There is one thing that goes through your mind around the campfire in the evenings while out on Great Slave Lake - sooner or later it will be time to go home. This particular thought may sound a bit pessimistic; but it is a true reflection of just how good it is on this amazing fishery! Luckily, the days on the lake are so full and satisfying that there isn't much room for stray thoughts, except as the embers burn down - and you're just about asleep anyway!
I first fished the lake in July 1996. My good friend and long time fishing/hunting partner Ron had been stationed with the Air Force in Yellowknife for a little over a year and had a chance to test the waters a few times. He purposely phoned me several times with the sole intention of luring me up North for a real fishing trip instead of the 'bait fishing' we have here in Alberta.
After re-scheduling other tasks of a lesser nature (work, painting, landscaping, etc.) the date was set and the torture began. I say torture because the worst thing a person could do to me is set a fishing date several months in the future for a trip that I have wanted to make most of my adult life.
The lead-time for this trip however, did give me time to do some painstaking research on the lake and its inhabitants. I had heard the stories about the Lake trout fishing, but I was also interested in targeting other species. For the last ten years or so I have been involved in a quest of sorts to catch Arctic grayling everywhere and anytime I can. As well I was interested in doing some Fly-fishing for Northern pike. I had tried before a few times; but I really wanted to see what a 9+ kg fish would do to my tackle.
According to the small mountain of documentation that I was accumulating, there would be plenty of opportunity to fish for everything I wanted to. Fishing guides showed grayling inhabiting virtually every river emptying into Great Slave Lake; and there was no shortage of pictures of people straining to hoist up their prize pike for the camera. I was to discover later that you have to go looking for the truly good pike fishing, and the grayling are there all right, but not always where I expected them to be.
My wife and I decided to make the trip in my trusty ISUZU; as after all, we have been masters of the long distance trip since Honeymoon times. We even decided to throw in an extra variable to the trip, by taking along our 18-month old girl (more about this in future articles). Shortly after lunch on the third day, our somewhat tired crew was glad to pull into Yellowknife and rest for a bit.
In fact, our fishing trip wasn't until the second week, so doing the tourist thing in and around Yellowknife filled the first week. It was also during this time that some of the logistical details of the upcoming trip became evident. We would be heading out to the East arm of Great Slave Lake for our main quarry - Lake trout. This would entail a five and a half-hour boat ride from Yellowknife. We would have to take all the gas required for the trip with us on the boat. We would use a full tank of gas to get out to the East arm (150 l), we needed 150l to get back to Yellowknife, and we had 150l of gas to last us for three days fishing. Ron has a 6.4 M Fisher boat with a 150hp Johnson outboard on it. Although it is a good sized boat, by the time we packed all the gas, our camping and fishing gear, and food, there was only room for myself, Ron, and one of his dogs, a lab named Cleo (a.k.a. the Weasel).
We had intended to leave on Saturday morning, but a small craft warning was in effect on the lake. The warning came off Saturday night so we made plans to leave at dawn Sunday morning. The timing was intentional; as experienced boaters on the lake know that it is generally calmest early in the morning and again late in the evening. I didn't truly appreciate that fact until we had traveled two-thirds the ways down Yellowknife bay and ran into some 3 M swells with whitecaps. At that point I felt that Ron's boat wasn't quite big enough - and what the hell had I got myself into! Thankfully the conditions improved as we left Yellowknife bay and turned east toward the Hearne Channel.
The rest of the trip out to the east arm was uneventful; which allowed me to concentrate on the beautiful scenery instead of keeping my balance. There are many islands and coves along the way, and we would see the odd boat moored at the more protected ones. In fact a book is available in Yellowknife listing the more popular safe havens on the lake, as well as detailed navigation information. Ron already had one of these quite coves picked out for us near Etthen Island, and as the day wore on we finally arrived and set up camp.
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