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Tuesday, 13 July:
Our first day of fishing was the stuff dreams are made of and not
something any angler should ever count on.
We fished The Narrows at Merkley Lake.
After the long, cold winter lake trout moved out of the depths of the
lake into The Narrows and were stacked up there in a feeding frenzy.
Our guides, John Jr. and James, were kept busy releasing lake trout after
lake trout caught on the fly. Our
fishing partners for the week were Margaret & Larry, also fly fishing
enthusiasts. We all had an
outstanding day. We caught and
released 8 lakers over 30” in length and 5 lakers over 35” in length.
Talk about some big trout on the fly!
The largest fish was Ed’s monster lake trout which was 39”x18” and
weighed 16 lbs. Our guides each
caught their first lake trout on the fly after Ed gave them his rod & flies
to use. A really terrific day
during which we hardly noticed the wind, the rain or the arctic cold.
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Ed and Jimmy with a
36"x18", |
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Lindy and Jimmy with a nice trout |
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Ed and John with a 39"x18", |
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John's first lake trout on the fly |
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Jimmy's first lake trout on the fly |
Wednesday, 14 July: Today we headed north to the Nanook River outpost camp (commonly called North Camp). Here we once again fished with Colin, our guide during last year’s North Camp visit. The weather continued to be cold and there was lots of ice remaining in the water. At times, it sounded like a thousand chandeliers tinkling in the wind. We were able to land four lake trout in the afternoon after a short morning of fishing followed by a noon break to warm up with hot soup. Boy, did we enjoy it too! The highlight of the day was Ed’s beautiful 35”x16”, 12lb. lake trout. A real beauty!
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Ed & Colin with Ed's 35"x16", 12 lb. lake trout |
Thursday, 15 July: Well, we had our first hours of sunlight without clouds or rain but unfortunately it began at 7:00PM on Wednesday and ended at 7:00AM on Thursday. Then the clouds continued to ride in on the northern winds. Despite the cold & dreary conditions, it was a day for catching arctic char (plus two small lake trout). In the morning, Lindy caught two char. The first was a 33”x16” hen (female). Her next was a beautiful male char which measured 38”x19” and weighed 17 lbs. The stuff that makes an angler’s heart pound! Ed joined the fun in the afternoon by landing a 35”x16”, 11 lb. beauty. Then, Lindy ended the day with another 33”x16” char. It was outstanding!
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Lindy and Colin with a 33"x16" female char |
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Lindy and Colin with a
beautiful male char, 38"x19" and 17 lbs. |
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Ed and Colin with a 35"x16" char |
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Lindy and Colin with another 33"x16" female char |
Friday,
16 July:
This morning we flew even further north to the Hadley Bay outpost camp.
Again, it was a cold & windy day.
We fished the river in front of camp before taking a break for lunch.
In the afternoon, Henry, our guide from Newfoundland, here for his 5th
season, motored us to another river for more fishing.
We only caught one trout (Lindy’s) so fishing was tough.
However, we were visited at the river by a musk oxen herd.
We got incredibly close to these beautiful creatures and took some
outstanding photos and videos.
Then, on the way home we stopped for caribou photographs.
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Lindy on the ice pack |
Saturday, 17 July: We had time to fish this morning since we would not depart until mid-morning. So, we hit the river at 6:30AM and it paid off. Ed caught both a nice laker and a good-size char. No skunking this angler! When we returned to camp for breakfast, it was 2 degrees C (39 degrees F). Breakfast was a real treat, especially since we were able to thaw out and warm up before our flight. We were picked up by Bill and first headed north over the Arctic Ocean ice pack to look for polar bear. We found one (see SETTINGS for details). We then headed south and fished the Hamilton Rover. Ed landed two small silver char, the only fish of the day. We then flew back to base camp (it seemed like a thriving metropolis compared to the outpost camps) to rejoin the other anglers and later enjoy the luxury of a hot shower.
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Ed and Bill with a silver char |
Sunday, 18 July: Today, our last day of fishing, Bill flew us east to Yellowbill. We had such a great week of fishing, we offered Margaret & Larry our flies and stationed them on the most likely habitats for the first. It paid off as they both hooked their first arctic char and Larry landed his biggest ever lake trout (in the 15 lb. range). It was tough conditions, with a cold rain blowing into your face while wading in thigh-high ice cold water. However, we were all well-seasoned by now and fishing was key. In the afternoon, Ed did get into the action by catching and releasing two “silver bullets” (a great name for these feisty silver char). Lindy did not hook any fish today but still enjoyed watching everyone else hook up with these beauties.
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Ed with a "silver bullet" |
In summary, High Arctic Lodge provided excellent fishing and lots of fun. We thoroughly enjoyed every moment in this “Land of the Midnight Sun!”