Fly Fishing Great Slave Lake

The thoughts about having to go home soon mostly came to Frank Wood as he sat around the campfire. During the day, the fishing was too good to think about anything except the fishing.

By Frank Wood

Lake Trout on Great Slave Lake. Copyright © 2001 Frank Wood

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.

The next day dawned bright and clear; with the only disturbance on the water being the occasional rise of an Arctic grayling to who knows what insect. Breakfast was a hurried affair; as we were anxious to get out and test the waters. We weren't disappointed. We caught our first Lake trout upon clearing the mouth of the cove. It was 3.6 Kg in weight, and a good omen for the day. We caught one Laker after another and our trip would have been over within about an hour and a half from starting if we had kept all of the fish we caught! What then, would we have done for the rest of the trip? Our fishing technique was simple and amazingly effective. We cast our five of diamonds spoons out the back of the boat, held the reel bails open for about 10 seconds, closed the bails, and placed the rods in the rod holder. Then we merely sat back and waited for the inevitable strike to come. Our lures got down to a depth of 3 to 4.5 M, which was plenty deep for the cruising Lakers. So much for the downriggers or vertical jigging sometimes required on 'Southern' fish during the middle of the season. In fact, I felt a little guilty about this laid back style of fishing. I had become so focused (my wife would say obsessed) on my fly fishing technique over the past fifteen years; that I had forgot how to relax and enjoy the fishing experience. Maybe some people wouldn't fishing this way, but I found it a refreshing change and incredibly relaxing.

Grayling On The Fly

great slave lake grayling

Later that night; I experienced Arctic grayling fishing on the lake. The grayling that live in the lake act very differently from the ones I am familiar with on our southern rivers. The fish can be found relating to the rocks and boulders that define the drop-offs in back bays. Although they often cruise around in pods feeding on the surface, success fishing for them with a dry fly can be a hit or miss affair. One of the most effective techniques we used was to anchor the boat past the drop-off, cast a Wooly Bugger up towards shore, retrieve it back towards the boat, and then let the fly drop down into the deeper water just in front of the rocks. More often than not, the Grayling would come rushing out from between the rocks to smack our offerings. A guy could definitely get used to this 'different' method of fishing for grayling. We headed back towards camp around dusk, and as we sat around the fire later listening to the world around us, the first of my stray thoughts crept through my head.

The next morning we headed over to the Stark river near the community of Lutsel K'e on the southeastern shore. The river is a short one, about .5 Km connecting Stark lake to Great Slave lake. We went there, however, for the exceptional grayling fishing I had heard and read about. We were not disappointed. The grayling acted like their southern cousins in regards to location and willingness to take a dry fly, but there was a notable exception - size! Although the biggest one I caught was only 50 cm long, it took me 15 minutes to land him (Thanks Ron!), and he was so big in girth, I couldn't get my hand around his middle. After a joyous day catching lots of grayling, we headed back to camp where I didn't have much time for my evening fireside reflection as I promptly fell asleep.

Where are the big pike?

great slave lake pike

Although I avoided the issue; the time came to head back towards Yellowknife. Our fishing wasn't over however, as we had yet to tempt a pike with a fly. I was under the misconception that pike would be in every back bay waiting for us to call them forth. In fact the opposite was true, you had to go looking for them. And their ideal habitat was in short supply out in the East arm. So we headed back towards Yellowknife and found our Mecca halfway back along the north shore called Francois Bay.

A river enters Great Slave Lake at this point; but gets temporarily backed up and somewhat swampy near the mouth. The pike stacked up in front of the reeds defining the edges and defended their territory with vigor. We caught so many pike, our arms hurt. The only negative aspect to this session, was that there were so many small (3.6 - 6.8 Kg) pike in the area, we had a hard time getting to the bigger ones. Aside from that minor inconvenience we had a wonderful day that will take a long time to fade from my memory.

All too soon our trip ended; and we pulled back into the dock at Yellowknife. The girls were there waiting for us, knowing that they would hear more than their quota of fishing stories starting immediately after the customary scratchy whisker kisses were dispensed.

History

Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories since 1967, is named after the Yellowknife Dene who moved into the area in the early 1800's. It lies within the traditional hunting area of the Dogrib Tribe who re-occupied the land following the decline of the Yellowknife Chipewyans in the 1820's. As a result of Alexander Mackenzie's visit in 1789, a trading post, known as Fort Fort Providence, was established near the mouth of Yellowknife Bay. This post was still in existence 31 years later when Franklin made his journey to the Coppermine River in 1820, but was abandoned shortly afterwards.

In 1896 gold was discovered at Yellowknife Bay by miners on their way to the Klondike. There was no great staking rush at this time, however, because of the inaccessibility of the country. It was not until about 1930, with the discovery of pitchblende on Great Bear Lake, and the advent of aircraft travel in the north, that further development took place. In 1934 visible gold was found on the shores of Yellowknife Bay, and by 1936, Yellowknife was a boomtown. A number of companies, including Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, began to sink shafts on the "Con", "Negus", and "Giant" claims during 1936 and 1937. Commercial gold production began in the Yellowknife district in December 1938. In 1939 the Yellowknife Administration District was created and the first municipal government of the Mackenzie District was established the following year. By 1940, Yellowknife had a population of 1,000.

Development was halted soon after, however, when in 1942 two of the six mines were closed. The primary reason for the drop in production was two-fold: one, gold was not a strategic resource during the war effort, and concurrently, there were fewer men to work the mines as they were needed for military service during World War II. By the fall of 1944, gold production in the area had ceased entirely.

A new rush began again at the end of the war when Giant Yellowknife Mine opened. By this time, the town was very overcrowded as it grew out around the Bay in Old Town. A new town site was surveyed and construction of New Town began in 1947. By the end of that year, gold mines were once again in full-scale production. A significant factor that aided in the expansion of Yellowknife was the completion of a hydroelectric power station on Snare Lake in 1948. This facility did much to alleviate power shortages, which had previously hindered operations in the area.

Yellowknife became a Municipal District in the summer of 1953 at which time its first mayor was elected. In 1967, it was named as capital of the Northwest Territories, and on January 1, 1970, Yellowknife became the first city in the Northwest Territories.

The City has continued to grow as a mining, transportation, communications and administrative center, while retaining the character and spirit of a small northern town. In 1996, with a population of over 18,000, the City sparkles with the anticipation of diamond mine development north of the city.

Essentials - Flies, Lake Info, Access, and More

Lake Characteristics

Great Slave Lake is the 5th largest lake in North America covering a surface area of 80,000 sqare KM. Yellowknife is situated on the west shore of Yellowknife Bay on the north arm of the lake.

It is the varying hydrography of the lake that catches first time visitors off guard. The east arm is located in the Canadian Shield, which is noted by its tall, towering cliffs along the shoreline. These vertical rock faces also contribute to some great depths below, 122 M not being uncommon. It's a little unsettling to be trolling along close to one of these rock faces, and have that depth of water underneath you. As you get closer to Yellowknife Bay, you're still in shield country, but here the cliffs have given way to sloping rock and shale shorelines. As you move down to the south and western part of the lake, you discover more sedimentation occurring with more recognizable soft shorelines and delta-like areas.

Access and Accommodation

Yellowknife and Great Slave Lake can be accessed by taking Highway 2 north to Peace River via Lesser Slave Lake; then Highway 35 north to the Alberta border. Once you enter into the Northwest Territories take Highway 1 to Enterprise, then Highway 3 to Yellowknife. Note that you will have to take the ferry across the Mackenzie River northwest of Enterprise, so it's advisable to call ahead for the ferry schedule. The distance from Edmonton to Yellowknife is 1,513 Km, making for a long haul; but there are plenty of sightseeing opportunities along the way.

A good variety of hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts await the traveler in Yellowknife. For the camper, a good number of Territorial Parks are located as close as the immediate outskirts of the city. As well, there are some truly fine restaurants in town; the hospitality and friendliness bringing back memories of the Maritimes.

Equipment and Tackle

Equipment and tackle required to fish Great Slave Lake is simple and straightforward. For Lake trout, a medium to heavy action spinning rod coupled with 15 to 20lb test monofilament line will get you by just fine. For lure selection take several size 00 Len Thompson 'Five of Diamonds' in both red and black diamond colors. Another productive lure is the 'Wolverine Special', available at Wolverine Sporting Goods in Yellowknife.

For Arctic Grayling, a 5 to 6 weight fly rod coupled with a forward taper floating fly line will do the trick quite nicely. Just about any typical fly pattern will work at some time or another, but take a good selection of the following:

Dry Flies
Adams size 12 - 14
Grizzly Wullf size 12 - 14
H&L Variant size 12 - 14
Orange Stimulator size 10
Elk Hair Caddis size 12 - 14

Nymphs
Gold Ribbed Hares Ear size 14 - 16
Zug Bug size 12 - 14
Prince Nymph size 14 - 16
Montana Stone size 10

Streamers
Wooly Bugger size 4 - 8

For Northern Pike, use an 8 to 10 weight fly rod coupled with a forward taper floating fly line, a reel with a good drag system, and a steel leader. There are leaders made specifically for pike that are commercially available. Just about any streamer pattern will work but the best all around fly is the Dahlberg Diver in red (best color), yellow, and white.