Tsan Lake in North Slave Region: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  The North Slave Region end of Northwest Territories holds Tsan Lake. Beyond the shoreline you have dry rangeland. This is big water, about 12.59 sq km, and in a wind it behaves like a small sea. There is roughly 53 km of bank, and each arm behaves like its own water. Yellowknife is the closest town at 188 km. The nearest city of size is Edmonton, 1164 km away. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Tsan Lake

  The records we hold are silent on depth, so plan to find it yourself. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Across North Slave Region, recorded fish include Arctic grayling, lake trout and slimy sculpin. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. On Tsan Lake the first feature you find is usually worth a session.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Average temperature peaks around 14°C in July and bottoms out near -29°C in January. Everything is compressed into the middle of the year. Count the season from break-up, usually early June. Break-up near early June, freeze-up near mid October: that is the shape of an average year. Just after the ice goes and just before it returns, the fishing lifts. Tsan Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  There is no clear statement anywhere on who can fish it. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. No launch point is recorded nearby, so this is a bank water unless you carry a boat in. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. Grizzle Bear Lake, 20 km away, makes the obvious fallback. Check the current arrangement for Tsan Lake.