Tarantula Lake in South Slave Region: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  In Northwest Territories, Tarantula Lake falls inside South Slave Region. The surroundings are open dry country. At 43.94 sq km you are fishing a fraction of it whatever you do. At about 139 km of edge, most people fish a single area and learn it well. The town to know is Yellowknife, 393 km out. It is 1260 km to Edmonton, the nearest city. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Tarantula Lake

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Open biodiversity records for South Slave Region list Arctic grayling, lake trout, Arctic charr and slimy sculpin. The county figures include rivers and lakes alike. On Tarantula Lake that means starting tight and working out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July runs about 12°C on average, January about -30°C. This far north the hard season runs and runs. Break-up comes around mid June, and the run that follows is short and strong. The season between ice runs from about mid June to early October. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. Tarantula Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  There is no clear statement anywhere on who can fish it. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. No built facilities appear in mapping around this water. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Provincial rules still apply whatever the bank status. Fishing rules and camping rules are set separately here. If the gate is shut, Muskox Lake at 17 km is the nearest alternative. Nothing here settles the position at Tarantula Lake for certain.