15 Canadian fishing hot spots—and the stories you just might bring home from each one

AYLMER LAKE, N.W.T.

If there’s a waterbody in the N.W.T. primed to equal Great Bear Lake’s stellar laker fishing, it’s undoubtedly Aylmer Lake. Three years ago, my friend Dave Kay and I spent a week on our own exploring and camping on this vast lake and learned just how good the fishing can be. Unfortunately for us, our trip coincided with one of the region’s windiest weeks in recent memory—we were actually stuck on shore a few days—but whenever we braved the wind and waves, we caught plenty of good lake trout. We also found numerous Arctic grayling wherever a stream entered the lake. Aylmer’s excellent fishing isn’t the only ingredient promising memories that will last a lifetime, however. Adding to the experience is the remote location, and the pristine tundra landscape populated with Arctic wolves, caribou, grizzlies, muskox, peregrine falcons and numerous other Arctic birds.

LEARN MORE: www.canadianwildlifeadventures.com

BLACKSTONE RIVER, Alberta

A legend in Alberta’s broad tapestry of fly fishing, Barry Mitchell was a friend and mentor of mine. His renowned book Alberta’s Trout Highway: Fishing the Forestry Trunk Road is long out of print, and likely to cost you $200 or more if you can find a copy. Over many years, Barry took me to several of his favourite streams, but none resonated with me quite like the Blackstone. It’s an out-of-the-way cutthroat stream that’s also home to mountain whitefish and bulls. In truth, the fishing is no better than many other cutthroat rivers, the result of limited quality habitat. What the Blackstone may lack, however, it more than makes up for in scenery and, critically for anglers, solitude. Barry passed away in 2015, but I’ve continued fishing the stream nearly every year since, in part to honour our friendship, and in part because it brings me a certain peace I can’t find elsewhere.

LEARN MORE: www.streamsight.ca/blackstone-river

BOW RIVER, Alberta

The Bow River below Calgary has an international reputation as an excellent rainbow and brown trout fishery for one simple reason—it earned it. I’ve fished the Bow regularly over the past 40 years, and I know of no other southern river where you stand a better chance of landing a 20-plus-inch trout on the fly. It was my friend Perry McCormick (pictured) who first taught me to fly fish, and we fish the river together for a couple days every summer. While it has certainly seen its challenges over the years—from low water levels and increased angling pressure to high water temperatures and whirling disease—this remarkably resilient waterway continues to produce big trout. The Bow’s one limitation is access, as there are remarkably few points where anglers can fish from shore, so you’ll need a drift or jet boat to explore the best waters.

LEARN MORE: www.redwillowoutdoors.com