Lakers On The Fly
- This topic has 6 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated Aug 26, 2010 at 10:48 am by
.
-
Posts
-
Hey all.
Since I’m new to this site, I thought I’d start out with a post from a trip I took up to Peterson’s Point Lake Lodge in the Northwest Territories 2 weeks ago.
I’d been told by the lodge owner that the fly-fishing for Lake Trout was exceptional and you can routinely catch big fish throughout the season. Prior to this trip, I had only caught them in the Shaker (under 10lbs) size – so needless to say I was intrigued.
In short – it was a hoot!
I do want to warn you however, Lakers 12 pounds and up will put a strain on your equipment and elbows. When they decide to get sulky and dive for deeper waters, you can generally winch them in if you’re using heavy spinning gear. The game changes with a fly rod. My boat mate Ernie and I were using 10wt Sage Xi3 rods with sinking lines and 25lb test leaders on the Lakers, and we couldn’t move them – unless they wanted to be moved!
A typical fight went as follows: I would get one or two teaser strikes followed by a solid hit (apologies to guide for spilling coffee on him more than once). This was followed by some head shaking if the fish was smaller or if bigger – my line would start to peel off the reel. This would result in being into the backing in seconds. Then a period of panic followed, wondering if the guide was going to get the boat turned around before I got the chance to see if that little knot connecting the backing to the reel. Once some line was recovered, the fight entered the tug of war phase. I found this a good point to have a snack, drink some coffee, look at animal shapes in the clouds, compose a sonnet, or anything else that needed doing – as it was going to take a while to convince Mr. Trout to give vice taking. Once I did manage to get him back to the boat (the first time), I could then expect him to dive down and take the fight into the vertical. After that it’s just a matter of time before the fish would tire of fighting/diving/resting on the bottom and allow itself to be netted. Then all that needed to be done was the posing for the hero shots, and returning the trout to the water.
Primp ravaged fly, cast out and repeat as necessary.
The biggest Trout Lake I caught during my trip was 20lbs. My boat mate caught a 22lb. I caught numerous trout between 12 and 18lbs. The biggest one caught out of the other boats was 32lbs. The lake record is 58lbs. Quite frankly I can’t imagine what catching a 25lb + fish will be like, as the 20lb fish I caught left me talking to myself.
I will get another chance to find out, as I’m going back up the beginning of September. Stay tuned for an update.
A few pics:
Landscape on the way up from Yellowknife. Plenty of lakes in this country.
Pile of caribou antlers in front of lodge.
Sunrise at on lake with welcome sign (note large treble hook hanging from sign) and boats.
Heading down to shore to go out for another days fishing
Two productive streamers. Butt ugly one on bottom tied by Ernie’s brother Al to imitate ciscoes in lake. Worked so well you had to tie it on your line with your back to the water – so the fish wouldn’t see.
Ernie’s 22lb trout with proof that the Al’s ciscoe works.
Ernie’s expression says it all. I’m disappointed that the shot is out of focus – but it was done on the spur of the moment, and might’ve been lost other wise.
Of course I had to get a shot of a nice 19” male grayling being released on the Sagvak river. It empties into point lake a little SE of the lodge.
Enjoy!
Frank.
Thanks Zach.
I’m a big Grayling fan (pun intended), but didn’t get to fish for them near enough while at the lodge.
I’ll see if I can’t rectify that in two weeks time!
Frank.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.