Fishing at Ortell Lake, Mayo, Yukon

• Overview

  Set in Mayo, Yukon, this is Ortell Lake. This is spruce and muskeg country. This is sizeable water at about 2.20 sq km, and a boat opens up most of it. There is roughly 10 km of bank, more than one visit can cover properly. For supplies, Norman Wells is 318 km out. Dawson City is 320 km away, with Whitehorse at 387 km. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Ortell Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Fish documented in Mayo include Chinook salmon, mountain whitefish and sockeye salmon. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. At Ortell Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 12°C; the cold one sits at -23°C. Cold dominates the calendar on water this far north. Ice-out usually falls in late May, and the weeks after it fish hardest. The lid tends to go about late May and return around mid October. Late spring and early autumn carry the year between them. That is the shape of the year on Ortell Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. For salmon, swing spoons or flies through the moving water and mind the local method rules. Season dates differ by species, so read the table. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. For a change of water, Rackla Lake is 34 km distant. Ask locally about Ortell Lake if anything is unclear.