Pike on the fly: One of my 20 northerns

Surprise catch: One of Ted's two eight-pound walleye

Guide pride: Me, Bryan and one of my 23-pound lakers

Today here at Lakers Unlimited started with clear skies and a hot sun. And so went the day, punctuated with frenetic interludes of high winds and driving wind. Thatâs Athabasca, they say. First off, we booted down to Collin River to hit northerns on the fly â" my second time ever to throw thread, fur and tinsel at pike. Unlike my earlier hike to the skinny water near camp, however, this time the pike were, well, big (see photos). We didnât hit anything over 40 inches, but I sure gave my new Sage nine-weight a good workout. And get this: Iâm still on the first bunny leech I tied up back in Toronto.

Aside from my personal satisfaction of catching such awesome, wild fish on the fly (some 20 beauties each for Ted and me) the coolest thing of the morningâs session happened when we switched up to tin to troll back out of the river, just for fun. Thatâs when Ted nailed two eight-pound walleye â" on a #4 Len Thompson Yellow & Red, no less. Now, we knew walleye inhabited the lake, and Iâm pretty sure Iâd seen some earlier up near the mouth of Collin, but it was still surprising when Ted caught the eight-pounders. Surprising because we had beat that same water pretty hard the previous day and all that morning, without tagging one walleye. Plus, it was high noon under clear skies â" not exactly prime time for âeyes.

After pulling into the main lake and parking off for lunch (just sandwiches, so far; we havenât wanted to take the time to stop and cook up shorelunch), we hit the lakers again thanks to Bryanâs wicked guiding. Ted kicked my butt, pulling in 13 fish, six of them over 20 pounds, on his hot pink T-60. I pulled up the rear with 9 lakers, two of which weighed 23 pounds. And from that tally, we recorded three double-headers, along with one triple after Ted released his first fish and picked up his spinning rod to drop down a big Bondi bait. Not bad for four hours of fishing. Too fun.

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