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Arctic Angling Adventure At Bob Huitikka's Tukto Lodge
By Mike Norris

It was after midnight and the sun was clearly visible above the horizon in the Canadian providence of Nunavet. A caribou could be seen crossing the barren landscape with a rack so big that it must have been a burden to carry. Arctic loons could be heard crying with a sound that could only be described as eerie to those of us who have lived in the south all of our life.

Such are the thrills of our adventure to Tukto Lodges on Dubawnt and Mosquito Lake just south of the arctic circle during mid July 2003. Mike Norris outdoor writer for Fishing Facts from Chicago, Richard Russell Nashville, Sonnie Inscho Mountain Brook, and Lewis Cunningham from Vestavia made the trip to the edge of the arctic circle. The trip could only be described as terrific when you consider the quality of the management, the fishing and the abundance of wildlife.

Everyone in the party caught at least two lake trout over twenty pounds and many many fish over ten pounds. One day, Richard and I caught over 125 lake trout from three to twenty four pounds. At least half of the fish had a weight somewhere in the teens. If they had an eight pound average and they absolutely did, then we caught over one thousand pounds of fish in one day. A musk ox could be seen staring at us while we fished from a boat. He was trying to determine what we are. His coat glistened like new money as it swirled in the wind. One could not imagine how majestic the musk ox is without seeing the buffalo size animal first hand. While watching us he snored a stream of steam from both nostrils as if to say, "You don't want to mess with me." He was right! We also saw a pack of three snow white wolves while fishing from our boat. Like the musk ox, they too stared at us while trying to determine whether to flee or not.

I have caught many large lake trout in Canada like the one above and I have even seen wolves come to the bank to pick up the scraps that were left over from dinner but the musk ox was the highlight of the trip for me. Not many people ever get to experience the sighting of a steam snorting musk ox in the wild. One day while Richard and I were competing for most fish for the day, he caught a fish and yelled, "I'm one up on you." I replied, "No your not!" as I reeled in a fish to tie him. I was able to release my fish a little quicker than Richard so when he released his fish into shallow water, I cast to the one he just released.

To my surprise the laker took the lure and I was one up on Richard. The next time I caught a fish I turned it loose in shallow water so that I might see if it too would take the lure a second time. I know this is hard to believe but it did and I yelled, "Two up". Richard did not think I should count that fish because I caught it twice. Of course I disagreed and told him, "It takes twice as much skill to catch the same fish twice." After all of the disagreement it did not matter because Richard still beat me by one fish for the day, even though I counted the double. In spite of the dumb decisions a couple of beautiful lake trout made, they fought like crazy and you could catch them in shallow water all day long. All four of us described the trip as terrific. What a great trip!

little fish

For more information see www.reelitup.com or call Lewis at 866-801-3209.

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