Written By: Jason Mitchell
The locals talked about Kamuchawie Lake. Whenever I spent any time around Flin Flon or Bakers Narrows in northern Manitoba, locals talked about the big lake trout in this lake. A fairly large remote lake full of bays, islands and points that is approximately 15 miles long and straddles the Saskatchewan and Manitoba border.
The Ultimate Over-the-Top Ice Fishing Experiment: A Plan Comes Together
This past year, Bakers Narrows Lodge bought the outpost camp on the Saskatchewan side of Kamuchawie Lake. We have worked with Bakers Narrows Lodge a lot over the years through Manitoba Tourism and a plan began to take place to put together the ultimate over-the-top ice fishing experiment. The lodge owner, Brett Baynton, reached out to me and asked me if I would be interested in going to the lake in the winter with a ski plane to ice fish the lake. Of course, I looked at this opportunity as a once in a generation opportunity and told him I wanted to do this. A small staff was sent to the lake over the summer to winterize a cabin so we could heat the cabin in the winter. Snowmobiles and other winter equipment were brought in. Caches of generators, fuel and food were brought in. They even had somebody spend countless hours driving around the lake to map the bottom.
The staff were so busy working that they didn’t have a lot of time to fish but the small attempts at fishing were impressive. A 42″ lake trout was caught right off the dock. A couple of the guides were able to ice fish the lake for about four hours and caught several big lake trout. Manitoba has a catch and release program where lake trout over thirty-five inches are recognized as Master Angler fish. There were several Master Angler class lake trout caught by the camp staff without very much time or effort. The thought of landing on this lake with a ski plane and ice fishing this lake seemed surreal. We would be the first.
There would be no running water, no hot shower, no toilet on this experimental mission. Note that there is a plan to bring in a boiler and to plumb hot running water for this upcoming winter for future groups. There were plenty of things that could go wrong in the Canadian bush hundreds of miles from civilization. From Bakers Narrows Lodge, we had about an hour flight on a Cessna almost due north. If the weather was bad, our extraction could be put off for days. If there was any type of emergency, we would be on our own. Myself, Scott Larson, Frank Ragnow, and videographer Alex Dalum joined up with a couple of guides from Bakers Narrows Lodge. Pheonix Fathers and Amir Hassan would be the guides joining us. Pheonix and Amir were as excited as we were. I had met Amir before and really appreciated his passion for fishing. I liked both Amir and Pheonix as soon as I met them. We all knew what the potential could be. We would be doing something extraordinary if you love to ice fish for big lake trout mixed in with a little bit of adventure.
The Winter Fly In Outpost Experience
The ski plane had to take us in on a couple of flights. Pheonix and Amir were brought in the day prior. A videographer and I would arrive first and if everything went well, Frank and Scott would arrive about three hours later. The engine on the ski plane revved and the plane lurched forward on the skis. After bouncing along the lake for about four hundred yards, we were in the air and flying over an endless panoramic view of frozen lakes and the carved rolling maze of granite and scrub conifers that make up the Canadian Bush. I had flown over similar areas several times but the view in the winter was striking. After we landed on the lake in front of the outpost cabin, we unloaded gear. It was already well after noon. A wood stove crackled in the cabin. I was putting reels back on rods, pinching barbs and rigging rods when Pheonix asked if I wanted to start fishing right away. Of course. I remember thinking that it would be fun to catch a lake trout before the rest of the crew could even join us. Little did I know that as we left the camp with snowmobiles, I would be hooked up within ten minutes.
We set up on a nice piece of structure about four miles from camp and as I dropped my tube jig down, I got slack lined by a trout on the first drop. I was soon hooked up with a fish that was perhaps thirty inches. About fifteen minutes later, I was hooked up again with a much bigger fish. This fish would pull fifty feet of line off at a time and I could tell there was much more weight on this fish by how the rod loaded up. The reel worked hard to keep up with this fish. After a ten-minute fight, big bubbles began to fill up the hole and the water began to rise up and down. I was looking at the head of a big trout under the ice. After working the fish at the hole, a stout lake trout that measured forty inches was in my hands. Over the next hour, I added a thirty-five and a thirty-six-inch fish. Quite the afternoon. The rest of the crew was able to join up with us and Scott hooked up with a lake trout almost immediately.
Incredible Lake Trout Ice Fishing
The next day ended up being the most extraordinary day of ice fishing lake trout that I have ever seen or even heard of. Because of the time of day that we finally got everybody to camp, Brett, who piloted the ski plane decided to fish with us the next day. Frank, Scott, and I caught and landed a dozen fish that were over 35 inches. Brett caught a massive fish that was 45 inches. Scott landed a fish that was 42.5 inches. I added another 40-inch fish to my tally. Everything became a blur.
Over three and a half days of fishing, we caught more than twenty-five lake trout over 35 inches with at least half a dozen over 40 inches. What was astonishing was that we caught most of these fish on tube jigs. We might have caught four or so of these fish with dead baits. These fish had never seen a lure, never before seen a tube jig. These fish were reckless and aggressive. On most trophy trout destinations I have seen, most of the big fish get caught with set lines and dead baits. These fish were different. To add perspective, if you were to fish some of the very best lake trout water that you can drive to in North America, just catching one or two lake trout over thirty-five inches would be a great success. A fish over forty inches is a once in a lifetime fish for most people. The forty-five-inch trout was the biggest trout I have ever personally seen, and I have never before heard of a fish that big being on television. To also add perspective, most of these fish were probably older than we were.
A Remote Adventure in the Canadian Bush
We knew this adventure was special barring any accidents or catastrophe. At night all alone in our little cabin, we laughed like children and talked about massive lake trout. We ate well and despite the fact that we were all tired and exhausted… we often couldn’t get to sleep before midnight. Some nights, the wood stove would burn out and we would wake up to bitter chill until we could get the fire stoked in the stove again. Early in the morning before the sun was rising, we would wake up for more fishing. There were times when my arms were physically sore. We saw just about every type of weather that northern Manitoba is noted for. We had nice weather with little wind, a raging blizzard with strong winds along with bitter cold. In fact our extraction was postponed by a day because flying would have been too dangerous. At one point, we had about twenty inches of fresh powder in less than twenty hours. If you are going to be stranded somewhere on this planet, I can’t think of a better place to be stranded. Pheonix had to take a snowmobile with a sled full of snow and pack down a makeshift runway for the ski plane when it was time to leave. The beginning of our adventure was held up because one of the vehicles slid off the highway north of The Pas and went in the ditch after freezing rain made the highway resemble an ice rink. Fishing in this part of the world is a series of setbacks that you just grin and bear. The lows are low, but the highs are higher than anything we could have hoped for.
A Next Level Bucket List Experience
People who experience this ice fishing destination ten years from now will be experiencing something truly epic but to be the very first people to realistically ice fish this water… this trip was the most incredible week of ice fishing I have ever experienced. On the flight out, we flew over a herd of caribou. The solitude and pristine views were spiritual. Sometimes in life, you end up being in the right place at the right time and you know how improbable and special the opportunities in front of you are. For a kid who grew up riding his bike to the Mouse River to catch bullheads, this place was heaven. Not sure what we could ever do to possibly ever top this next level experience but, rest assured, we will always be trying.
Book Your Trip
Now booking open water trips to the Kamuchawie Lake Fly In Lodge for 2025! Limited dates available due to the fly-in nature of the outpost. Packages are an all-inclusive experience: fully guided with all meals provided. Learn more and view our rates and dates here.
