Nunavut - Arctic Char Fishing Guide
The Arctic Char is the fish of the North - a dark green back which shades to silvery sides and belly, with pinkish spots on the sides. At spawning time, the breeding males develop a protruding and hooked lower jaw and their belly and sides may turn vivid orange-red. Take a deep breath when an Arctic char takes the lure. You are in for a battle of skill against pure instinct.
Char can be found from Baffin Island west to the Yukon. Some are land-locked and live in fresh water year-round. Others spend the summer in the ocean, but spawn and overwinter in fresh waters flowing into the Arctic Ocean or Hudson Bay. Char weighing 6.8 kg (15 lbs) are common in some rivers, but their average is usually only 2.3 to 3.2 Kg (5-7 lbs). Char belongs to the salmon family and are considered to be a delicacy by avid anglers.
Your guides will lead you to some great fishing spots and show you how to catch 10 to 20 lbs. Arctic char on fly or casting rods. Canadian held World Record: 32 lbs. 9 ounces.
ARCTIC CHAR fishing adventures are available through the resorts and outfitters below.
Our camp, a true wilderness camp on the shores of the Ekaluk river, accommodates a maximum of twelve anglers per week. Access in is by float plane from Cambridge Bay. Our objective is for our guests to share in the experience of our beautiful land, its people and its history, while enjoying some of the finest char fishing anywhere to be found.
This river has only recently opened up to a very limited sport fishery and the catch results in numbers and weight have been truly astonishing. A quote from our Master guide, Jack Elofsson; " I've led an enchanted life, I've "roamed the world" with my fly rod and my flies during the past thirty years. I've guided flyfishermen in Argentina, in Alaska and Canada, as well as in my native Scandinavia. Over all these years, I've enjoyed remarkable and outstanding fishing but nowhere, absolutely nowhere, have I encountered fishing that can remotely challenge the fantastic fishing on the Ekaluk river."
Air Travel to/from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut - Canadian North through its gateway cities, Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta provides scheduled flights into Cambridge Bay. Calgary and Edmonton (Alberta) are easily reached from points in North America as well as in Europe.
Wilderness Travel Expediting Northwest Territories and Nunavut: Over 32 years of operating a naturalist's lodge on the arctic coast, of living in the North, and of operating a canoe outfitting service on arctic rivers, we havean impressive inventory of camps and gear and the skills to deploy these efficiently. At many of our camps, the fishing is pristine.....superb, and an incredible experience. At Tundra Camp/Burnside Lodge, for example, there are unforgettable fly-fishing opportunities for surface-feeding lake trout, arctic char, and large arctic grayling.
We can not only arrange your transportation and lodging in Yellowknife, but also can provide a turn-key rental camp with cabins or tentframes for your use, as well as air transport to that camp. We can also provide canoes (or sea-kayaks) and accessories, airport services, radios, fishing licenses, fuel, bear scare devices, river reports, and anything else you need. We can even package your trip from Edmonton if you'd like.
We can also provide any amount of instruction or guidance you need, from a one-day seminar before you leave Yellowknife to an Inuit guide/boat operator/instructor at the camp.
The Arctic char will hit a wide variety of foods and is one of the easiest salmonids to catch on hook and line. Sea-run char are formidable fish, reaching weights of 25 pounds and waging a powerful fight catapulting from the water several times before they "lose steam" after a lengthy fight in the stream.
