#10 - Giovani [Frog Pond] Lake Location: Coastal BC, Powell Lake Region
Species: Resident [freshwater] Cutthroat Trout In the BC Coastal Mountains there is a little lake which the locals call Frog Pond, an unassuming name for what is the hottest Cutthroat Trout lake I have ever found in the west. It's a hot fishing lake because it's almost impossible to access without a float plane. It's located on top of a steep 1,600 foot rise in the middle of Goat Island in the Powell Lake region. It has a breathtaking approach that takes you over the 1,600 foot sheer rise into what looks like a small pond.
The lake is crystal clear and bordered on one side by a sheer rock cliff that rises another five hundred feet. It is chuck-full of pan-sized Cutthroat Trout. On a bad day, I can get as many as three on consecutive casts using a small mepps. These resident Cutthroat can be caught with spinners or spoons fished deep in pools or along the lakeshore, especially where there is submerged debris. A muddler minnow is a sure bet. In the summer evenings, the glassy water surface comes alive with the trout in a feeding frenzy. This is world-class fishing only a two-hour flight from downtown Vancouver.
#9 - Sutton Lake Region Location: Northern Ontario
Species: Lake Trout & Arctic Brook Trout In 1982, I took my first true "wilderness flight" into Northern Ontario. My destination was the treeless Hudson Bay coastal region of the Sutton River district that is unlike any landform in Canada. If the sea level of Hudson Bay were to raise fifty feet, the top one third of Ontario would disappear. Its marshy scrub tundra is home to polar bears, caribou, ptarmigan and the arctic fox, plus it is a major nesting area for birds. In the middle of all this, two parallel mountain ridges rise unexpectedly out of the ground to cradle one of the best trout lakes in Canada: Sutton Lake.
Here in the summer months the water doesn't warm up and you can flat-line trophy lake trout all day long (or until your arms get tired). For a change of pace, slip down to the river for some fly fishing of the famous Sutton River Brook Trout.
#8 - Husky Lakes Location: Northwest Territories
Species: Lake Trout Just south of Tuktayuktuk in Canada's Southern Arctic is a chain of shallow semi-tidal water called the Husky Lakes. Also known as the Eskimo Lakes on some charts, the Husky Lakes have some of the best Saltwater Trout fishing in Canada. The big fish here run in the forty-pound range and twenty-pounders are common. Ice fishing is prolific here in the winter and in the summer you can fish all day long in twenty-four hour daylight. I found that these fish always seem to take a few swipes at the lure before they finally set their teeth into one. The end result was that when we fished Husky Lakes, we were either getting taps or hauling in fish continually. It's a long ways north but clearly worth it (if only for the bragging rights).
#7 - Uranium City: Lake Athabaska Location: Northern Saskatchewan
Species: Just about everything There are no roads to Lake Athabaska or to the little ghost town of Uranium City on its north shore. But for sheer natural beauty, affordable accommodation and knock-your-socks-off trophy fishing, there is no better place in Canada. The lake's enormous size and contrasting areas of bays, river inlets, and islands provide outstanding fishing. There is everything up here including trophy Lake Trout, Arctic Grayling, Northern Pike, Whitefish, and Walleye. When we were up there in 2001, a man and his son had caught 92 fish in the space of just 48 hours.
That same trip, it took us fifteen minutes to land our first lake trout. Lake Athabaska is a fish factory that can produce big fish. The largest Northern Pike ever caught in Saskatchewan came out of Lake Athabaska, weighing in at 42 lbs 12 oz. The largest Lake Trout in the world came out of Lake Athabaska weighing in at 102 lbs. The best place from which to fish the lake is Uranium City.
#6 - Magdalen Islands Location: Atlantic Ocean between P.E.I. and Newfoundland
Species: Shark The Magdalen Islands, located between Newfoundland and P.E.I., are a beautiful group of tiny islands that stretch for 40 kilometers. They are connected by natural sand dunes and surrounded by endless empty beaches. In the summertime, the warm waters are a hot bed for Shark. In researching stories for the Wings Over Canada series, I discovered that there was only one charter operator in Quebec that had a license to fish sharks.
We found him on the Magdalen Islands. Now, a small clarification is in order: there are actually other charter companies that can take you catch-and-release shark fishing. But our captain could legally haul a shark into his boat! And so we went out on the Atlantic, which cooperated by becoming flat and calm, and caught four sharks one after the other. We landed three of them alive and angry into the boat. They fought like no other game fish I had ever seen. For information, go to any search engine and key in "Club Vacation Magdalen Islands".
#5 - Lac Degelis Location: Northern Quebec
Species: Speckled Trout Lake Nipigon has the world record for Speckled Trout and, if this record ever gets broken, there is a good chance the new winner will come out of Lac Degelis. This lake, located in the middle of nowhere in north-eastern Quebec (north of Lac St. Jean), is a "spec" factory. On a good day, that can translate into a fish every ten minutes if you want to stay on the little ones. If you want the bigger ones, your production will drop but there is always the hope of that world record holder to keep things interesting.
If you go there, try evening fishing at sunset. If you hit it right, the water is glassy and the fish are feeding; hold on for the best "everycast" fishing of your life. With a fly rod you can pick them off every cast.
#4 - Cornwall Lake Location: Northern Alberta close to N.W.T. border
Species: Northern Pike, Trout, Whitefish When a lake is fished for the first time, it is always exciting when it turns into an undiscovered fishing jewel. Cornwall Lake in Northern Alberta, only forty miles from the Northwest Territories border, falls into this category. Cornwall Lake covers an area of 6,900 acres with a maximum depth of 106 feet and a mean depth of 20 feet. Fish species include: Northern Pike, Lake Trout and Lake Whitefish. Except by a trapper who once lived in the area, the lake has never been fished, and even he pulled out over ten years ago when the price of furs went through the floor.
When we fished Cornwall last summer, on one sunny afternoon, we caught a dozen Northern Pike right from the shore in less than an hour. The largest was over forty inches long and there was a stretch when we were hitting them at every cast. Don't worry, the fish are still there; we released them all.
#3 - Smoky Lake, Noganosh Water System Location: Ontario's "Near North" Port Loring
Species: Small Mouth & Large Mouth Bass, Northern Pike This water system is a pristine wilderness area between Pickerel River to the north and Magnetawan River to the south. There are a series of seven or eight lakes that stretch for twenty-five miles. You could get lost for a whole month fishing this system because, as everyone knows, a distance of twenty-five miles can translate into at least a hundred miles of shoreline. It's the size of the system that is its salvation because smaller bass lakes get fished out as soon as they get popular. The lakes here are alive with trophy bass fishing. There is a lot of dead fall combined with deep rocky drop offs: ideal habitat for both small and largemouth species. Six-pound small mouths are not uncommon here. In my opinion, Smoky is the best place for bass fishing in Canada.
#2 - Seymour Inlet Location: B.C. Coast
Species: Coho Salmon When you can hit a run of migrating Salmon consistently each year, when you find a river that is one of the most prolific rivers in Canada and when the location is in one of the most beautiful fjords in the world, you have found Seymour Inlet and my number two "place to fish in Canada". Between August 15 and October 10 each year, Coho Salmon collect at the mouth of the Seymour River to get acclimatized to the fresh water and their run-up to the spawning pool about two miles upstream. Here, you might rub shoulders with the local from Port Hardy who has braved the world's greatest tidal rift in a small boat or you might see a past president of the United States who has come in by helicopter.
In 1999, we went in with a volunteer group who was fishing for brood stock for the local hatchery. The Coho greeted us by jumping out of the water and walking on their tails eight, nine and ten at a time. The count was 100 of these great northern Coho caught and released into a live tank. Anytime you can catch more than half a ton of game fish on a rod and reel, you know you have done some serious fishing.
#1 - Scott Lake Location: Northern Saskatchewan
Species: Northern Pike, Lake Trout and Walleye "Let `em Go, Let `em Grow"
What do you get when you take a one-hundred-thousand-acre lake and practice the most stringent catch-and-release measures in the industry? The answer: Scott Lake, which straddles the Saskatchewan-Northwest Territory Border and is my number one fishing spot in this country. The irony is that while Saskatchewan has been ignored by most Canadians for fishing or eco-tourism, it is has been a world class fishing destination for Americans for a couple of decades. In fact, while we were shooting there, I met people from places like Little Rock, Arkansas. Typically daily catch and releases totalled thirty-five Northerns and Trout, and it is not uncommon to catch 100 fish in a day.
Sizes? Well everything is measured in inches and for a fish to even count on the trophy roster it has to come in at 41 inches for a pike and 35 inches for a trout. Scott lake is the quintessential Canadian Fishing lake filled with islands, bays and channels, with lots of shoals and deep drop offs, all loaded with trophy fish. Go to your favourite search engine and check out "Scott Lake Lodge".
