Sports fishing like a rockstar at a remote NWT fishing lodge.

So what do you do when you are invited on a fishing trip of a lifetime up high in Northern Canada?! Well….. YOU GO! You freaken go. So off I went. The destination was Sandy Point Fishing Lodge on Gordon Lake, NWT. A wonderful place full of lake Trout just waiting to be reeled in. The adventure began in Yellowknife, NWT – Where we we were to hop on an Air Tindi float plane and hit the skies en route to the lake.

After packing my bags, and having a late night of live tunes on the beach back in Hay River, NWT, I packed up my car and cruised on outta there at 6 am to undertake the 5 hour drive to Yellowknife to get to the Air Tindi airport for our 12:30pm departure. Tired? Yes extremely. Was the love music worth it?! Heck yes! Missing this trip of a lifetime?! I think not!

Awaiting my arrival at the Air Tindi float base was my fabulous friend Michelle. Just as eager and excited for the fishing excursion as I was. We were exuding it completely.

The float plane ride itself was something I was looking forward to.  Having only been on a float plane once before in my life, and that was about 20 years ago, it’s still quite the novelty. So that being said, it was like a first time all over again.

                                                       Like a kid in a candy store. It was fun though, and I loved every second of it.  The flight was only about 30 minutes. 30 minutes of pure bliss on the ol’ eyeballs.

Any of you who read my posts previously, know that I have a massive soft spot for my home turf of Northwest Territories – It has an untouched beauty like none other.  An endless feast for the eyes.

As per usual, I went on this trip with no expectations, nor even a small mental picture of what this lodge was going to look like like. That didn’t matter though, I already knew in my gut that it was going to be absolutely incredible. I love adventures like that. When you have no expectations, because it always turns out even that much better then you could have ever imagined anyways.

Hello Sandy Point Lodge!!

Serene, tranquil, stunning, and blissful, are just a few words I would use to describe my initial feel and impression of the spectacular place. Ok, and let’s not forget, undeniably freaken amazing!!! This trip was already rocking my world.

  

The Cabins are very well put together, super clean, welcoming, and comfortable. All the luxuries and amenities you could want while in the middle of the real rugged North Country, and a little more.

         

Just up the beach is the main lodge, where you can hang out, bask in the view, and enjoy all the delectable home cooked meals that are prepared and served by the on site chef.

  

He really did create some darn delicious eats and treats. And had an array of them awaiting us when we got there.

After we all had to sign our waivers and listened to the orientation of how we were to undertake navigating the lake, and catching our prized lake trout, we were ready for action.

Accompanied by Brandon, our incredibly helpful and knowledgeable guide for the afternoon, we got geared up and onto the boat.

Once we were good to go, we cruised out to find a prime location where they knew there would be fish, enjoying the stunning scenery along the way.

  

Received a run down of how to do everything.

  

Then it was our turn. We attached our bait, and dropped our lines.

 

Oh and let’s not forget – it was a MUST to crack a cold one.

Well I suppose we didn’t really drop our lines, more like pulled out line 40 arm lengths of line, and let it go into the depths.

For some reason lake trout love me?! And I was getting bite after bite. Well I can’t blame them, I do drop some mighty fine bait.

But seriously, every time I dropped my line, within minutes I had another bit. I was loving life!!! A fisher women’s dream.

It’s not out of the ordinary to catch 25 pounders plus!

This time around though we were only getting the 5 pounders. Although they were still little beauty’s. Sometimes though, these cheeky little lake Trout, would just nibble on our bait! Leaving there little jaw’s of life marks. 

                         After hours of fishing like rock stars, we went back to the lodge for dinner with the crew, and then decided it was time to hot tub! As if things couldn’t get more epic… We had a hot tub that had a 360 degree view of pure paradise.

  

Michelle and I made a few towel wrapped runs to top up on Vino. Just when you think you grabbed enough – it was suddenly all gone! Hot tub party rockers, and we made good use of the hot tub until we were all pruned up. It was one of those times when you just never want to get out. Until you realize it’s almost 3 am.

Day 2 started off just ridiculously awesome. Baileys and coffee back in the Lodge with a spectacular view. A treat for the eyes, and a party in our mouths.

Being trained up so well by Brandon the day before, our confidence was at its max, and Michelle and I took out our own boat for some rock star fishing adventures.

  

Things were motoring along quite amazingly, and then I had a bite!! Oh heck yes!

After proudly reeling in my prize and deciding he was a beauty to keep – all my excitement turned in to sheer horror upon realizing we forgot the wacking tool, and the paddles were too long and awkward, and my little fish friend was suffering. That’s exactly the moment my animal loving instincts kicked in(I even let spiders out of my house), and I started panicking. ‘Oh my god, he is suffering!’ as I jumped around the boat looking for something to get the job done swiftly and quickly. ‘This is inhumane!’, ‘I love animals!’, ‘I can’t watch him suffer!’, ‘ I am sorry fish! I meant for this to be a lot quicker!’, were just some of the things I was borderline squeezing, in an on the edge of hysterical tone. In the mean time everyone on the other boats could only see two ladies freaking out with their catch, and each one of them grabbing the radio’s to say, ‘Come on girls, use the paddle!!’ Finally, Michelle was able to get the job done with a paddle.

Horrified and relieved at the same time, we thought maybe our fishing was finished for the day and decided to slowly make our way back to the lodge. I couldn’t help but laugh my ass off at myself, and my nature loving instinct reaction. After the fact it provided some good laughs! Too bad I didn’t have that on camera. Would have been a knee slapper for freaken sure.

Soooo, let’s just head back and get ready for dinner shall we?!

  

Back at the lodge after dinner, one of the guests notice a bear across the water. It was all alarms sounding. Time to be ‘Bear-aware’. It was only going to be a matter of time before the bear made his way over. He would absolutely follow his nose. With that, it meant – no hot tubbin’. Dang! Oh well, plan B it was then. Time for a good ol’ shindig around the bonfire.

 

The whole group of us were out there, endlessly laughing, and also playing some campfire games. Who doesn’t love a campfire game?

Todd was on bear watch to protect the camp.

And yes, later on into the evening the bear did show up, but was spotted right away, and Troy was able to scare him off, and the party continued.

Feeing pretty spent by day 3 we didn’t end up making it out for a last fishing excursion. Instead we just enjoyed the beautiful day at camp until our afternoon flight back to YK.

The scenery on the flight back to Yellowknife, was equally as breath taking as the way there.

That trip was not only a massive check off my list in life, as I always wanted to goto a remote fishing lodge, but Sandy Point Lodge gets 5 stars from me for sure. With incredible staff, outstanding amenities, world class fishing, and stunning scenery, I would book another trip there in a heartbeat and recommend it to anyone and everyone looking for a trip of a lifetime experience.

Now it was time to haul ass back to Hay River to pack up for my next adventure. Road trippin’ across British Columbia. Let’s go!!