Fly Fishing Northern Canada
Part 2, The Stalker
By Mike Skoczen
It was late afternoon as I stood on the
bow of the boat looking for a fishy spot
as Mark slowly paddled us down the shoreline.
Mark and I had spent the last few hours taking
turns fishing and paddling and my arms were
getting sore from both. Our last trip through
this particular stretch of shoreline was
pleasantly successful and we were hoping to
continue that success after deciding to switch
tactics a bit. It was time to go top water.

Before I had a chance to cast, Mark put the
paddle down, grabbed his bait caster and launched
a buzzbait at the shore. It landed with loud
splash and Mark began to retrieve it at high
speed. The lure raced across the surface of
the water leaving a wake behind as if it was
propelled by a tiny motor. In no time at all,
the water around the lure exploded in a flurry
of teeth and gills. "Fish On!" I got down from
my perch and helped Mark to land and release a
nice Northern Pike. Mark got back to paddling
and after a few minutes of accusing Mark of
stealing my fish (the fact that I would not
have been able to make a cast at it made no
difference to me) I got back up on the bow
and began my search again.

We were getting close to a slot that shot
deep back into the weed bed that looked like
the perfect place for my next cast. The slot
was a few feet wide with submerged weeds visible
just beneath the surface of the water and a fair
amount of reeds shooting up through the surface.
I slowly began to feed line into the air as I
false cast over open water. One more false cast,
a double haul and my line shot out over the water
in the general vicinity of where I wanted it to go.
It landed off target (it was the wind) but I judged
it to still be in play.
The deer hair mouse landed with a small plop
and I noticed a large swirl in the water about
10 feet away. Adrenaline rushed to my brain as
I began to slowly swim the mouse back towards
the boat. A wake appeared behind the mouse,
inching closer as I continued my retrieve. I
was being followed! I had retrieved about half
of the cast when the wake approached and then
disappeared right behind the fly. Worried that
my stalker had lost interest, I sped up my
retrieve from a leisurely swim to a panic
stricken thrashing. Right on cue the water
exploded around the mouse, I saw the flash of
the teeth, felt the weight on the line and set
the hook. "Fish On!"
The fish was not large but it was all that
my 7 weight rod and I could do to keep it
out of the weeds; we had already lost more
than a few fish that way. After a short
struggle we were able to get the fish into
the boat, remove the hook, snap a photo or
two and release it back into the lake. The
stalker was a Northern Pike around 27" long
and while not a trophy fish, it was one of
the biggest Pike that I had ever caught and
for that I was very happy. I made one more
cast "to get my line back on the reel" and
brought it back in uneventfully this time.

It was time to turn over the bow of the ship
to Mark so he could fly fish again while I
paddled him around. We fished this way for
a few more hours and repeated this scenario
more than a dozen times. Whether the rod was
in my hand or in Mark's I still felt the same
rush of excitement with every take. I don't
think I'll ever grow tired of taking fish on
top water flies.

To be continued... ~ ms
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