Fishing Trip of a Lifetime.
In the summer of 2024, my dear life-long friend, Greg, and I returned to Peterson’s Point Lake Lodge to fly fish for trophy lake trout. A laker 20 lbs or larger is considered a trophy. As anticipated, the fishery did not disappoint. Indeed, the fishing was nothing short of ridiculously spectacular.
With an early season arrival, we found the lakers stacked in the shallows, gorging themselves on the huge schools of ciscos & whitefish that call this remarkable fishery home.
The system is massive, formed by various huge lakes that flow into the head waters of the Coppermine River and eventually dump into the Arctic Ocean.
7 Day Fishing Trip
Day 1 is a half day, after a morning flight from Yellowknife to the lodge. The afternoon’s fishing started phenomenally for me. Very early on I hooked, fought and landed a monster 39 lb laker on my Sage 10 weight set up. That fish crushed the old lodge record on the fly of 32 lbs, previously held by Greg from the year prior. The lodge record, on traditional gear, is a behemoth 58 lber caught a mere 20 minute boat ride from the lodge.
We long line with full sinking fly lines, 40 lb test leaders and large flies the size of weasels. We find the large flies help us avoid the thousands of smaller lakers (referred to as shakers) that inhabit this extremely healthy fishery. The large flies allow us to target the monsters that lurk in these gin clear waters.
Not to be undone, Greg lit the fishery up on day 2, landing 36, 30, 28, 27.5, 23 & 22 lb trophies (and numerous other lakers in the teens) before passing his rod off to our guide, Jeff, for the balance of the day, who set his own personal best record on a fly rod with a very nice 23 lber. I landed 5 trophies as well, all in the 20 lb class. And we spent two hours, not fishing, on a tour down Red Rock Lake to view the lodge Max Ward built on the fishery several decades ago. Max Ward owned Ward Air which was a major commercial airline that serviced Canada and beyond commencing in 1952.
Lake Trout Fly Fishing
Day 2 saw us land, weigh and release 12 trophies, all on fly rods & reels, in 6 hours of fishing. Double headers are common place here on Point Lake. We also witnessed many lunker lakers follow and chase the fish we had hooked, trying to steal “the meal” from the fish that had eaten our flies.
Greg’s good fortune continued on day 3 and we dubbed him “Da Man” as he landed 7 more trophies, including a 33 lb brute.
Despite some moderate wind and increased barometric pressure, Day 4 continued our onslaught with 10 more trophies, including 36 & 31 lb bruisers.
Peterson’s lodge is very nicely appointed, considering its very remote location, about a two hour float plane flight north of Yellowknife, NWT. The main lodge contains the kitchen, dining room and living room/lounge. Greg & I share a cabin with enclosed porch, comfortable single beds, sink, table & plenty of room for our gear. There is a shower house to help wash off the sunscreen and the sweat from fighting big fish all day. Construction is currently underway which will see 3 rooms equipped with toilets, beyond that there are outhouses nearby. The chef, Tanya, is a keeper. All of her meals are exceptional. The boats and all the gear are top notch.
The wind continued into day 5 and the increased barometer slowed the bite but we still managed to boat 8 trophies including another 30 lber. We saw several monsters following the fish we had hooked and Jeff estimated a couple of those lunkers would have easily exceeded 40 lbs.
We were greeted on day 6 with a heat warning. The afternoon temperature reached 38C, which put the fish off the bite, although we did manage to fight 25+ fish, including 3 more trophies.
The weather was unstable on day 7, our last day, which made for spotty fishing but we still landed 7 trophies.
In total, two 10 weight fly rods landed 54 trophy lake trout 20 lbs or better over the course of a 7-day fishing trip. Simply put, the fishing was epic.
If you’re looking to fight huge lake trout, and lots of them, on the fly or traditional gear, I highly recommend Peterson’s Point Lake Lodge. It could be the trip of your lifetime.
Tim Perry
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
July 18, 2024