I have always dreamed of going on a fly-in fishing trip and this year marked my first trip that I have been on to date. Planning for this trip began well before the year started. A few lakes were on the fly-in list, but this trip fit the budget and offered a chance to catch some fish that tipped the scales in the right direction. Andrew Lake Lodge and Camps has three main lakes that anglers can fly into. They also host other lakes that function as hunting outpost camps and offer an experience of a lifetime. Since my primary target was fall lake trout, Andrew Lake was an easy decision for my first fly-in fishing trip.
After booking with Dan Whettlaufer of Andrew Lake Lodge, I began planning and anticipating months in advance. My excitement had me wanting to bring everything, including the kitchen sink, but the 100lb limit had me questioning if I was going to be able to make the cut. Thankfully, we were planning to stay in a cabin and most of the heavy items were able to be left behind.
Just like all of my fishing trips, the first order of business was to make sure I had enough tackle, the right tackle. The planning ritual had me YouTubing fall lake trout fishing and learning about the lures that others are using across Canada and south of the border. I was learning about different lures, soft plastics, and jigs that I “needed” to try. I fished some great soft plastics during the year leading up to my fly-in fishing trip, including Rapala Crush City series soft plastics paired with VMC jig heads. These plastics worked amazingly for local lake trout, and I am sure they would have worked great for Andrew Lake, but I was not able to take them with me. Unfortunately, after I collect all the tackle I need, I then research bathymetric maps and the fishing regulations (in this case Alberta) for the lake I will be fishing. The trophy status of Andrew Lake prohibits the use of bait or scented lures. This time, while I wished that I did my research the other way around, I am happy to fish the crush city series plastics in my local lakes that allow them because the fish absolutely crush them.
Armed with a good selection of spoons, jigs, and unscented plastics, I was ready to start diving into lake depth charts and started looking for any information that I could find. I searched the internet for days, weeks and months before my trip. After numerous inquiries with people, Google, and social media sites, I came to the realization that Andrew Lake did not have a lot of information on detailed bathymetric maps or information in general. I printed a map from Anglers Atlas which gave me a basic idea of what the lake bottom looked like and what I could expect for depths. Based on the time of year we were going, I marked up my map with places that I wanted to try. Time would soon tell that this lake has many areas that get the heart pumping and at times can put you in a sticky situation, especially when it is windy.
After many months spent waiting in anticipation for the trip of a lifetime (hopefully not the last one) the last week before the trip arrived. Food planning was being done by one member of our group which kept stress levels down. We talked briefly about the meal and snack plans. After the food was purchased, the bill was split between all the people going on the trip. Staying under the 100 pound per person limit proved to be a challenge, because I always love packing more gear than I could ever use, just in case. We decided on a personal weight allowance for each person because the food weight needed to be divided among us and calculated in our 100 pound per person limit. Once the total food weight was accounted for, our personal weight allowance was able to increase slightly.
I weighed all my gear three times to make sure I was at or under my weight limit. I used two soft duffle bags (these pack best on float planes) and a dry bag for my camera gear. While life jackets were included with our stay, I chose to bring my own Mustang life jacket because I find it comfortable. In one duffle bag I packed my life jacket, sleeping bag, pillow, waterproof Cabela’s Guidewear bib pants, and Simms rain jacket. My second duffle bag had my clothes, fishing gear, including my reels, a towel, and some toilet paper. My fishing gear also included my fish finder box, which was packed with important items like survival gear, a headlight, my Garmin Striker 4 with a suction cup transducer, an extra pair of long pike pliers, and a pair of Motorola hand held radios with spare batteries. We packed all our rods in a rod case to prevent anything from getting broken in transit.
Our adventure to Andrew Lake started a few days before the plane departed from the runway. The 16-hour 15-minute drive (1580-kilometer trip one way) from Quesnel, BC to Fort Smith, NWT was split up in a two-day drive. Touring the area was easier because we had more time to stop along the way. We stopped at a few road side attractions that I recommend for anyone travelling the highways along the way like; Bijoux Falls, Welcome to the Northwest Territories Sign and Visitor Center, Alexandra Falls, and many roadside bison along the way. We chose to drive as far as we could on the first day. We arrived at High Level just in time for a long walk to stretch our legs after checking in to some nice rooms at the Quality Inn & Suites. On our walk, we found Canadian Tire and made one last walk through of the fishing isle to make sure we had all the fishing gear that we needed. Then, after checking out some reviews of the local cuisine, we settled on Kamado 101, which had some amazing food and bubble tea. After a great sleep, we met up for a quick breakfast, included with our stay, and hit the road north with a full tank of gas and some early morning conversations about the day to come.
After a long day of driving, and a few stops along the way we arrived with time to spare at Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories. We had a quick lunch, then went to the airport to find our departure gate. We were met by a nice fellow who gave us all the information we needed. To our surprise, Dan was flying us in on a bush plane. While I was disappointed that I was not going to be flying in my first float plane, I was extremely excited for the opportunity to be flying in my first bush plane. Making sure we left our overnight bags in the van, we unloaded the rest of our gear onto the ground in preparation for the plane. When the plane arrived, we carried all our gear to it and the pilot loaded his plane the way he wanted it. I was surprised when I was able to sit up front with the pilot. I was later impressed to learn that this airstrip was built by flying in a bulldozer one piece at a time where it was then assembled and ran to build the landing strip.
While the experience of flying into a remote fishing lake on a bush plane was exciting, I also enjoyed the process that followed. We were met by one of the nicest, friendliest people I have ever met, Jim. He welcomed us with a warm smile at the airstrip on his four-wheeler, with loaded trailers and the guests that were flying out after we unloaded. Once unloaded, we double checked that we had all our gear and headed down to the lake where four boats were waiting. We loaded most of our gear into the main lodge boat and dispersed the rest of the gear into the other three boats. Then, we headed off across the lake to the main lodge.
As we turned the corner around the last island, we were welcomed by the Andrew Lake lodge building and sign, dock and A-frame cabin on the hillside behind it. Dan also met us down on the dock and helped us unload the boats. I was impressed at how smooth the transition from the boats to our cabin was. Jim helped load all our gear into the trailer of the lodge quad and then he was off uphill to the cabins. From the main landing at the lake, up he hill on a well laid out path made of snow mobile track, then across the Canadian shield rocks of the main path, I was walking with a big smile on my face. I finally made it! This was a dream come true and even though we had just arrived, I felt like I was home.
Once settled in, I explored the main lodge and was surprised at how nice it was inside. While I had studied the lake as much as I could before arriving, then watched countless hours of fall lake trout fishing on YouTube, I had not looked too closely at where I was staying. Now, this may have been because I was joining my friends who had already visited Andrew Lake once before, but either way I was impressed at how complete the lodge made the trip feel. I enjoyed my first night sitting around the lodge with the other guests and Jim. It was a perfect way to settle in and prepare for our first day of fishing.
Over the next week, the lodge became our main gathering place after dinner. The evenings became something I looked forward to every day and enhanced my experience of the fishing trip. We would all meet up to play card games, share stories from the day and stories from back home. I enjoyed meeting all the guests, both inside and outside, and talking about fishing. I also learned a lot about the lake thanks to some great stories and information from Jim. The Starlink satellite Wi-Fi was an added bonus, because we were able to get some work done in the evenings and Facetime home to talk about the day. There were also some great maps on the walls inside the lodge that helped with planning a new adventure each day.
Our first day consisted of travelling up the lake and exploring shallow areas where lake trout might be moving up to spawn and/or feed. The forty-five-minute boat ride was the perfect time needed to finish a morning coffee while taking in the sunrise on the way to our first fishing spot. We had a plan to explore a few areas as a group and our first spot was interesting to me. I have never seen so many boulders so close to the surface like this spot. We explored islands and edges of the lakeshore over the course of the day. The plan was to cast spoons and crank baits for shallow water lake trout. On the first day, a couple of fish over 10 pounds were caught, and I also watched a pair of double-digit lake trout chase my Gibbs Koho spoon into the boat only to turn at the last minute. Was this going to be an epic trip? The image of these two fish is something I will not forget anytime soon.
Over the next couple of days of our stay, we fished at known locations that held lake trout and explored others. We spent hours exploring as a group and hours on my own looking for the elusive larger fish that I was looking for. Thanks to a well-made plan consisting of a rendezvous location for shore lunch, we were able to fish comfortably away from the lodge where there was a lack of cell service, and no evidence of people around. My Motorola handheld radios also kept communication open across the lake if needed so a new plan could be made.
While the larger lake trout only showed themselves on the first day of this trip, evidence of their existence, the large food availability I marked on my Garmin Striker 4 fish finder and the stories I heard at the lodge had me trying everything I could to find the bigger fish and to entice them to bite. Thanks to my portable fish finder tackle box and the Garmin suction cup transducer I brought, I was not only able to map the lake areas I wanted but was also able to mark GPS locations and routes that had no rocks. I tried jigging with hard baits, like buzz bombs and Gibbs minnows. I also tried jigging with my VMC jig heads and some unscented soft plastics I bought at Bass Pro Shops. I managed to catch a few lake trout at different depths while jigging but was not able to locate the bigger fish.
I am still amazed at how many fish we caught each day on Andrew Lake. It was not uncommon to catch 30 to 50 fish a day per person with time to spare. I have had some good days fishing for lake trout in British Columbia, but nothing like this. Some areas I found were consistently producing from one day to the next. It was not uncommon to miss just as many fish as I landed and there was also an equal number of chasers to the boat where I could see them turn at the last second. Combine amazing fall lake trout fishing with some spectacular fall pike fishing and Andrew Lake quickly climbing to one of my favorite fall fishing experiences to date. When lake trout fishing slowed down after the morning bite, some members of our group targeted pike in the shallows and caught dozens of fish on the same Len Thompson spoons that the lake trout were hitting. There were even a couple of large pike caught reaching upwards of 22 pounds.
Like all fishing trips, we discussed our trip on the way home. Curiosity has me wondering what we could have done differently on this trip. When we arrived, we visually saw larger fish in shallow water. Had we arrived a week too late? Was the spawn just beginning? Fall was just starting to show its colors mid week as the leaves changed color more intensely and the leaves began to fall. The water temperature dropped during the week. Was the fishing going to get better once we left? I also question if we were using the right lures. With multiple fish following, but not biting, maybe we needed a magic lure, color or combination of each? Did we need to downsize our presentation to increase bite percentages? I noticed that a quick retrieve helped increase bites, but only with the smaller lake trout. Maybe my leader material was too thick and visible but necessary to help fend off the voracious pike attacks. The factors that were out of our control on this trip had me thinking a 2 week fishing vacation might yield more answers next time. Could time have been the answer to exploring such a large, new lake? Maybe the larger fish were schooled or staged in areas of the lake that we had not discovered. Questions like these keep me intrigued and interested in learning more about fall lake trout fishing. And, every lake is different so time on the water is the most valuable learning tool there is.
This fishing trip was the perfect introduction to a fly-in fishing experience. I enjoyed the accommodations at Andrew Lake, I enjoyed the fly-in experience, and most importantly the people who made this trip possible. I cannot thank Dan and Jim enough for their hospitality, warm welcomes, and smiles. I felt at home the whole time and I highly recommend Andrew Lake Lodge and Camps to anyone who is looking for a once-in-a-lifetime experience or to anyone who is looking for the perfect place to return year after year with family and friends. Stay tuned to my YouTube channel for videos from Andrew Lake, the lodge, and my travel adventures and be sure to subscribe for more fishing adventures coming soon.