Morel Lake, Northwest Territories: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Morel Lake is a North Slave Region water, Northwest Territories side. The ground round it is dry open country. Around 23.76 sq km of open water: conditions change from one end to the other. The perimeter is close to 83 km, and wind can be flat in one arm and rough in the next. Start from Kugluktuk, 252 km down the road. It is 1344 km to Edmonton, the nearest city. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Morel Lake

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. North Slave Region records list Arctic grayling, lake trout and slimy sculpin among the fish reported. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Fish Morel Lake to its features, not to its size.

• Seasonal Patterns

  On the long-term average, July reads 12°C and January reads -30°C. Little of the calendar is open water, so timing counts for everything. The lid usually goes in mid June, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. Ice usually gives way near mid June, and forms again about early October. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. At Morel Lake the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Formal access is not mapped, so the last stretch is likely on foot. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. The nearest alternative is Ambush Lake, 11 km out. Nothing here settles the position at Morel Lake for certain.