Flying for gold on Richter Lake

A sense of adventure comes with any remote fly-in fishing trip. Richter Lake, in the Arctic watershed of northwestern Ontario, is no exception. In fact, prior to 2011, Richter Lake was believed to have been un-fished, giving it a mystique that pushes the adventure level higher.

When Eddie Guergis, operator of Eddie North’s Attawapiskat River Adventures, was given the opportunity to open an outpost camp on Richter, he jumped at the chance. It’s just 30 miles west of his main outpost at Beteau Lake on the Attawapiskat River. Guergis constructed the camp on Richter in May 2011, and by June the lake’s walleye and pike were seeing their first lures.

Taking off
With this being my first fly-in, the anticipation had been building for months and escalated after picking up my fishing partner, Joe Karr, at Thunder Bay airport. Hailing from London, Ontario, Joe had never been to this part of the province and, as we made our way to Nakina, he commented on the rugged beauty of the landscape. With the sun about to set, we pulled into Lower Twin Lakes Lodge, just north of Nakina, to meet the rest of our group and spend the night before our morning flight to Richter. We met the Rice brothers, Rob and Jim from Barrie, and the father/son duo Gord and Brad Harris from Orangeville, and talk moved quickly to fishing. Everyone was excited to get on the water.

The next morning at Nakina Air Service, having narrowly slid under the allowable weight limit for the turbo Otter, we were airborne and heading 140 miles north. It was a perfect day for flying, sunny with low winds. Everyone on board craned their necks to look out the window at the endless landscape of lakes, rivers, and lowland boreal forest. Even though it was only the first week in September, the birch and aspen leaves were turning yellow. Fall comes a lot earlier this far north.

The network of logging roads soon disappeared and the bush began to thin noticeably. Our pilot, Mike, eased off the throttle and we began to descend. We circled Richter Lake a couple of times, taking in our first view of home for the next week. I quickly scanned the lake from our birds-eye view, noting reefs and weedy areas. My mind raced with their angling potential.

On the water
As we unloaded, I chatted with some of the guys from the group waiting to fly out. “Well, how’s fishing?” I asked. It’s the universal first question among anglers.

“Good, you can catch all the walleye you want off the reef by the island,” answered one of the guys, as he pointed towards the only island on Richter Lake.

“Hope you’ve got some black and gold Rapalas,” added another. “The fish go nuts for them in here.” I did.

Our group quickly rigged rods and chatted about where to fish.“Let’s start trolling right from the dock and see what happens,” I said to Joe. I wanted to cover some water and get a feel for the lake.

With the dock still in view behind the boat, Joe hollered “Fish on!” as he started to reel in our first feisty pike. “Well, that was easy,” he remarked.

We continued trolling and catching pike and walleye on minnow baits. At times, we’d barely get the boat back in gear when someone would say “Fish on!” which was frequently followed by “Double-header!”

As we approached a creek at the north end of the lake, we could see a weedy flat out from its mouth. It was time for a change.

“Let’s drift and do a bit of casting,” I suggested. Spoons and bucktails produced both pike and walleye. “You know it’s easy fishing when walleye hit big bucktails,” I said to Joe, who was bringing in another fish.

Confidence builder
Saying fishing on Richter Lake is easy would be an understatement. The lake’s pike and walleye are abundant and aggressive. We routinely caught 20-inch walleye on large pike baits a third the size of the fish.

Over the week, we caught fish by trolling, casting, and jigging with virtually every type of lure. We played a game where every time someone caught a fish, they had to change baits. Everything worked – and live bait was unnecessary.

If a spot looked good, it was. If the wind was blowing against a shoreline and we trolled along it, we’d catch fish. If we cast, trolled, or jigged around a reef, we’d catch fish. If we found a weedbed, it was sure to hold fish, as well.

In an effort to try something totally different, we trolled straight across the middle of the lake. Not surprisingly, this also produced fish, including doubleheader walleye and pike.

If we wanted fresh walleye for dinner, we wouldn’t start keeping them until about an hour before heading in – talk about fresh fish. We never worried that we wouldn’t catch walleye for dinner, and we ate our fair share over the week.

The sheer number of pike and walleye in Richter Lake is staggering. Joe and I caught more fish than we cared to count, with walleye to 21 inches and pike to 37 inches in length. Gord Harris claimed big fish of the week with a chunky 38-inch pike.

Magic of the north
A framed note from Eddie Guergis on the cabin wall reads, “I don’t consider myself ‘the owner.’ In reality, I am simply the caretaker of the resource. As caretaker, it is incumbent upon myself to make sure the resource remains strong for future generations to enjoy.” For this reason, there’s a no-kill policy for all pike and no fish are to fly out with guests. His note concludes, “I look forward to sharing this magical spot on our globe with you.”

Over the week, I came to realize that time at a fly-in outpost camp offers much more than just fishing. This remote part of northern Ontario left me relaxed and satisfied. As a group, we bonded over fishing stories, good food, card games in the evenings, and a lot of laughs. We were spoiled by warm weather, magnificent sunsets, and even had the pleasure of watching the dancing northern lights from the dock. Magical indeed.

CONTACT INFO
Eddie North’s Attawapiskat River Adventures
www.eddienorth.com
647-478-2919 (Summer)
902-436-1361 (Winter)