. No worries though, that was soon going to change.

Others went to Hunter Bay and did pretty well, including several in the low 20’s. Surface temps close to the mouth of the, Sloan River which empties into Hunter, were in the low 60’s, while a bit further out it had dropped into the high 40’s, where not surprisingly, the majority of the fish were caught.

What was curious though is that one boat reported that it was too shallow to get into the Sloan River. Hmmm, we were going to have to check that out tomorrow.

June 29

Yes – We Are Finally Going Fishing

As this was John and Jim’s - hereinafter to be referred to as J&J - first trip to this part of the lake, we offered to have them join us so they could punch in some waypoints, and show them a variety of places where, with a bit of luck, they would be able to get on some fish.

Heading East, we took them to Beaver Inlet, Hunter Bay, the Sloan River (no problem getting in btw),Lunch Island and Norrie Bay.

Our first stop was Beaver Inlet which has produced some very good Pike fishing over the years. And although everyone caught a few, they inexplicably were not very active, even though we were in all likelihood the first boat in there this year. But just as we were leaving, one particular Esox was kind enough to put on a show for us right at the narrow entrance/exit to the inlet, by chasing countless numbers of Sisco’s right out of the water. There were so many of them bubbling on the surface, the water looked like a cauldron of boiling, liquefied silver.

Next up was the weed bed at the junction of the Sloan and Harrison Rivers, and while we had hammered them there each and every year, much to our shock and surprise, only managed to catch a couple rather average size Pike between the 4 of us. The level of activity in that area was restricted to some damn bird, that I think may be called a Yellow Legs, who never stopped screeching at us the entire time we were there.

Rookie Mistake

While in Norrie, I got a solid bump that I would have bet was a snag, so didn’t bother setting the hook. In retrospect I wish I had, because when the bump came I didn’t realize until it was too late that we were in 35 ft. of water, so there was no way my spoon was down that far.

The rule of thumb on Great Bear is that you should treat every bump, hit, or snag like encounter as if it’s a fish until you can definitively prove otherwise. Because as experience has shown, I’ve had “snags” that suddenly started moving in the opposite direction the boat had been travelling on more than one occasion.

J&J, seemed to have gotten their bearings, so Kenny and I left them around Norrie Bay and head up through the Western Channel to try our luck at what we call B&G Narrows. We picked up a few small fish when we first got there, but unfortunately, it slowed down pretty quickly.

We decided to fish out way back towards the lodge, and stopped at the base of the massive cliff, located just west of the entrance to Beaver Inlet. J&J, who were in the vicinity, came over to join us, and shortly after arriving, John caught a beautiful 20 pounder on his streamer fly. And brother did it put up one hell of a fight!

Kenny and I had agreed to call it quits for the day, but J&J kept at it, and even went back into Beaver Inlet, which unfortunately remained slow. I wonder what the hell is going on with these Pike?

The other guys in our group did some travelling today. One boat hit Hunter Bay and then Appleby Point, and Rob and Bob headed due south, where they fished Echo and Cameron Bays near the ruins of what had once been Branson’s Lodge.

They caught loads of very nice fish, with many of them in teens, and led all anglers with a magnificent 45 pounder. My bad because for some reason I didn’t write down who caught it! But that being said I’m sure it was a joint effort.

 The Appleby boat had a flurry of activity for about an hour, when it suddenly shut right down. Now mind you that hour was very productive, with their biggest being a 25 pounder. There was also one other boat that gave Hornby Bay a good going over, and they landed approx. 25 fish, with the biggest being 18 pounds.

Overall, everyone had a very good day.

Weather/Surface Temp’s

It was sunny and warm, with light winds.

Surface temperatures where we fished on the main lake generally ran between 52 and 56 degrees, while the temperature in the river was in the mid 60’s. Beaver Inlet got as high as 69 degrees in the weedy cut near the back of the bay.

June 30

Esox Reluctantus

Having covered much of the Eastern portion of our domain, the time had come to show J&J some of our go to spots south of the lodge.

I had told John about a place where we had caught some “Silver” Pike in the general area we would be fishing today, and both he and Jim were all over it, so not surprisingly, that was our first port of call.

Not unlike Beaver Inlet it was slow. We caught 5 Pike, 3 of them being Silvers, the biggest of which Kenny decided to pull a 2023 and drop – as opposed to release – it into the water before I could take a picture. J&J caught a handful, but none of them were Silvers.

Leaving the bay to J&J in the oft chance more Pike, including some Silvers might move in, we headed across to the inlet to another small bay, where last year they had been stacked up like cord wood. Well, I suppose someone must have burned all of the wood, because other than 2 small ones Kenny caught just outside of the bay, there was nada to be had in the bay itself.

Undaunted by our lack of success, we told J&J that we were through fooling around, and were now going to take them to the “New” Whitefish River, where they were going to need a crane to lift the Pike out of the water if they wanted a measurement and/or picture.

This particular locale was only about a 10/15 minute run from SPB - and here we go again with the “You should have been here last year.” shit – and had produced not only decent numbers, particularly given the small area that is fishable, but also yielded several in the mid to high 40” range, and one that stretched the tape to 50 inches.

To make a long story short, between our 2 boats we caught 4, which if you had stapled them together, may have topped 50 inches.

I would really like to know what the hell is going on with these Pike, not only because the bite was way off, but Kenny and I were starting to look like a couple of real idiots rather than competent guides. I wouldn’t be surprised if by now J&J were starting to think they had hitched their wagon to the wrong horse, or in this case horses.

Seeing that the Pike had decided not to cooperate, it was time to try and coral some Lake Trout. We fished the area just outside of what is known as Hog Narrows, where collectively we caught one trout that MAY have fed the 4 of us if we had decided to prepare a shore lunch.

We then started working our way south along the Eastern shoreline, and while Kenny and I managed to catch 3 Trout, unfortunately J&J pitched a no hitter.

With our reputations now hanging by a thread, we reluctantly came to the conclusion that the time had come to take them over to Secret Spot #378 or Waypoint #43. This was a place which we had previously sworn an oath to the effect that it would be reserved exclusively for our use, but hey, desperate is as desperate does.

 This rather capacious area, which is located on the east side of – not a chance – has a great deal of shoreline to work, most of it fairly rocky with steep drop offs, together with a large sand flat at the southern end. And while conditions appeared to be perfect, we came to the conclusion that the 42/43 degree surface temps that permeated most of the fishable water would put a damper on things.

And for once, we were right: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=941638523622520

Fortunately the temperature was much warmer up on the sand, and Kenny and I finally caught a few, including my 15 pounder. J&J did manage to catch some as well, and John had a massive hit that damn near pulled the rod out of his hands, but in keeping with the way things had been going, it spit the hook.

Having given this area a good going over, it was time to head south to yet another of our can’t miss spots - the Rock Face. Now what, you may rightfully ask, makes this particular rock face special, or so different from the other 10,000 rock faces in that area? Nothing really, other than we had caught fish there – wait for it – last year, so I had punched it into my GPS.

And while we could see all manner of Trout swimming around, it turned out to be another dud, with Kenny and I catching a single trifling one, and J&J throwing yet another no hitter.

Some guides we were…

Next up on the fishing - not to be confused with catching – tour was the shoreline just west of, and within sight of the lodge. If there had been a brain between us, we should have just gone directly in, mixed a drink, put our feet up, and licked our wounds, rather than waste the better part of an hour washing lures.

We Definitely Made a Wrong Turn at Albuquerque

Instead of turning left towards Hog Narrows, Silver Pike Bay and such, like the rest of the flotilla, we should have kept heading south to Cameron and Echo Bays – because did they have a day!

One boat tallied 88 Trout, including 2 in the low 20’s, with 17 double headers thrown in for good measure, while the second boat caught 60, the biggest being 21 pounds. They told us that it was unusual to catch one under 10 pounds.

I wonder who J&J may decide to follow tomorrow?

On a positive note, J&J did get to see more of the lake, and now could navigate back to those areas, if they were ever desperate enough to do so.

Weather/Surface Temp’s

It was another beautiful day with a mix of sun and cloud, together with light winds.

Surface temps, outside of the Pike areas were generally in the 52 to 58 degree range, with the exception of the low 40’s water we encountered at Waypoint #43.

July 1

Water, Water Everywhere, Nor Were There Fish to be Found…

Not many anyway.

You will have to excuse my bastardization of one of the more famous lines from classic the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, but I needed to come up with something a bit different to introduce todays goings on.

Kenny has a definite fascination, or more precisely obsession – an unhealthy one some might say - with Lunch Island. And while we have caught some very nice fish there, so far it has been decidedly underwhelming, but when asked where he would like to fish today, guess where we headed first thing this morning.

Upon arrival, and even though the surface temp was pushing 60, we did catch 6 decent size fish in short order, but not unlike what others had experienced elsewhere, it unaccountably shut down as quickly as it started.

So now where?

Talking it over, well to be fair, I talked, and Kenny listened, or at least appeared to be listening, we headed up through the Western Channel towards Dog Head Point, with the intention of trying some new water. About 2 miles short of Dog Head we spotted a decent size bay with a large island dab smack in the middle of it, and figuring we had nothing to lose, in we went.

What a picturesque area it was. Loads of great looking structure, including some transition areas featuring gravel intermixed with sand, and I’m sure that but for the 42 degree water, we would have caught more than a single, very small red fin. I actually gave some thought to lending it my toque before releasing it.

While the fishing was understandably slow, spending time there was one of those incredible Great Bear Lake moments that is rarely, if ever duplicated elsewhere. Its moments like this, which over time, has become one of the primary reasons Kenny and I keep coming back year after year.

The bright sun on the calm, crystal clear water revealed the turquois, teal and what I would describe as royal blue colouration of the various reefs and shoals that outlined the shallows, while the mineralization and lichens that enveloped much of the islands rock formations, displayed blazes of red, green and orange.

It was serene, stunningly beautiful, and for the time we were there, belonged to no one but us.

As the wind had started to freshen, rather than go further west in search of warmer water, which would be a crap shoot at best, we headed back down the channel, and stated fishing about 100 yards west or B&G Narrows. We caught several Trout, and managed to lose a couple as well. Truth is, given the rather slim pickings so far, it really hurt to lose a fish.

Next up was Norrie Bay, and with the wind blowing in and decent water temps, it looked like a slam dunk. But not unlike basketball great Dikembe Mutombo, who would say “NO-NO-NO” while wagging his finger at his opponent after blocking they’re shot, Norrie Bay gave us a great big “NO – NO – NO”, because we only caught one fish together with 2 misses.

I wonder just what finger Norrie was wagging at us?

Because Lunch Island was not too far away, you know who insisted we stop there. The highlight was not the single hit we managed to scare up, but rather it gave us the opportunity to connect with J&J, who had stopped there to prepare shore lunch.

Hunter Bay was not much better, and still smarting from being virtually shut out the other day at the junction of the Harrison and Sloan, elected to give it another go. One hit and zero Pike later Kenny’s frustration finally boiled over, and he suggested that next year we go back to doing 1 week at Circle, and the second at the main lodge, where we could at least do all manner of fly outs to places where there might actually be some fish,

Not going to happen.

By the way, old Yellow Legs began squawking away when we got there, and it dawned on me that this was not some form of defensive posturing because it had a nest in the area – the bloody thing was laughing at us!

On a more positive note we did see 2 Bald Eagles, loads of water birds, including Old Squaw’s, Scoters, and both Common Loons, and one with a very distinctive grey coloured head. I thought it may have been a Red Throated Loon, which I have seen on other parts of the lake, but couldn’t make out if it had the distinctive red patch on the front of its neck. Maybe it was either a Black Throated or Pacific Loon, but can’t really say for sure.

Now where was Birdman when we needed him?

A couple of boats went south again today, and while they didn’t go as far as either Cameron or Echo Bays, they fished all manner of random points and bays around Workman Island and points further south. It turned out to be a very good move on their part, and they were rewarded with a total of 116 Trout between the 4 of them. Nothing over 20 pounds, but steady action throughout the day. Good on them.

 Undaunted, J&J made they’re 3rd visit to Beaver Inlet after lunch, and succeeded in cracking the code so to speak, and enjoyed a phenomenal afternoon of Pike fishing.

 They caught approx. 40, with the biggest being 36”. Not only that, 3 of them were Silvers! The vast majority were caught on the surface, using a foam frog pattern that John had tied.

 Congrats to both of them, and we were especially glad they caught some Silvers.

So I suppose it’s now fair to say that perhaps Kenny and I are not such crappy guides after all. Turns out they just had to be patient, persistent and go back to the places we showed them without us.

Gearing Up

J&J were kind enough to share what kind of fly fishing gear they had been using. So if you plan on doing some fly fishing for Lake Trout on the big lake, you may want to consider taking along the following:

• 10 wt. rod.
• Large capacity reel loaded with plenty of backing and a full sink line.
• 4 to 5 ft. of 20 to 25 pound mono or fluorocarbon leader.
• 8 to 10 inch streamers, the flashier the better. John had also tied up some articulated streamers, that arguably would provide a more exaggerated motion in the water than the one piece variety.
• 6 inch Clouser Minnows, in either black or chartreuse.

 Weather/Surface Temp’s

The day started off nice enough, with some sun and light winds, but by mid-morning the wind started blowing out of the North/West. It got relatively choppy, the clouds rolled in, and the air temperature dropped several degrees.

 Surface temps at Lunch Island were between 58 and 60 degrees – not ideal trout water. In Norrie Bay they ran between 52 and 53 degrees, and in Hunter Bay between 60 and 65 near the mouth of the Sloan, and out about 200 yards or so it dropped to 55/56. At the junction of the Sloan and Harrison it was 67.5.

July 2

Fish’n By the Rocks in the Bay

Arctic Bay that is.

We had always referred to it as the long, deep bay that practically slices Hogarth Island in half, but was told by Chris Ireland, who you will meet next week, that when he was guiding at Circle a number of years ago, they had referred to it by that name.

Just calling it Arctic Bay certainly simplifies things.

While Kenny, John, Jim and I spent most of our time in Arctic Bay, the remaining gents in our assemblage headed south and went to a place they called “Cabin” Bay, and another that featured a waterfall at the back end. They did well catching over 50, the biggest being a 20 pounder.

Starting to troll into the bay along the shoreline from the first discernable point on the west side, we finally got into some numbers. At the end of the day our tally was 42 Trout, most caught on the copper, hammered finish Husky Devel, with a green stipe, which if I am correct is called the “Green Crush.” We tried the one with the orange stripe as well – aka the “Orange Crush”- but only managed to catch a couple on it.

As most of our fish were in the 8 to 12 pound range, Kenny got the bright idea that we should switch over to Flatfish, in hopes of catching something bigger, and while I was reluctant to give up my spoon, seeing that it had finally started to produce, agreed to go along with it.

After dragging them through the area where the spoons had been delivering for the better part of a half hour, Kenny did catch one fish, and at 15 pounds was the biggest of the day for us so far. I told him that I didn’t give a rats ass if using a Flatfish might turn up something bigger, I was actually catching on my spoon, and switched back.

 Seems like the way to catch something bigger was to pull a J&J and switch over to flies, because John bested a 20, and Jim hauled in a 30. He managed to hook it when John was untangling his line, and while they were drifting over 100 ft. of water. Some fish just want to be caught I suppose.

 By around 1pm things had slowed down, so I invited J&J to join us on a trek further west through the channel to a place I had named “Random Rock Point.”

Man was the water cold, and while we were not expecting much of anything to happen there fish wise, having made the run, we reckoned why not give it a shot?

Never say never I suppose because I did catch two, and missed a couple of others. One about 12 pounds that fought like an absolute demon, and a second that was slightly smaller. What made this extra weird was they were caught in water that was 100 ft. and 156 ft. respectively.

J&J were itching to get back to Silver Pike Bay, and when I told them it would only be about a 20/30 minute run from Arctic Bay – off they went. And while enigmatically there were no Silvers to be found, they continued their hot run on the Pike front, catching 20.

Kenny and I finished up back where we started, and I caught several more on the Green Crush, while he could not buy a hit on the orange one. Before calling it a day we tried Flatfish again, and I did manage to catch one about 10 pounds.

Weather/Surface Temp’s

 Most of the day was cold, overcast and fairly windy, although the wind did abate somewhat in the afternoon, and we even saw the sun poke its head through the clouds on several occasions.

Surface temps in Arctic Bay ranged from 46 to 50 degrees, and at Random Rock, a very chilly 40 to 42.2. Burrrrrr…

July 3

Seems Like a Good Day to Have That Fireside Chat

Last evening at dinner, the consensus among the weather apps that everyone but me had on their phones (my phone being just one level up from a couple of soup cans connected by a string), was that tomorrow was going to be a very crappy day, so it was something of a pleasant surprise when we were greeted by mostly sunny skies, relatively light winds, and while not what I would call t-shirt weather, the ambient temperature was not too bad at all.

But that was all about to change around 10am.

J&J had now reached the point where they had no trouble finding their way around without our help, so we came to the conclusion that the time had come to try and find Kenny’s Creek, which not unlike Secret Spot #378, or Waypoint #43 if you prefer, was a locale we had sworn not to share with anyone. We had stumbled upon it last year while trying, without success, to find a place Chris had mentioned, and where Kenny, together with several other nice ones, had bested a Pike that went north of 50 inches.

The only problem was that because Chris had marked the place on the Navionics app Kenny had downloaded on his phone, and because the creek was only a very short distance away from that spot, I didn’t bother punching it into my GPS.

But, and there is always a “but,” a certain someone did not keep the app after the free trial had expired, so we, actually me, only had a very vague idea where it might be. Let me just say that we didn’t do any Pike fishing today, but did manage to catch several Trout in the general area where I had hoped to find the creek.

As mentioned, the weather began to change around 10, and with the wind starting to pick up and the sky darkening, decided to move back closer to the lodge. We tried the Rock Face with no success, and then moved over to Arctic Bay, in hopes of at least partially repeating yesterday’s performance.

 What a difference a day makes. The surface temp had dropped 7 degrees, and the fish had clearly bugged out, because we only managed to come up with a single, solitary hit. Not only that, and while thankfully the wind had dropped, to add to our amusement, it started to relentlessly pour rain.

Having fished with Kenny for many, many years, there are certain things neither of us has to verbalize, and in this instance, we simply looked knowingly at one another, reeled in, and headed for home.

 In our minds anyway we had made the right call, because not only did Darrell have a fire going, Tina was kind enough to warm up some potato/leek soup for us. For reasons that are not readily apparent, Kenny likes to play with fire. Therefore it didn’t take him long to assume the role of Circle’s pyromaniac in residence, and in doing so busied himself most of the afternoon trying to keep the Black Spruce logs Darrell had collected ablaze.

These can be a real challenge at the best of times, because they are extremely dense given the growing conditions at Bear, and likely expand not much more than a 1/64 of an inch in diameter per year - if that, resulting in trees that are as solid as concrete. Adding that to the fact they were a bit damp, meant that Mr. Gold definitely had his work cut out for him. And to his credit he did a pretty good job , once he was made to understand in no uncertain terms, that the furniture was for sitting on – not burning.

Even though the rain and wind never really let up for more than a few minutes at a time throughout much of the day, all of the remaining boats were still out there as of 2pm.

J&J had indicated they were going to head towards the Sloan, and made it all the way up to the falls, where they picked up several Pike. Jim caught one measuring 39”, that when attempting to net it, his rod shattered into 3 pieces, and while trying to deal with that mess, the fish flipped out of the net. No worries though, because John came up big time and managed to net it for a second time. The man obviously has quick reflexes.

 The dire weather predictions notwithstanding, a couple of guys made the long run to Hornby Bay. They apparently didn’t catch all that many Trout, but did walk up the creek proximate to where the fly out boats are cached, where they got into some Grayling. Apparently they had to fight through some very big waves on their way back to the lodge.

Another boat opted to fish in close proximity to the lodge, and even though the surface temps were only in the mid 40’s, it mattered not, because they caught 54 trout, including 2 over 20 pounds.

Now why didn’t we think of that?

All boats accounted for by 5:15pm.

Weather/Surface Temp’s

See above.

July 4

Just What the Doctor Ordered

After discussing our plans for the day over at breakfast, I decided that rather than argue the point, acceded to Kenny’s wish to try Lunch Island yet again.

J&J headed off to Silver Pike Bay and the New Whitefish River, but sadly put up zeros in both places. Another boat that was also in the area fished outside of SPB later that afternoon, and caught all kinds of them. Perhaps the curse of the reluctant Pike had reared its ugly head yet again. Fortunately J&J did better on the Trout front catching 10, all of them between 10 to 12 pounds.

Our resident father and son team, who unfortunately had come down with some type of stomach ailment, were not to be denied it being their last day and all, and went out and fished locally. It was a tactically sound move, as they did very well from a numbers perspective, with their biggest coming in at 17 pounds.

This morning someone was kind enough to give Kenny something called a Doctor Spoon, which he had been using with great success throughout the week. This rather unique spoon, that was painted in what I would call a traditional yellow/red five of diamonds pattern, is what the company who makes them calls a double action spoon. What this means in practical terms is that if you to attach the hook to the large end, it produces a wide, sweeping action and runs at mid-depth, but if you tie it to the narrow end, it runs deeper, with a tight, wobbling action.

Kind of cool when you think about it.

Lunch Island was finally back to its old tricks, because we caught 15 in a couple of hours of fishing. There were certainly lots of fish around, and we watched them rolling on the surface picking off bugs during all the time we were there. Kenny did catch some on the Doctor, but no more than I did on the Orange Crush Husky.

Coincidentally, when the fishing slowed down, it started to pour yet again, and because we had another week to go, gave each other that “look,” and headed back to the lodge.

All but one boat was accounted for by 5pm, but they were not too far behind, pulling up to the dock at 5:15. They had had a good day fishing a bay that featured a fast running creek flowing into the back end, catching loads of Trout, including a 18 and 19 pounder, a 36” Pike, and even a few Grayling.

Weather/Surface Temp’s

For the most part the weather was not ideal. Cool, brisk winds, and uncharacteristically for this part of the world, tons of rain.

 The surface temps had improved significantly around Lunch Island, dropping to an average of 52 degrees from a high or 60 earlier in the week, which likely explains the uptick in action we experienced. The North winds we had to contend with over the past few days, obviously blew in some cooler water from the main lake down through the Western Channel.

Odds and Sods

• Both Kenny and I would like to thank the “usual” week #1 crew for being so welcoming. They were a great bunch of guys, and we certainly learned a great deal from them regarding the best places to fish, particularly in the areas south of the lodge. Unfortunately, for us anyway, they are moving to week #3 next year, meaning we likely won’t have the pleasure of fishing with them again in 2025.

• It was definitely a delight to fish with John and Jim, and be able to share with them what this incredible place has to offer. Kudos to them for clearly demonstrating that you don’t need big, stiff rods and heavy metal to catch fish on Great Bear, and that a 10wt rod, full sink line and some big, gawdy streamers are more than up to the task. And speaking of heavy metal, thanks very much for the hardware John, and we sincerely hope that you and Jim will be able to join us again next year.

• While Kenny and I managed to dodge them for the most part – lucky for him that we have a “real” guide coming in next week - everyone else came up with outstanding numbers, many good size fish, and plenty of double headers. And whereas the 45 topped them all, there were loads over 20 caught as well.

• When they finally got around to biting, the Pike fishing was pretty damn good in most of the usual places, but oddly not in either the New Whitefish River or at the junction of the Sloan and Harrison Rivers. But who really knows why, because on any given day those places could simply turn on. The trick is obviously being there when that blessed event occurs.

• Tina and Darrell, thanks for taking such good care of us. You both did a fabulous job, and hopefully we can do it all over again next year. Especially if beef barley soup will be on the menu again– LOL.

• The guys who got as far as Echo and Cameron Bays, reported that there was a fair amount of activity going on at the old Port Radium mine site. Machinery and even a helicopter were spotted, so clearly there must be something in the ground in that general area that is worth prospecting for.

• One Final Note: On those days – and there were several this week - when you don’t have much choice but to put on at least 12 layers of gear if you plan on staying warm and dry, always take one last look around before you head out in order to ensure that you had put everything on. Now why in the world would I even bring this us up you might ask? Because one particular individual thought he had everything on, but just as he was leaving his room, happened to notice that he had forgotten to put his pants on over his long johns. The “who” shall remain classified, not unlike Waypoint #43.