GANGLER’S North Seal River | 2008 Fishing Update

Welcome to 2008 Fishing Update.

Mark Newell's 53" Northern Pike

2008 was a great year at the North Seal. Generally good weather and great fishing made for an excellent season.

Big news was the landing of 3 pike 50” or bigger. The biggest was taken by Joe Dougherty at Clifton Lake, a 53” bruiser. The next two taken were a 52” by main lodge guest Mark Newell and a 50” by Rob DiFatta. Even without those three, the season’s tally would have been breathtaking. Bruce Brevitz Sr. ‘s 49” pike from Burnie Lake. A great 48.5” trophy taken by Joe Columbo Sr. at the main lodge. Max McGowan with another 48.5. Marty Seeman, Bill Laney and John Krahnert III with 48”s, and Jim Kusar with a beastie 47”, all at the main lodge. Jerry Putnam had SEVEN pike at 47” – that’s SEVEN - and his friend Josh Tueber had a 47” on a fly and on his next cast, a 42” trout.

The final tally in 2008? 3 fish 50-53”, 1-49”, 5 -48” or larger, and over 1000 over 40”. Is there better big pike fishing in Canada? Let the results speak for themselves.

Now add in the huge plus of the North Seal fishery - its variety. Not only outstanding pike fishing, but outstanding fishing for three other species as well. That’s what consistently sets the North Seal apart from all other fisheries.

In 2008, pike may have grabbed the spotlight but there were so many other great stories. Huge lake trout were taken in 08. George Krahnert had a beautiful 46 ½” at Egenolf, what a magnificent fish ! Joe Columbo Jr. had a 43” laker. Melissa Aldrich took a huge 41. Helen Warren is a repeat guest who absolutely loves fishing lake trout in the holes. Along with husband Jim, Helen had another field day this year with a multiple Master Angler day on lakers in July. In 08, there were over two dozen lake trout 40” or over and over 200 Master Anglers taken. And that is with minimal lake trout fishing, as guests tend to key on pike and the other two species. The North Seal IS Northern Canada’s sleeper lake trout fishery.

Walleye fishing was again tremendous. The North Seal walleye fishery is amazing with both size and numbers. Fish average 20-24” and guests have caught hundreds in a day. Darrell Baker reported a 417 fish day – one boat- at Clifton this year, mostly walleye. 2008 produced over two dozen Master Angler walleye. Ray Arsenault took top honors with a 33” fish. Father and son team John and Andrew Ross had 4 master Anglers with Andrew taking three, plus they had 2 master angler pike. Walleye continue to show up in lakes where we never have seen them before and a Master (28”) was caught in Slyszuk Lake, previously thought to be pike, lakers, and grayling domain.Arctic Grayling are a common treat at the North Seal. Its vast rivers and lakes are prolific habitat for these beautiful fish and the Seal never disappoints. Top fish this year was a 22” with several others right behind it. We developed a new grayling river at Bain Lake this year which produced tremendous numbers and some nice trophies. The nice thing about grayling fishing at the NS is they are generally easily accessible to get to, not an all day outing.

Last but not least, the 5th trophy species (kind of like the 5th Beatle), Whitefish. They may be tough to catch but guests do catch them and catch large ones too. Eight Master Angler whitefish were caught, the largest Pat Murphy’s 27” at Burnie. That is only an 1.5” shy of the provincial record and identical to the one hanging in the lodge!

Pike over 50, huge lakers, master walleye and grayling. 2008 was another great year. As the In-Fishermen and so many others have proclaimed,” Northern Canada’s finest combination of trophy fishing for all four species!”

Once you fish the North Seal, you will discover there is nothing else that compares.

Best wishes,
Ken Gangler

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