Fishing Lodges and Outfitters

A Week in the NWT at Blachford Lake Lodge

"Blachford lake did not fail to disappoint, it exceeded my expectations" 

Outstanding Pike Fishery

Any fish can be a trophy in any angler's opinion however the standard in the fishing industry would be considered a 40" Pike (approximately 15 - 20+lbs) or a Lake Trout to be 35" (12 - 18 lbs). 

Within the first day we caught a 43" and 45" Pike and many from the 37-40" size class. I personally have guided for Pike in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and was absolutely blown away at the size and mass of these fish here in Blachford lake. 

They are extremely aggressive as they have little to no pressure with Blachford Lake  Lodge being the only place on the entire lake. The bigger fish over 40" in this time of year can tend to be quite skinny and long.... but not here. These fish were very thick from nose to tail and were committing to the baits like they have never seen a lure in their life. 

The most fun Pike fishing after the Spring Spawn would be in any angler's opinion fishing them out of weed beds. This lake has no shortage of shallow and deep Wide Leaf Cabbage. An ideal habitat for big Pike.

Portage Lake Options

Besides the numbers and incredible size of Northern Pike in Blachford lake, an additional adventure that is available with an extremely short and easy portage is into Grace lake. This personally was the shortest distance I have ever had to carry my gear over to another lake and the scenery surrounding is stunning. 

We started casting the first rocky reef only 400m from the boat cache and caught around 40 walleye with pretty well a bite every cast. The average size of the fish were from 14- 18", perfect for shore lunch quality fish. We even caught a leucistic Walleye that has a beautiful blue hue and several others that looked vastly different from the strong gold and brown colours typically found on these fish.

The lake has an average depth of 15ft and is extremely weedy throughout making it a great habitat for walleye and pike. This lake is a walleye factory and if we were to put in the full day it would've easily produced a 100 fish day.

In Search of Lake Trout

After spending the morning adventuring Grace lake we went back out to the main lake to do some fishing for Lake Trout. Prior to doing any mapping we decided to do some jigging on some "textbook" spots (points, narrows and drop-offs). Within about 4 minutes of jigging with Rapala Rippin" Raps and tube jigs we were hooked up on a beautiful 26" fish. With almost every drop resulting in either a bite, miss or boating a fish. 

NWT has strict no barb policy on the hooks and while vertical jigging lake trout it truly can be a 50/50 whether that fish stays on or comes off. 

Thankfully with little to no fishing pressure we found even fish that have been previously stung (hooked up but not landed) were willing to give it another shot. We quickly boated many trout between 19 - 28" and with that we decided to focus on finding some big fish.

The Hunt For Giant Lake Trout

While trying to find big fish the first thing we do is find the biggest and deepest area of the lake. With help of our Garmin fishfinder we are able to accurately and efficiently find spots where we know the trout will be congregated. Any ridge, hump or reef in the deep water basin will hold fish. After about 3 hours of mapping with quickdraw contours we found 6-9 very good potential spots to try. 

We decided to fish a sunken reef that was 70ft deep protruding in a narrows that led to the big open water. The first drop produced a stunning 39" Lake Trout and we knew we were onto something. We quickly caught another trout of similar size with some smaller fish in between. I noticed that using bigger Tube Jigs and pounding bottom was the best way to catch these trophy fish. 

In the days following we caught six more trout with the biggest being just over 40" and were extremely excited and pleased with the overall numbers and quality of Lake Trout in Blachford lake. 

Blachford Lake Lodge

What makes this experience so special and unique is the fishing quality of the lake with the sheer number of trophy Pike and Lake Trout we were able to find. Combine that with the most luxurious and serene location, food, amenities and an extremely knowledgeable and passionate staff. This lodge has an incredible opportunity to be able to provide guests with a world-class fishery along with facilities that cater to the ultra luxurious adventure seeker. 

There are endless activities for guests to keep the whole family entertained and remain together on what once was just a fishing trip. The whole family has an opportunity to have all their needs met and this is something I have never seen in any other fishing lodge currently available. 

Catch trophy fish in the morning, hike and enjoy quality time with the family in the afternoon and enjoy an incredible meal and Northern lights show in the evening in the hot tub. In my opinion it can not get any better than that!