Taltson 2019
Taltson Big Pike Camp – Expectations vs. Reality
August 2019
Brett Thomas
I find expectation always rise to a fever pitch before a trip. I have never had higher expectation for a fishing trip than this year at Taltson. A group of 3 seasoned pike guys posted online that they wanted a forth guy for a trip to Taltson and I immediately jumped onboard. I have wanted to fish Taltson for more than 5 years but in general my fishing buddies aren’t able to do $4,000 trips. I was absolutely thrilled to be fishing the pike mecca. I am so glad I joined them as they were a lot of fun to spend time with in camp. As a side note as we get older and the fishing friend universe shrinks a bit I highly suggest joining a new group here or there to make some new friends hear some new jokes and share you old jokes on a new audience.
Let me get the negative stuff out of the way first. The camp is marketed as being “not white glove”. Ok that leaves a lot of room between white glove lodges and average outposts. I can say I have fished all the way across the spectrum and Taltson is definitely on the lower end of places I have visited in terms of amenities and at $4000 for 2020 it could leave more than a few guys disappointed with the overall experience. A few examples would be they turn the generator off at night which means when fishing 9a-11p you don’t have a lot of time to recharge you phone, GoPro, or use your CPAP at night. I solved the problem by borrowing a marine battery and bringing up an inverter. Another example is the food. To be honestly it felt like they were short on food so the amount and variety were definitely lower end. Finally the camp was filled with 9 guys meaning 5 boats were needed. They needed 4 guides. One guide no showed so someone who paid for a guide was out of luck (us one day). Then using a 5thboat meant one of our groups had a motor which didn’t work well. They were towed back in twice and they also fished with no reverse for several days, which can be dangerous when fishing the river in current. None of this would be shocking at a $1000 a week place but this is $4000?!?!? In general fishing at Taltson is about the fish. If you are ok with that and focus on that you will be a VERY happy camper.
Despite these issues I signed up within a week and am going back in 2020!
Some of you are probably saying what the heck? $4000 and the boats had issues and you are going back? What the HECK? The answer is easy. The fishing is otherworldly. On previous trips to Great Slave I had 6 over 40 at Frontier fishing Lodge fishing 50/50 pike and Trout over 6 days. In 2 1/2 days at Trout Rock on Great Slave I had 4 over 40 with a previous best 45-inch. At Taltson we caught 51 legit 40 inch plus pike for 4 guys. (This is with me leaving after 3 days early due to my wife being sent to the hospital for a serious illness.) If I had fished all 7 days I am confident we would’ve hit 60-65 40+ inches. I also caught my personal best with a gorgeous 47-½ inch pike. The average catch is around 3-4 pike per hour with an average size of about 35 inches! I’ll say that again the average is a 10-pound pike! In three days I caught around 60 pike. I had 10 over 40 inches with a breakdown of:
1- 47.5
4 – 43
1 – 42
4 – 40-41
50 – 30-40
The fishing is fairly easy. It consists of working a large weed filled flats within a mile of camp. There is also river fishing for the days when the wind kicks up or the lake is muddy. If you are comfortable casting to weed edges and gaps in the weeds and working lures back to the boat slowly you are good to go. Far and away the most fun fishing is the famous night bite. This happens when the pike enter the river channel that the current has cut through the weed beds. 20 feet one way you have dense weeds and 20 feet the other way dense weeds. Right down the middle is 12-18 feet deep and loaded with baitfish for the pike to gorge themselves. So as fishermen we pound that channel at night with Magnum Bulldawgs on laker sized trolling gear. Each pass (around 1/2 mile) would turn up arm and shoulder busting hits when the 10lb+ pike grabbed those 12oz lures trolled at 1-2mph. Absolutely worth every dime of the 4 grand you pay and really only available at Taltson.
The best lures are fairly simple in August. We caught 60-70% of the pike on Johnson Silver Minnows with 6in white grubs. This is after we tried EVERYTHING else in the box. After having less success on the other lures I just gave in to the JSM and kept catching fish. My partner Rich fought the JSM tendency for more than a day and finally got tired of me out fishing him 2-1. The other lures with decent results were pink Person Grinders (1oz), Black/Orange Magnum BullDawgs, and 6 in silver-blue paddle tails on a large jig head.
Overall, the experience was positive. It would be very simple for them to run a better camp. Get people to show up to work. Make sure you don’t overbook your ability to deliver reliable equipment, and spend a bit more on diesel and the food you’re providing. It is really quite simple and what we saw was maybe just an exception. I am willing to give it another shot and see if I can get to 20-40+ inch pike for a full week. I was on track this year and with a bit of experience I am confident I will get there!
Headed to Echoing Lake Camp in a few weeks to look for Lake Trout and Pike. Then the plan for 2020 will need to be set, but Taltson will be part of the plan!