WWFG Fishing Reports

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 Post subject: 2009 March Ice Fishing

Ice fishing in March was fantastic. Clear skies, no wind, 0ºF; perfect conditions. It seemed that every hole we drilled had lake trout in it. We drilled about 80 holes over 5 days. We fished Duncan, Graham, Crapaud and Prestige lakes. Each one was terrific. We caught a few burbot or ling cod, they made great poor man's lobster when boiled in sea salted water and dipped in garlic flavored oil. Only 1 pike in 5 days but well in excess of 80 trout were caught in 12 to 30 feet of water under 4 feet of ice and 2 feet of snow. Trout ranged in size between 5 and 10 lbs.

We snowmobiled into the lodge from Yellowknife, a distance of 50 miles one way. Seldom used ice roads and trails kept us on the right track for 3 hours. GPS was taken but not used. No mishaps and we only got stuck once right at the lodge coming off the beach to the lodge trails. We packed in a 55 gallon drum of gas on a towed toboggan (kmotik). There were 3 of us on 2 sleds. We saw fox, ptarmigan, grouse and martin. We also came across fresh tracks for wolverine, wolves and moose but alas, no caribou this year. They migrated further south and west of us.

We did dome exploring, visited lakes that have never been fished before and went to bed tired but not hungry. Warm cabin, soft pillows and great food! The Northern lights were brilliant at 3 am. We woke up refreshed and ready to take on the world. Too bad we did not have more time as the week went by too fast. We returned safe, no frostbite and satisfied with our adventure. Can’t wait till June!