It was almost calm here at Gangler’s Courage Lake Tundra Outpost this morning when I got up at 6:30 am.  It was cold and we remained socked in with clouds.  But the rain stopped.  The hellacious storm that hammered us yesterday afternoon and evening and shortened our fishing day was over.

Being calm meant we could make a long run with our boat and 20 horse.  Without whitecaps and wind it would be much easier to watch for rocks and reefs.  Our main focus today would be northern pike.  While I used every muscle in my body and bailed about 20 gallons of water from the boat, Granny made a hearty bacon and eggs breakfast.  One thing missing however, coffee. . . . . Ugg.

At 8:15 we were off to the southwest arm of Courage Lake, the furthest end of the lake.  Its about a seven mile run that we made very carefully.  At every narrow section of lake we slowed down.  Granny watched for rocks off the bow and I backed it up with another set of eyes.  Calm lake surface helps for seeing rocks but the lack of sun still made it difficult.  And there are a ton of treacherous rock gardens.

There were plenty of caribou.  We saw far more today then yesterday.  Two swam across the lake in front of us and often as we fished we could see huge bulls on highpoints grazing and watching us closely.  Hard to see in this photo but this one is a ginormous caribou.  Maybe even a sly wolverine.

It took about an hour to reach first cast.  By then drizzle set in but it remained windless.  Just the threat of more bad weather was annoying but Granny went to work casting the 9-weight with a brightly colored Warpath Jig Fly.  I guided us through the shallows hunting weed patches using the motor at its lowest speed.  Then I’d drift and coast and steer us with a paddle.

Things were slow at first.  We got the random 25” pike here and there but the pike hadn’t woke up yet.  Finally, in a back corner along a beautiful beach we found a huge patch of weeds.  Every cast Granny made moved a pike.  Most of them small but a few were big enough to yank her around some.

There’s an amazing beach and a few sandy hills in the south arm of Courage Lake.  Right where a small fast moving stream enters.  We took a break and beached the boat.  I grabbed the bear spray and we took a short hike.  The view from up top was remarkable.  I can’t imagine how far you could see on a clear day.

This location not only attracted our attention for being a beautiful lookout, but also previous indigenous people.  Everywhere you look were shards of sharp rock.  I grabbed a stool on a rock to take in the view.  I looked down at my feet and saw a scattering of sharp white rock shavings.  Approximately 2000+ years ago someone also thought this was a good rock to sit on and perhaps make a tool or arrowheads.  Surreal.

Weather has caused us to miss a lot of fishing time this week so breaks didn’t last long.  Granny and I were on a mission to fish every inch of Courage Lake that we had time for today.  I eased us along watching for weeds.  The pike love the weed patches and one in particular was home to a few standout pike.

Granny landed about a dozen fish in this spot.  Most were right around 30” but there were a few better.  As mentioned a few days ago when Granny wrangled her beast, pike are hard to handle for photos.  But when you grip them gently they cooperate.  Granny is getting good at it.  Its important to hold them over the edge of the boat.  If they start to go wild you simply drop them overboard rather than in the bottom of the boat where they could damage themselves thrashing on the hard floor.

Fishing from about 11 am onward was no less than superb.  I’ve pike fished a lot of amazing places.  Today was right up there with some of my best experiences ever.  Not doubt it was Granny’s best pike day of all time.  We got into one small weeded bay where every time our fly landed wakes appeared from nowhere.  It was classic fly fishing for pike that you dream about.

We can’t begin to guess how many pike we caught today but it was over 50.  While most were under 30” there were a few nice ones.  This one here was 35” and there were a few larger and thicker that we didn’t get photos of.

By 4:30 Granny was done.  We had a steady light rain and there was a moderate breeze that took our already low temperature down a few more notches.  We stuck it out until 5:30 and then we decided to head back and get out of the waders and go for an evening hike near camp.

Gangler’s Courage Lake Tundra Outpost is exactly ½ mile south of the Manitoba and Nunavut Territory boundary.  Very few people can say they set foot in Nunavut so we decided to hike there.  With the overcast conditions and darkness ascending fast we wasted no time.

It was invigorating to say the least.  In a positive way.  When you’re in waders all day in a boat, in fact in this week’s case, multiple days, a hike feels good.  Its so barren and spectacularly remote that it further invigorates you beyond belief.  We made it to the post marker for Nunavut Territory easily before darkness.  Looking northward into the tundra gave an eerie but bracing feeling.  There’s nothing for thousands of miles!

Today was our last full day of fishing.  Weather allowing, the Beaver will be back to retrieve us at midday tomorrow.  We’ll fish in the morning but all good trips must come to an end.  We’ll see if we can smash it one more time!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing