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In late June of 2014 I traveled to North Caribou Lake with my family and experienced what I said at the time was the best fly in fishing trip of my life. The numbers of trophy sized pike and walleye, the size and beauty of the lake and the quality of the accommodations all combined to make it memorable. It’s not often that I return to the same destination twice, but a return trip was almost immediately penciled in for the following June - this time a bit earlier in the season. On this second trip friend and photographer Bill Marzana would be joining me along with hard core big pike fanatics and good friends Doug Kruger and Chris Brock. With the water temperatures almost assuredly primed to be a bit cooler than the year before, along with the valuable storehouse of knowledge gleaned from my previous trip, expectations were running high. For the uninitiated, North Caribou is a vast body of water. Over 81,000 acres in size and dotted with countless islands and numerous inflowing creeks and rivers. It’s a breathtaking body of water. Located roughly 500 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay and only accessible by air it’s also remote - only a fortunate few ever get to fish it. Typically lakes of this size and calibre always have large full service lodges on them. That’s not the case here. While North Caribou Camps is a very nice facility it’s really a glorified outpost camp. A fishing camp in the truest sense of the word and exactly my kind of place. My group fished it this year June 6-13 and while we battled fronts, inclement weather, heavy wind and no wind (just as bad), the trip was a resounding success. The previous camp group record for numbers of pike over 40” caught in a week was 28 held by a group of 10. My group of 4 bested 34 goliath’s in our week and I truly believe those numbers would have been doubled if we’d had stable weather! So…two consecutive years now I’ve played a part in setting new camp records. On the surface that sounds amazing and I guess it is, but the fact is it speaks more of just how untapped this amazing lake still is. Most regular guests of North Caribou concentrate on walleye and for good reason, the fishing is impossibly good. In certain spots on the lake you can catch them hand over fist all day long, hitting almost anything thrown their way. There is no finesse required. If this lake ever gets on the radar of some serious pike hunters there’s no telling what it would cough up. It seems North Caribou always has the ability to amaze, astound and surprise me. Quite frankly our recent trip will be hard to top, although I will of course try. Here is our story… Painless Travel I can’t speak for anyone else, but I hate driving. God knows I’ve done enough of it in my day, but at my age it’s starting to wear thin. Especially with so many trips on tap each year. Coming from southern Ontario, getting to North Caribou couldn’t be any simpler. Laden with oversized rod tubes and bulky duffle bags we hopped on a jet at Pearson airport in Toronto and flew direct to Thunder Bay. Upon arrival North Caribou Camps takes care of everything. We took a free shuttle from the airport to the nearby Valhalla Inn where we checked in and relaxed for a bit. The rooms are paid for and part of the trip package which is a really nice touch in my estimation. Provided at camp is a huge stockpile of non perishable foods as well as unlimited bottled drinking water. Beer and pop are available at camp as well for a nominal fee - the major bonus being you don’t need to fly it in with you and eat up your weight limit. This left us with a small amount of perishable food to purchase for our trip, stuff like meat, eggs, cheese, bread, coffee cream, etc. After chilling in the Valhalla lounge for a bit we walked across the road to a nearby supermarket and with a detailed list picked up what we needed. The list was mandatory. Last fall I flew to Thunder Bay enroute to Armstrong and all 4 of us shopped blindly, each with a cart grabbing anything and everything that caught our eye. Like fat kids with a free pass in a candy shop we ran amok. That very well may have been the most expensive fishing trip grocery bill in history. This time thankfully we were a bit more organized! Stuffing our perishables into two soft coolers the Valhalla stored them in their walk in coolers for us and we spent the balance of the evening relaxing and shooting the breeze. Spirits always run high on the eve of any trip and this one had us as excited as kids on Christmas morning. We were slated to meet in the lobby at 6:30 am the next morning for a shuttle to the Wasaya Airlines hangar. It’s a long flight into camp and a large twin prop passenger plane is chartered for the task. It took two trips to get everyone and their gear bussed over, but we were on time and on schedule. There was another large group of 12 getting on the plane with us. They’d be staying in the main camp where I was with my family last year. My smaller group of 4 would be in the small self contained private cabin located several hundred yards down the beach. The flight from Thunder Bay is 11/2 hours and takes you to the remote native community of Weagamow Lake. Weagamow is located due west of North Caribou and not far at all. The flight was flawless although some high winds and turbulence caused the plane to buck and bounce as we approached our destination. I was whistling “Bye Bye Miss American Pie” under my breath and only exhaled when we touched down on the remote gravel runway. Hustling off the plane we were quickly escorted to the Weagamow Air float plane dock and in short order had as much of our gear crammed into 3 planes as possible and the first load of guests, myself included were airborne and headed into camp. I shot this short video of the flight in. This part of the province is dominated by massive bodies of water and from the air it’s a pretty remarkable sight that always quickens the pulse. Almost more water than land I couldn’t help but stare intently at the waterscape below attempting gain some valuable new angling knowledge as we flew overhead… The owner Dusty Brodhagen was waiting for us at the dock when we taxied up. Greeted like an old friend, his parting words to me once the plane was unloaded and we set about hauling our gear to our cabin was, “Mike, I think you guys are going to do well this week!” Our Initial Foray The cabin was spotless when we arrived. Affectionately called “the honeymoon suite” by the veterans from the other group we settled in quickly and unpacked. Choosing a good location for spring pike is easy at first glance - you typically look for bays, especially ones with creeks filtering into them. It’s not always that cut and dried though as many people forget to factor in wind. A stiff breeze blowing into a bay always helps, it stirs up the bottom and tends to excite the fish and make them less wary. We had a decent southwest wind that day and we all sat down at the table perusing a large map before heading out. The issue is also islands, as they’ll often block the wind if they’re right in front of a spawning bay, and there are hundreds of islands on the lake. We formulated what I thought was a pretty good game plan and Billy and Doug set off for the northwest corner. Chris and I went in another direction with some different spots in mind. On a lake this size there’s no need to be fishing on top of one another and we’d be able to get more of read on what was going on by splitting up and covering more water. Chris and I motored off to our first destination, a small bay with a large creek feeding into it, about a 40 minute run from camp. On last years trip I caught a couple of good fish here and saw many more giants lazily milling around in the shallows uninterested in my lures. Last year the creek mouth was lined by a wall of reeds and not navigable. This year it was wide open and quite deep so we motored up it to check it out. The main lake was 58 degrees, perfect in my books. Upon entering the creek the temperature immediately jumped to 62 and the water was much darker and tannin stained. We slowly cruised up the creek until it opened up into a small pond. Spidey senses tingling we set about to work it over. While we didn’t catch any huge fish in there the numbers were stupid, both small to mid sized pike and thick healthy walleye that smashed our pike lures with abandon. It was a blast and a perfect way to get our feet wet… Flying into the lake I could clearly see another really interesting bay, and one that I’d never fished last year. Another large creek entered the lake here and from the air it looked enticing. Best part was I knew the wind would be blowing right into it. After we satiated our desire to put a bend in our rods we were off to check this new water out, another 15 minute boat ride west. It didn’t take long to determine the presence of fish - they were on the prod. We started catching almost instantly even getting a couple of larger fish to boot. (It’s always nice when a plan comes together!) I shot this short video of the first days action including an encounter with “old one eye”. Check it out! Later that evening we found ourselves at the lakes only outlet in its far northwest corner. Again, a spot I never saw last year. We putzed our way over there catching fish at will in pretty much every little nook and cranny along the way. Idling above the rapids surveying the situation Chris could see the wheels turning in my brain, “No way you’re going to run that are you??!!” Even when you’re on a world class body of water chuck full of fish if you have an adventurous spirit the pull to explore is just too much. “Don’t worry” I told him, “it’ll be a piece of cake. Besides which you just KNOW that pool below is going to be loaded with fish right?” Chis didn’t say a lot but I could tell he was hesitant. Fact is I’ve done stuff like this a thousand times and am fairly proficient at reading and navigating moving water, perhaps a bit more than the average guy. I mention this because I’m sure Dusty (the camp owner) wouldn’t be too thrilled if his guests started making needless treks in potentially dangerous water. In any case it was a piece of cake, and YES the pool below was loaded with walleyes, almost a fish a cast. It was also one heck of a pretty spot and made for a lasting memory for Chris and I. This is honestly the kind of stuff I live for! Here’s a short video of the boat ride: By the time we made it back to camp it was almost 9pm and we were exhausted but on a high. Bill and Doug had done incredibly well themselves catching 3 thick pike over 40”, numerous mid sized fish and crazy numbers of walleye (I’ll show their highlight pic’s later in the post). All in all a great first day! Every Man Loves A Hummer If you really want to succeed in catching lots of big pike on this lake you have to fish smart and you have to fish hard - the big girls are there, but they’re not going to jump in the boat. I’ve said this before but it holds true, especially on a lake of this size. The key to success is quickly establishing a pattern and eliminating 90% of the water. Once you’ve figured things out it’s a simple matter of fishing quickly and hitting as many similar spots as possible. Bays, as has been mentioned are key spring spots, but not every bay is created equal. Two things became quickly apparent. 1. Rotted pencil weeds both above and below the water were key elements. It seemed all of our big fish were coming out of spots with putrid gnarly bottoms, the kind of slop pike love to lurk in. 2. If there’s a ton of small walleyes around there’s likely big pike nearby. They enjoy eating walleye. Based on last years experience there was a bunch of spots I knew would be perfect and loaded with provisions and plenty of extra gas Chris and I set out to fish as many of them as possible. Pulling into our first spot a good 11/2 hour run from the camp I told Chris to prepare himself, last year this was a grade A spot and it had all the elements. First cast I nailed a 40, then 5 minutes later a 42 then a 39. Good start! Chris feeling left out was quick to get in on the action himself. In between pike we caught a huge number of incredibly dumb and aggressive walleye. Dumb and aggressive is an admirable trait when it comes to fish most times, but when you’re on the hunt for big pike they become a nuisance. Fun, but still a nuisance. Often they’d have you fooled into thinking they were much larger as once hooked their maws would gape open widely and the ensuing drag would make them feel gargantuan. Not surprisingly we developed a new lingo for the fish we caught. Walleyes of course were drift socks and for the pike we got creative using handles with a decidedly automotive bent. Small pike were “Minis” as in “Nothing to see here, it’s another Mini!” Mid sized pike were called “Camry’s”. A fun ride, but nothing to get overly excited about. Big pike were “Hummers” naturally, as in “Holy @*!t dude it’s a freaking Hummer!!!” Every man loves a Hummer. We fished hard that day running and gunning from spot to spot fishing hard and focussed and caught a gross number of fish in the process - including a couple more Hummers. Here’s a couple of videos from the days action: We got back to camp that night at 10pm and Chris told me later it was the longest day he’d ever spent on the water in his life. Kind of gruelling but a ton of fun! Once again Bill and Doug had a banner day themselves, and we spent 15 minutes trading cameras to catch a glimpse of each others day before grabbing a late dinner and hitting the sack. Barfing Pike And Angling Bears It was calm and muggy as we skimmed across the surface of the lake early the next morning, one hand lightly on the tiller, the other clenching a steaming mug of coffee. Chris sat huddled in the front still not fully awake yet, although NEVER complaining. Good man that Chris. Mountainous dark bottomed clouds rolled across the sky foreshadowing what was to come. I have a Delorme inReach satellite communication device from inReach Canada and we’d received a weather update from my wife that morning. In a word - rain. Still, it was thunderstorm cells that were supposed to roll through and cells can also miss you if you’re lucky. I learned long ago to never bank on what “might” happen. Better to stick with your plan and hope for the best. With weather forecasting being far from an exact science I’ve had plenty of banner days when everyone else was back at home sitting in front of the computer screen. Our goal this day was Stewart Bay in the furthest corner of the massive western arm of the lake, a good 2 hour run from camp with stops. I’d done well here with my son Brendan the year before and I was eager to fish it again. The entire boat ride over there was dry, although the clouds were looming. We stopped at a couple of interesting bays enroute and had fun catching plenty of drift socks and Mini’s, but nothing of substance. Finally arriving at Stewart at 10am the rain started and didn’t stop for the next 5 hours. Talk about timing. The entire sky was leaden, the ceiling was low and there was virtually no wind. It was the kind of rain that says “Hey, better zipper up I’m here to stay for a while!” Still, we were a long way from camp and shelter so we toughed it out and fished. I can’t speak for anyone else but I’ve rarely had success, especially for pike in the driving rain and that held true on this day. It was maddening though because we knew the big girls were there, occasionally one would breach the water making their presence known and renewing our faith. Still, they would not hit. I had one come in hot chasing my spoon boat side like a missile then turning away at the last second. On the other hand the weather didn’t dampen the appetite of the walleye. We caught one drift sock after another ad nauseum. It became redundant, but at least we were catching fish. There comes a time however when you know it’s time to go - usually when even catching fish isn’t fun anymore. We were both drenched and chilled and began contemplating a new plan of action that included shelter and heat when suddenly the skies, while still ominous cleared a bit and the wind finally picked up. Whatever was happening it seemed to turn on the fish and Chris bested a beautiful Hummer class fish. Perseverance definitely paid off here! Not long afterwards Chris suggested we go to shore and start a fire to warm up. It was a great idea. A simple fire in the bush always seems to raise your spirits and God knows we needed a break. Amazingly at that moment the clouds broke as well and the sun shone down - apparently our timing was impeccable one again. Finding a nice flat rocky area with a few small trees for a wind break we beached the boat and Chris set about making fire. It was glorious. We hung our sodden clothes on tree branches to dry and sucked in the warmth from the fire. I toasted a sandwich on a small grill I found in the boat and we stretched out on the rock as happy as clams. For the next couple hours the sun shone hot and bright actually forcing us to shed layers and don shorts. As is often the case in the far north you have to be prepared for every type of weather. A few healthy sized Camry’s came out to play as well livening up the proceedings. One of those pike actually did something that I’ve never seen before. It also grossed me out and will be a story that gets retold for years to come. Hoisting a particularly fat bellied pike for a photo, Chris commented on its girth just as I squeezed its belly to hold it in a shotgun pose. A huge gusher of water and digestive stomach juices erupted out of its mouth drenching my shorts, feet and the open case for my DSLR. Totally disgusting, but good for a laugh! Early in the evening we made our way into the Nango River for a look see, one of the major rivers that feed the lake. It’s a substantial river, but you can’t travel up it too far as there’s a major neck down and heavy set of rapids blocking passage. Of course this pool is always teeming with walleye and we caught them at will, revelling in the fantastic scenery while occupied with the many willing drift socks. Every so often if you spend enough time outdoors you’ll see something remarkable, and this happened to be one of those times. While fishing the pool for walleyes Chris suddenly became animated, “Mike look, a bear!” I swivelled my head and watched fascinated as a fat glossy black bear emerged onto a small rock right at the head of the rapids. Careful not to make any sudden movements I slowly bent down to swap lenses on my DSLR to get a close up photo. The bear, seemingly unconcerned bent down and looked as though he was trying to scoop water from the river with its paws. Almost instantly he flipped a small walleye up onto the rock, grabbed it with his mouth then turned and ambled into the forest. It was the bear version of a fast food drive-through and one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in the wild. I finally got the correct lens on and snapped this pic of the rock, the bear itself was long gone… We fished our way back to camp stopping at a number of prime spots along the way. Always catching fish and having a blast, but no Hummers made an appearance. Dragging our sorry butts into camp at 9:30pm we immediately lit a fire in the wood stove to warm up and dry out. The boys had another great day themselves and we chattered like kids about both of our days. Both of those guys had toughed out the rain in the first half of the day as well and all of us were loving the toasty warm cabin. A Tale Of Two Bays The next morning dawned raw, blustery and chilly. A brisk wind from the north was whipping the lake into a bit of a froth as we rode a tailwind and some pretty big swells enroute to a large bay on the east side of the lake. This particular bay is wide open and exposed to the elements and best of all there’s a trench up to 12’ deep on it’s south shoreline with a line of reeds fringing it. This shoreline was being pounded by the waves and I just knew we were going to kill it. If you fish long enough you get a sense in your gut whether it’ll be a good day or not, and on this one the stars were aligning. As we pulled into the bay I said to Chris “We’re going to pound them in here today - I can feel it!” I was correct. In total we caught 8 Hummers from this one particular bay and some were gigantic. It was easily one of the more memorable little sessions I’ve ever experienced fishing for pike in the north! This bay wasn’t named on the map so we felt comfortable naming it ourselves. We felt “Erection Bay” was appropriate. At this point I’ll let the videos and photos tell the story… Continued...