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