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View Full Version : Lake Athabasca Adventure Post 1 - Pic Heavy

sturgeonhound
07-26-2013, 09:26 PM
A few of us just got back from our lake athabasca adventure. Three boats headed up with 7 guys for 10 days of laker fishing. I brought my 11 year old son with me so he could experience some of northern saskatchewan's best laker fishing.......I have to say, it is the best laker fishing for average size and numbers on the planet. Here are a few pics from our adventure.

The mighty Athabasca and our boat loaded up.....
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1054_zps08d12c5d.jpg


The athabasca delta.....littered with debris from the mighty athabasca river.
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1075_zpsd11359a6.jpg


Fort Chip....the last civilization we would see for 10 days...
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1082_zpsd25d4b0b.jpg


Sunrise on Lake Athbasca....it sure makes you feel small when you can't see land in any direction......
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1423_zps38d987d6.jpg


After a long and grueling boat ride and 16 hours later, we arrived at our base camp for the next 10 days....
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1387_zps91ef681b.jpg


The next morning we started our laker fishing....here is my trolling captain eating a breakfast of champions....oreos and chips.
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1229_zps4dfea7e1.jpg


It didn't take long for my son to get into a nice red fin laker....
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1241_zps05e6c02d.jpg


As the days passed, we found some really nice spots and were catching some real nice lakers.....here is a nice 38"x18.5" laker. All measurments are fork length.....none of that total length BS.
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1191_zps2777a9b1.jpg


For a few days the weather was unreal......on this day the whole lake was like a sheet of glass, and the lakers were biting like crazy....
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1319_zps3dc66746.jpg


The big lake at rest......so calm and peaceful....
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1337_zps9b452448.jpg


On the evenings when the lake was calm, we went looking for some greyling....we found some, but not the size we were looking for.
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1248_zps57e4010c.jpg


On two of the nicer days, we made the long trek across the lake to the south shore......I wanted to see the sand dunes that outcrop on the south shore.....the sand it unreal.....very fine and almost white. You wouldn't know that 75 miles south of where we were, this same sand in saturated with oil and being mined in the oilsands.....
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1314_zps64048a8c.jpg


I have never eaten as much fish at one time as we did on this trip....every day for lunch it was fried lake trout....here is my brother and my son enjoying some trout nuggets.....mmmmmmm.
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1346_zpsf457ffe3.jpg


The dragon flies were huge up there......they would hand around our boat all day and pick off the horse flies that would buzz around our boat as well as the little gnats that seemed to like our boat top as a resting place....In the evenings when we would be fishing for greyling, the dragonflies would dive bomb our spinners and chase them as we retrieved them.....
http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w536/sturgeonhound/DSC_1244_zps03b99128.jpg


More to come........
Dead Moose
07-26-2013, 09:47 PM
Good thing there were very few people around to see that SOILER sweatshirt. Could scar a kid for life.
AdamJ
07-26-2013, 09:52 PM
This is awesome!! What an adventure! Looks like great weather too.
Thumbs up!
CK Angler
07-26-2013, 09:54 PM
Awsome! That would be a trip of a life time, I get up there in the winter ice fishing for pike. One day I'll make the trip up by jet boat! Thx for sharing!
Alberta Bigbore
07-26-2013, 10:34 PM
Awesome...great photos!!
AppleJax
07-27-2013, 03:57 AM
Trip of a lifetime...Amazing!
tight line
07-27-2013, 06:12 AM
Awesome!
Fishfinder
07-27-2013, 06:16 AM
Good stuff SH, looks like a blast!
Good on ya for taking your son, great memories to share.
Any wildlife sightings?
Thx for sharing.:)


Dead Moose: Your poor post.

Nice comment on the thread, nothing about the trip, just smack talk about an 11yr old's shirt? Way to go champ, feel better now big guy. Must be a Flamers fan, or worse, a bitter Nux fan. Feel free to start a thread in General Discussion, you can discuss your hockey woes there.
Wild&Free
07-27-2013, 09:31 AM
2 days of a glass lake. I'm jealous.

Looks like an amazing trip.
sturgeonhound
07-27-2013, 10:53 AM
Good stuff SH, looks like a blast!
Good on ya for taking your son, great memories to share.
Any wildlife sightings?
Thx for sharing.:)


Dead Moose: Your poor post.

Nice comment on the thread, nothing about the trip, just smack talk about an 11yr old's shirt? Way to go champ, feel better now big guy. Must be a Flamers fan, or worse, a bitter Nux fan. Feel free to start a thread in General Discussion, you can discuss your hockey woes there.

FF....as for wildlife sightings....not as much as I was expecting. Lots of birds, but not a lot of big game. We did however spook up 2 bears....one while my son and I were walking on the beach on the south shore and one on the island we were staying on......both were juvenile blacks that ran away from us way faster than we ran from them.

As for the Soilers comment.....my son has surprisingly thick skin when it comes to being an oilers fan.....that is wahy we has at least one article of clothing that has has an oilers emblem on it (socks, shirts, jacket, ginch, etc). It's a tough gig being an oilers fan these days, but he is sticking with his team through thick and thin....more than most adults do.
Walleye101
07-27-2013, 01:04 PM
Is that a guided trip? Or do you rent the boats in Fort Chip. and do it yourself?
Deep
07-27-2013, 02:10 PM
Thanks for the post....nice to see more pix.
waterninja
07-27-2013, 03:07 PM
great post and pics. 16 hr. boat ride? thats dedication.
jim summit
07-27-2013, 04:17 PM
Looks like a great trip, where did you put the boats and how many miles?
Lake looks alot like the lakes up in NWT.
Does Fort Chip sell fuel?
Pikey
07-27-2013, 04:56 PM
Awesome pics and a great looking trip!

thanks for sharing!
sturgeonhound
07-27-2013, 08:52 PM
Is that a guided trip? Or do you rent the boats in Fort Chip. and do it yourself?
Nope not a guided trip....we did it ourselves. We took our own boats from Fort Mckay down the river and then across the lake.



great post and pics. 16 hr. boat ride? thats dedication.
Yeah it took that long to get there......about 6-7 hours on the river, 3 hours at fort chip fueling up and then 5-6 crossing the lake. It took us about 20 hours to get back.......we had some issues on the river with one of the boats. It is definatley a LONG, LONG way to go.

SH
sturgeonhound
07-27-2013, 08:53 PM
Looks like a great trip, where did you put the boats and how many miles?
Lake looks alot like the lakes up in NWT.
Does Fort Chip sell fuel?


We put in near Fort Mckay. Total miles on my boat was 885 miles.....that included trolling with the kicker motor. I put 37 hours on th emain motor on the trip.

SH
Steven Noel
07-27-2013, 10:05 PM
Thank you so much for posting a detailed and well set out report of what can only be described as an outstanding trip. I thank you sincerely for taking us along on the journey and placing us, if but for a moment, on the unending lengths of Alberta's greatest lake.
pikeslayer22
07-27-2013, 10:09 PM
We put in near Fort Mckay. Total miles on my boat was 885 miles.....that included trolling with the kicker motor. I put 37 hours on th emain motor on the trip.

SH
Wow that's dedication! Thanks for posting interesting awesome trip!
Popik
07-28-2013, 08:34 AM
Unreal trip. Your boy is a lucky guy to have a mentor that goes to that extreme with him.
keep6matt
07-29-2013, 09:05 AM
Unreal trip. Your boy is a lucky guy to have a mentor that goes to that extreme with him.

Yup agreed, you are one great dad for introducing your boy to an adventure of a lifetime. Good on you. Thanks for the inspiring thread.
Walleyedude
07-29-2013, 09:17 AM
Great trip and great report.

I've been as far as you can go by land, right to the Athabasca delta, and I'll never forget that trip riding across that amazing sand for what seemed like endless miles. Absolutely beautiful country up there, and true wilderness.

I'm sure you and your son will never forget this trip either.
Safety D
08-02-2013, 03:44 PM
Glad I was able to let you know how it was done and what to do !!! Lots of good info from Safety D hey Sturgeonhound !!!!!