Ara Lake Camps Remote Ice Fishing Trip

[Basskicker]

Last Thursday morning we left in great anticipation of our adventure north of Aroland into Ara Lake. Our adventure started at 5:00 A.M. with the 4 hour drive north, followed by a brutal 36km bushwack into the vast remote wilderness that is normally only enjoyed during the warm summer months by float plane.

 

 

We started our adventure on the Ogoki road and traveled north with a convoy of 18 snowmobiles all towing toboggans, supplies, or fish huts, we were told to STAY ON the broken trail from the guide at the camp who broke trail only 2 days prior, unfortunately the weather had turned mild during the last 48 hours, not going below 0 degrees...the melt had started. It was a disaster from the moment we left the trucks, what is normally a 1-2 hour trip, took over 6 hours!!! There was still over 4-5 feet of snow on the road and it was extremely soft. Nearly everyone at one point in time fell off the trail into the deep abyss, only to be buried alive, taking 2-3 people helping to get back up on the none existing trail, the warm weather turned everything to soup.

After nearly 4 hours of hell and only 22kms we arrived at the shores of Meta lake to an image that I will never forget. The lake had taken its first victims ....as I looked out not more than 300 yards, there was a mass of snowmobiles, toboggans and people scattered across the lake in 2-3 feet of slush....ALL STUCK.

I was the rookie of the bunch, at 40 years of age and the least amount of experience, I stood at the edge of the lake watching all this go down feeling extremely stressed and nervous about the outcome........I still had to get 11kms down the lake to the camps!!!! We had a conference at shore to decide on how to progress from here. Some of the more experienced guys unhooked their sleds and went on the rescue mission, some of the CRAZY guys decided to chance it and pin it....hoping for the best as they ripped across the lake into the distance, not to be seen again. Finally someone came back, and let everyone know that the WHOLE lake was a shitstorm of slush all the way to camp. At this point I was shitting my pants, do I turn around and face 22KM of soup snow or 11KM of slush, chancing getting stuck in the slush.

After 2 hours on shore watching more people get stuck, 6 of the guys finally got unstuck and hobbled back to shore, they were done. Not all of their tow behind sleds were recovered and they didn't care, they vanished back down the 22km trail and went home. So we were down to 12 guys, when the moment finally hit me, I really don't have any choice at this point, I was the last guy standing on shore and decided to unhook my fish trap, repack my gear and only take my essentials on the back of my sled. I really don't remember much after that, it all happened so fast. I finally decided to grow a pair and hit the throttle full tilt, my skis lifted and away I went on the most adrenaline pumping snowmobile ride of my life. At about 90km/h I rocketed down the lake and according to the guys (still stuck) I had water shooting back 10-15 feet as they watched me fly by holding on for dear life, as a rounded several corners I found another machine stuck and another machine stuck...and another.

The further I went, the deeper the slush got.....when it finally dawned on me......I didn't even know where the camp was located because this was my first trip. I had a general idea where it was located and I really couldn't slow down, I had no choice but to follow the previous huge slush ruts!! At one point I hit a ridge at over 100km/hr and flew about 15 feet into the air, I nearly sharted in my pants right there. After passing another 2 machines stuck and what seemed like an eternity I finally reached the upper limits of the river where the slush was even worst, even at 90km/h I started to sink. I has no choice but to pin it even more, not the smartest thing to do but anything was better than the thought off standing in ice cold water stuck! So finally after more white knuckling I had the cabins in sight.....I can honestly say, that I have never been so relieved, as I slowed down to come ashore at the camps the slush took hold and I started to sink....I had no choice but to pin it again and I ended up launching myself up the embankment into more soup snow......was I ever happy. I buried my machine into a 4-5 drift where I happily left it. I can honestly say that I will never forget that day, the memories will be etched into my brain forever. I was only the 3rd guy who managed to make it into camp.

At the end of the day, all 12 survivors made it to camp in one piece, a lot of gear and food was scattered across the lake to be recovered the next day when the lake hardened up. Some of these guys have been going here for over 20+years and have never seen the lake in these conditions. It was the first time ever that there was no fish fry on the first night.....but we made up for that

The shear amount of snow and ice was astonishing for this time of year, with over 4-5 feet of snow in the bush and over 48" of ice the fishing conditions were extremely difficult. The weather was beautiful, actually to nice, it would cool at night to harden the lake up for a morning fish, but by afternoon you would break threw the top to crush back into the slush!! I had wanted to explore the lake but we all ended up staying close to camp, still catching our fair share of fish.

It was definitely a trip to remember, winter is not over up here. We awoke this morning to heavy snow and white out conditions making in rather difficult to get back off the lake. The thought that people are expecting to fish this lake in only 4 weeks in a boat is crazy.....all that slush is going to freeze solid adding another 12-18" of good hard ice in the the next 3-4 days.

Cheers

Jason

Edited April 14, 2014 by Basskicker

[chris.brock]

that was a great story, crazy adventure, what sled were you riding?

 

I guess the guys flying in for the opening week should bring augers and tip-ups, crazy winter

[Moosebunk]

Jay... that was AWESOME! Man, you had me holding on for dear life there dood. lol.

 

As sharty-farty-pants that whole ordeal might have been, you'll enjoy telling that story for the rest of your days.

 

 

Slush sooooo sucks.

[Maverick]

That's one to remember.

 

When in doubt, go faster!

[Basskicker]

that was a great story, crazy adventure, what sled were you riding?

 

I guess the guys flying in for the opening week should bring augers and tip-ups, crazy winter

I was riding an 2013 Ski-doo Expedition Sport with 154" track, I was the only one who decided not to tow something.

[lookinforwalleye]

Sounds like a blast!!!! glad I don`t ice fish!!!LOL

[Joeytier]

What an awesome adventure. Thanks for sharing.

 

There's no better way to get to know your machine and what it's capable of.

[irishfield]

Guess my touring 500 would still be there!! LOL.. thanks for sharing the story Jason!

[Terry]

sounds like an adventure

 

I like adventures

[wormdunker]

wow! what an adventure! I'm sure you'll never forget this event. Bonus you got some nice walleye.

[Musky or Specks]

Cool Adventure Would love to do something like that for icefishing some time.

[woodenboater]

tell me someone (anyone !) has GoPro footage of your blast across the ice ! it would be totally insane and youtube worthy

[Basskicker]

tell me someone (anyone !) has GoPro footage of your blast across the ice ! it would be totally insane and youtube worthy

It's funny you say that. because I had a go pro with me, unfortunately due to the circumstances, the last thing on my mind was strapping a camera on my head!!

[woodenboater]

ha ha, would have been totally EPIC !!!! next time

[Joeytier]

So only 12 of the 18 sleds made it in?

[Basskicker]

So only 12 of the 18 sleds made it in?

Yup, 6 guys said the hell with it and turned around and went home. Its a shame because the next morning things were rock hard as I went back down the lake the 11km to retrieve my fishing hut and gear. I'm glad they were so many guys there because of the seriousness of our predicament. Its one thing to be stuck in the slush, but if anyone had to spend a night on shore somewhere, the outcome probably wouldn't have been too good.

 

It really put it into perspective how dangerous remote travel during the winter months can be, it really good be a life and death situation. I mean its so remote that you really have to be prepared for anything and everything. I think my days of solo travel are over during the winter months, I never want to experience those feelings again.

[Jds63]

wow ... glad it all turned out on the good side ...

 

how was the trip out ?

[12footspringbok]

I love winter snowmobiling, ice fishing, and adventure! Pretty cool story and a lesson all wrapped into one.

 

Thanks a lot for sharing it.

[Basskicker]

wow ... glad it all turned out on the good side ...

 

how was the trip out ?

I'm almost embarrassed to say. but we got lost or should I say we went on a reconnaissance mission for next year. When we awoke at daylight it was snowing HEAVY and you couldn't see more than 200-300 yards in front of you and it was mild, so we decided to leave before everyone else. Needless to say we got turned around coming out of the river and headed across the lake instead of down the lake. We should have followed the frozen slush ruts but it was so rough and bumpy we decided to stay just off from there. It was near zero visibility and big water, couldn't see the shore and I left my GPS in my other jacket back at the truck so after 20-30 minutes and 15km running around in circles we finally came across a set of tracks and followed them for another 4-5km only to realize latter that we were following them in the wrong direction!!! So eventually we turned around and followed the one set of tracks in the opposite direction which eventually took us back to the 40-50 sets of slush ruts which lead us off the lake and onto the trail which had hardened. Definitely not a nice feeling being lost on big water trying to followed a single track that is being covered with fresh snow quickly!! Lots of lessons to be learned on this trip, but we persevered and will have one hell of a story to tell for years to come!!!

[NAW]

What a horrible report

 

I couldn't imagine your stress levels... But your persistence paid of right! One for the memory bank for sure.

[EC1]

This year was a mix of the best and worst conditions on the ice. One week it would be glare ice, the next it would take over an hour to walk a km.

 

Full throttle on the snowmobile I bet really got some adrenaline going. Love the snowpile shot at the cabin!

Glad you made it out, and nice walleye. Is that a smallie mixed in there?

[fishnsled]

Some crazy conditions to deal with but it sounds like you made the best of it. And some nice fish too. Awesome story, thanks for posting.