The Talston River Revisited by Jan Eggers

It was June 1988 when I was so lucky to join my good friend Bill Tenney on his first spring trip to the Taltson River in NWT. He had been there in fall 1987 and reported of the best place for big pikes in the world and it was for during that trip I caught 66 pikes over the European dream limit of 100 cm , so around 40 inches.

A trip I will never ever forget, not only for the primitive conditions, the incredible stories of trapper Ray Beck who fed his sledge dogs with 20 pound northern but most of all the wild nature with bald eagles, beaver, moose, golden eagles, crane birds and… pelicans. No joke, so far north there were hundreds of pelicans fishing in the rapids for whitefish, just like the pike.

From that day on most years saw me flying in the 2nd week of June to this hot spot for big pike. I helped Ray getting more customers from Europe and also saw my good friends Bill Tenney, Steve Dusek and Mike Ellis from the States each spring.

In 1993 I fished without my good friend Bill Tenney for he intended to go to Lake Baikal in Russia after we had fished together in the brackish Baltic Sea in Sweden where we both caught some 25 lb pike. In July 1993 Bill went again to Russia and because that is the month to go on summer holidays in Austria with my family, in two days I’ll go there for the 41st time, he went alone. During that trip he got a heart attack in the boat and died the way he had wished it as he had told me several times

When Ray Beck got cancer and died the end of the nineties, his son Arthur took over the camp at the mouth of the Taltson river and also had a camp near the big rapids with the pelicans. Accommodation got better and the tents disappeared and we could sleep in log cabins and even had a tiny shower next to the kitchen.

Almost every year I managed to there with a group of 8 – 12 people and saw many surprised faces of guys from Holland, Germany, Belgium, France and Italy catching lots and lots of big pikes and also the size of the many walleyes was increasing. For me this was pike heaven and one can understand I was very disappointed when Arthur Beck didn’t answer phone calls, letters and later on e-mails about 5 years ago. I was told he lost his license for the mouth of the Taltson River, better known as his camp on Hook Island.

I go the idea I would never ever fish this area again and had to tell this bad news to all my pike fishing friends who loved to go there another time.

But see what happens. I think it was late 2007 or spring 2008 that I got an e-mail from Jack Penny, who had fished this area too during the same period I fished there with Bill Tenney.

He told me that the youngest son of Ray Beck, named Eric, had started a new camp not far from the rapids with the pelicans and that he had fished there with good results, so big pikes.

This e-mail was for me a reason to contact some of the pike fishermen who had been there before and in no time 6 regulars and a new guy signed for a trip the second week of June 2009 and I could start booking the flights, hotel rooms, ordering drinks for when we arrived on Sunday at Fort Smith the liquor store was closed….

Then you realize how awful nice e-mail is and Eric’s wife, Kim which I had met already in 1989, was the one who answered all my e-mails with many questions straight.

I can honestly say I never ever had so smooth preparations of the trip and everything, from cabins, sleeping bags, drinks, flight connection with the float plane at Forth Smith, boats, guides, food, just name it, was excellent. When we arrived that Sunday evening at 05.00 p.m.

expectations were high, also because the weather forecast for that week was sunny and warm.



Old and new friends plus tons of pikes



It was good to see Eric and Kim, his mother Doris, Chad who had become a big boy now and what to say of our guide Steve, which I remember as “Little Stevie” from 20 years ago. The wooden cabins for two fishermen were perfect, complete with stove, good beds, sleeping bags, electric light and coils against the muskietos.

Nice to see all these facilities but… the only thing these fishermen were interested in was if there were big pike around. Believe it or not, the very first pike caught by a member of our group, it was Danny from Belgium, was 105 cm and he caught it in front of his cabin.

We did some fishing from the bank that evening. Just a little for the 8 hours time difference, so it was early in the morning of the Monday in Holland, made us quite sleepy.

Next morning at 08.00 breakfast was ready and new seen a hungry pack of pike fishermen swallowing pancakes, fried eggs and bacon, it tasted better than in a 5 star hotel…

I had a bad start, loosing 2 big pikes because the ring of my rod tip was damaged, must have happened during the trip from Amsterdam to Canada, and when I fished with another baitcaster the problem was over. That morning my biggest pike was 112 cm and a good number of other pikes over 40 inches was caught. Although the water was quite low, there was a possibility of fishing the Rat River, only the first part was very shallow and one had to use the paddle. My fishing buddy Joop Kragt loved fishing with surface lures in crystal clear water with weeds just as much as I do and casting the big pikes you see, just stalking them, is great fun. We also gave it a try this afternoon with small jerkbaits like the Ace Flipper and Salmo Slider 10. At a certain moment Joop broke his line and a nice pike disappeared with the Ace Flipper in its mouth. An hour later, on our way back, I hooked the same pike on my Salmo Slider and made my mate happy when I returned it to him.

I am not so much interested in numbers of pikes we catch, fishing is fun and no competition, but during this afternoon we caught about 125 pikes the two of us. The biggest one from the Rat River was 109 cm and that day pikes of 110, 113 and 114 cm were caught.



Deep holes hold big pike



In the evenings we always exchanged stories, and to evaluate with the pleasure of cold beer, a glass of coke with some additives or just cold water from the river, is great fun.

We learned that the Mepps Syclops no 3 is still the best lure for average conditions but if you wanted to be successful in the deep holes next to the current, you’d better used heavier lures or 35 grams jig heads with a soft plastic shad or twister tail. In these deep holes you could not only expect big pikes but also nice walleyes between 65 and 70 cms, dinner was saved…

Because Eric and his Aurora Nights Lodge also have the right and license to fish about a stretch of 40 km upstream the Taltson River, a group of 4 with the boat went that direction on Tuesday morning. We had to pass 3 rapids, and there were new boats on the other side of these rapids and now we came in an area where I had never ever been before. Also here good fishing and I was really amazed about the possibilities here and Eric will build some new cabins here so that his guests have the possibility of fishing in almost virgin waters. We stopped at the 4th big rapids although there was another boat available for we preferred spinning instead of sitting in the boat and looking at nature.

Of course, it is nice to see a lot of beavers, the bald eagles on their nest looked big and the black bear around the corner was just as surprised as we were. But what to say of 3 bent rods after the first casts at some rapids? The 110 cm pike of Sjaak Koster that was too big for shore lunch Eric said and at the next cast he had one of 95 cm that tasted very well an hour later.

Shore lunch with fried pike and walleye, unions and potatoes and beans plus fresh cold water from the river, I can only dream of such an excellent meal in Holland.

Coming back that evening we heard that the other Jan of our group, Jan Kuin, had caught a fat pike of 116 cm and that both our Belgium friends, Danny and Paul, had fallen into the water when they tried to land some good pike from wet and slippery rocks.



To cut a long story short.



Each day had its own stories and I was already used to broken rods, lost monsters, trebles that went into fingers instead of pike jaws and big ones that escaped during the last seconds.

Still some experienced fishermen used too light lines, I advice 0,28 and even 0,32 mm Power Pro in combination with 40 lb leaders with a Berkley Cross Lok Snap-Swivel at the end

When we fished with plugs and jerkbaits we removed one or even two trebles so that we had a lure with only one treble of which the barbs were flattened. Doing this makes not only the unhooking a lot easier but also less risky for your own fingers

For two days the 3 biggest pikes had a length of 116 cm and we wondered if there would be bigger ones from the deep holes. Our friend Danny lost one that was estimated 120 cm and he is happy to have the drill on film. On Thursday I was the lucky one with a nice pike of 117 cm and 5 minutes later my buddy Joop caught one of 116 cm, amazing two big ones so close together in the same spot.

Next morning Joop caught 5 pikes over one meter in a row on a 45 grams copper black Blue Fox spoon on which we had mounted a bigger treble hook. Amazing, 5 monster in just 20 minutes and then we moved to Slims, the place where a lot of big ones were caught.

More or less slow jigging close to the bottom I hooked something heavy thought I got snagged on the bottom but then it started moving. I had at once a feeling it must be a big fish for it stayed deep and felt very solid. Joop started filming and at a sudden moment this big pike jumped straight out of the water and I knew it was the biggest of the trip so far. And it really was, it was even a new personal record after 13 times fishing the Taltson and Great Slave Lake. A lot of times my biggest pike of the trip, and also of other friends, was 122 cm but this fat baby was 123 cm and when we tried to weigh her, the scales went down to the maximum of 25 lb at once and I estimate it a bit over 30 lb, a very nice fish.

That Saturday another big one of 119 cm was caught by old time Hero Peerdeman who also had fallen into the water that morning. On Friday Jan Kuin was number 4 to go for a swimming lesson when he played a big pike from slippery rocks and he was lucky that only his rod tip broke and not his legs or arms.

What a week it was, excellent is just a too normal word for a wonderful week with good friends, good cooks, good young guides, warm water for a daily shower, and of course the cooperation of our friends under water.

And when the float plane arrived at 07.30 that Sunday morning, it was a hard job to say goodbye to Eric and Kim plus their staff. I have made reservations already for the second week in June 2010 for I am even more convinced now Aurora Nights Lodge is the place for catching big pikes and with big I mean 25 lb and 44 inches and more.

Finally I would thank our regular contributor Jack Penny for giving me the information about this lodge. To visit this camp at the Taltson River was an unexpected dream come true again.



Jan Eggers





Pictures -


A first view of the rapids wit pelicans, we are almost there.

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A first view of our camp through the window of the float plane.

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Paul Tempelaere with a nice pike without scars.

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The Salmo Slider 10 was very effective on the Rat River.

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A pike of 117 cm has taken my spoon completely and comes to the boat.

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This for me the safest way of landing big pike, I still have 10 fingers…

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I prefer to unhook my own pike when they are deeply hooker, better for the pike, better for the guide and no problem for me, I do it for more than 50 years…

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Quick a nice picture and….

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Back she goes

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My friend Joop caught this one of 116 cm a little later.

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She was also released without problems in the cold water, look at the wide back.

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Another big one with probably some wounds caused during spawning

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It is not easy to land this pike with gloves, I never use them, Eric does!

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I don’t know if this pike was 108 or 110 cm long, it doesn’t matter.

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I caught with my Slider the pike + Flipper back Joop lost just before.

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Hundreds of pelicans fishing for an easy meal of whitefish.

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A spoon like this is the easiest and best all around lure for this area.

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I was more than happy with this new Canadian p.r. of 123 cm.

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Eric prepares nice shore lunch.

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Danny Bueds with his biggest pike of the trip.

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The end is near, the floatplane comes to pick us up.

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I would like to thank Jan Eggers for sharing this with me and allowing me to post it here on the site.