946 | Fly Fishing for Giant Pike in Northern Saskatchewan with Mark Melnyk of The New Fly Fisher

00;00;01;29 – 00;00;24;28 Dave The further you get away from the roads, the more interesting the fishing questions become. Today we’re heading into northern Saskatchewan with one of the most recognizable voices in fly fishing media. Mark Melnick from the new Fly Fisher joins us to talk about remote fisheries giant Northern Pike Lake Trout on the fly floatplane adventures and why some of the best destinations in North America still fly under the radar. 00;00;25;15 – 00;00;45;28 Dave Mark has spent decades filming, fly fishing across Canada and beyond. And today he’s given us a look at Scott Lake Lodge, the Prairies provinces and what keeps pulling him back to the wildest waters in the continent. In this episode, you’re going to hear what it’s really like flying into a remote lodge by floatplane, dropping in, staying low and dropping in on the water. 00;00;45;29 – 00;01;09;16 Dave We’re going to hear about when lake trout move into the shallow water and become realistic fly rod targets. We talk about this on lake trout and why top water pipe fishing creates some of the most violent eats in freshwater fishing. We’re also going to get into that so they get that experience. Plus what? 26 seasons of filming have taught Mark about adventure, travel and great fly fishing destinations. 00;01;10;04 – 00;01;18;27 Dave It’s all here today. You can find Mark Melnick at the new Fly Fisher on YouTube. Here he is, Mark Melnick. How you do, Mark? 00;01;19;10 – 00;01;24;13 Mark Melnyk Great. Thanks for having me. This. We had a lot of fun last time, so I’m expecting this one will be just as much fun. 00;01;24;19 – 00;01;43;05 Dave Yeah. Yeah, it was. It was a good one. I think that catching up with you is always great. You guys at the new Fly Fisher have a lot going on there. You’ve got a lot of episodes. I mean, I think you’re almost there. You’re not quite daily, but you’ve got a lot of different content pumping out there. And you’ve got one of the the biggest shows, you know, kind of on YouTube in the fly fishing space. 00;01;43;05 – 00;01;58;21 Dave So we’re going to talk about that today a little bit. But I also want to we’re heading out on a trip to Saskatchewan, northern Saskatchewan, to Scott Lake Lodge. And I know you’ve been there, so we’re going to get an update on that as we prepare for the big pike fishing and all of that. But maybe just take us back before we get started. 00;01;58;29 – 00;02;04;17 Dave It’s been the last episode I think was back in late 24. What’s been going on with you? What’s new these days? 00;02;04;29 – 00;02;32;09 Mark Melnyk Well, you know, we’re guns blazing right now in our production world. We are just finishing up season 25. Actually, our final episode drops on YouTube this Saturday morning at 9 a.m. Eastern Time. And then we we’ve got crews in the field already shooting season 26. So it’s busy time here. We got people all over North America and soon to be South America And yeah, it’s just go, go, go. 00;02;32;16 – 00;02;41;21 Dave Right, right. That’s awesome. Is it? So season 26 is coming up. Maybe describe that again. When do new episodes does it come out on YouTube? Where can people find the show? 00;02;41;29 – 00;03;09;24 Mark Melnyk Yeah. So our new season will begin at the end of December, just after Christmas in 2026, and then it will go 26 episodes. So 26 weeks to the middle of June, just like where we are now. And what happens is our episodes are dropped first on YouTube and those are the extended play episodes. So those shows are as long as they need to be to effectively tell the documentary story. 00;03;10;10 – 00;03;26;20 Mark Melnyk And then the television broadcast versions will be on Sportsman Channel Canada and W5 World Fishing Network in the United States, and that those shows, which are 30 minute shows, air that same week so dropped on YouTube on Saturday and then television that next week. 00;03;26;27 – 00;03;31;01 Dave Oh, I see. And the YouTube is the full length version. So it’s a little bit of a different version. 00;03;31;13 – 00;03;57;22 Mark Melnyk It’s a totally different version. So my view, my philosophy with the YouTube versions is, you know, I want people to be able to go to a an episode. Let’s say they’re going to start like watch and they want to see what Scott like lunch could really actually be like. And these documentaries showcase just that. So it’s the food, it’s the guides, it’s the wildlife, it’s the scenery, it’s the fishing, it’s the, you know, the bedding, all that sort of stuff. 00;03;57;22 – 00;04;17;24 Mark Melnyk So people can actually see what their trip might actually be like. And I get people, you know, I do. I do a number of the fly fishing shows over the wintertime and I get a lot of people that are fans of the show come up and say, hey, where are you going next? We like to follow you. We like to book our vacations based on where you’ve been, you know, kind of like that show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, right? 00;04;17;26 – 00;04;33;14 Mark Melnyk Guy Fieri You know, as soon as he does an episode on Joe’s Bistro in downtown Cincinnati, all of a sudden, all these loyal fans run to Joe’s Bistro. Right? And it’s so that’s kind of that’s kind of the it’s kind of the deal. We want people to be able to actually see what it’s going to be like. 00;04;33;19 – 00;04;40;10 Dave Right? Right. And then then the TV show is kind of more of a a curated version of that where you kind of get shorter. You get right to the point in 25 minutes. 00;04;40;17 – 00;04;51;28 Mark Melnyk Exactly. That’s it. Exactly. So, yeah, the full versions on YouTube and then the broadcast versions on TV and then the international versions get distributed throughout the year to different countries all over the world. 00;04;52;07 – 00;05;14;28 Dave Perfect. Well, that’s great, and we’ll cover a little bit the same thing. I also want to take it up a little level and just think of Saskatchewan. I mean, this will be my first time going there, so I’m really excited. You know, I think it’s I mean, Canada’s got all these amazing destinations, right? All all the provinces have places, but I think Saskatchewan is one that maybe you hear a lot about B.C. you hear a lot about Alberta, you hear a lot about the East, some of the Ontario. 00;05;14;28 – 00;05;22;14 Dave But I feel like Saskatchewan maybe. And what are the other in the middle? It doesn’t get quite as much love. What’s your take on that as far as all the provinces and comparing them? 00;05;22;24 – 00;05;51;14 Mark Melnyk Yeah, you know, it’s funny because the prairie Provinces, Alberta, Saskatchewan, in Manitoba, there’s a there’s a funny saying that, you know, you can watch your dog run away for days right, Because it’s just flat and it’s wheat fields and everything. But when you get into the north of those those provinces, you know, it is dense forest, it’s subarctic tundra, it’s tons of wildlife, tons of like not mountains, but rocky, hilly structures, tons and tons of lakes and rivers. 00;05;51;14 – 00;06;15;01 Mark Melnyk And some of them are quite large. So the prairie provinces really are underutilized in the fly fishing world, really. And they’ve got some underbelly, movable fisheries that, you know, just you never see. I just got back from northern Manitoba and, you know, it’s rare that you can go on a trip for a week, a week and a half, and literally not see a piece of trash anywhere, not see another person anywhere. 00;06;15;13 – 00;06;25;27 Mark Melnyk You know, the closest road is 250 miles away. So it’s those three provinces are quite unique in their makeup up north. And the fisheries are basically untouched. 00;06;26;05 – 00;06;36;17 Dave Untouched. Yeah. And and what it would be, you know, if you think about the let’s just keep it to the prairies for a little bit. And that includes you mentioned it’s Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba. Is that three or is there another one there? 00;06;36;21 – 00;06;52;02 Mark Melnyk No, that’s them in a nutshell. When you get into Ontario, Ontario was very much boreal forest, 250,000 lakes and rivers in Ontario. Most of Ontario is unloaded. So you’re getting there by floatplane, similar to Saskatchewan and Manitoba, for sure. 00;06;52;09 – 00;07;08;23 Dave Yeah. Okay. So that’s pretty much so you get the three big and out of those like what are the speeds? So Pike is one. So we’re heading to Scott Lake for Pike. That’s a famous fishery up there, right, because of the size and kind of on the surface and stuff. What are the other species, do you think, when you think of prairies that are the big ones out there? 00;07;08;29 – 00;07;33;26 Mark Melnyk Yes. So the species are obviously northern pike. There’s a fantastic like fishery that we can talk about a little bit later. Arctic grayling are prevalent up there. There’s some places that have Big Brook trout as well, which people don’t realize. You know, God’s lake in Manitoba has giant Burkhardt in it. You know, you’ve got whitefish, which are a ton of fun to catch, and they go bigger, like £15. 00;07;34;12 – 00;07;40;23 Mark Melnyk Yeah. So, you know, most of the predator species that people like to target on fly are and are in the prairie provinces for sure. 00;07;41;00 – 00;07;56;19 Dave Yep. Yep. So and Lake Tahoe obviously get huge as well. Northern Pike Arctic drilling. Well, let’s just zoom in on Scott Lake, because that’s, you know, right now we’re going there. We’ve got the winner who won the last event we did. I’m going to be heading up with him. And, you know, we’re all stoked about this is going to be big. 00;07;57;01 – 00;08;08;28 Dave Describe Scott Lake a little bit high level. You know, maybe we could go back to your video. We can definitely watch that. We’ll have links to the show notes so people can check it out. But just describe how Scott Lake is maybe different than some of the places out there. 00;08;08;28 – 00;08;33;29 Mark Melnyk So Scott Lake Lodge is is unique in the sense that they have not left a single leaf unturned when it comes to the service and the quality of the fishery that’s up there. You’ve got literally millions of hectares of fishable water you can get, you know, in Saskatchewan as well as up in the Northwest Territories. So they have they have access to dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of lakes. 00;08;34;11 – 00;08;57;12 Mark Melnyk So Scott Lake proper is a giant lake. It’s their home lake. The lodge is located on an island. So getting there, you know, you get to Saskatoon and then you take a float plane or a charter plane to a small town called Stoney Rapids. And then you take their float plane into the lodge, which if you’ve never been on a float plane before, that is just an absolute blast. 00;08;57;16 – 00;09;07;04 Dave Yeah, describe that. So this is something cool for me because I have never been I’ve been on some small planes and helicopters, which is amazing. But describe a float plane. What is that like being on a float plane? 00;09;07;12 – 00;09;37;09 Mark Melnyk So the two planes that are utilized in the north are called the de Havilland Otter and the Havilland Beaver. The Beaver is the smaller version of the otter. Those are literally the workhorses of an arc. They bring everything into the lodges up there, so they’re all on floats, which is really fun. So you’re piling put your headphones on, noise canceling because they are quite loud and you take off from the water, you fly generally quite low. 00;09;37;09 – 00;09;55;11 Mark Melnyk You’re always below the cloud line so you can see everything going in. It is an absolute matte. And one of the funny things, Dave, is, is when you when they fire up those engines and you get that, you know, you get that smell of gas in your nostrils. Oh, wow. And, you know, I get goose bumps just thinking about it. 00;09;55;11 – 00;10;14;04 Mark Melnyk You know, that it’s taking you on an adventure, which is super, super fun. So what’ll happen is you’re you’ll fly. It’s, you know, from Stoney Rapids to the Lodges is probably 20 to 30 minutes. So it’s a great flight you can see out of no matter what seat you’ve got, you can see out a window if you can ride shotgun. 00;10;14;04 – 00;10;43;23 Mark Melnyk That’s super fun. And then, you know, you’ll do a circle around around the lodge to allow the pilot to figure out which way the wind is blowing. Then you’ll land into the wind, your taxi to the lodge and the guys are there to meet you. And the adventure begins. It’s it’s a truly remarkable experience. And I have to tell you, out of every single plane ever built, whether it’s a commercial plane, like a 747 or a Cessna that seats two people hands down the beaver and the otter. 00;10;43;23 – 00;10;57;18 Mark Melnyk The beaver, especially, is this, in my opinion, the safest aircraft you could ever get into? And the great thing about it is that if there’s a problem, which they’re more often than not, isn’t, you know, you can put those planes down almost anywhere. 00;10;57;23 – 00;10;58;18 Dave Oh, you can. Right. 00;10;59;03 – 00;11;05;25 Mark Melnyk So they’ve got a very short takeoff length to get into the air. So if there ever is a problem, you can land anywhere. 00;11;05;25 – 00;11;07;23 Dave And water is not an issue right out of water. 00;11;08;01 – 00;11;12;07 Mark Melnyk An issue up there. Exactly. So they are literally the safest plane plane going, in my opinion. 00;11;12;15 – 00;11;30;06 Dave Yeah. There’s some things that come to my mind. I always go back to, you know, we just recently had Tom McGuane on the podcast and he was we were talking about John Gear and Marilyn John was on the podcast before he passed away. He described being in one of those beavers and being in it, and it was taken off from the lake and he looked like they were going to fly right into the trees. 00;11;30;06 – 00;11;43;17 Dave And right at the last minute to him, it was like they pulled up and they were good. But, you know, it wasn’t even close, You know, it was just that he hadn’t been on one Roy at the time, do you ever get in those situations where you’re kind of like it’s new and you’re feeling like, Oh, wow, we’re kind of close, Are we okay, That sort of thing? 00;11;43;17 – 00;12;09;14 Mark Melnyk Yeah. I mean, it’s funny that so many of the pilots are young, are young pilots, and they take safety first and foremost. So if there’s a situation where they don’t think that there’s any chance that they might not be able to get off the water, you’re going to wait it out. So there are there are situations you know, I had one situation where we had a hot pocket going around a thunderstorm and we dropped 500 feet around and it was like, okay, let’s put it down. 00;12;09;14 – 00;12;19;00 Mark Melnyk And we put it down on a small lake in northern Ontario. We did the storm out and then where we went again. So they’re they’re super safe and and there are a lot of fun to fly in. 00;12;19;07 – 00;12;37;05 Dave Well, this is something I’ve been thinking with the there’s a show out there. You’ll appreciate this because you obviously do video and movies and stuff. But it’s the Madison, right? It’s this new TV show. It’s about you know, it’s kind of it’s Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell. It’s it’s I listen to I watched it because I had a number of guests that said, man, you got to watch this thing. 00;12;37;05 – 00;12;54;22 Dave It’s a great program. But, I mean, you know, I guess I don’t want to be a spoiler, but there’s this plane crash and it’s pretty intense. It’s pretty intense. It’s pretty quick and stuff like that. But I think that’s that’s always the fear, right? Planes, a lot of people have that fear your it feels like, you know, all the car driving in your car is way more dangerous than flying in a plane. 00;12;54;22 – 00;12;56;08 Dave Right. Whether it’s a beaver or whatever. 00;12;56;15 – 00;13;07;15 Mark Melnyk 100% 100%. Those like I said, those planes are bulletproof. And they’re again, just so much fun to be in. I would check your fear at the door when you get on because really you don’t have anything to be concerned about. 00;13;07;27 – 00;13;19;15 Dave All right. Awesome. So that’s exciting. So we’ve got the the float plane when you land in there, what does that take us to Scott Lake again? Well, what is that like when you jump off the plane that describe that first day and then into the first day of fishing? 00;13;19;24 – 00;13;42;26 Mark Melnyk Yeah. So when you land, it’s got Lake Lodge. The team is there to meet you. And you know, Jason Hamilton, who’s the co-owner and manager, will be there. Shake your hand, offer your cocktail or drink and show you to your cabin. They take care of all of the unloading. Everything. All your stuff is delivered to your cabin. And when you get into the cabin, they’re generally double occupancy. 00;13;43;13 – 00;13;54;21 Mark Melnyk One big room with a bathroom super comfortable, They upgrade them every the cabins, every single year. The beds are super comfortable. Every cabin has a lake. Look at lake view. 00;13;54;29 – 00;14;01;04 Dave Yeah, because it’s not a big island Right. You’re on it thing that’s fairly I mean you could look around and it’s I don’t know how big it is, but it’s, it’s not huge. 00;14;01;10 – 00;14;17;24 Mark Melnyk It’s not huge at all. And they’ve designed it so that with all of the cabins that are on the island, they’re all still extremely private. So you know, you might be able to see your cabin to your left or right, but you’re not going to hear anything. Oh, cool. It’s yeah, they’ve left a lot of the foliage up to hide the other cabins. 00;14;17;24 – 00;14;19;26 Mark Melnyk So you really feel like you’re isolated there. 00;14;19;26 – 00;14;28;15 Dave And you are. I mean, when you look at a map where it is, you’re literally about is I mean, you think about in the world, right? There’s you’re probably just about as isolated as you could be anywhere. 00;14;29;00 – 00;14;38;04 Mark Melnyk Yeah, absolutely. 100%. Like I said, they’ve got millions of acres of land and lakes that they can fish. And there’s literally nothing up there at all. 00;14;38;16 – 00;14;55;12 Dave Not so cool. What is the you know, we had a couple of questions. Katherine shout out to Katherine in in our community. She was asking about the best line for Pike. She’s going to be fishing for Pike and you guys on your show, I know you get into lots of tips and tricks and stuff. I know you’ve got Tom is on there a lot. 00;14;55;21 – 00;14;58;09 Dave Do you talk gear a lot on the on your show? 00;14;58;09 – 00;15;18;21 Mark Melnyk We do. We don’t we don’t have any secrets with the new fly for or everything that we do in success and failure we dissect so you know for northern Pike you’re looking at an eight weight or nine weight rod, you’re going to want a floating line, an intermediate line, and probably bringing a sink tip as well, depending on the time of year. 00;15;19;05 – 00;15;43;05 Mark Melnyk Right now, everything is super shallow. The fish are in a foot to three feet of water. They’re either just priest bond or just post spawn, depending on the lake. When I was up in northern Manitoba last week, we saw one fish that had spawning scars on it all. The other fish that we caught were clean as anything, so we were definitely pre spawn the lake that we did see the fish with some spawning scars on. 00;15;43;05 – 00;16;07;13 Mark Melnyk It was a very technical lake, a very dark lake, a very small lake and a very shallow lake. So it was 66 degrees in that lake, whereas the main lake was in the forties. So you want to be able to come and cover the water column with your fly Presentations of Floating line. Obviously is is my favorite simply because there is nothing more violent in fly fishing than watching in Northern Pike. 00;16;08;02 – 00;16;18;14 Mark Melnyk It is just 100% pure violence. And to be able to watch that unfold in front of you with a floating line is magical. It’s absolutely magical. 00;16;18;17 – 00;16;41;20 Dave This episode is brought to you by ABC Rig Adventure Vehicle Concepts out of Colorado. These guys build next level adventure vans designed to help you explore farther and stay out longer. Are you dreaming of a full van build? Or maybe you just need the best aluminum cabinets and storage for your DIY rig? AVC Rig makes it easy to turn your vehicle into the ultimate mobile base camp. 00;16;41;25 – 00;17;06;06 Dave You can check them out right now at ABC. Rig com That’s a v c rig. Dakar Trial Roots by Onyx is built for fly anglers who want better intel Without spending hours digging for the information, you’ll get access to public land maps, stream access points, regulations and even road and trail maps all in one place. It’s become my go to app for scouting new trips. 00;17;06;06 – 00;17;27;16 Dave You can check them out right now. Go to West by swing dot com slash trout roots and download the app today we’ve had a number of casting instructors. We’ve talked about lines and there’s always some confusion around lines, you know what I mean? Like the you got the even within the single hand you got the long tapered long belly sort of stuff, you got shorter tapers, more aggressive. 00;17;27;23 – 00;17;36;03 Dave Do you know, is there a line type or a style that’s good because you’re casting kind of some big fliers out there, you know, you’d recommend or a, you know, brand, that sort of stuff. 00;17;36;12 – 00;17;55;25 Mark Melnyk Yeah. So we use scientific anglers, infinite lines that are coated, so they do shoot a little bit better than than some of the uncoated lines and a weight forward or weight forward taper. You know, I was I was throwing lines that have a 35 foot taper to a 45 foot taper. You do have the opportunity to be windy up there. 00;17;55;25 – 00;18;03;02 Mark Melnyk So you really need that that weight forward line to be able to turn over those bigger flies. Yeah. So we go say all day. 00;18;03;11 – 00;18;19;29 Dave Yeah, yeah. We love our say too there. They have great stuff and all the brands have good, you know, good stuff. So wait for it. So you want something that’s a little aggressive to turn those flies over to punch into it. And then you also mentioned intermediate and a sink tab on the sink tips. Is this a kind of a lighter like a type three sort of thing, or do you want something? 00;18;20;04 – 00;18;26;11 Dave I guess like depending when you’re there, we’re going to be there. Sounds like they’re going to be pretty high in the column, so maybe we won’t need a super heavy sink line. 00;18;26;23 – 00;18;47;01 Mark Melnyk Yeah, no, you won’t. I mean, Piker are notoriously aggressive by nature, and if they want something, they’re going to come and get it. So the sink tip, if things are negative and the fish are being jerks, throw your sink tip on and and fish really slow fish super slow. You’ll be surprised at Scott Lake with the size of flies that they throw. 00;18;47;14 – 00;19;08;16 Mark Melnyk They don’t throw a lot of big flies there. They throw like 2 to 4 inch flies and a lot of a lot of natural colors. So browns, olives, blacks, that kind of thing. And you know what, Dave? I’m never a subscriber to Bright Fly Bright Day or Dark Fly Bright, you know, that kind of stuff. Again, Northern Pike are opportunistic. 00;19;08;26 – 00;19;25;00 Mark Melnyk They simply lie in wait for something that some other prey to make a mistake, and that’s when they’re going to jump. So yeah, I mean, it’s it’s as technical as you want to make it, but really you could go as basic as you want with a simple floating line and a weighted fly, and you’re going to see success. 00;19;25;07 – 00;19;29;00 Dave If I and the flies you’re imitating or just kind of other like bait fish that are up in the area. 00;19;29;08 – 00;19;49;09 Mark Melnyk Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you’ve got Whitefish, Cisco, Burbank, those kind of things. That’s why those natural colors work so well. And Scott Lake, by description is an extremely clear lake. So even if you are sinking that that sent tip line, you are still able to spot fish and cast to them in ten 1250 oh. 00;19;49;09 – 00;19;49;28 Dave Oh cool. 00;19;49;28 – 00;19;52;04 Mark Melnyk Of water. Yeah. It’s it’s remarkable. 00;19;52;08 – 00;20;00;18 Dave Wow. Wow. And the cool thing too is that some of the fish are pretty decent size here right up at the lake. There’s some like good I don’t know what what is the big pike in northern Pike? 00;20;00;25 – 00;20;28;29 Mark Melnyk Yes. So I judge Pike size not by weight, but by inches. So anything over 40 inches in Canada is deemed to be a trophy. I know Manitoba’s 41. I know. I think Saskatchewan is 40, Ontario is 40. So anything over 40 inches is considered a master. Anglerfish or a trophy fish. We’ve been in situations where we’ve been into a thick population of pike and we’re pulling flies away from 38 and 39 because. 00;20;29;03 – 00;20;29;24 Dave Oh really? 00;20;29;25 – 00;20;37;27 Mark Melnyk Oh yeah, because, you know, my big my biggest northern is 45 and three quarter inches in Saskatchewan and they catch them over 50. 00;20;38;00 – 00;20;53;19 Dave They do. They do. All right. So they’re they’re almost getting up to the size of of Muskie. Right. That’s a cool thing because you’ve got the this Muskie which is a great species as well. But the difference is, is that Muskie are known to be really hard to catch. You know, Pike Northern Pike are a little bit easier like you can get some numbers right of pike up. 00;20;53;19 – 00;21;09;08 Mark Melnyk Here 100%. I mean you can have dozen two dozen fish days. That’s not unheard of. Whereas, you know, they say the Muskie is the fish of 10,000 casts. You know, I’ve caught five in my life. So, you know, it’s and I’ve got thousands of northerns. 00;21;09;08 – 00;21;09;25 Dave That’s crazy. 00;21;09;27 – 00;21;37;20 Mark Melnyk What’s cool about that is to nerd out on a little bit. Pike spawn first, Muskie spawn after in the spring. So as soon as those pike are out of their fry stage, as soon as their sacks are gone, they’re feeding on things, whether it’s zooplankton or little minnows or little bugs or what have you. But when those muskie are out of their eggs situation and even in their exact situation, they’re vulnerable to predation by Northern Pike. 00;21;38;02 – 00;21;52;07 Mark Melnyk So simply from that biology of being born later in the season, the pike have a head start on the muskies and they will eat muskie fry. And maybe that’s maybe that’s why there’s there’s fewer populations of Muskie and they’re much harder to catch. 00;21;52;18 – 00;22;01;18 Dave All right. That’s crazy. So they come out soon. And so like you said, right now, as we’re talking, it’s mid-June and so when is the peak of the spawning for northern Pike up there? 00;22;01;27 – 00;22;31;10 Mark Melnyk It all depends on water temperature. You know, you know, as soon as the ice goes out, it’s on. So you’re going at a great time where those fish will still be in shallow water, warming up, digesting hunting, but they will retreat to the deeper ledges and they’re still catchable into July and August, being up north and Saskatchewan near far enough north that the weather, the lakes will not drop to temperatures of high sixties mid seventies. 00;22;31;20 – 00;22;48;12 Mark Melnyk So they won’t they don’t need to go deep. They don’t need to escape that warm water. So yeah, it’s a great fishery and you know, fishing. Scott Lake and in the fall we were there in September a couple of years ago and we were catching big northerns on top of our baits. So it’s a fishery that goes all season. 00;22;48;20 – 00;22;53;27 Dave Yeah. And so in the top water, what does that describe what you’re fishing there with that dry line. 00;22;54;05 – 00;23;17;22 Mark Melnyk Yeah. So the set up for the dry fry or top water bite for Northern is, you know, from your fly line I generally run about three feet of £30 fluorocarbon and then I run I tie that with a triple surgeon’s not a probably 18 to 20 inches of essay bite wire and that’s in the 20 to £30 range. 00;23;17;22 – 00;23;39;06 Mark Melnyk And the reason why you’re putting on 20 inches is as you’re changing flies, your bite wire is going to get smaller and smaller and smaller. When you get down to a foot, 12 inches or so, you’re going to want to consider swapping that out for a longer piece of bite wire. Then you tie your fly on with a gunshot or loop, whatever you like best and have at it. 00;23;39;06 – 00;23;43;22 Mark Melnyk And, you know, I’ve seen 40, 42 inch pike come clean out of the water eating poppers. 00;23;43;27 – 00;23;44;14 Dave No kidding. 00;23;44;23 – 00;23;47;04 Mark Melnyk Yeah. Yeah, they’re super, super aggressive. 00;23;47;04 – 00;23;49;00 Dave And what are they? What are the poppers imitating? 00;23;49;12 – 00;24;07;18 Mark Melnyk So in the springtime, the poppers will imitate anything from frog patterns, baby ducks, that kind of thing. And then in in the in the fall time, it’s just, you know, anything that’s making pushing a lot of water and making a lot of noise to grab their attention and they’ll they’ll jump all over. 00;24;07;21 – 00;24;13;02 Dave Did you guys get, you know, on the new fly fish or do you have some good video of of eats on the top? 00;24;13;18 – 00;24;21;06 Mark Melnyk We absolutely do. If you if you search on our YouTube page Pike eats there’s montages of Pike just going to go into town. 00;24;21;12 – 00;24;44;25 Dave We’ll have to do that. We’ll have to put it in the show notes. We’ll have some links out to those Pike eats and then maybe, maybe even on social, maybe we can get a video or two to share out there. That’d be cool. 100%. Get something there. Awesome. So that’s top water. This is going to be awesome. And obviously I feel like with fly fishing, it’s the ultimate, you know, whether you’re fish in a dry fly in a montana stream on the surface or it feels like, you know, we’re talking about top water here. 00;24;44;25 – 00;24;57;09 Dave And I just go to it. It seems like the the on the surface is the ultimate no matter the species. Right. Trout fishing, dry flies, you know, whatever that do you kind of find that that some of your best shows are those ones where you see in the fish on the top. 00;24;57;21 – 00;25;07;14 Mark Melnyk 100%, 100%. Like I said, there’s nothing more violent than a pike eat. And they’ve you know, at different times of the year you’ve got opportunities to target like trout as well, that commercial. 00;25;07;17 – 00;25;08;01 Dave Right. 00;25;08;10 – 00;25;24;14 Mark Melnyk Right. So we’ve actually caught late in the fall on poppers as well, which is which is a lot of fun. But you’re right, there’s nothing like whether it’s Atlantic salmon, cutthroat northern pike muskies. You know, there’s nothing like witnessing a dry fly or a popper or top order. 00;25;24;14 – 00;25;41;25 Dave Top or. Exactly. Yeah. And you get in the weight, like you said, eight or nine and that same thing. We’re going for Atlantic salmon to hear the ice soon. Actually, even before this other trip, we’re going to be I was like, all right, eight weight or nine weight or seven weight. And I decided to go with like a seven and nine just because I have tons of eight weights and stuff. 00;25;42;01 – 00;25;44;29 Dave What’s your take on this? Is it eight or nine better? Is it depend. 00;25;45;14 – 00;25;46;22 Mark Melnyk For for the audience? 00;25;46;22 – 00;25;47;17 Dave Yeah, for northerns. 00;25;48;11 – 00;25;49;23 Mark Melnyk I would bring both, bro. 00;25;49;24 – 00;25;50;14 Dave Really? Both. 00;25;50;24 – 00;26;20;23 Mark Melnyk Yeah. 100%. Reason being the eight weight will be great for your your streamer presentations because Scott Lake generally uses smaller flies. I mean they will throw big flies but they generally like to use smaller flies in the springtime. The eight weight will get it done on a nice day. You know, average size flies. It’s perfect. But when the wind kicks up or you’re throwing poppers or you know, you’ve got larger flies, you’re going to want that nine just because the wind will be the variable. 00;26;20;23 – 00;26;33;23 Mark Melnyk In that case, a lot of people think, you know, big rod, big fish. I don’t believe that to be the case. I believe that if you have adverse conditions, namely wind and larger flies, that’s when you want to drop it to a nine. 00;26;34;06 – 00;26;51;21 Dave To nine way. Okay, cool. Yeah. And that’s what I decided to go. And I just I’ve been doing I’ve never done this before, Roy, but I’ve got a casting instructor, right. And pardon from Sexy Loops. We’ve been doing some fun stuff and he was coaching me and I’ve been asked him about lines and he said he really loves the the scientific anglers the line. 00;26;51;27 – 00;27;10;06 Dave I think it’s the mastery expert distance line and the difference with that line is it’s a little bit more longer. I think the head length on it is more like, I don’t know what it is 50 or 60 feet versus say the 36. So it’s it’s almost more of like a double taper type line. But he says it casts overall in just a lot of different conditions. 00;27;10;06 – 00;27;18;28 Dave It’s good. So that’s kind of the line I got I’m using for Atlantic salmon and I’m kind of thinking that line would probably work well for Northern Pike as well, I’m guessing, right? 00;27;19;05 – 00;27;26;12 Mark Melnyk Absolutely. And, you know, one of the things I keep saying to myself, literally every trip I do is the fish don’t care what your cast look like. They really don’t know. 00;27;26;18 – 00;27;30;24 Dave Okay. So they know. So this is different. So Atlantic salmon, they do care, right? That’s a different deal. 00;27;31;02 – 00;27;33;10 Mark Melnyk They do? Yeah. They do wear efficient clinics. 00;27;33;22 – 00;27;39;11 Dave We’re heading out to Mountain Waters Resort in Newfoundland, Portland Creek, or, you know, Lee Lee Wolfe’s old lodge. 00;27;39;11 – 00;27;43;07 Mark Melnyk Oh, nice, Nice. I’m hitting the pin. Where? Next week in Labrador. 00;27;43;09 – 00;27;50;20 Dave Oh, in Labrador. Oh, wow. See? I don’t know. I haven’t been there, but that’s. Yeah, you’re hitting like remote, right? Is this one of those lodges that’s way out there? 00;27;51;01 – 00;28;07;21 Mark Melnyk No, actually, it’s to drive to lodge, which is great. Oh, which is fantastic. Cool. Yeah. And they’ve got a bunch of opportunities to fish Atlantics Big Brook trout, Sea run Brook trout and charter flights for Arctic char. We’re too early for char, but we’re going to be doing burpees in the Lennox. 00;28;08;03 – 00;28;20;22 Dave Well, and on this you’re mentioned with Scott Lake, the lake trout. So that’s another interesting thing because I feel like lake trout always that species. That’s really hard because they’re deep. But what you’re saying is these lake trout are coming into the shallow water as well out here. 00;28;20;29 – 00;28;40;00 Mark Melnyk Yeah, they do. They come shallow in the springtime and in the fall. In the spring they come shallow chasing bait. The water is cold. They can tolerate, you know, bright conditions for a certain amount of time. And they will they will come up and feed in shallow water, you know, like up to four feet kind of thing. So it’s got lake. 00;28;40;00 – 00;29;02;27 Mark Melnyk You can sight catch them as well. But in the fall time they come up shallow to spawn. So we actually did a film called Chasing Leviathans on that fall fishery and we went the full moon in September at the Lodge was closed to guests and Scott Lake wanted to do a trial to see if it was a viable fishery for to open up, to stay open longer. 00;29;03;22 – 00;29;24;05 Mark Melnyk And I’m here to tell you, man, oh my gosh, it is insane. I mean, we’re talking 100, 100 fish days and you’ll you’ll have situations where, you know, you’ll throw your fly in, strip at twice a lake. Charlie, eat it. And as you’re bringing that lake, Chad and there’ll be seven other fish behind it, kind of in a daisy chain kind of deal, like they’re just thick as thieves there. 00;29;24;16 – 00;29;43;02 Mark Melnyk And at Scott Lake, they’ve got a I think they still have this program where if you catch a 100 inches a fish over the three species, you enter the century club. So, so Northern Pike Lake and Arctic Grayling. So if you catch two forties in a 20 inch Grayling you’re in the Century Club. When I was there, I missed it by a quarter inch. 00;29;43;09 – 00;29;54;25 Dave Oh, you did. You did. Wow. Two, four days, the two forties and the 20 would do it. That would be that’ll be pretty doable because the, the pike you could definitely get one. And then also lake trout. I mean they get huge too. 00;29;54;25 – 00;30;00;10 Mark Melnyk I guess they do a master angler Lake Charters 35 or 36 inches and we were catching them over 40. 00;30;00;17 – 00;30;05;10 Dave No kidding. Four That’s a I mean how big is 40. That’s so you’re talking like £20 or something like that. 00;30;05;10 – 00;30;08;16 Mark Melnyk At least. At least. So you want your nine weight for that for sure. 00;30;08;17 – 00;30;09;08 Dave Wow. Right. 00;30;09;15 – 00;30;29;01 Mark Melnyk And they fight so differently than Northerns Northern when in northern fights in cold water. They’ll give you a couple of runs I’ve had pike take me in in my backing but once they do those two runs is kind of over and, you know, you kind of bring them in and handle and then let them go. But like trout, it’s like fighting a mack truck. 00;30;29;06 – 00;30;40;20 Mark Melnyk It just they don’t quit, especially in shallow water. They don’t quit. They run, you know, in deeper water, they’ll sound. But in shallow water, they they do multiple runs and they’re 100% fun to catch on fire. 00;30;41;04 – 00;30;46;01 Dave That’s cool. What are you guys going out on the boats at Scott Lake? What? What types of boats are they running out on? 00;30;46;16 – 00;31;09;00 Mark Melnyk So the boats that they run are aluminum tiller. Tiller run boats with, I believe, either 40 or 60 horsepower Yamaha. They all have casting decks on them. And the the junk in the boat is minimized. So, as you know, fly lanes have a way of finding everything to get tangled on. And these boats are super clean. They’re really safe, they’re high. 00;31;09;00 – 00;31;27;26 Mark Melnyk GUNNELS So you’re staying drier than most, which is nice. And, and they’ve got boats on all their fire, like so you’re not, you know, you’re not charging boats anywhere if you choose to do a fly at lake, which is highly recommended at Scott. The boats are they’re ready to go. So all they do come wintertime is bring the engines and flip them over. 00;31;27;26 – 00;31;32;22 Mark Melnyk So the bears the bears don’t have their way with them. And and Yeah. So you’re good to go on. 00;31;32;22 – 00;31;33;19 Dave On good to go. 00;31;33;19 – 00;31;34;26 Mark Melnyk The many likes that they have. 00;31;35;06 – 00;31;46;11 Dave Just go. Well, let’s take it up higher level. So we talked about Scott Lake. That’s up in the north that’s kind of almost to the north. Well it’s all the way, right? It’s all the way. And we’re going to be fishing in the province up north, right? The Northwest Territories. 00;31;46;17 – 00;31;50;11 Mark Melnyk Yeah. You’re more than likely fish. Saskatchewan and N.w.t., for sure. 00;31;50;18 – 00;32;05;13 Dave Yeah. Okay. And what is it again? Back to the prairies. So, Alberta, Saskatchewan, we’ve talked quite a bit. The Bow River obviously is a very famous river out of kind of Calgary in that area. What is when you look at Saskatchewan, what are some of the areas you guys have been to or maybe highlight some of this week? 00;32;05;14 – 00;32;08;18 Dave Because there’s not really even a city like a big city in Saskatchewan, right? 00;32;09;01 – 00;32;30;02 Mark Melnyk No, there’s Saskatoon, which is sort of the capital, I believe. And once you get north, it’s all just hunting and fishing lodges and there’s some Aboriginal communities up there as well. And you know, Scott Lake as well as other lodges up there, work hand in hand with our native Canadian friends to make sure that, you know, fisheries are looked after and that sort of thing. 00;32;30;02 – 00;32;37;00 Mark Melnyk But really, Dave, it’s all just plain access and pick a lake and go fishing right? 00;32;37;00 – 00;32;48;22 Dave That’s it. So fly around and hit. So there’s not a ton of you got Scott Lake up here. But as far as I mean, if somebody wasn’t going to a lodge, let’s just say they wanted to go to Saskatchewan and check things out like a DIY, Is that doable out there? 00;32;49;05 – 00;33;10;03 Mark Melnyk I think it is. I think it is. I think in the south there are trout rivers that you can access. You know, I haven’t had the pleasure of fishing. I’ve only ever fished in in the far north of Scotland, but the prairie provinces, you know, in Manitoba, they’ve got, you know, the parklands region, which are a bunch of a bunch of lakes that have a variety species of trout in them. 00;33;10;23 – 00;33;30;07 Mark Melnyk Alberta has got a ton of rivers that are that are famous for trout fishing. Yeah. So but the lodges in Saskatchewan, whether it’s Elk Island Lodge, which is a big lake trout and Northern Pike Lodge, as well as brook trout, you know, you’ve got Milton Lake Lodge, which has Grayling and big like Chard and Pike as well. There’s a number of them up there. 00;33;30;07 – 00;33;34;21 Mark Melnyk I think there’s there’s like 2500 different lodges in Saskatchewan. 00;33;34;21 – 00;33;36;28 Dave Also Saskatchewan has a ton of lodges, I. 00;33;36;28 – 00;33;37;12 Mark Melnyk Believe so. 00;33;37;12 – 00;33;52;14 Dave Yeah. Yeah, right. Okay. So that’s and then another species that we haven’t really talked about. So we talked about Northern Pike, we talked about Lakeshore is Walleye that comes up occasionally. You know, we hear more like on the gear fishing because it seems like walleye are harder to catch. Have you done walleye on the fly? 00;33;52;23 – 00;34;33;27 Mark Melnyk I have. I have. I actually I didn’t I didn’t submit it, but I actually had a world record. I caught a world record on fly fishing, walleye, Walleye this time of year are still shallow, which, which are great. So anything up to 15 feet, you can target walleye. One of the setups that I really, really find effective for fishing walleye is a full sinking line with a short leader like a four foot, you know, two ex-leader, and then you put on like a black bunny feature or a even like a women’s slider, something dark, something lychee kind of thing, and you douse that in float and those that fly and float. 00;34;33;27 – 00;34;52;00 Mark Melnyk And so what happens is you cast out your sinking line brings the fly down, but the floating keeps the fly a foot or so off the bottom. And that’s the strike zone for walleye. No matter where you’re targeting them. So even if you’re fishing 50 feet, you know, sure, you have to count your line down, but, you know, it’s totally doable. 00;34;52;00 – 00;34;57;23 Mark Melnyk But with that floating raising that fly up off the bottom, it’s a deadly technique for walleye. 00;34;58;02 – 00;35;05;09 Dave Okay. So and and are there is walleye is species that spread throughout kind of the prairies area or can you find the walleye? 00;35;05;20 – 00;35;29;12 Mark Melnyk You can find walleye all over the prairies. Saskatchewan Manitoba are famous for Big Walleyes in Lake Winnipeg. There there’s some they call it their famous species of walleye called the greenback. And they get absolutely huge over 30 inches kind of thing. You know, Ontario’s got tons of Walleye Lakes, Saskatchewan. But the funny thing is, is, you know, Scott Lake Lodge is kind of the Northern Territory for walleye. 00;35;29;20 – 00;35;33;16 Mark Melnyk Once you get in the Northwest Territories, you’re not going to find many. In my experience. 00;35;33;16 – 00;35;34;23 Dave So Scott Lake has walleye. 00;35;35;18 – 00;35;40;08 Mark Melnyk Yes, I believe they do. They have access to all. I I’m not sure that there’s actually walleye in Scott Lake proper. 00;35;42;06 – 00;36;03;20 Dave Check out Jackson Hole fly company today premium fly gear straight to your door without the premium price Jackson Hole fly company designs and builds their own fly rods, reels, flies and gear quality you can trust at prices that let you fish more and spend less. Whether you’re picking up a fly rod for the first time or guiding every day, they’ve got what you need. 00;36;04;03 – 00;36;25;23 Dave Check them out. Right now. That’s Jackson Hole Flight Company Dot Jackson Hole Flight Company. Com So that’s another species, I think Northern Pike Lake trout I mean these are three that are pretty killer. I mean northern pike you find more areas around the world but I feel like walleye and lake trout are the ones that are really hard to really find. 00;36;25;23 – 00;36;37;21 Dave You know, there’s only a few select places that you can really have good action with The fly, I think on those is in time of year, right? You said the spring. The key is to get them when they’re up out of the depth because when they’re down deep, you’re not really catching them on a fly, right? 00;36;37;27 – 00;36;58;22 Mark Melnyk Yeah, you’re right. Yeah. We got lots of walleye last week up at Anglers North Sewell River Lodge. We caught lots of big walleye. What was interesting was we were targeting Pike. So if you can picture this, we’re in a bay that is rocky and forested on two sides. On the left, in the right and at the foot of the bay is a beach. 00;36;59;09 – 00;37;23;07 Mark Melnyk So the sand comes out quite far from the shoreline. So on the edge of the sand, we were catching trophy pike on the sand, we were catching walleye. So those pike were positioned, waiting for those walleye to leave the shallow water on the sand so that they were they could ambush them there. So as we were catching walleye, you know, we’re having Pike coming and swiping at the walleye. 00;37;23;23 – 00;37;31;28 Mark Melnyk But then if we wanted to target a big pike, if we saw a big Northern, you know, they were off the sand in the darker, deeper water, it was just so, so, so fun. 00;37;32;06 – 00;37;38;26 Dave God, that’s great. So basically, yes. So there’s these places. And where is GINGRAS Where was that located? 00;37;39;04 – 00;37;51;07 Mark Melnyk Gingras is in northern Manitoba. It’s sort of on the same level as Scott Lake. It’s up there quite far. And it’s it’s a wonderful fishery. I’ve lost count on how many trophy pike we caught there. 00;37;51;11 – 00;37;53;28 Dave Oh, you did? So lots of pike, lots of walleye lake trout to. 00;37;54;04 – 00;38;17;23 Mark Melnyk Lake trout as well. Yeah. Got a 34 inch lake trout on fly last week and then the grayling fishing. I mean, Grayling is such an underutilized species in Canada. And there if anybody, if people enjoy fishing for trout, there’s literally no difference between fishing for brown trout and fishing for Arctic grayling. They behave the same, they eat the same. 00;38;18;07 – 00;38;31;01 Mark Melnyk You know, they live in rivers. They’re arguably the most beautiful fish going. We call them the sailfish of the north, and they can get quite large. I mean, the lodge record at Anglers is I think, 24 and a half inches. So two for Grayling. 00;38;31;05 – 00;38;41;25 Dave Wow. 24 inch grayling, Right. That’s unbelievable. Yeah, I think a grayling, I’m always thinking 17 inches 1670. Right. Somewhere in there like that you had 24. It would be. That’s amazing. 00;38;42;01 – 00;39;02;01 Mark Melnyk Yeah. And then they eat just like turd. I mean, you can throw humpies and stimulators and mayflies and things like that. We had trouble with Grayling last week simply because all those white had come shallow. So they were, they were hiding, they were fearing for their lives. But the grayling fishing at Scott Lake is, you know, use the old cliche is world class. 00;39;02;01 – 00;39;08;22 Mark Melnyk It’s it’s a flier. So your flier walk 5 minutes to the mouth of a river and outflow and it’s on, it’s on. 00;39;09;00 – 00;39;26;02 Dave It’s on. Give us a highlight. You mentioned you guys are working on season 26 of the show. Can you give us a highlight of maybe some places what you’re going to be fishing is going to be similar to what you guys have been doing 25 and because you’re getting not there 26 years, that’s amazing. But what do you have coming this next season? 00;39;26;08 – 00;39;44;25 Mark Melnyk Yeah, so I’m really excited for the season, you know. But five years ago Rosenbauer and I started going down to Chile and, you know, it’s from door to door. It’s it’s a long trip. You know, it’s ten hour flight to San Diego from where I live. And then two and a half hour, three hour flight to Obama, say to where they pick you up. 00;39;44;25 – 00;40;07;26 Mark Melnyk And then either it’s an hour drive to the larger it’s or it’s a five hour drive to a different launch or it’s a helicopter ride to their third launch. And I got to thinking, you know, if we’re flying all that way down to Chile every year, why can’t we go to Europe? Europe’s closer, you know, So I’m working on trying to find locations in northern Italy, the Dolomites for marble trout, looking for Iceland for browns. 00;40;07;26 – 00;40;40;14 Mark Melnyk And and Atlantic’s looking at Germany for Big Northern Pike as well, looking at Ireland for Atlantic. I’m going to Labrador, as I said next week to target Atlantic’s We have a Fallbrook chart show in Newfoundland, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and we’ve got an all indigenous owned outfit out of Terrace, B.C. that we’re working with this year, fishing for steelhead and things that those sort of an address fish that come into into the cranberry system. 00;40;40;14 – 00;40;49;18 Mark Melnyk In the Dene system, they’re looking to head back to Casper, Wyoming, fishing with the ugly bug where Blake Jackson Yeah. So we’re we’re all we’re all over the place. 00;40;49;18 – 00;41;06;09 Dave Yeah, you are. You are. And you’re expanding. It’s just cool. And you’re heading working on Europe, which is I think that’s something we’ve thought about too, that it feels like there’s places all over Europe that you could hear. You mentioned a few down throughout, but there’s also, yeah, the northern Finland, right? We’ve talked about that recently. Finland, Sweden. 00;41;06;09 – 00;41;20;05 Dave There’s some great fishing up there as well. And public waters too. That’s something I you hear about Norway and some of these places which are pay to play but there’s actually some places you can go and again kind of DIY, you know, in Finland and stuff like that. And in Atlantic salmon it’s it’s pretty amazing. 00;41;20;20 – 00;41;43;06 Mark Melnyk Yeah. And you know, speaking of Atlantic salmon, I’ve never fished Europe for Atlantic salmon, but I’ve got a friend who owns a lodge in Norway on the Gold River. And, you know, if they catch if they catch a couple of fish a week, it’s a good week. But here in Canada, Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, I mean, my best day is is 11 fish really alone? 00;41;43;06 – 00;41;46;01 Dave 11 fish in Newfoundland and Labrador? 00;41;46;05 – 00;41;47;27 Mark Melnyk That was in Labrador. 00;41;48;01 – 00;41;55;12 Dave Labrador. Wow. Yeah. So you got so 11 fish in. Was that a fishing like mornings, evenings or like how many sessions? 00;41;55;12 – 00;42;05;24 Mark Melnyk Just all day. Just all day now. Now, I will tell you in all honesty, that in Newfoundland and Labrador there is a rule where you’re allowed to release three fish a day and then you’re done. 00;42;06;00 – 00;42;07;27 Dave Oh, that’s it. Yeah, that’s a great rule. 00;42;08;04 – 00;42;26;25 Mark Melnyk It is a good rule. But what we do, because we’re making television is after we release our second fish, we cut the hooks off our, our dry flies and all we do is shoot eats. Right. So with the super slow motion camera, you know, you get these these giant Atlantic’s coming up to eat a dirty bomber or a swung fly. 00;42;27;06 – 00;42;46;19 Mark Melnyk And to get those eats in slow motion is is really remarkable. But my point in talking about Europe versus Canada is our returns of Atlantic salmon are still very good. I mean, Atlantic salmon are struggling worldwide, but in Canada, they’re still very good. So I’m kind of torn. Robyn. I leave home, you know, to go. 00;42;46;26 – 00;42;47;16 Dave I know. 00;42;47;17 – 00;42;48;05 Mark Melnyk Somewhere else. 00;42;48;15 – 00;43;05;02 Dave Right? Yeah, exactly. Well, that’s the thing. I agree. And it’s really interesting because I think as I’ve been getting ready for this Newfoundland trip, you know, we’re going to mountain waters and that’s where Lee Wolf had his lodge. And Lee Wolf was a big conservationist. Right. And he wrote a lot about it. He was influenced by Joe Brooks. 00;43;05;02 – 00;43;26;00 Dave I read in this biography about Lee Wolf to kind of, you know, hear his stories. He’s got these amazing stories of like he bought a plane and learned to fly the this plane. Right. And and all this stuff. And it’s pretty cool history. But, yeah, I mean, he’s he battled with the actually it’s interesting because he was an American and he went up to you know, basically helped promote, you know, Newfoundland and some of the areas in Labrador. 00;43;26;09 – 00;43;41;06 Dave But he really was trying to fight for conservation for Atlantic salmon, get people to change the way they were, you know, no killing a fish and all that stuff. Right. So I feel like it’s a we have a down here right in the United States. There’s there’s challenges. You know, people are stuck in a way. Do you find that up in Canada there? 00;43;41;06 – 00;43;45;20 Dave There’s changes. People are going to more catch and release. Is it still struggle somewhere for some of that? 00;43;45;28 – 00;44;09;06 Mark Melnyk 100%. And you know, a lot of the lodges are strictly catch and release. And as the older generation of anglers are not able to join or participate in the trips that they did when they were younger, that’s the perfect opportunity for for lodges to be able to change their their philosophy on. So they’ve got a younger group coming in now. 00;44;09;15 – 00;44;27;05 Mark Melnyk Yes, there’s going to be some struggles with people wanting to put fish in coolers and things like that for a couple of years. But I’m going to a place a great smallmouth bass fishery up in northern Ontario called Hog Lake Lodge, and it’s I believe it’s one of the only or recent or it’s the only Orvis endorsed Lodge in Ontario, and it may be one of three or four in Canada. 00;44;27;24 – 00;44;50;02 Mark Melnyk And Ted Putnam is the owner and he is so set on catch and release, he actually brings his walleye for shore launch from a commercial distributor. So he will not even let people keep fish for for a short lunch. And the result of that is that’s where I caught that world record. Right? So it’s it takes a bit. 00;44;50;06 – 00;45;11;29 Mark Melnyk Now in Newfoundland and Labrador, they operate very similar to Montana and the West with high dollar restriction. Right. So if the temperatures are above 69 or 70 degrees, they shut those rivers down and you’re not permitted to fish at all for any species. So I think that’s I think that’s a big step moving forward to to protect migratory fish. 00;45;11;29 – 00;45;19;19 Mark Melnyk We all know that, you know, you fish over 60, not 68 or 69 degrees for for trout anywhere and it’s not good for them at all. So no. 00;45;20;04 – 00;45;27;09 Dave And we’ve talked about that some of the changes in the climate and it’s affecting the whole world, right? I mean, it’s not just in the places down south. 00;45;27;17 – 00;45;27;25 Mark Melnyk Yeah. 00;45;27;28 – 00;45;46;13 Dave Now it’s everywhere. Yeah. Hawk Lake is interesting too, because again, you look at these maps and you’re like, Oh my God, it just looks like bodies of water everywhere, thousands and thousands of. But there’s these lodges in places that are on what makes a law like take Hockley Lake. Are there kind of places you could you fish a lot of those water bodies out there or there bass and all those? 00;45;46;25 – 00;46;07;05 Mark Melnyk Yeah, 100%. I mean, Hawk Lake’s unique because there isn’t a boat ramp there and therefore it doesn’t get any outside pressure. But Ted also has had access to 18 to 25 other lakes, and a lot of these lodges have that opportunity, too. So you’re not just stuck on the main lake. You can you can fly out or ATV over or boat out and portage to different lakes. 00;46;07;16 – 00;46;13;03 Mark Melnyk But in Ontario alone, there’s over 250,000 lakes and rivers. You can’t even put a dent in it in a lifetime. 00;46;13;07 – 00;46;22;26 Dave You’re not even close. And you’re and that’s right, north of Lake of the Woods, which we’ve talked about. I think we’re looking at maybe doing a muskie trip up there, which is a famous right lake of the woods. That area is probably the most famous. 00;46;23;00 – 00;46;26;29 Mark Melnyk That’s Muskie, man. That is Muskie. Villard And they grow on Big Bear. 00;46;26;29 – 00;46;44;02 Dave They really get big. It’s working. And hopefully I’ve been talking to Rick Husted, and I think we’re going to be put something together up there in the coming years. So it’s fun. I’ve always you know, we’re similar to you a little bit different because obviously you guys do the movies in the video, but it’s a similar deal. You’re always, you know, kind of planning. 00;46;44;02 – 00;46;50;03 Dave And do you love the planning of trips when you’re getting right? Are you in are you still going out on on a number of these trips? 00;46;50;03 – 00;46;54;20 Mark Melnyk I’m trying very unsuccessfully to keep my butt in the office chair. 00;46;54;29 – 00;46;55;14 Dave Right hand. 00;46;55;27 – 00;47;14;22 Mark Melnyk You know, Colin, Colin gave me some great advice. You know, when I first working with him at the New Fly Fisher, when we first became partners, he said, if your boss, not if somebody but isn’t in the chair, we’re not making money, right? So I always have that, you know, that devil on my shoulder speaking to me. But I can’t resist not going to. 00;47;14;22 – 00;47;17;17 Mark Melnyk I mean, I love it. I love it. I love it. Yeah. 00;47;17;19 – 00;47;29;21 Dave And if you didn’t, that’s the great thing. If you were a button, the chair 100, you know, if you were that and you didn’t love it, you wouldn’t trade it. The experience for people, right? I mean, you’re part of that whole thing of making that passion that comes out. Yeah. Just hearing you talk. 00;47;30;01 – 00;47;52;01 Mark Melnyk I mean, the fly fishing is great, don’t get me wrong. But what really makes these trips and what you’re going to find at Scott Lake Lodge and in Newfoundland, especially, is the people that are involved in the fly fishing industry as outfitters, guides, lodge owners are. Some of the nicer, most genuine. I mean, if you’ve never been a Newfoundland, you’re going to be blown away. 00;47;52;02 – 00;48;14;11 Mark Melnyk You’re going to be blown away. The old cliche people will take the shirt off your back. Off their back for you is an understatement. In Newfoundland and Scott Lake Lodge, the culture at Scott Lake Lodge is one is a culture that I rarely see in lodge life. The guides are all friends. The most junior guide at Scott Lake Lodge has been there for 18 years or something like, Oh. 00;48;14;11 – 00;48;15;01 Dave Wow, yeah. 00;48;15;03 – 00;48;40;28 Mark Melnyk These guys are long lived. Scott Lakers. You know, when everybody gathers for dinner after a day of fishing, it’s a celebration. It’s a celebration of who did well, who did what. The food is off the charts. Amazing. But the whole vibe of Scott Lake Lodge is it’s the kind of place where when you walk in the lodge, you can feel like you can kick your flip flops off and eat at the table, barefoot kind of thing. 00;48;41;07 – 00;48;42;06 Dave You feel comfortable. 00;48;42;07 – 00;48;42;28 Mark Melnyk 100%. 00;48;43;06 – 00;49;00;27 Dave Yeah, that’s a big part of it. Yeah. I feel like that’s that’s a huge part of it. Yeah. The family atmosphere going to someplace new and you get everything else. I was interested. I was recently talking. You know, it’s funny because as you get older, you know, and as I get older, sometimes famous people aren’t as famous to young people, you know. 00;49;00;27 – 00;49;14;29 Dave But one person that I’ve been talking to we’re going to have on the podcast is Huey Lewis, right? Huey Lewis and the News. He was a a singer in the eighties. I guess he was popular. Back to the Future. He wrote the soundtrack. He’s going to be coming on the podcast here, kind of announcing it’s going to be fun. 00;49;15;08 – 00;49;22;19 Dave Have you had any when you do your shows, do you ever meet up with kind of famous people on these trips? Is this something or are you guys doing this solo kind of on your own? 00;49;23;00 – 00;49;47;19 Mark Melnyk Yeah, it does happen. It does happen. Probably the most fun one that I found gentleman that I got to eat breakfast with was at the lodge at Palisades Creek in Swan Valley, Idaho. And I was sitting there, sitting at the bar, eating breakfast with my camera guy. In walks Henry Winkler. So the Fonz sits down and we start to chat and and all the rest, and he fishes with his wife, Stacy. 00;49;48;06 – 00;50;07;17 Mark Melnyk And she’s a great stick. She’s she’s an amazing flying lawyer, as is he. And we just sort of hit it off telling him what we’re doing. And I’ve invited him to be on the show a couple of times, one to promote his book, I’ve Never Met an Idiot on the River. And the second one was for he to fish with Rosenbauer and I down in Chile. 00;50;08;01 – 00;50;10;03 Dave So he’s been so Henry Winkler has been on the show? 00;50;10;12 – 00;50;15;15 Mark Melnyk No, he hasn’t. Unfortunately, his schedule has never been. He’s a very busy guy. 00;50;15;23 – 00;50;31;09 Dave Yeah. Yeah, he’s amazing. Yeah, we I had him on the podcast and I remember he is I mean, when I had this is probably like four years ago, but I mean, he just won an Emmy, I think, right at the time for that show he was on. So he’s still going strong. He’s in the seventies and he’s still full on with his acting is pretty amazing. 00;50;31;15 – 00;50;48;10 Mark Melnyk Sure. And we see, you know, we meet a lot of sports figures and a lot of politicians and things like that. So but but what I love about fly fishing is that it’s a level it evens the playing field for everybody. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a janitor at a school if you’re president, the United States, everybody’s the same. 00;50;48;10 – 00;50;49;10 Mark Melnyk And a fly fishing lodge. 00;50;49;14 – 00;51;05;02 Dave I know. Yeah, that’s totally true. I, I kind of occasionally, you know, and I’ll have a big guest on and, you know, it’s I get a little more anxious, right? I mean, that’s always part of it. And and like I said, Tom McGuane was pretty big because he’s probably one of the most famous writers in Fly fishing and outdoors. 00;51;05;02 – 00;51;18;21 Dave And he he talked about, you know, some of the movies he’s made. And, I mean, Guy, the guy’s directed movies and done all this stuff. So do you find that when you’re out there, do you have any anxiety when you’re producing these shows? Because you’re you know, it’s got to be right. You’ve got to get the fish takes. 00;51;18;24 – 00;51;19;27 Dave Is that a struggle for you? 00;51;20;16 – 00;51;27;09 Mark Melnyk It used to be it isn’t anymore. And the reason why it is so, Dave, my background is in in sports television, so. 00;51;27;09 – 00;51;27;29 Dave Oh, right. 00;51;28;04 – 00;51;55;23 Mark Melnyk So I did I worked at a variety of sports networks here in Canada profiling major league sports figures. You know, I did Rodeo and Bull riding for four, eight years, fallen cowboys around around North America and stuff like that. And the reason I tell you that is because that really allowed me to develop my storytelling skills. And, you know, I’ve got I have a it’s a joke in my world that I’ve got something called resting place that I always look very unhappy. 00;51;55;23 – 00;52;16;13 Mark Melnyk Unhappy. And I’m not I’m always when I’m in the field, though, I’m always thinking about, okay, if this happens, how do I react? If this happens, how do I react if we don’t catch any fish, which has happened once, How do we still make a show out of that? And the way that we it is through our education, the way that we educate through the show? 00;52;16;17 – 00;52;42;11 Mark Melnyk We don’t need to catch fish. It’s nice and it makes the show that much better. But when push comes to shove, we rely on teaching education, conservation and hearing experiences from other people that are there that will get us out of that. You know, that content pickle. So it never really is a problem as long as our hosts are fluid and can bend and can adapt, you know, that’s, that’s the secret to it. 00;52;42;18 – 00;52;58;16 Dave Love it. And that’s just, just fishing. You know, I think anybody, the longer you get in it, the more you realize with fly fishing is that, you know, the fishing becomes less and less so most right. It feels like the whole experience And they caught what is this So you said rusting face is that what they call it? 00;52;58;20 – 00;53;02;00 Mark Melnyk Resting face? It’s not an actual medical thing. It’s okay. 00;53;02;00 – 00;53;03;10 Dave So it’s not a medical. 00;53;03;10 – 00;53;07;04 Mark Melnyk Yeah, no, I. I just always have a frown on. That’s the way my muscles are. 00;53;07;12 – 00;53;07;28 Dave Okay. 00;53;07;29 – 00;53;24;07 Mark Melnyk And people will come up to me and say, Are you all right? Did something. I was like, No, I’m totally fine. So I just make a joke. I just make a joke out of it. When I when I do presentations, that’s generally my opening line is I have to tell you, I’ve got this serious medical issue called RPF, and it’s been diagnosed as resting place. 00;53;24;09 – 00;53;26;18 Mark Melnyk So if I look, I’m happy. I’m really not. 00;53;26;19 – 00;53;44;14 Dave That’s great. Yeah, that’s good. Yeah, we’ll have to follow up on that and take a look at it stuff. So I got well, that’s one of the funny things about, you know the audio only is that, you know, people that don’t know, they’ll have to watch some of your videos to take a look. I will do that now, but well, let’s take it out here real quick, just with some some travel tips as we’re getting into this. 00;53;44;14 – 00;53;56;23 Dave So we’re you know, you’re going to be traveling. We’re going to be traveling. What you mentioned noise canceling headphones. Maybe. Give us that. What’s when you’re doing your travel, what are a couple of things you’re always bring in with the planes, trains, automobiles. That makes life easier. 00;53;57;01 – 00;54;18;20 Mark Melnyk Yeah, noise canceling headphones are fantastic, especially if you’re if you’re flying in those beavers and otters, they bring the noise down to a palatable level. They protect your ears. The one tip that I’ve been using that found on Amazon, ironically, because you’re limited to a certain amount of weight on these float planes, you can only bring so much stuff. 00;54;18;20 – 00;54;21;15 Dave Oh, yeah, Yeah. Like, what do you get? You get one bag sort of thing. 00;54;21;15 – 00;54;48;21 Mark Melnyk Yeah. I think you’re limited to some beavers, and otters are limited to £50, some are limited to £60. So if you’re bringing fly rods, waders, boots, rain jacket, puffy shirts, underwear, all that stuff, it takes up a lot of space in your pack or in your bag. So I generally travel with a yeti 100 liter panga, which is great because my fly rods can sit in the bottom of the duffel bag and then I can pack everything on top. 00;54;49;06 – 00;55;16;28 Mark Melnyk I stuff my underwear and my socks in my waiter waiting boots because that’s just empty space. But on Amazon, I found these bags that you can put your clothes in and you literally sit on the bags and all the air escapes out of the bags. They’re vacuum bags without a vacuum. So you don’t actually need a vacuum. So you just put all your stuff in there, you sit on it and it condenses your puffy stuff down to a fraction of what it would be if you were just to fold it up and put it in a bag. 00;55;16;28 – 00;55;31;02 Mark Melnyk You know, my wife and I just went to Africa in March for her 50th birthday, and, you know, we were there for two weeks. So what do you bring? Well, we ended up being able to bring all kinds of stuff because we use these vacuum bags. So they’re dirt cheap, 12 bucks for 24 of them or something like that. 00;55;31;02 – 00;55;37;09 Mark Melnyk And they’ve really changed how how we can pack for these trips that where you have limited weight. 00;55;37;17 – 00;55;44;28 Dave Okay. So we got some packing tips on you. And then are you with your rods? How is that look? Are you traveling with your carrying your rods on or how do you do that? 00;55;45;04 – 00;56;04;21 Mark Melnyk So I do it two ways. Depending on where I’m going, I will either pack them in the bottom of the duffel in tubes, or if weight is sensitive, I will use one of those Orvis rod bags and take them out of the tubes and put all my rods and rails leaders line tip it all my terminal tackle like snips and scissors and that sort of thing. 00;56;04;21 – 00;56;26;22 Mark Melnyk All in that rod. And then when when you’re about to board your plane, your commercial plane to get where you’re going, you know, obviously, if you need special time, if you need extra time or if you have kids under three, take that opportunity to go get on the plane, then talk to the flight attendant and say, have you got a pilot closet where they hang their jackets? 00;56;26;22 – 00;56;28;10 Dave Oh, yeah, right. 00;56;28;10 – 00;56;39;05 Mark Melnyk And more times than not, they do. And they’ll put their they’ll put your fly case in that. If not and you’re the first one on with your overhead and that bag will fit in an overhead compartment. 00;56;39;09 – 00;56;43;13 Dave Oh right. Well and this is kind of a multiple you put a bunch of rods in one one big tube. 00;56;43;18 – 00;56;51;13 Mark Melnyk Absolutely. You put like ten different rods in there. Kind of deal. It’s double compartments. So you’ve got rods on one side and then rails in all your other stuff on the other. 00;56;51;13 – 00;56;56;16 Dave Oh, Oh, yeah. That’s the whole thing. So this is something that an MRI has a strap so you can carry it on in the airport. 00;56;56;26 – 00;56;58;18 Mark Melnyk 100%. 100%. Yeah. 00;56;58;18 – 00;57;10;08 Dave Yeah, that’s it. Wow. Yeah. There’s all sorts of ways to do it, right. I think you can go, but you fly fish and you got gear, right? You got a lot of times you got to bring your waders and your boots. I mean, it all adds up, right? Do you find that that’s a struggle for you? How have you got? 00;57;10;08 – 00;57;14;17 Dave You know, you’re when you’re doing a big trip or you bring a lot of stuff, how do you how do you bounce that? 00;57;15;00 – 00;57;45;26 Mark Melnyk What I’ll do is is I will I will I will go light on clothing. I’ll make sure all of my fly fishing stuff is in first, and then I’ll add, like if I have to only bring three pairs of underwear for a two week trip when I’m there, I’m saying, where’s your laundry service or where? Where’s your laundry room so I can do laundry at night kind of thing In our world, oftentimes, you know, we we suggest to our hosts that you either bring two or three of the same shirt or you wear the same shirt every day for continuity. 00;57;45;26 – 00;58;05;06 Mark Melnyk So if you have to take a fish, if it’s a sunny day on a monday and it’s a sunny day on a Thursday, and you need to add a fish to the Monday day, the continuity is there, right? So we can move fish around within the show to balance out the show so that it looks like Monday was a great day. 00;58;05;06 – 00;58;11;21 Mark Melnyk Tuesday was a great day. Wednesday was a great day. But if it isn’t a great day, then it’s reality. That’s that’s kind of how we go. 00;58;12;01 – 00;58;26;17 Dave That’s the way it does. It. Oh, this is great. Well, I think we could probably leave it there for today. I do want to give a shout out. We mentioned the new Fly Fish Fisher on YouTube. I think this has been great. Anything we missed a high level of what you guys have going this coming year, Season 26, right? 00;58;26;25 – 00;58;50;00 Mark Melnyk Yeah, Season 26. One of the things that I will I will talk to is the trip that we do to Chile every year with Tom Rosenberg down to Magic Waters. We’re generally down there for three weeks doing three episodes. But what we also do is something called Tom’s tips and Tom will steal the camera guy for a couple of hours every day and bang off as well. 00;58;50;00 – 00;59;13;10 Mark Melnyk I bang off tips for the Orvis learning Center. So if you don’t know what the Orvis Learning Center is, it’s a free online portal that you can go to whenever you want and you can search tips by species, by gear, by. There’s literally hundreds of videos there that we produce with Orvis that will really help people at all levels with something maybe that have about or struggling for. 00;59;13;23 – 00;59;26;09 Mark Melnyk So those TOMS tips are vital to our education. You’ll see some of the same tips in the new fly for sure, as you will on the Orvis Learning Center. But it’s a great resource for all fly anglers, no matter what level you’re at. 00;59;26;09 – 00;59;40;01 Dave Yeah, that’s perfect. I’m glad you mentioned that because that is huge. Tom is obviously one of the best out there and he’s got a ton of information. I always think like Tom, I’m, you know, I always think about, you know, I mean, how long is he going to be doing this? Right? He’s got like it all of us as we get older. 00;59;40;01 – 00;59;45;17 Dave You know, I’m I’ve already he’s going to retire or I’m going to lose him. What’s your take on Tom? Do you think he’s going to be going strong for a while? 00;59;45;26 – 01;00;10;23 Mark Melnyk I think Tom’s going to go as long as he’s got breath in his body. He and I get along well. When I first met Tom, it was a little weird. The dynamic was weird. He’s like, Who’s this guy? I can kind of deal. And it was like that for the first plane ride, and I was trying to make nice conversation, but he was very standoffish, which is unlike Tom, I think because I was I was a new producer to him. 01;00;11;03 – 01;00;30;21 Mark Melnyk He was used to working with Colin. It was like, you know, again, who is this guy kind of deal? But it turned I can tell you the exact moment where Tom and I clicked. We were at Blake Jackson’s place at The Ugly Bug. We had fished hard all day catching brown trout and rainbows and caddies, and we got back to the lodge and I went. 01;00;30;21 – 01;00;48;01 Mark Melnyk I grabbed a beer and I went out to the deck and I was looking at the North Platte because the cabins right on the river elevated. And there were rainbows eating dry ice right in front of the lodge. And I called him over. I said, Tom, you want to go fishing? So we had fished all day and then didn’t even get two sips of a beer. 01;00;48;01 – 01;01;03;20 Mark Melnyk And I was suggesting that we go fishing again. That’s Tom Rosenbaum’s personality. He will fish until he cannot fish anymore. In a day. Like he’s just he’s an absolute machine. And we’ve been we’ve been best friends ever since. So I was at his house a couple weeks ago for the botanical Festival and. 01;01;03;23 – 01;01;04;07 Dave Nice. 01;01;04;07 – 01;01;09;18 Mark Melnyk Drinking wine and eating chocolate. And it was fantastic. So he’s a he’s a wonderful ambassador for our sport. 01;01;09;27 – 01;01;26;15 Dave I love it. Yeah, Tom is great and Orvis is great. You know, I think that’s something really cool, too, is Orvis has always been this amazing staple forever, right? They’ve been around for as long as anybody out there doing great stuff. So cool. All right, Margo, I’m glad you mention that because definitely it’s always good to give Tom a big shout out and all that good stuff. 01;01;26;15 – 01;01;37;19 Dave So we’ll send everybody out today to the New Fly Fisher on YouTube and check out your most recent episodes. And yeah, until we meet again. Hopefully we’ll see you on the lake or waterways someday soon and we’ll catch up with you then. 01;01;38;01 – 01;01;38;18 Mark Melnyk Let’s go fishing. 01;01;40;23 – 01;02;01;20 Dave Quick. Take away your call to action today. If you haven’t subscribed to the new Fly Fisher YouTube channel, please do that. Now check out their most recent video and if you’re interested in trips, definitely take a look at some of that good stuff they got going. As always, Fly Swing Pro is our community. If you want to help support this podcast, the best way to do that is to join Well, Fly, Swing Pro. 01;02;02;06 – 01;02;21;20 Dave This is our Pick Me where we are traveling around the country. We’re building trips together. We’re talking about trips. We’re learning together. We got fly casting instruction. It’s all there. We fly swing pro, fly, swing, dot com slash pro. We’ll let you know when we open up the next cohort and what we got today. It’s been good. We got trips going. 01;02;21;20 – 01;02;40;28 Dave We mentioned a couple of the big ones we’re heading to Montana here this summer as well. If you’re interested in Montana, definitely check with me. I’ll let you know what we have going there on availability. And I think I’m going to leave it there and just sign off for the day and tell you that I appreciate you for stopping in today and I hope you’re having a great, great morning, afternoon or evening. 01;02;41;09 – 01;02;59;24 Dave And we hope to see you on the water and we’ll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to the wet fly, swing, fly fishing show for notes and links from this episode, visit Wet fly, swing, dotcom.