The sky was clear and blue. Spanning all horizons was an endless mosaic of pine trees, bogs, and lakes. The shallow lakes had a tan or brown tint while the deeper lakes had a distinct aqua blue reflection. I pushed my face against the window of the floatplane and daydreamed. I couldn’t help but wonder how many fish we were flying over. I wondered if some of the lakes had ever been fished. Perhaps some of the lakes froze out in the winter. The drone of the airplane could perhaps put a person to sleep, but I was too excited. Below me lay pristine wilderness. The Canadian Shield.
I had been on many Canadian fly in fishing trips, but I still get just as excited for each trip. I love the floatplane rides over the bush and am always in awe of the terrain. We passed over a single line of electrical poles that cut through the bush and I speculated that would be the last manmade feature on the landscape until we landed. I couldn’t help but wonder how difficult that endeavor was. Sinking in bogs, crossing streams, and lakes, swatting mosquitoes, and cutting down endless trees… I wondered who those people were who tackled such monumental tasks.
This particular Canadian trip was special to me because I was bringing my daughter on her first fly in fishing experience. I have been fortunate enough to have been on some pretty incredible adventures but never before with my daughter. I had been planning this particular trip for a long time. When my kids were tiny, I was already planning this trip.
Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge
Our destination was Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge in northern Manitoba. We would be staying at the Lost Lake Lodge which is a separate deluxe cabin away from the primary camp. The cabin is located on a narrow isthmus with Lost Lake on one side and Aikens Lake on the other. We had boats located on each side of the isthmus. Everything about Aikens was over the top. The log cabin we stayed in was beautiful. A beautiful stone fireplace complimented the vaulted ceiling great room. The pantry and refrigerator were stocked with groceries and easy-to-prepare meals. The boats were large for fly in fishing camp standards, even by remote Canadian standards, and even the stringers were rolled up neatly in the splash wells. A lot of attention to every single detail. I’ve been to many Canadian fishing camps on fly in trips and this camp was perhaps the most beautiful and over the top camp I had ever seen.
Aikens Lake is somewhat unique in that the lake is extremely deep and there are big fish opportunities for Manitoba’s big three: lake trout, walleye, and pike. Most fly in camps have some type of fishing calling card. Could be huge numbers of eater walleye, might be specifically lake trout or big pike. Finding a lake that has all three species with Manitoba Master Angler potential is somewhat unusual. There are usually compromises but Aikens is a good destination for each species. What we found is that nearby Lost Lake had huge numbers of eater size walleye with a few medium size pike mixed in. Lost Lake is relatively small and there were several good spots close to the cabin where we could catch a quick meal of fish.
Aikens Lake was much larger and we had to work a little harder to find fish but the average size of both walleye and pike were also much larger. Many of the walleye we caught on the Aikens Lake side were over eighteen inches with the largest fish measuring twenty-eight inches. The camp boats had good depth finders and GPS. We typically found good numbers of walleye relating to any ten to fifteen-foot flat that was in close proximity to deep water. Usually, if a spot looked fishy, it held fish. Like most fly in fishing experiences, we were limited on gear and tackle so we simply dragged ¼ ounce jigs tipped with either a half crawler or soft plastic and caught plenty of fish.
We, of course, did some shore lunches, prepared our own meals that were stocked in our cabin, and were self-guided but there are packages at the main Aikens Lake Lodge that provide great meals, guides, and other services. Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge is no doubt one of the nicest fishing camps I have ever seen with incredible fishing.
Budd’s Gunisao Lake Lodge
Another over-the-top adventure for fly in fishing enthusiasts is Budd’s Gunisao Lake Lodge in northern Manitoba. When you look at Manitoba Master Angler entries for walleye each year, Gunisao Lake is one of Manitoba’s very best walleye fisheries for big fish. We fished Budd’s Gunisao Lake Lodge for about five days and I lost count of how many walleye we caught over twenty-eight inches. This lodge also has the over the top, wow factor. What makes this camp unique is that there is an actual runway built next to the camp that enables chartered flights out of Winnipeg. Besides a lot of big walleyes, I believe this runway is a key reason for why Budd’s Gunisao is so special. Everything is taken up a notch because this camp can get equipment, food, and other supplies into the bush so much more economically. The cabins were very comfortable and everything from the food to the guides were top-shelf. We fished with a guide named Nathan Tymchuk. The guides worked well with each other and were superb at boat control and finding fish.
The Canadian shore lunch Gunisao style. We had a great experience with the guides on Gunisao Lake. Besides preparing great shore lunches each day, the guides were excellent with boat control and finding fish. 
Budd’s Gunisao Lake Lodge offers great food with a comfortable bar. Photo courtesy of Budd’s Gunisao Lake Lodge.
Not many things more fun than catching big walleye below the boat with a jig. If you were to poll a hundred walleye anglers and asked them to list a favorite presentation or method for catching walleye, I would be willing to bet that vertically jigging would top any popularity list. Jigging below the boat was the program on Gunisao and what made this trip so much fun was just how hard the fish fought. Maybe the sheer size of many of these fish added to the fight but these fish would head shake and take drag. The twenty-four-inch walleyes fought like the thirty-inch walleyes. We did catch some walleye each day small enough for shore lunch but a big percentage of fish were over twenty-two inches. For sheer numbers of big walleye, I would have to guess that Gunisao Lake might be one of the top fisheries in Canada.
Canadian Border Crossing Requirements (2022)
Like many Americans that enjoyed traveling to Canada to fish, we took a few seasons off when the border and travel was closed because of Covid. Now that the borders are open again, we are planning future adventures. I did get the opportunity to travel back to Manitoba during the fall of 2021 and procedures for traveling into Canada have changed. Besides Visa or Visa Card (for anglers crossing land port of entry) visitors from the States now need proof of two Covid vaccinations. The second vaccination has to be at least fifteen calendar days before entering Canada. We also need a negative Covid test that was taken within 72 hours of crossing the border. Important to note that rapid antigen Covid tests are not accepted at the border. Only molecular or PCR, NAT, and RT-LAMP tests are accepted at the border.
Travelers also need to use the ArriveCan App which can be downloaded for free on any smartphone. When using the ArriveCan App, you simply provide date of travel, approximate time and date of border crossing, name and date of birth, and an uploaded picture of your vaccination card. Crossing the border was fairly simple the last time I crossed. The ArriveCan asks for a quarantine plan and I simply used the address or location of the camp I was traveling to. No better place to be quarantined in my opinion.
No doubt that the Canadian fly in fishing camps have been hit particularly hard during the Covid crisis. We look forward to returning. We miss the fishing and the beautiful lakes. We miss our friends. We look forward to renewing some traditions we started and look forward to the shore lunches and floatplanes. We look forward to the future. We look forward to getting back to normal.
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