New territory, new lake and a new species.

[Zubris21]

Well, Kalvin and I have been planning this trip for a while but we were waiting for the temps to warm a little. The forecast for this past weekend was sunny days and highs around 10 degrees. We couldn't pass it up. Friday night right after work we headed North, decided to take a detour to soak in the Liard Hotsprings, since we wouldn't be able to get our Yukon licenses until at least 10am Saturday morning. On the way we ran into a whole bunch of these guys grazing at the side of the road.

 

 

 

We had a tough sleep in the car, but first thing Saturday morning we were off. A quick stop in Watson Lake to pick up our licenses, then we were off in search of our new fishing grounds. Took about an hour drive before we found the lake. Headed down and set up shop for what would be 2 solid days of tough fishing. First we started at the North West end of the lake. Saw a couple nice fish swim by on the Fish TV but couldn't entice them to bite. We quickly moved to the middle of the lake and found the fish, but couldn't get them to bit. It was a feeding frenzy below the hole, and many lure changes had no effect, finally I downsized almost as far as I could and finally hooked into my first ever Arctic Char, she measured in at 17" and was a perfect eater size.

 

 

The action then slowed and when the light started to fade I took a few pics around the lake, this is what we had to look at all day, tough weekend!

 

 

We decided to head back to the car, but fish a few open holes along the way. In about 2 FOW I was jigging very agressively when I had a tap, pulled up a small Char who went right back down the hole to get a little bigger, then moments later using the same technique I pulled out this beauty measuring in at 21"

 

 

Kalvin had one lost at the hole and that ended our day, We went 3/5 with me catching all and each of us loosing one along the way.

 

Day 2 saw the luck shift from me to Kalvin, I managed 1 carbon copy of my first fish, and Kalvin landed these beauties, the biggest measuring in at 24".

 

his first Char

 

The biggest of the trip

 

It looked like they were starting to put on their spawning colours as the final fish he caught was starting to show the signature red associated with the Arcitc Char.

 

 

And finally our take home fair. Neither day did we hit our limits and the trip ended with us going 8/10 with 1 small release each and 3 good keepers each. All in all a vary succesful trip, and my baked Char last night for supper was unreal!

 

 

-Andre

[Dara]

Nice report.

The fish look really delicate.

nice colours

[irishfield]

Ice fishing alive and well !!

 

Nice stuff !

[misfish]

Are those Bison wild,or farm owned? That would be so cool to see.

Nice catch and report.

TFS.

[b2kptbo]

Oh I bet they where good, thanks for the report...

[TroutnMuskieHunter]

Great report guys...

[Zubris21]

Ice fishing alive and well !!

 

Nice stuff !

 

Sure is, I expect I'll be ice fishing for another month anyways. There is still a good 2-3 feet of ice on most of the lakes still, but the rivers are beginning to open up.

 

Are those Bison wild,or farm owned? That would be so cool to see.

Nice catch and report.

TFS.

 

Yes the Bison are wild. I'm not sure they are native to the area though. I read a sign stating they were re-introduced in an area Im not familiar with, but assume it was close by, and their population was 49 animals as of 2007, but I can tell you we definitely saw more than 49, probably closer to a hundred.

[Joeytier]

Great report. That looks like an incredibly tasty meal.