FISHING

Best Northern Pike and Walleye Fishing

Every year countless northerns in the 30" to 40" range are caught & released. Monster northerns in the 40" to 50" range are not uncommon. A legitimate shot at battling giants over 45 inches makes for awesome fishing every day you're at the lodge.

Golden walleye in the 2 - 6 lb. range are abundant and are easily caught on simple rigging. During the month of August we have some of our best walleye fishing right off the dock.

As an added bonus to already unbelievable fishing, arctic grayling, the “Sailfish of the North” can be found a short 5 minute boat ride from the lodge.

Don't Forget Your Fly Rod

Flyfishing for northern pike has become very popular in recent years, and why not? Pike in shallow water are great fun on the fly. Spectacular strikes, intimidating follows and powerful battles are the norm when you chase pike with a flyrod. Cree River Lodge has an abundance of shallow bays, flats and weedbeds that provide ideal habitat for these aggressive predators. And, for a change of pace, arctic grayling love flies too!

The Cree River Experience

Besides the fishing on Wapata Lake, we offer a one day river excursion down the Cree River to the dunes. The dunes is a beautiful natural phenomenon. It is a huge sand esker which rises out of water and covers approximately one square mile. The fishing in the small lake there and in the adjoining river can be absolutely fantastic.

The practice of catch and release of trophy fish and using barbless hooks has enabled us to keep the fishing as good as or better now than it was 20 years ago. It also ensures great fishing for years to come.

Our boats and motors and the best in the business. We have 16 ft. Lund Alaskans with spacious, wide open floors, lots of storage and padded, swivel pedestal seats. These boats are very stable and are excellent to fish out of. All boats are powered by 40 horsepower outboards and are operated by experienced guides. Luxurious pontoon boats are also available for guided adventures. All you need to do is sit back, relax and fish.

Come and join us for the fishing trip of a lifetime. This experience will long be remembered by you and those you shared it with.

Tackle Tips

These tips are meant as a guideline only. Most of you will have your favorite equipment and lures that you know work well. We have an excellent assortment of tackle at the lodge so if there's something that you are needing once you get up here, or have forgotten, don't worry. We probably have it!

NORTHERN PIKE

Rods

6’ to 7’medium to heavy action spinning o baitcastin wit appropriat reels

Flyrods

9 or 10 wt rods with WF floating lines. Sink tips can be advantageous under certain conditions.

Line

We highly recommend braided line, 30 to 65 pound test. Leaders should be 12” long, 30 to 80 pound test, and can be steel, titanium or fluorocarbon (flouro leaders should be 80 - 100 pound test)

Lures

Spoons – ½ oz to 2 oz, in a variety of colours
Weedless spoons - Johnson’s Silver Minnow, Rapala Spoon
Spinnerbaits – Mepps, Blue Fox, Butchertails, and safety pin style.
Swimbaits, Jerkbaits, crankbaits, and topwater baits are all effective. Typically baits in the ½ oz to 2 oz range work well.
Soft plastics – Sluggo’s, Flukes, plastic worms, etc

Flies

Large streamers in a variety of patterns and colours, poppers and other topwater patterns can be a lot of fun at times.

WALLEYE

Rods

5’ to 7’ light to medium action spinning

Reels

Light spinning reel with at least 6lb mono (20-30 pound braid is ideal)

Lures

½ oz lead head jigs in various colours, rubber tails (single or double), and crankbaits such as Hot’n Tots, Rattlin Raps, or WallyDivers for trolling.

ARcTIC GRAYLING

Rods

5’ to 6’ light to medium action

Reels

light spinning reels with 4 to 6 pound test mono

Flyrods

4 to 6 wt rods with floating line

Lures

Small spinners (#00 - #1) Mepps, Blue Fox, Panther Martin, etc

Flies

dry – Sizes 8 to 14 – mayfly, caddisfly and stonefly patterns, heavily hackled for fast water. Foam patterns work well too.
Wet – sizes 6 to 12 – Nymphs of the same species as well as streamers and soft hackle patterns.