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The Best Pike Fishing We've Ever Seen?? | Outdoor Journal Radio ep.126
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Dec 2, 2024
This week on Outdoor Journal Radio, the boys are under the midnight sun, LIVE from the front deck of Brabant Lodge in the Northwest Territories! Topics discussed included: how easy it now is to get to the Northwest Territories; 20-pound pike; catching MULTIPLE Inconnu; when weather no longer matters; smoked lake trout; walleye ceviche; disproving the male walleye theory; late spawners; fly fishing on The Fish'n Canada Show; fly vs. gear; Dean's first time on TV; and much more! To never miss an episode of Outdoor Journal Radio, be sure to like, subscribe, and leave a review on your favourite podcast app!
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0:02
[Music] I love this song the road again welcome to the
0:11
Outdoor Journal Radio podcast coming to you from the road again this is one of our road editions the special one give
0:18
me a hell yeah okay we'll give you a hell yeah that for sure Stevie I'm Angela V Peter Bowman Dean Taylor on the
0:25
board ladies and gentlemen give it up for Dean Taylor producer give me a hell yeah that's a big yeah yeah and boa as
0:33
usual behind the glass well what a wonderful few days
0:40
we've been uh in nwt baby Northwest Territory Canada and WT when you think
0:47
of fishing this is one place you have to think of when you think of North Country fishing this is it right here pretty
0:52
much and I everything we expected and then it's it's one of those places we
0:58
fish we're we're blessed with the opportunity to fish all over this wonderful country and there are great
1:04
fishing opportunities everywhere north of the 49th there's some in the South too but we'll won't
1:11
talk about those uh but when you get a chance to go to nwt baby you need to
1:17
jump on it and we jumped on it it's been about 15 to 20 years since we last shot
1:23
it's been a long one I don't even remember where what lodge we shot at or anything the last time I was here I can't even remember so was that oh the
1:29
last time time was the Nora the ship out of here yeah yeah that
1:35
was the last time come on now yeah holy crap wonderful ship out of Yellow Knife
1:40
Northwest Territories that was a great it's no longer in business uh we cursed it uh but uh we found a little piece of
1:49
heaven boys and girls and we're going to share that with you here on this podcast
1:54
before we do that want to remind you all about the fishing canada.com the place
1:59
you got to be your portal your gateway to your next fishing Adventure yeah be there or be
2:06
square including in WT will soon be there there be a wonderful article I'm sure on for sure there will be I'm going
2:13
to talk about it a lot uh boy we should justifiably so
2:18
friend while you're there don't forget to go into the store whether you're going in from the front door like I
2:24
always do or you sneak through the back like these heathens among me hell yeah why would we want to be seen you don't
2:30
want to be seen front or back go in the back door you can make you'll steal a little bit of stuff too lovely Swag like
2:35
that like how about that hat right there uhhuh twoone you know what I'm saying all the goodness all the goodness be one
2:42
of the boys be the first in your group of Anglers to wear the fishing Canada logo and um he'll give you something
2:48
special cuz he's like that Canada logo we might make these available one day we're getting a lot of requests for
2:53
these babies AR we no wonder it's a great zip up Hoodie got the Reds got all the colors I'm digging it behind us as
3:01
we speak by the way are the folks uh some of the folks that work here at uh
3:06
the Chey he's still out there fishing he's this is the is this guy hardcore
3:12
this guy's hardcore and one of the best maybe the best chef we've ever experienced at a
3:18
lodge un good we'll talk about him in a in a moment but uh what you're seeing
3:25
yeah what you're seeing behind us is the the mouth the delta the McKenzie river
3:31
that runs right across this great nation of ours it runs about 1,700 miles and
3:36
eventually dumps in to the Arctic Ocean come on now into the Arctic Ocean but
3:42
wow before it turns right and heads into the Arctic Ocean it veers off and heads
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South to the layered Watershed leard lay leard Ur will beat you up if you say it
3:56
wrong leard watershed which really gave us the first connection with this
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wonderful body of water and this incredible fishery behind us because it was in British Columbia the northeast
4:10
corner of the Rockies in fact that we first discovered the wonders of the
4:15
Makenzie River yeah there in Pickel in BC what the heck who fishes Walley in BC
4:22
just it wasn't it was unheard of to us living in Canada our whole lives and yet
4:27
it's true oh it's damn true we found out uh from Ur the owner of that operation
4:33
that the the fish that he had in uh one of his Lakes Max Havish I think it was
4:38
called ham Hamish and uh Aeroplane Lake that the Pike and walleye there actually
4:45
originated from right here behind us the mouth of the McKenzie river come on now and migrated years ago all the way up
4:53
the system and down to the lower part of the Rockies northeastern part of the Rockies Pike made sense here to us
4:58
because Pike with great Slave Lake we know we've always known that there's Pike and lake trout Etc in great Slave
5:04
Lake the walleye really surprised us a lot so but then Pike going over to versus and BC we're thinking what the
5:11
there's so much that is probably untouched that people don't even know about yet in these you know and the quality of the Walle they impressed us
5:18
more than anything else and now having fished them here their home range we know why the quality was spectacular
5:26
it's an unbelievable average size that's what we found out the most out of all the stuff is that you're not you don't
5:31
get the well you got a 14 incher and it was an anomaly it was the the only small fish we got all the rest of them were
5:38
all you know minimum 2 lbs 20 you know 20 you had to mention that didn't you that I got the little one was cuz
5:43
because you got a record you just had to you had to mention I got the little Walley well we we got a little
5:49
Walle don't say I got the big Walle it's the little Walle you did get the big Walle too I know but you don't mention
5:54
that well that's you're you're up when I prompt you with that one like you just did so anyway so here we are uh we flew
6:03
uh by the way a little bit of a n i don't yeah I will because I usually
6:09
don't I want to uh congratulate Air Canada wow for the first time for the
6:14
first actually uh flew their first this is their inaugural year of flying direct
6:20
from Toronto Ontario to uh Yellow Knife Northwest Territory so before that you
6:26
had to fly to Edmonton or Vancouver and then get a a flight into here well now
6:31
you can fly out of Toronto and thanks to Air Canada she was pretty full that flight was full too it was full and and
6:38
I'm thanking them not because they decided to fly here cuz I think that was dumb of them not that be here before but
6:44
they were actually on time oh wow we departed on time our luggage got into
6:49
Yellow knife like it was wonderful it was a wonderful experience was a very nice flight they have a beautiful plane
6:55
that they use for this they you know you got your little movie screen there you can watch your movies service was awesome clean modern plane yeah it was
7:03
just everything was great about it for sure absolutely so uh and then we uh overnighted in Yellow knife and who in
7:11
their right mind would not want to overnight in Yellow Knife Northwest Territories it's a done deal you got to do it you got to do it and visit the
7:18
Wildcat Cafe which we visited some 20 years ago when we were last here sir and Harley's another wonderful local
7:25
establish you want watch that one folks there there's a special breed a person
7:30
that goes to Harley's let's just say that most of the guys that come to these lodges probably well another one I we'll tell
7:37
you the story we we were first night we were here uh actually it was first afternoon we were in uh Yellow Knife we
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decided that uh we wanted to go for a walk and and maybe grab a pint somewhere
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at a local Brewery or establishment forer we're looking for for something to eat as well yeah and we were walking
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down the street and we saw this great little thing called Harley and we it looks like a like a Montana's like a
8:01
whatever exactly you know and so we walked in and uh we found out there was well first of all it was very dark very
8:08
kind of weird kind of weird one dude sitting in there and one dude and a couple of girls and another woman behind
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the bar and they knew as soon as we walked in we had that look you know that look in your eyes where you say what the
8:21
hell am I doing here because what we did see right there front and center was a big beautiful brass pole yes yes indeed
8:29
and we went huh and the lady behind the bar is yeah the firemen who live
8:35
upstairs used that pole to slide up and down what are you idiots first time here exactly you know nice nice one with the
8:43
drums we never got anything to eat there by the way so or drink but we did uh we
8:48
did tell them how wonderful The Establishment looked and uh and if it were any other time we'd probably she
8:54
was a very friendly bartender she was like yeah very nice very personable but uh anyway so from Yellow Knife then we
9:00
took a flight to Hay River we headed straight South to Hay River which is
9:06
just next to the Delta here at the McKenzie river mouth and uh we're going
9:12
back there and do some shooting there tomorrow I believe right yep correct Mundo and then from there short little flight uh wait you got to wait did I
9:19
miss something no you didn't miss anything I'm just going to add to it I'm going to embellish the hay River experience so we're waiting there we got
9:25
and we have tons of luggage when we're shooting here like this stuff here we have to bring all this stuff along with all the TV stuff along with all our gear
9:31
and everything and fish finders the whole n yard and they said well we're going to we're going to drive somebody
9:36
over for your gear and we looked over behind the airport and there's a pickup truck pulling a caravan plane across the
9:44
across the parot into into this float plane had wheels on it they pull it up
9:50
we said that our plane no way pulls it around right in front of the airport he un hitches the trailer hitch and we load
9:57
this plane up and this freaking thing yeah it's from the pavement and lands straight
10:02
behind us here so yeah wonderful experience what that I mean that's just a a little snippet of the adventures
10:09
just getting to a place like this yeah I I want to emphasize that in a lot of
10:15
cases I think most cases where you're visiting an Outback U location like this
10:21
the trip there is half the adventure oh it's cool and this is no disappointment
10:26
yeah yeah and if you're doing it with you know a a typical Lodge trip is with your buddies right usually it's a bunch of guys together get together fishing
10:32
buddies you know maybe some girls too but more mostly when we experien these LW trips just 99% guys that get together
10:38
and they're all buddies or corporate guys that get together or something like that and it's h yeah it's all about the whole trip from start to finish right
10:44
not just the fishing so anyway so we're here because uh we were commissioned to shoot a fishing Canada
10:51
episode uh which uh by the way job well done we will show you that
10:59
we uh we'll be airing that episode starting in the 2025 airing season yes sir uh sometime
11:07
uh early January not sure when that particular episode will be there but I I I got to tell you um it might
11:17
be I can't even think of when we would have shot a more spectacular northern
11:23
pike fishing Canada episode that's how good it's going to be hands down this is the best pike fishing that he or I have
11:31
ever experienced in our lives from anywhere in Canada the whole country you know what I mean from northern
11:36
Saskatchewan I mean they're all great but this place is special this is unbelievable un unique in the sense what
11:44
these fish are doing as we said this is the mouth of the McKenzie so on the other side of that mouth there is the I
11:52
think the second largest freshwater body in Canada I believe something I think it is yeah a great slav 2,000 ft over 2,000
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ft deep deepest it's the deepest uh uh freshwater body I think in the country
12:05
for sure big big body of water but it's huge and what happens is that uh these
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northern pike don't live in the McKenzie all the time they migrate in here during
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uh spawning season they come in up here to spawn and they go up to a little place called uh Beaver Lake which is
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about a it's a ways up there 45 minute boat ride every morning we get in those boats by the way how's cheffy doing back
12:30
there has he got one yet no Stevie's with him now steevie oh Stevie will get him one sure for sure by the way when we
12:36
said this is the best northern pike fish they were catch they catch 15 plus Pike a day off this dock Plus Lake troat and
12:43
anything else so just you just the the lodge Dock and they're slaying it God so
12:48
sorry so the fish they come in here to spawn and they run up this place called
12:53
uh Beaver Lake about um I don't know how many miles I think it's about 20 20 miles
13:00
look at the current hopefully they can see that current that's a strong current you know so you know what's really unique about this River too which really
13:06
blew my mind is that it's shallow this water behind us the average depth is like 8 to 10 ft so it's a shallow body
13:14
water look at the volume look at the volume ridiculous amount so these fish
13:20
go up and spawn and and the track in is easy for them they come from the lake this is all down current the way they're
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going with the current and they got to turn around after they're done go that's when sure that's when the adventure must
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happen which is kind of odd I guess and unique for for pike that that we're
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normally chasing because most of them are Lake Pike which these are too but
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normally a lake Pike will will'll find you know that marshy Back Bay with maybe
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some incoming water and start spawning in mud and and crud and all that stuff
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this is different these fish go up this River and they go up to an area that's got like solid granite rock outcroppings
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with some weeds around them and they start mucking around there in in otherwise a clay bottom uh River and
14:12
they spawn and then just as soon as they're done they start working their way back out again yeah The Season's
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very short here very short I think I think the lodge closes in end of August yeah and June to August because in
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September and October she gets nasty in Northwest area that's far north so got to be out of here like that very unique
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fishery and a unique uh We've discovered anyways a
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unique pattern of fishing for pike we mentioned we mentioned rocks and we mentioned weeds and we mentioned clay
14:43
well where all of those items are converging on the edge of the channel is
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where all of these gigantic pike come in for a matter of a few weeks and just
14:54
hang in there and I'll tell you if you can time it if you can time which we did
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today mhm finally we've been up here for 3 Days that's right um today it was you
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know everything converged it was the every all the planets the stars were aligned and these giant 20 lb Pike in ah
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four to 6 feet of water yep were just smacking smacking Hearts yeah yeah it's
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insane it's an absolutely insane well our first our first two casts when we
15:28
got started shooting was boom a pike and boom an in canoe on the first two casts of the shoot I forgot about the you
15:34
think about that it's like what is this going to and then it just went on from there and there and there and as and said they're big ones they are really
15:40
big ones and I'll tell you one thing we have been faced with a lot of weather conditions today was a nice day as you
15:46
can see a sunny but it was a straight North Wind a straight North Wind which a lot of people say ah that was some of
15:52
the best fishing we've ever had in our lives he like a North Wind do not be afraid if you're up here do not be afraid of a North Wind get out there and
15:59
they're going to smash you at sometime you're going to kill it for
16:04
[Music]
16:11
sure how did a Small Town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic Fishing lodges I'm your host
16:19
Steve NS Wiki and you'll find out about that and a whole lot more on the Outdoor
16:24
Journal radio Network's newest podcast Diaries of a lodge owner owner but this
16:30
podcast will be more than that every week on Diaries of a lodge owner I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great
16:37
people share their stories of our trials tribulations and
16:43
Inspirations learn and have plenty of laughs along the way Meanwhile we're sitting there bobbing along trying to
16:49
figure out how to catch a bass and we both decided one day we were going to be
16:54
on television doing a fishing show my hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all was bass in the
16:59
summertime but that's might be for more fishing than it was punching from you so
17:04
confidently you said hey Pat have you ever eaten a drum find Diaries of a lodge owner now on Spotify Apple
17:12
podcasts or wherever you get your
17:17
podcast we interrupt this program to bring you the much anticipated bonus code for the latest fishing Canada
17:23
giveaways this week's code is record not record right Dean record that is re e c
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o r d in all caps just type that in the bonus code section of the contest and receive 100 free entries towards all of
17:38
our current giveaways for those of you who aren't entered yet what are you waiting for head over to fishing
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canada.com while you listen to the rest of this episode click contests and sign up for all the latest fishing Canada
17:48
giveaways and now back to the episode uh dino our very own Dino Dino
17:57
come on now dino vaselino do you know do you know the fly fishing Guru uh is here with us is obviously he's behind the mic
18:05
uh he likes to think him off as a a fly angler let's call it that I
18:11
hesitate to call myself that though do you really I don't I'm not a die hard I'm not like a purist or anything I
18:16
think a purist wouldn't even like me being associated with it his buddy is a fly fishing instructor and Dean says he
18:23
hates the way Dean cast I don't think he's going to like the way I cast on on camera really yeah I love it I taught
18:29
myself for the most part like I had some buddies who kind of showed me the way when I started um but then I learned how to fly fish on bass and and B trout and
18:37
things that most purist fly guys aren't a huge fan of so really yeah wow well
18:43
anyways you you uh you impressed me I took Dean after Pete and I have been
18:48
like I said spending the last three days chasing Pike and and Walley too we're going to talk about that in a moment we
18:54
also did a walleye episode which we weren't going to but the walleye fishing here is so damn good it's so damn good
19:03
we said and fun why not why why wouldn't we so we did that as well but anyway so
19:08
later on today uh Dean and I who by the way I didn't realize Dean and I had
19:13
never shot together before no it was so cool so this was a first for me and uh and for Dean we we had this little area
19:20
that we had discovered earlier in our trip here um and I said that's the
19:26
perfect place for Dean and I to go in there and he can mck around with that damn big noodle thing he shakes around
19:32
and I'll throw some crankbaits out there and we'll uh we'll have some fun so we did we'll get into that in just a moment
19:39
uh but I want to mention something here before we lose track of reality and
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reality is this is not a trip that everybody is going to make in their
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lifetime first of all it's expensive yes sir very expensive the folks here Peter
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and Andrew Fox who own this operation and make no quals about it this is the
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way they first described it to us before we even came to this Camp they said that this is a
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resort that has worldclass fishing that was the description I agree with that
20:13
and it is truly yeah truly that and then some the food
20:19
here I I would defy anybody and and sheffy is right there behind us guy's a
20:25
beast uh I would defy anybody to for example today we had lasagna now you
20:32
say well lasagna everybody makes lasagna well let me tell you I'm a bit of a lasagna
20:37
connoisseur this could be one of the best lasagnas I have ever had that was
20:43
made by somebody whose name didn't start with NAA okay all right I got to tell you
20:51
something else folks this guy is the biggest lasagna critic and he will never
20:57
insult a chef but he sure will tell me afterwards yeah what you think of course I'm a mja that was good and what do you
21:06
think he freaks out every time when he's saying this he means this so just let this was spectacular I only mentioned
21:12
lasagna because we just had it but all week we've been having these these
21:18
festar smoked L troat the cheffy caught dropped the dog on crackers with a little lemon sauce or something like was
21:24
just unbelievable smoked in a in a homemade o yeah he smoked it in oven basically he made a homemade smoking
21:30
stort of deal I dropped my book yeah that's okay um smoked on this homemade
21:35
thing that he's he put together Dean and I were putting a clinic on they fighting each other to get them like seagull on a
21:40
freaking Beach and would we have we had something else we had pork tenderloin after that
21:46
no no but he he prepared something here on Walley ciche W which v a shot actually it might make
21:54
it to one of the episodes if I'm not M I'm hoping so if not it'll be on YouTube and I'm going to watch it million times
21:59
oh yeah cuz we have I have to learn that one too that was easy wasn't it it took like 10 minutes see I I wasn't there I
22:05
didn't see the whole operation but there was no no heat or fire involved it was just it was just lemon juice and vinegar
22:12
that's it yep yep wow yeah and it was outstanding spectacular outstanding
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spectacular I huged him I gave him a hug you did you never give anybody had that I never give any my dog hug my dog
22:25
sometimes but well yeah dogs you got this thing for yeah uh my clock is out here all the meals like honest to God
22:32
all all the meals like there has not been even the breakfasts okay if you're a breakfast person they are absolutely
22:38
outstanding we had he had little mini eggs Benny today he said and it was just
22:44
I don't like egg bendit and they were fantastic so there you go everything's been so good why are we talking so much
22:50
about that well because I think it's important when you go to a place like this and you spend the money that it
22:56
takes to get to a place like that's not just to the money that it costs for this
23:02
but we just mentioned all those flights well they cost money cost a lot of and you have to overnight in uh Yellow knife
23:09
that costs money so it's a very expensive proposition it is not going to be I'm not even going to put this on a
23:17
bucket list for people I just think it's a special place that only a very select
23:24
few people will ever get an opportunity to experience we're fortunate enough to
23:29
be here y uh it's not a big place they currently can accommodate uh 14 people
23:36
they do have uh the infrastructure in place to increase that to 24 which they going to in a couple of Seasons but
23:44
right now it's 14 people at a time and Pete mentioned the window of opportunity
23:50
here is this big it's ice out uh whenever that is up here because that
23:56
can change from year to year to August something so you're only
24:02
talking a matter of a few weeks yeah the crew flies in this opens up first so the
24:07
crew flies in two weeks before they predict the ice gone completely so they get in here they fly in to fix the camp
24:13
up up etc etc and in that time ice flows come from this way and can block them in at any given day so they can't even take
24:19
the boats out they fly in and then they get the camp prep for two weeks and then boom open for business something else is
24:25
about this camp and I know Angel laugh at me for saying this but this is a big thing is that all your booze is included
24:31
you want to drink beer T night you want to drink wine at night you thank you my friend over there all included that
24:37
doesn't happen a lot and I'll tell you for those of you that know what I'm talking about at the end of a great high-end trip like this yeah you know
24:44
booze is not included but you can have a $500 to $1,500 bill on top of everything else well you know what you don't have
24:50
that here so that's a big thing if you're consuming a lot of alcohol I can see where that would be a big plus yeah
24:56
um but not everybody does so I mean but for if you if you are this is one of those
25:02
places that you want to come to it's like the all-inclusive resort down in the Bahamas you know what I mean you
25:08
wear you wear The Wristband you get into all the bars and drink for free but um
25:13
the equipment that these folks use for example uh the boat that we've been using for last 3 days has a Garmin force
25:21
electric motor on the nose of it now what can that's a hell yeah come on give me a hell yeah thank you that deserves a
25:28
hell yeah what camp do you go to where you've got a remote controlled electric motor with a name force on it um and to
25:36
be able the spot lock in the current here that was an absolute must otherwise the guides have to drop an anchor or
25:41
they have to you know some hold it with a paddle or whatever we just locked and that's how we caught our fish basically
25:46
something else to mention you mentioned the allinclusive booze which was your highlight uh all inclusive all-inclusive
25:53
guides so that means that everybody the reason they only have 14 of veils is
25:58
because they have to have the infrastructure in place meaning the staff well each one of these boats behind us comes with a guide so you
26:06
don't go out without a guide you can't go out you can't buy it without it's all included in the price you get up in the
26:12
morning you have a wonderful breakfast your guide has got the boat already warmed up for you he's rubbed down all
26:18
the seats made sure all the do was off the seats and uh you you you meet up
26:24
with him at the dock and you decide what you want to do today and he just makes it happen uh like you would not believe
26:31
so and then you come in for supper and then they offer everybody another night
26:37
trip to go fishing up the river for gring or something else if you want to go for pike somewhere around here they another 2 or 3 hours I believe something
26:43
like that 10:00 at night 10:00 at night and that's all included in the trip and
26:48
why is that important well because you got daylight
26:55
mid it doesn't get dark here right now yeah it's almost 9:00 if you're watching this on YouTube it's 9:00 right now
27:02
right 00 well last night it was qu to midnight and I was using sunlight to to
27:07
light up my room I it's it's it's it's a little bit uh difficult to get us it's
27:13
weird but right first day or so I'll tell you what though you're so tired the full day on the water if you do the old morning trip and then you come back do
27:20
supper then do the evening trip out you get back you have a couple of wall Bly pops and you're you're hitting that
27:26
pillow pretty hard every time you hook something it's a workout oh my small [ __ ] workout let alone the
27:32
Giants so Peter and I have been throwing around a collection of mostly two baits but a collection of yzui baits one of
27:39
the reasons we came here was to play around with some yui baits the heart baits and uh put them to the test and I
27:46
got to tell you we smacked up a lot of B oh my God everything well every fish we
27:51
caught was on yui every fish we we got hundreds here I don't know how many we got this week every one of them was on
27:56
yui including the wall by the way yeah oh yeah which I want to talk just for a
28:02
moment uh we did not catch any of their uh famous and legendary 8 to 10B
28:09
walleye which would have been a treat which I'm sure we could have had we spent more time on Walley but we didn't
28:15
spend a whole lot of time to be honest with you we dedicated a half a day to it yeah and then Dean and I committed uh an
28:22
hour to it later on so in total we might have I don't know five six hours
28:28
invested in walleye fishing which is very particular it's not in the same areas where pike fishing but I got to
28:35
tell you something I can't remember when or if I have ever seen a better quality
28:42
average walleye anywhere in the world absolutely unbelievable perfect and perfect looking fish for the most part a
28:49
couple beat up you think living in this Pike infested world that they live in they'd be all scarred and beat up they were almost all perfect a couple of them
28:56
were had some marks on them but other minor they were pristine fish I don't know how they do it but it's they were
29:02
all clones the fish that we were catching were an incredible 3 to 5B sort
29:08
of average um think about that massive 23 inch plus
29:14
fish right um crazy same thing like Pete mentioned earlier on we caught one little regular wall normal we freaked
29:22
out cuz we were just talking about not catching any small ones and we finally got one so Dan says oh hey we do see one
29:28
here that was it we also saw a couple of uh really cool things now the pike have
29:34
supposedly spawn but you know I question and I don't want to argue with the
29:40
local uh establishment here we're told that the pike should be finished
29:46
spawning in according to the water temperatures that we ran into under normal conditions I would tend to agree
29:54
but we did run into some fish that were spawning we believe they were spawning one of them in particular was spewing
30:00
eggs so therefore that's a pretty good indication that that fish is either still spawning or has just decided it's
30:07
done it's not going to spawn going absorb the eggs but we had a spectacular moment uh here where we had about a 10
30:15
or 12b Pike which is considered small by the way on the line next to the boat and
30:22
we're shooting it for the show and all of a sudden this Pike came up that was
30:28
was another 3 or 4 lbs bigger and bulkier had big shoulders on at least
30:33
that much bigger Y and it started doing like what we what we proceed to be stay
30:38
right with it like yeah meeting things fish right stuck right to it and we shot
30:44
it and it was did a little nip like a spawning nip like it did that it was it was insane we had uh another incident
30:51
where we had a walleye on and a pike came and took a big swipe big walleye but a 4pb walleye that Pike took a swat
30:58
at and that and that Pike wanted to eat that Walle think about that that's a 24in Walle like that and this Pike comes
31:03
up takes a shot at it so so it's it's been one
31:09
incredible experience after another it's it's uh 100% barbless in Northwest
31:15
Territories however as in opposite of new brunwick where it's single barbless here we get to run our treble hooks on
31:21
our yeris and we just had to squeeze all the barbs on it so on the two- hook base we kept them with the two trebles on our
31:27
three hook BAS base we took the front treble off the big the big jerk base the big 130 hard course and we uh and we
31:33
just squeezed the barbs in the back two hooks and and uh we landed a ton of fish with barbs not anywhere to be seen we
31:39
still landed a ton fish do you think I'm trying to think back did we miss any
31:45
fish did we lose any fish because of the lack of barbs yeah yeah we lost fish and who knows why right so yeah exactly I
31:51
don't think it was a Barb thing most of them were lost on the hook set or the strike there was no pike are a funny fish you know what I mean they're they
31:57
they bite funny they hit funny some the big ones are nice because we're throwing that big saltwater sized twitch bait and
32:03
they just they when they get that that goes in the mouth it could be sideways it could be this way but they get pretty much all of it they just take it in
32:09
there like that and that what a big Pike does is he literally sucks in your B like a large M bass like all these big fish they just suck in all the water to
32:16
goes through the gills and and they chump on it so that's why they don't bite it they don't chew it they hover it
32:22
in and that's what these guys were doing here I had this one I have the vision in my mind right now I I was uh lifting my
32:28
bait out of the water and this great big Gator that was today that was today when
32:34
Gator come up and he just did what Pete they he just sucked everything air water
32:41
everything he didn't get my bait though cuz I had already lifted it out of the water but he came up and just sucked it
32:46
in it just oh my God it's interesting you see this because people would say why you why don't you figure them and
32:52
all that yeah we could have did that but Pike are different than muskies these Pike they come up from the deep and up
32:58
to the boat like that like they don't come in like a Musky and stay parallel he see oh my God he's following he's following you don't see and this is only
33:03
four or five ft of water you don't see him until the end and must be up below the bait and all of a sudden right at the end and they'll come up and smash it
33:10
by the boat you don't you got one in the boat that literally jumped in the boat with your bait was Unreal it was like never seen anything like that it's right
33:16
by the boat but you don't see him a foot and a half out there you don't see them but all of a sudden W and it scares the hell out of you his bait crazy yeah so
33:24
that's that's you know what that right there is worth the price ad mission for a place like this alone just those
33:29
bothside strikes of these Giants that grab it but then so many of them we throw the big Casto big long cast with
33:36
these Bas are heavy and you know boop boop all of a sudden right up the Hop and it's like oh he's get every type of
33:42
strike here and then they jum some of them jump they're not as jumpy yet they will be in another two weeks to a month
33:47
they're going to get really jumpy but the ones that we did have jump they were just spectacular stuff I
33:54
wonder what that is you know in a couple of weeks you said temperature but but if they come up here
34:01
to spawn and then turn around and leave well they don't leave the guys
34:07
remember the guys are catching them in cabbage beds in the summer right so they must they stay he says they they start
34:12
to leave in August they stay for a good stint in the summer so they get they do a whole different thing than what angine
34:18
was talking about earlier today we were fishing this brake line this flat and all this there's hardly any weeds but there's a little bit remnants by the
34:25
summertime it's full of cabbage and then they go after them and they cabbage beds it's a whole different type of game you
34:30
could probably flip for them jigs right boom they drop in big giant jigs in them it is uh like I said one of those
34:39
for an anger it truly is the ultimate oh Conquest to be able to come up to a
34:45
place like this I don't think there are many places like this by the way because um for the most part we were shocked to
34:52
find out that there was a a lodge that catered just to Pike Anglers they they
34:58
don't even promote their walleye fishery because they just they think it's a bonus Northwest territor you're thinking
35:03
Lake tro right big thing this part of the Canada part of Canada is lake trout
35:08
so another interesting thing that we didn't mention is that when I said these evening fishes one night we went out up
35:14
River here and into a little push a little incoming whatever it was water and we started pounding the grailing
35:20
Arctic gring in there too Dino did some fly fishing on that too and we were smashing them in there too just you know
35:26
for an hour hour and a half we probably got 10 or 12 grilling too so but much like the walleye I think the gring is
35:32
sort of a well you're here anyways and youve just you just you know my guess but you just pounded 200 lb worth of
35:40
northern pike that day you want to go out for a couple of hours after you had a wonderful meal maybe a beverage or two
35:46
you want to get in a boat not travel all over the place go back here for 5 minutes like that and just have and we
35:53
were we were sight fishing the gr that was the very cool part they were waking along the shore and it's you know you
35:58
can see there's one there one okay gas there and you drift your bait past them and some we cast to a thousand fish and
36:04
we caught maybe 10 but it was so neat watching them sight fishing and so it's another just another addition to a
36:09
fantastic world class trip so so now let's get on to what I wanted to talk about earlier on I said we'll talk about
36:16
it later so Dino and I went out uh later today and went into this back um what
36:23
would we call that it's not a Back Bay really it's just part of the lake run against the bank all cuz all this other
36:30
stuff was way off the bank our Deep Run right so this is right tight to the bank and we kind of set it up I set it up
36:36
with Dean as okay let's see what you can do with that damn fly you know big deal you got a big long Nong Rod big deal who
36:42
cares let's see what you can do po there's the local uh security patrol my
36:47
buddy my little buddy hey Lexi um how are you girl let's see what you can do
36:52
I'm going to throw some hard baits and we'll see who uh who does what to who and and um I'll say it started out the
37:00
way I thought it was going to go I think I caught two big wall first two cast two
37:06
giant walleye and uh and a pike yep and when I've got the pike on and we're
37:13
looking at the Pike and it was a great big Pike on small light rod and reel we
37:18
oh my God look at the size of this thing and I had said to Dean just before that cast by the way if you want to catch
37:24
some small Pike have fun with your fly cast over there into those ripples it's
37:30
loaded with little we snot Rockets have some fun over there I and the other I'm going to deal with these big creatures
37:37
here in the water and what happened you know yeah I so I threw a cast back and I was more paying attention to what angrew
37:43
was like you know he was doing an on camera with this Pike that was probably 35 in it was big it was big big and
37:50
bulky and then I just got smoked and and I I thought I probably had bottom but I wanted to play it as a set cuz I hadn't
37:58
been catching anything and I knew the camera was on and then all of a sudden it just peeled and this was maybe a foot
38:04
of water this thing was in it was there was no big bike back in there we had already fish it was just small little oh
38:10
it was amazing and it so by the time I got it in you had already you had put your fish back and I still needed
38:17
another like 3 4 minutes to get this thing tired out enough to get it how was it on that fly r that must have been
38:22
nuts so we were trying to catch the walleye we weren't really targeting Pike so I was under guned on the line because
38:30
I was hoping for walleye but I was over guned on a rod I was fishing a 10 weight
38:36
right which is way too heavy for walleye but I knew there's a chance I get a pike and I'm throwing bigger stuff exactly so
38:42
I was like right in the middle but the problem was I had a 20 lb lader on and that Pike was close to that weight oh I
38:48
was an 18 to 20 lb fish every day of the week yeah so I got lucky in the sense that I hooked the fish with with two
38:55
hooks cuz I was fishing in articulated streamer and I hooked it on the outside of the mouth what the hell is an
39:01
articulated streamer for don't you know that Angelo articulated articulated have
39:07
you ever articulated a streamer before I I can't even spell articulated it's basically like a fancy way of saying
39:13
it's a fly with a stinger on it oh articulated why can't you see a fly with
39:18
a stinger on it we use articulated spinner baits all the time y it's like how you say a a strike indicator it's
39:24
not a bobber it's a strike indicator fly fishing much cooler well he
39:31
articulated this 20 lb Pike and I got to commend he he did a wonderful job uh
39:37
most people probably would have lost this fish it was way too big for his equipment way too big uh did a great job
39:44
Dino thank you absolutely out he got his first in canoe as wellday I got an inoe on the Fly too unbelievable you
39:50
mentioned in canoe earlier on I'm sure a lot of folks went huh what the hell is
39:56
an in canoe yeah they aluminum boat they're not in canoe exactly oh uh it's also called a she fish uh believe it or
40:03
not it's a a fresh basically it's a freshwater Tarpon if you think of a
40:08
tarpon and that's what it look like right and you convert it into this smaller freshwater version that's what
40:15
you get in most of the Arctic Circle um I don't know how far south they range
40:22
but I've never heard of them south of of uh of great slave
40:28
maybe you know but that's even farther north but they live from here to the north into the Artic Circle and they're
40:35
really unique freshwater fish that most people never in fact the camp here said
40:42
that if they get one a year it's it's a big deal it's like the Holy Grail you
40:48
got one last year right so we caught two yeah on this trip correct we caught two in three days so uh I think maybe
40:55
they're start numbers yeah the numbers same as their lake trout they're actually when we first started talking
41:01
to Peter Fox the owner of this place about cuz we both Dean and I when we
41:06
first met with him said why like you don't have any lake trout on your site
41:12
like you're supposed to be the lake trout Mecca he said we have none very
41:18
seldom did we even see a lake trout here which we found very odd obviously but
41:23
since we've been here 3 days there's been at least a dozen of them caught
41:29
most of them right off of this dock behind us that's right one of them's in our bellies right now oh we smoked that
41:34
nice good um so that tells me and and speaking to Peter and Andrew um the
41:40
owners um they feel that things are starting maybe to change a bit climate whatever the reasons are but these Big
41:46
Lake Trail are starting to move into the McKenzie river which they never did because it's too shallow yeah so I don't
41:54
know what that means now on the other hand the in Cano we caught that way up it's correct in Beaver Lake so it's not
42:02
at the mouth it was way up so things are starting to obviously Chang like they are in so many parts of the world uh
42:09
probably for the better because if they can add to what they already have in the way of incredible uh trophy Pike uh if
42:17
they can start adding lake trout got trophy Pike you got big Walla
42:23
you got leg trout and then you want a fluky in Cano maybe even triy for doing some grilling boy that's a pretty good
42:29
species list you know what I mean and there's a great chance at maybe getting them all you know what I mean so now the
42:36
last member of the crew uh here on this shoot we haven't even talked about him he's sleeping right now um he's supposed
42:42
to be working he give up no not him oh he's supposed to be working behind the camera but he he says to us that he gets
42:48
some of his best naps when we are producing these um these uh podcasts W
42:55
but and he was just napping I just looked at him he was napping there but got I have the most wonderful you
43:03
weren't in the boat is when Dean and I went up the river um because we were
43:08
afraid that uh there were going to be a lot of bugs here we saw some video that was produced here last year and the
43:14
Anglers were ducking these hummingbird siiz bugs so when we came here we made
43:21
sure we were well prepared uh buddy of ours um world
43:27
famous Ian mure world famous distributes this this giant dragonfly you've probably seen them in
43:34
commercials and stuff that you uh on a wire and you just sort of uh it's got a little clamp you put it on your hat and
43:40
your shirt and this thing kind of Bobs around and it Wards off uh big flies
43:47
like uh horse flies and deer flies and and that kind of thing anyways uh Ian
43:52
sent us a box of those thank you Ian appreciate it good man good man but
43:58
because the weather's been so cold we haven't really needed them well today things have warmed up a bit absolutely
44:05
when we went into the back area that de and I were fishing the bugs were bad yeah there's no wind there out in the
44:10
main Lake there was wind right no bugs boy there was bugs in there today and so at one point uh our bug
44:18
lovera he started he he covered himself with musall first of all as always as
44:24
always then he put on a full bug hood and jacket okay thees and he
44:31
had the dragonflies pinned to that you must have been quite a you guys had to take a picture of did you take a picture he took a picture of himself he took
44:38
himself thank you I want to see that I want to see that one it was a sight to
44:44
behold we did we played around so I was in the other boat with Steve um and our guy did they work did you use well they
44:50
they did work so there was typ different types of bugs out we think they're either NS like these little guys right
44:56
here they're either young black flies that aren't biting but I don't know why they wouldn't bite so they may be these little gnats but there was horse flies
45:03
were started and the gats didn't care about this dragonfly they did not care at all they were still swarming around
45:09
it didn't matter but all the horse flies and all that like you know you know how when you get a horse sitting there you go like this you can get almost right up
45:15
to him he's not intimidated by you at all this right here by about here they were gone every they did they took off
45:22
we experimented with it the ones that landed on the boat and they wouldn't come near they would they took right from okay so we have now we have
45:29
official scientific science right there scientific proof that Peter Bowman I
45:35
wasn't with him at the time and Steve n Wiki did experiment was Luka did
45:40
experiment with this thing and it worked appar oh my God I I mean I don't know if it was a fluke or not but I guarantee
45:46
you get your hand a lot closer than that to to hello hi thank you why' you put it
45:52
in your mouth too now um yeah it it seemed to work pretty good so perfect
45:58
take um anything else Dean that you'd like to add to this discussion about
46:03
your first adventure oh it was a dream come true I like it was a truly amazing
46:09
like so when you told me last night I was going to like that was kind of the idea I thought it would be just more of
46:15
like a behind the scenes type thing but to do it on camera and to do it on this show is just like so surreal it hasn't
46:21
really uh sunk in yeah it's it'll sink in when you see it right it's amazing it was a great experience for me too I love
46:28
uh I love sharing those moments with people that younger people like yourself
46:34
that uh see sometimes we get a little jaded we've seen so much of this we've done this for so long sometimes
46:41
we we get a little callous to it but I got to tell you on this trip that was
46:46
not the case I think I was as giggly and bubbly as everybody else was I'm so thrilled to so cool to be here so what a
46:54
great like I mean this is a world class experience there's no doubt about if as
46:59
an said it's a little expensive but if you can afford it and you love Predator fishing you have to come to this place
47:05
you have to come here I will tell you right now for those of you who are quickly rushing to see what it looks
47:10
like on the website to get on their website and check it out you're going to be thoroughly disappointed and I've told
47:17
the owners this they do such a poor job of um of advertising a world class spot
47:24
really of telling folks what they have if you go to the website you're going to say that can't be what these guys are talking about yeah trust me yeah yeah
47:32
they're they're they're going to fix the site they took it over two years ago so they're working on everything here including the website so we're going to
47:37
help them along with that too so don't be disappointed when you go there because it does not do it Jus this at
47:43
all MH they don't they don't have anything there that you're going to say oh my God that was it no take this
47:52
podcast as what you should think of when you come here because it's we're
47:57
probably understating it even it's that spectacular it's hard to talk about without seeming like you're exaggerating
48:03
and stuff it really is course listen Pete said earlier on that we have made
48:08
contact with a couple hundred fish I think that's probably being very consern those are the big fish that we can
48:15
recall there's so many small fish that we don't even remember it is a fishery Beyond description if
48:24
you're a if you're a northern uh Pike affectionado and you travel
48:30
around to all the great places in the world and you don't know about this
48:35
place mhm you're not fishing bik bring bring a little clicker with you a little fish counter with you and have your
48:42
guide just count for you you'll drive him nuts cuz he will be in the hundreds every day guaranteed big small
48:48
everything it's it's it's insane it really is so tomorrow we unfortunately have to leave there's a plane coming in
48:54
at 8:00 apparently tomorrow morning to pick us up we're going to spend the day in um hey River hey River we got to do
49:01
some some shooting for the folks uh from nwt and then we're off we're back home
49:09
the long route this time though we're not going direct from Yellow Knife stop at Edmonton Edmonton first for a few
49:14
hourss there which is fine too it's been a great adventure you're going to get a chance to see it all uh starting uh
49:21
January of 25 uh there might be some stuff going up
49:26
on YouTube from this DJ stuff and maybe some other stuff we did got maybe some
49:32
little bits and bites that uh we could put up there just sort of to tease it but I I tell you right now you do not
49:37
want to miss that show if you need it as uh reinforcing your decision to come
49:44
here then you go right ahead and you wait for it but let me tell you um if
49:50
you're predisposed to put yourself in a local like this you must do it you must do it
49:57
absolute must and I Have No Reservations telling you that right now you must do it there I'm done done done uh that's it
50:07
we're going to uh because it's our last night we're obviously going to maybe I don't know partake in some libation and
50:14
maybe oh now you're drinking you maybe maybe Tom Foolery along with that perhaps there might be a cigar and a
50:19
whiskey involved hell yeah buddy I think we could do that couldn't we cigar and a whiskey and wash it down with a beer and
50:25
wash it down with a beer and uh then we but we need to pack first because if we do all those things
50:33
theack I'm living out of my suitcase so I'm 80% done right now are you already done well I just i' just been pulling
50:38
stuff out I got all my clothes because we've had such weather conditions I got them all later at the end of my bed I
50:44
okay today I got this this this this and this and I just put it on put it back there again before we sign off I do want
50:49
to say one other thing um worth noting at this point when you do come to a
50:56
place like this never fool yourself into believing
51:01
that the weather will be wonderful my and the worst thing that you could do
51:08
because quite honestly aside from today and look at this I mean this looks like a m Pond for the last 3 days this has
51:15
been an ocean so right now it looks wonderful MH had we not anticipated that
51:21
and brought multiple layers of of clothing and outerwear this would have
51:27
been a real big disaster for us it cold out there today all day on the main Lake it was cold out there you know what I
51:32
mean so would have been a disaster can you imagine freezing out there just bring lots of good underg
51:39
garage there layers that's lots of layers you don't need to bring your your uh snowmobile suit or anything like that well you might depending but but just
51:46
bring lots of layers and be prepared because that's a great tip that an just said I had like five six layers on oh my
51:51
God I had that was on my shirt layer one day I had a five or six shirts then I had the jackets and the hoodie and but
51:56
oh yeah was insane we didn't get rain which we normally do on all of our shoots we had no rain I can tell you
52:02
that but all of our rain gear got worn because it's the perfect outer layer
52:07
once you layer up um a breathable good quality gortex or versions of um is a
52:17
must even if it's not going to rain agre it's a absolutely perfect agreed so that was my last thing it just came to mind I
52:24
made a note but then I forgot to to mention always always anticipate the worst and you'll have the best time if
52:30
you if you come here later than us one last thing we tried top water the fish wanted to hit the top water your but
52:36
they just weren't there another two weeks from now you will go insane with the size of these fish ripping into your
52:42
top water bait so I can't even imagine it imagine we imagine we'd be screaming like little kids those bites were
52:48
getting by the boat we were screaming like little kids oh my God cuz you know what you could do if they were along that that ledge where the rocks are you
52:55
could throw that top water bait right right on that Ed right on the rocks and
53:00
just Bo boom bring it off the rocks and they literally explode on toilet
53:06
flush I'm giving myself a heart attack we'll come back for that one and pitching jigs into the Cabbage how's that we'll come back two more times done
53:14
okay all right that's it on behalf of the entire crew I know everybody's anticipating what I just said we were going to do after we get off on this
53:20
from this podcast accept but he's still napping over there got we'll see if we can wake him up and is Stevie still back
53:25
there fishing away spish it away give me hell yeah there uh on behalf of the entire crew Steven n
53:32
Wiki vaa Dean Taylor Peter I'm Angelo thanks for joining us on the road again
53:39
talk to you next time
53:46
[Music] [Applause] [Music]
#Fishing
#Outdoors