Chasing The Grey, A Journey Back In Time

[DRIFTER_016]

Four billion years ago the Canadian Shield was born. It covers three quarters of Canada and extends in the United States. Eight million square kilometers in size it spans from Eastern to Central to Northern Canada and South into the US Midwest. The oldest section of the shield is the portion in The North West Territories and Nunavut. My little corner of the shield is said to be four billion years old!!!














Over the July long weekend I had planned to take a little vacation to the East Arm of Great Slave Lake. Great Slave is the ninth largest lake on the planet at just over 27,000 square kilometers in size. It is also the deepest in North America at 614 meters. In her deep cold waters live the fish of many anglers dreams. There are trophy sized Whitefish, Walleye, Pike and the giants of the lake the grey trout, or Lake Trout as they're more commonly known. There are also burbot as well as Arctic Grayling and the tarpon of the tundra the Inconnu a member of the whitefish family that inhabits only five drainage's worldwide.

This is a land of extremes where the wintertime temperatures can drop into the -50's Celsius and climb into the +30 degree range in the summer. It is a semi-arid region that sees less than 300mm of precipitation annually. This makes for lots of beautiful sunny days both winter and summer.








My route would take me about 100 kilometers down the lake and into Great Slaves famous East Arm, home to endless wilderness and big strong Lake Trout.





The trip would consist of myself, my trusty husky Sahtu and enough gas to make the trip. Seems there aren't many gas stations there for some reason. Could be the lack of roads, towns and people.

I loaded the boat up Wednesday evening for an early morning departure on Thursday with the plan to return on Tuesday July 2nd my 51st birthday. I'm a bit of an adventure nut and routinely enjoy vacationing in less traveled and areas where you need to have your wits about you if you want to return alive.

I spend every fall camping in the grizzly and black bear country of South Central Alaska and have spent time camping on the tundra 600 kilometers North of Yellowknife on Great Bear Lake. I have also camped on Great Slave in both summer and the Arctic winter. I don't think there is any more vulnerable feeling than being alone camping on the ice 80 kilometers from town in the middle of January North of 60 degrees.




I have also camped on the lake in March which is still the middle of winter in these parts with temps in the -10C to -20C range.





But I digress. Back to the trip at hand.

The weather was supposed to be sunny with East winds to 20kph on Thursday, which would be pretty good for the long trip. I knew the trip would get a little bumpy near my final destination but was not worried.




The trip runs through some pretty treacherous shoal filled territory and I did manage to tag one on the way out. In the 30 some odd years I have been a boater it's the first time I have ever hit one at speed. Luckily the damage was not terminal and I carried onto my destination, Francois Bay and a nicely protected camp site.

I was right about the last part of the trip getting bumpy. About 10kms from my destination the winds started to pick up past the 20kph the weather forecasters were calling for and the waves were beginning to build. What was worse was I was quartering into them on my starboard side and getting hosed by water that was only a few degrees North of being solid.





There is a nice place to pull the boat in here and on some soft bottom to boot!!!




After unloading the Subhunter it was time to set up camp. The site is one of several that gets used quite often during the summer and has a couple of improvements that are nice. One is a 4X8 foot plywood table to set the kitchen up on and the second is an open air out house complete with a view and toilet seat.










Along with the improvements at the site there are also some pretty great views.
This is right in front of the tent looking back into the bay.




This is looking towards the lake from the same spot.




This is looking at the bay from the end of the point.




During camp set up the wind really started to howl, but it waited until I was ready to set up the screen tent. I would guess the gusts were in the 40-50kph range. As you can see I managed to get the tent up, but the fishing would have to wait until the winds died down. So the pup and I went and took a snooze until dinner time. I don't think he was impressed.




We got up around six and the winds had died down to a manageable level so it was dinner and then a little fishin' time. So it was build a fire and toss on a steak.




And hit the water!!!!




Fishing was slow and I only landed 5 that first night including one about 15 or so pounds.







Then it was time to head in and kick back with a rum and a good book in the screen tent away from the bugs.




Friday, my first full day in camp had me eat some bacon and eggs before heading out for the morning fish. This was my best day size wise for fish. I landed one in the 22-23 pound range and lost one in the 25-30 pound range as well as landing a good number in the 10 pound range.

This is my big one of the trip. I did take one shot of me holding it but it didn't turn out.
It's tough fishing by yourself and Sahtu hasn't learned to operate a camera yet.




I laid the wood shampoo to a good eater to BBQ up for dinner.


A little surf and turf.




As I said there were some bugs around. There were all of your biting kinds: Mosquitoes, Black Flies, Deer Flies and the worst of the bunch were the Horse Flies. There was also a good number of Caddis Flies and May Flies hatching.




Saturday dawned bright and calm. There was zero wind and the temps were approaching +30C. This really changed the fishing. Trolling large spoons like my big Wolverines that had worked the previous two days were now being ignored. Time to change things up so I rigged a rod with a 4" glow Buzz Bomb and used it power jigging the depths while motoring with the bow mount electric. This really picked up the action, however the fish were smaller and I didn't break 10 pounds on Saturday. I did have somewhere around 40 or 50 bites though.










Back in camp there were some interesting sights like this brightly coloured lichen.




Wild Roses.




And these little white flowers.




I think the fun and excitement got to Sahtu.







Sunday morning I went to gas up the kicker and as I hopped on the boat I noticed a swirl in the water. As I was filling I found out what caused it.................PIKE!!! I have caught them here before in the inside bay and brought my 9wt fly rod in case I ran into them again. I saw a couple of fish in casting distance so tossed out my favorite green leech.




It was instantly hammered by a 30 inch fish. As I was fighting it his buddies showed up and there were over a dozen roaming the area.




I managed to land about 10 or 12 before the action died and I never left the dock. It was then time to hit the lakers again. It was more of the same weather wise and the best technique was power jigging again, although the action was slower over all the sized picked up some and I got several in the 10 pound range.







The breeze picked up in the afternoon and changed to the South West. This brought in smoke from forest fires burning near Fort Providence on the South West corner of the lake.




I bonked another trout for dinner and cooked up some beer battered goodness!!!










Monday, my last fishing day before the long trip home started the same as Sunday with some pike on the fly as they were back for round two!!! And these ones were bigger. I landed 7 in short order with the biggest about a 40 incher.







And a short video




After the pike were done it was off for troots again. Today the East winds were back and had changed the surface temps but had also made the bait disappear so my fish from Saturday and Sunday were gone. The fishing was the slowest of the whole trip but I did manage half a dozen to 12 pounds.













Grabbed a fish to take home as well.




Then it was back to camp to start packing for the trip home in the morning. The dog lazed around while I cooked dinner and put things away.







The smoke in the air made for a nice sunset.
Well not really sunset, but you get the idea.




That evening the winds would pick up and shift to the North East. By bed time it was gusting to 60 or 70 kph and I was hoping it would mellow by the time I left in the morning. Luckily it did die and the trip home could commence. About half way home I got hammered by a thunder storm and got drenched!!!! In about an hour it had moved on out and the rest of the trip was uneventful.

I wouldn't have been able to carry enough gas to feed my old 90hp 2 stroke but the new 4 stroke managed to get pretty decent mileage and I used about 40 gallons for the whole trip. I do wish I had brought a couple of more cans of gas so I could have hit McKenzie point as it was fishing pretty good from what others were saying.

Besides myself and the pup there were 3 other groups camping in Francois Bay so it was pretty quiet.

I'm looking to do a longer trip next year but will probably have to tow my 8' Zodiac to haul fuel. I'll have to arrange with my ex employer Plummers Lodges for an ice and fuel resupply as well.

Until the next adventure.........................

Edited July 6, 2013 by DRIFTER_016

[leaf4]

Looks absolutely awesome and those fish were beauties nice write up !

[Christopheraaron]

Great report, great fish! BTW, the vid isn't working.

[DRIFTER_016]

Should work now

[TJQ]

Incredible report!

[Christopheraaron]

yup, it's working, nice fish!

[Musky or Specks]

Great report. I don't know about the winter but would certainly love to live there from June till September. Sahtu is great looking dog. Man thats a long haul in a boat

[outllaw]

for most its a dream.

thanks I enjoyed it.

[Sinker]

I have a cousin in Yellowknife who I've promised to visit next summer. I'm gonna have to look you up.

 

Those trips you do are awesome! Your lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the country!!

 

Looks like the dog enjoyed it as well

 

Have you ever caught an inconnu? I'd love to get one!!

 

S.

[Dontcryformejanhrdina]

Wow, great report. Looks amazing up there, must be so peaceful to get away from everything, except fishing of course. Too bad you'll have 50 boats on that spot tomorrow.

[DRIFTER_016]

I have a cousin in Yellowknife who I've promised to visit next summer. I'm gonna have to look you up.

 

Those trips you do are awesome! Your lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the country!!

 

Looks like the dog enjoyed it as well

 

Have you ever caught an inconnu? I'd love to get one!!

 

S.

I've caught plenty, but not around Yellowknife.

They are here but are usually only caught in the nets or occasionally while fishing for other species.

Not really a species you can target here.

 

I have caught tons of them on the Anderson River about 130 miles North of Great Bear Lake.

[tip-up]

Excellent report.

[esoxansteel]

Awesome trip and report, you sure covered alot of ground to burn 40 gallons in a 4 stroke, hopefully the Dark Rum held up Dave, that could be worse then running out of gas

[Terry]

great report

 

a trip I would love to do

but not on my own....

[misfish]

What a trip,what a read. Very nice Dave.

[Gregoire]

Great report. I am green with envy. Thanks for sharing.

[Bill Shearer]

Great report and photos, Dave

Happy to see your buddy is still looking after you.

[dhickey]

That's my dream in a nutshell.

 

Well done and good on you for doing it alone

 

Very nice report

[boombap]

Good stuff man, would love to do a trip like this. I think it would require a bigger boat, I don't think my 14ft tinny and 9.9 merc will get me around to much

[Rodbender]

Awsome read and great pics

 

Thanks for sharing

[DRIFTER_016]

Thanks all, twas a good adventure.

[wormdunker]

Thanx for your wonderful report! That is awesome! Thanx for the pix, Sahtu is definitely "a man's best friend". I'm envious to fish an area such as yours!

[fishindevil]

Wow !!!! That's just a stellar report man !!!! Insane fishing and the scenery is the best in the world !!!! Great trip and great pics !!!! Soooo jealous ...... Thanks for sharing !!!!

[Ron]

Enjoyed the report Dave. Even though I don't think i have read a report that even comes close to your ice fishing escapade a few years back. that one is still fresh on my mind and you every now and then throw that pic of your outfitters camp in as a reminder once again!

[4x4bassin]

Enjoyed the report as well , you are a very lucky guy to be able to pick up and go to a place like that right in your back yard. Love the laker reports