If you bring some Johnson Silver Minnow lures, and you should, also bring an Uncle Josh bottle of white pork rind. That white rind makes them even more attractive to a northern. You will need to work over that hook with a file or grinder ahead of time because they have a big hook and barb. As much fun as we ever had in Canada fishing northerns was when we found them in a couple feet of water back in the pencil weeds. That Johnson Silver Minnow has a weed guard and the northerns would make a wake behind it and you knew that the water was about to erupt in a couple of seconds. We always caught more northerns with spoons than with spinners.
One of those lower jaw clamp things will sure make landing and unhooking bigger fish easier. Northerns will roll up in a net and make a mess of the net and slime the boat. Way safer too because northern teeth are formidable and they'll bite.
Since they will be cleaning fish outside, a head net weighs practically nothing and keeps mosquitoes and black flies off. Bugs aren't usually a problem on the water, but they can be around the cabin.
I used the big 4" Johnson spoons with a 3" jig of any color I had. On a 5 day fly in trip we caught 100's of Northerns. 51" was the best. Most fun I ever had fishing. going back next year.
