Kluane Lodge, Wellesley Lake.. full board.

The Yukon's finest fly in fishing

Dates available for 2012.. June 11th 18th & 25th 7 nights plus 2.

July 2nd 4 nights plus 2. July 6th 5 nights plus 2, July 11th 7 nights plus 2. Jyly 15th, 18th & 25th 7 nights plus 2.

JUNE JULY AUGUST 2012.. Escorted trips on selected dates.   7 nights at lodge plus 2 nights Whitehorse..                £2999 pp 9 nights / 10 days total duration. 5  nights plus 2 from.. £2175 pp, 10 nights plus 2 from £4253pp. Limited places so book now...Selected dates fully escorted by Martin Founds. Flights from UK extra.

Access by  float plane from Whitehorse (1 hour 30 minutes)

Unlimited fishing, almost 24 hours daylight in summer.

Excellent value packages for world class fly and lure fishing for huge Lake Char, Northern Pike and Whitefish.

KLUANE is our premier lodge offering the finest wilderness fishing imaginable with high standards of comfort. Well furnished cabins with shower and toilet, this top lodge caters for 16 anglers in style and comfort. A wood stove provides heat on cooler evenings.
The main lodge serves excellent home cooked food. There is a lounge, bar, pool table and small tackle shop. They have a stock of highly effective streamer flies, buzzers and dry flies plus a large selection of lures and jigs.  This lake is easy to find your way around and has lots of shallows to wade and reefs and drop-offs to slowly troll. Book mid June to early July and again in mid to late August for amazing fly fishing. Brian Dack is the lodge owner and guide with a vast knowledge of Wellesley Lake.

The lake is 11 miles long and 6 miles wide. The fly fishing here is exceptional and lodge owner Brian Dack has a personal best char of 43 pounds on a dry fly (large sedge) from a reef close to the lodge. A real wilderness lodge with exceptional fishing and high standards of food and comfort.

The trip is worth it for the wildlife alone, there are 12 pairs of bald eagles nesting around the lake, moose are a frequent sight and loons along with numerous duck species spend their summers here on Wellesley Lake.

Boats

Fish from and use to access reefs and features. 14 foot aluminium with 15hp outboards, echo sounders and VHF radios. Fuel supplied. Self use with lodge guide for information and advice.

JOHN HORSEY…EXPERIENCES AT KLUANE LODGE ....England’s highest capped International fly angler. Member of 2009 World Championship winning England team and 3rd paced Individual in 2010 World Championships in Poland.  Professional fly fishing guide in the UK.

“I feel that Kluane Wilderness Lodge and Wellesley Lake have to be the best freshwater fishing venue in the World. I have fished all over the World and have never experienced a venue where experienced - and newcomers to fishing - can catch such a variety of fish using a huge variety of methods.

Fly fishing and lure fishing for monster lake trout and pike is simply sensational. The whitefish provide another great alternative and there is even a chance of catching a burbot!”.

Fly Fishing The Yukon.. Tackle Tips by John Horsey.

Travelling with rods.. Hardy & Greys make excellent 4 piece rods that pack well and make travelling easy.

Tackle requirements… 5 weight fly rod for whitefish... 8 weight fly rod for lake char and northern pike.

Floating lines for 5 and 8 weight rods.  Di 3, Di 5 and Di 8 sinkers. Sink tip also useful.

Medium strength 7 to 8 foot rod for jigging/casting (lake char/burbot/northern pike). (Hardy & Greys Prowler rods are perfect).Shimano Stradic 4000 / 5000 or similar reel loaded with 40lb braid. Use a 5 meter mono leader of 30lb mono (for char).  

John Horsey is a consultant to Hardy & Greys and his tackle was put to a severe test at Kluane Lodge, all worked perfectly on these large, prolific and hard fighting fish.

Use Pro leader when fly fishing for pike.

Prices are per person and include 2 nights in Whitehorse (Westmark Hotel),  lodge accommodation full board, float plane fly-in transfers, boats, fuel and fishing.  Licences are paid in resort.

Partners... Kluane is a great location for angling partners, in addition to superb and relatively easy fishing to suit all styles and skill levels, the levels of comnfort for an exclusive wilderness lodge will surprise you. Accommodation is extremely comfortable and the lodge has knowledgeable and friendly staff.

Shore Lunches are a particular attraction with a (resident) breeding pair of bald eagles just yards away. Wild flowers abound and are at their peak in June/July. Wild berries including blueberries and wild strawberries can be picked in July. The wildlife viewing is exceptional with moose venturing out of the thick forest in late evening to feed along the lakes many reedy bays. Beaver, bear and wolf are occasionally see and the variety of butterflies and wildfowl will amaze you. Its even possible to feed a local family of Whiskeyjacks by hand close to the lodge.

Kluane offers a lot for the outdoors loving client and is a photographers dream.

MULTI CENTRE HOLIDAYS AND VARIABLE LENGTH PACKAGES AVAILABLE. City Stopovers in Calgary, Vancouver, Whitehorse and Dawson City. Car and RV rental. Rocky Mountaineer rail trip through the rockies. Tailor made holiday addons. Flight packages are arranged with 1st Class Holidays ATOL 5421 (we act as agents).

KLUANE LODGE …FISHING…

With a moderately large lake (but easy to find your way around) , lots of features/depths and three species (Whitefish/Pike and Char) the options are almost too many. Weather will play a part but to maximise from our trips the following may assist in making a daily decision. Brian Dack and Bill Chisholm will also offer good on the spot advice.

Precise fly patterns/colours and lure colours/size will be down to the week fished, although there have been patterns over previous visits. We learn something new from each trip. Each years brings similarities but nothing is ever totally the same.

Whitefish:

Dry fly, sparsely dressed patterns. Afternoon and evenings on calm days fishing the shallows near the lodge. On calm nights out over the “flats” in deep water huge shoals of big whitefish feed on the surface – again well worth targeting if you are not concentrating on the Char.

Wet fly, buzzers (olives and prince nymphs etc). They respond any time of day, calm water more suitable in depths of 8 to 12 feet. I prefer to use a sight indicator as they are feeding just off a sandy/muddy bottom with covering moss/weed.

Northern Pike: Whilst you may hook the occasional pike in deeper water (more by accident when fishing for Char) they are to be found in the shallower reedy bays in 3 to 10 feet of water. Calm afternoons and evenings best. Surface “popper” action on a fly rod is excellent. Surface plugs like the Mans minus1 is also effective (do not strike on sight but wait for the rod to pull round before pulling into the fish otherwise you will miss the take). They also respond to spoons fishing/trolled along the drop-offs. Bigger pike like 8 to 12 foot depths that have good weed growth that comes within 5 to 3 feet from the surface..

Char: A number of methods.

The easy way to target big char is to troll very slowly, engine in and out of gear frequently  making slow turns) with streamer flies on a fast sink line. Short mono leader. Black with red/silver is effective but many colours seem to work.

In  deeper water “flats” etc, jigging with braid as a main line and 30lb mono as a leader say 20 feet - (never use wire traces.) Use rubber jigs/shads on a slow drift.

Streamer flies medium to large patterns fishing the shallows and drop-offs and along the ridges. Cast and retrieve with a sink tip or medium sink line. Char from around 4 to 20lb plus are caught.

Calm evenings on cool nights will see char of all sizes rising for surface flies – sedge patterns in particular are excellent. It is really impossible to target individual char, they rise all over. Pick an area, cast and watch. A slight “vibration” on the fly will often induce a take. Natural sedge hatch on calm evenings in shallow bays with depths of around 4 to 10 feet. Lots of areas to choose from.

They also respond to spoons, cast or trolled, but flies have often out-fished metal.

Rubber jigs in the deep water as temperatures rise consistently produce very big char.

Burbot: always a chance. Use a small to medium shad, jigged just off bottom in deeper water. They gas up and generally do not release, but are good eating.

Summary: Afternoons, evenings into night prime time with calm weather and 24 hours of daylight in the summer months provide the ultimate in fly and lure fishing.

Flights to and from Whitehorse are additional.