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Pike on the Fly – And Other Delights.

A Nueltin Lake Adventure

By: George Vosmik, NCFF

Published in the January 2002 Taut Line Newsletter

There it was, the flash of a Pike engulfing the black Deceiver, and for the first time, I was hooked into a 30 plus inch Northern Pike on my own fly. We had just flown in to Nueltin Lake, a 120 by 60-mile long lake straddling the border of Manitoba and Nunavut Provinces of Canada. A quick lunch and we were casting for Northern Pike a short distance from Treeline Lodge, one of the Nueltin Lake Fly-In Lodges. The Lake is 700 miles due north of Winnipeg on the 60^th parallel north.

This was my first visit to the lake but my friend Scott Poffenberger had made several trips there and had been instrumental in convincing me that indeed you could catch pike to your heart’s content on this ‘catch and release’ lake. What he didn’t say was that I might catch a Grand Slam of trophy Graying, Lake Trout and Pike.

The wind drifted us across a small bay that had scattered weeds and rocky outcroppings. We cast to the edges of the weeds and between the shallow rocky stick-ups. A second 30-inch pike joined the first Pike, while Scott fought a 35-inch pike that had eaten his minnow lure near a rocky head. Now that was more like what we had come for. In typical fashion Scott’s pike came in reluctantly until he saw the boat. Then he took off for the nearest weed patch. Although he wrapped about five pounds of weeds on the line, he was netted on the second pass – with the weeds crowding the net.

The next setup was a shallow channel between two small islands. It looked like pike ambush point alpha. Scott cast north, I cast south, and we were into a double! His minnow scored again and my perch deceiver was initiated into the world of hungry pike. Both fish looked like they had been cast in the same mold of fat 36-inch toothy critters.

The afternoon went on from bay to point to bay. The pike continued to cooperate but at a slower pace then initially. The seven hours of flying began to take its toll and we elected to head back to the camp to prepare for dinner. Back to the cabin, we showered, changed clothes and were off to happy hour. The Hors d ‘ouvres were great and the drinks were quenching. Dinner followed with a great menu and great dessert. Each Dinner and Breakfast was a new taste delight with changes every day. Tomorrow we fish for pike in the morning and Lake trout in the afternoon.

Off to the bay of Pike, and its look-a-likes, all morning long. And what we found was, shall we say, interesting. The bays were shallow and weedy, with potholes of clear water. We could see fish beneath the weeds. Dahlberg divers in black or gray were the offerings that caused the following to happen!! Cast to the open water near the sighted fish – let it sit for 20 seconds, twitch it and watch for the Ohio class submarine come from three to thirty feet away pushing a bulge of water about 4-6 inches high in front of it; and then engulf, smash, jump out of the water and eat it on the way down, fly out of the water as it eats the fly on the way over the high jump, and often, plain miss by six inches or more!! Fill in the blanks. !! If the bay was deeper, then we used Lefty’s deceivers of various colors, Clouser minnows and a tube fly made out of mylar tubing of about 5/8" diameter. One bay in particular illustrates the trend in the effectiveness of these flies.

Sunday morning we fished one of the deeper bays with vertical cabbage abounding in it. The sky was overcast and the fish were only visible occasionally. I chose a black Lefty’s deceiver with a sink tip line on my Winston BL5, six weight. I was living dangerously but I had caught several fish Saturday with the rod and, oh what the heck. Our guide saw a fish flash about 25 feet away at 11 o’clock. I cast just past the spot and let the fly sink about a ten count. Jerk, pull slowly, stop, strip, strip, pause, -- he hit, stopped the fly, and away he goes directly away from the boat about the full length of the fly line. Now he’s coming back faster than I can reel. Keep the rod down; use the water to hold the line tight; reel! Reel! He turned and now going to 9 o’clock. He hasn’t dropped the hook. Run, run, stop, turn, run again. Here he comes, under the boat! Rod in the water, don’t let him cut the line on the bottom. He’s back out at nine, coming on his side now. Net out and he’s in it. How big? 41 inches – what a beauty!!

The next bay had cross-eyed fish that couldn’t catch a fly even after as many as four flashes with a slowly moving fly. All the black deceivers were safe there. But when I put on a tube fly about seven inches long, it was a different story. They were shredding tube flies with great abandon and just missing the hook. Finally, I put on a silver tube fly after having most of my pearlescent tube flies chewed to pieces. We spotted a big, big pike coming under the boat and going away at 12 o’clock. The trick was to cast over and diagonally across the fish without lining him and frightening him away. One reach cast later, there is a big flash and the line is racing away through the weeds and tying the line around them. Hang on but not too tight. There he goes, weeds and all; out and away back and under, finally he swims in a big circle and into the waiting net. What a trophy! 40 inches.

Meanwhile, in the afternoon we fish for lake trout, but with planers or weights. These were big fish. They were living from 40 to 85 feet down eating whitefish and other tender delights. Spoons were the usual lures but you know that Vosmik had to try flies even though the rod was a shorter down rigger rod of size. I had tied some seven inch flies for the ocean and brought them along for whatever. The lake trout were the test to which I put them. Planer, six feet of leader about 12 pound test and the oversized lefty’s deceiver, that was the rig. Drop it down into 65 ft of water and hit bottom, up three turns and bang, fish on! This is no Lake Ontario old shoe, this is a charging, and pulling, surging fish that wants to do one thing, go back down as fast as possible. Winch, pump, reel and do it again until you can see the beautiful gray/green and spotted trout. How big? It’s a 39-inch trophy of about 18 pounds. Do it again.

Back down and three turns up, Fish On! This time it a bigger fish, fighting harder and longer but finally it is netted. It turns out to be the second of eleven trophy (over 35-inch lake trout) I would catch that week at 41 inches and over 20 pounds. Unfortunately the larger lake trout were all well below fly fishing depths but one 25 incher, did eat a green and white lefty’s deceiver in about 15 feet of water. The week was a North Woods trip success with the folks at Nueltin Lake Lodges performing as advertised and the fish even better than anticipated.

Scott found a spot and the grayling were doing their best to smash his fly to pieces. He caught five or more before I located my own honey hole. I cast just to the beginning of the swirl on the far side of the big rock and let the fly run the length of its widening “v”. Seven casts yielded six fish hooked and one that missed when he came out of the water to take the fly on the down stroke. Every session we fished yielded eager fish, some that we hooked and others we missed, for all the excuses you have used yourself to explain what happened. But I’ll never pass up grayling, even when the Pike are being cooperative – an 18 inch grayling on the four weight, in a fast current, is a worthy challenge. I’ll be happy to bore you with the pictures for this trip, cocktails anyone?

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