Catching Giant Northerns

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Last year around this time I was on the hunt of a lifetime.  Chasing the Barren Ground Caribou in the northern most reaches of Northern Manitoba was a dream that finally came true. After filling my limit of two boo (that is what the locals call them) it was time to go fishing.  The weather had been miserable with low overcast condition and mist.  Plus in was just plain cold with all that dampness.

I could not believe it.  I was looking at patches of blue sky on my 5th day on the tundra.  It was a beautiful sight to see. No mist, no fog and a light breeze out of the south.  It would be a warm day.  After harvesting my second Caribou, I took the next day off and just hung out at the lodge with a couple of the other hunters who had also limited out.  This is what is known as a bull slinging session. 

With a high pressure and beautiful weather we should be able to hammer some big northern pike and lake trout.  There were two hunters from Ontario that had limited early and had spent the balance of their time fishing for lake trout.  Commonwealth Lake also held Arctic Greyling.   I hoped to smack into a few of them.  We tried, but it was not to be.  

We worked the bays as the fish had been caught previously in the shallows.  The lake trout spawn in the fall and we worked hard in the shallows, but only one lake trout was caught by a guide that came along with my guide and myself. 

This was a nice size laker, but unfortunately it was the only one caught.  It was estimated to be around five pounds.

If you look at the sky behind the guide you can see it clouded up again.  We were concerned there was a change coming, but it broke into scattered to broken clouds with a lot of sunshine pouring through. 

We ran into two of the fishermen from our lodge and they were not catching any trout either. 

After about two hours, I had not caught one fish nor had one hit.  It was time to change lures.  I had been fishing with a red and white spoon and had switched to a Five of Diamonds.  Still nothing, and did not even have a hit.  This was not the first time in my life this had happened.  Switching to a Len Thompson spoon that had to be 30 years old, I started smacking one right after another.  The spoon was dark green with black diamonds like the five of diamonds spoon.  We could only keep northern under 30 inches. Since it was fresh fish for dinner, it did not take long to have all the lodge could eat for an evening meal.  

Typical eating size northern.  There was no trouble catching this size, once they started hitting.

Still, small fish are fun, but I have never caught giant northern pike, and here I am in northern Manitoba where they live.  That thought soon would be gone as a giant pike took hold of the spoon.  Standing there, I just held on as he went where and when he wanted to go.  Peeling out line, he circled the boat more than once and then would make a run.  Reeling him back to the boat,  I could tell he was beginning to tire.  Finally, after getting him up close to the side of the boat, he looked like a log.  The guide reached to grab him along the back of the neck.  He did not go for that at all, spun back 180 degrees and cut the line.  He was gone, but did I ever have a good time!  I shed a tear for about 3 seconds after losing one of my favorite lures, but there was still a lot of fishing and catching to do.  We had just really got started.

They started getting bigger and bigger.

Since the big boy bit on a green spoon with black diamonds, I grabbed a chartreuse spoon with black markings horizontally down the side and started back casting into the shallows.  All heck broke loose and we were all picking up really big northern pike that had to be thrown back.

Blue Fox Strobe Spoon Kit

The chartreuse with the black strips is the killer. Click on the link or the pic to buy from Bass Pro.

We caught northern pike routinely this size and bigger and threw them all back.

Finally, the killer lure was lost and all three of us in the boat had caught lots and lots of fish that were mostly thrown back.

This was dinner.

It can't get much better than this. 

 

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Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck. Hank.
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The Rocket Duck Arrives

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September 5th was the opener for Teal season in Nebraska.  We even get them well into November, but not in the flocks that you see in early September.  The temperature for the opener was a balmy 80 degrees and warming up to 90 later in the day.  We do not hunt much past 10 AM as the traffic all takes place in the early morning.  The birds then seem to disappear, but they will probably sit down in a pothole or open water area and stay cool.

Hard Core Decoys Blue-Winged Teal Duck Decoys

Click on the link or the picture and buy from Bass Pro.  You will need Teal decoys to bring them to you.

What goes with hunting this time of the year?  It is the mosquito.  In the early morning when it was not windy we had a lot of bugs and did a lot of swatting.  Once a good breeze was up, they seem to disappear.  A lot of repellent was used.  In addition the Thermacell Mosquito Repellent was fired up and kept in the blind.  These units really work and it was a blessing to have them.

ThermaCELL Mosquito Repellent with Refill - RedHead Edition

Click on the link or the picture to buy from Bass Pro.  I highly recommend this product. 

We do not sit down and hide in the blinds. There is not time to stand up and mount a shotgun inside your shoulder as the birds are moving too fast.  The guns are laid out in front of each shooter pointing toward the decoys and that is your space to shoot forward.  There is no swinging as you would be swinging into the person next to you.  When the birds come, we must lead them or let them land and take them as they come off the water.  Trying to Arkansas them on the water is a really bad idea as that is the way to wreck a lot of expensive decoys.  Up and down they fly, swooping up into the air and then diving down low and skimming across the water.  They seem to group up into a ball and then spread out always keeping up the speed.  They come from any direction and the order of the day is not to move around much.  It is not that we are all poking up out of the blinds, it is the movement that will spook them.  We all use number 6 shot or smaller and shoot with an open choke.  We need all the spread we can get.

Blue wing teal in flight. 

Shooting time was around 6:30 AM and it was just getting light enough when they came.  We could hear their wings beating against the air as they swept in above the decoys at their usual high speed.  Then they were gone for a time.  We waited as they hooked around and then came back to the decoy spread at a different angle, always maintaining that high speed.

Two blinds were full for the opener.  Fourteen hunters were all bathed in sweat as the first flock swung in from the north and almost set down in the decoys.  Of twelve birds in the flock, and with all that firepower, we were able to drop six.  It was just barely light, but we could make out each flock as they sped by our position just above the decoys.  With each flock we harvested several birds.  Then they were gone and we waited for the next group to pass by in front of us.

Green wing teal in flight. 

As the sun came up the shooting became considerably less.  The birds did not fly as low and sped by in front of the blinds.  They seemed to maintain a higher altitude before making a commitment.   We did not pick up birds after each harvest but left them in the water as another flock would be right behind them. 

Buck Gardner Calls Teal Call Polycarbonate Duck Call - Clear/Blue

When they are hooking around and not committing, try a Teal call.  This is the one used by a couple of hunters in our group and it really brought them back.  Click on the picture or the link and buy from Bass Pro.

As it became lighter and there were fewer flocks, the dogs were sent out to do their thing and retrieve all the birds. This was probably the best part of the day watching the dogs at work.  After picking up the harvest, we left and were all gone by 10 AM.

These ducks were really small, but they did have a really nice breasts.  With the breasts removed from the ducks and all skinned out, they will make excellent table fare.  

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank

 

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