Returned from Brabant Lodge, NWT, in early July and can honestly say, I've never had better fishing. The only downside was that 45" pike mostly weighed only 16-18 pounds, instead of 26 - 26 for fish that size. My best was 45.5", 22#, and my wife, Dolores caught one 45", 21.75#, which is a pending woman's 30 lb. line test IGFA record. She also caught a walleye (her only one!) of 5.25 lbs., which is the IGFA pending woman's 6# class record. The first spot we fished on June 26, Dee caught 10 fish (6-12 lbs.

) on her 1st 10 casts. Several spots on the Makenzie River, and at it's mouth on Great Slave Lake, we had strikes on virtually every cast, ALL DAY LONG. 

The fish weren't choosy, either. She end up using exclusively Dardevil spoons. Red/white, black/white, 5 of diamonds--it didn't matter. Strikes on almost every cast. Same with flies. My flared-wing marabou streamers (r/w, yellow/red, black, orange) and the Gold or silver Flashabou patterns I favor, all worked equally well.

Great lodge with really fine staff and lots of perks. The only downer was the flies: horse flies, house flies, black flies...they were everywhere. Best was when we could find a breezy place on the river, which kept their attack to a minimum. Black fly bites are especially bad.

Highly recommend the trip, but it's a trek to get there.

 Forgot to mention that Toothy Critters Love Flies, 2nd Edition, is now available as a Kindle as well as a paperback @ $9.95.  https://amazon.com/dp/B00DBPLXY8 

 Haven't posted here for ages. Got busy writing my suspense and romance novels (https://georgeabernstein.com), and forgot about this blog. Too bad, because a lot has gone on.

Anyhow, about to fly to Brabant Lodge in the NWT for big pike on flies. I'll post photos in early July. Since my last post, I caught another pike record on 8# tippet, 27.5 lbs, on Lac la Marte, NWT, and took 28 trophy pike (20 lbs or more) in 8 days at Reindeer Lake in Saskatchewan. Besides my marabou streamer, shown years ago on this blog, I'm finding a real killer fly, a  simple streamer of a healthy bunch of Flashabou (Perch, gold, and silver), a dash of red at the throat, and dumbbell eyes. I often add a glass rattle, covered by a braided mylar tube mounted on the shaft. It's great over cabbage bed, and fishes much like a jig. I took 3 pike, 44-46", on 5 casts over cabbage on Reindeer, and never felt a strike. You MUST watch your line for unusual movement, as the fish seem to mostly inhale this fly, rather than hit it. Took one 28# on Reindeer, but on 20# tippet, so no record. Here's a god fish, taken on the marabou pattern

FLY-TYING & TACKLE PACKAGES

Since at this moment, no fly shops are offering my MARABOU or FLASHABOU streamers, I've designed a fly-tying kit, complete with everything you'll need to tie up to 50 great Pike or Musky catching streamers. It even includes a portable vise & tool kit you can easily carry with you for fly repairs or tying custom patterns on the spot. The complete kit only costs $169.95, + $15 for shipping anywhere in the USA. Drop me an e-mail if you'd like to see an inventory of what is included, or to order your kit. I will supply my book, Toothy Critters Love Flies, for only $15.00 more, and the patterns for both flies are in it.

For those of you new to the sport, I have also assembled an inexpensive but quality tackle kit, including rod, reel, line, backing & leaders, for only $379.00, + shipping. The reel will even come pre-loaded with line & backing. Again, contact me for details, or to place an order. Again, get the book for only $15.00 with an order.

ANOTHER BOOK REVIEW

I've just received word that Simon Baker (in Norway, believe or not!) has posted another review of my book on his fly-fishing for pike Blog. Simon runs Baltic Pike fly-fishing tours. He has a lot of nice things to say. You can read it at:

http://pikeflyfishingarticles.blogspot.com/2009/08/toothy-critters-love-flies-by-george_12.html

He also sent a URL for a new fly pattern. It seems streamers tied for pike, made with condoms (!!) are all the rage in Europe. If you're interested, that URL is:

http://pikeflyfishingarticles.blogspot.com/2009/06/durex-condom-pike-streamer.html

Personally, I think I'll stick with my patterns.

BOOK REVIEW

FYI, David Edwards of England has just posted a fine review of Toothy Critters Love Flies at his website: http://www.deesox.blogspot.com/. You can click on that to get a European slant on fly-fishing for pike. Two others, one in Finland and one in Scotland have also asked to de reviews. Apparently that are hungry for a down-to-earth tome on the subject. Some good information and some other fly patterns are on his blog.

Here's the fly. Missed uploading it on the last post.