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20 N.W.T. HOT SPOTS FOR LANDING TROPHY LAKE TROUT—BY THE DOZEN!
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES: LAKE TROUT
Why this is one of Canada’s must-have fishing experiences
It’s one of the few undisputable facts in fishing: the N.W.T. is the best place in the world to catch lake trout, with the frigid depths of the territory’s north-country lakes home to a simply astonishing number of truly giant fish. If you catch a 20-pound laker anywhere else, it will likely be your fish of the season. In the N.W.T., however, when you get a 20-pounder, you admire it for a moment, then quickly release it so you can keep hunting for an actual big one. Fish of 30 pounds are common, and on these trophy waters, any bite could be a leviathan of double that size.
But Far North trout aren’t just heavy. Life in the Arctic also makes these lakers thickly muscled and shockingly powerful. They don’t fight fancy, like their rainbow trout or Atlantic salmon cousins, but lakers will doggedly pull and dive and pull, stressing tackle—and the angler—to the breaking point.
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Incredibly, the world-record 72-pound laker caught on Great Bear Lake in 1995 has been informally bested more than once. Registering a new record requires killing the fish, however, which the anglers refused to do and let their records swim away. There’s no better measure of the awe and devotion inspired by these magnificent fish than that.
WHEN TO GO: July and August
HOT TACTIC: Vertically jig a paddletail swimbait on a heavy jig
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THE HOT SPOTS
- Aylmer Lake
- Blachford Lake
- Duncan Lake
- Gordon Lake
- Great Bear Lake
- Great Slave Lake
- Harding Lake
- Hearne Lake
- Ingraham Trail Lakes
- Kasba Lake
- Lac La Martre
- Mackay Lake
- Mosquito Lake
- Nonacho Lake
- Point Lake
- Prosperous Lake
- Sambaa K’e
- Scott Lake
- Stark River
- Watta Lake