MY NWT: Fishing in the backyard

When Maxim Bloudov moved to Yellowknife in 2005, it didn’t take him long to figure out that he had reached the fisherman’s nirvana. “As soon as I got on a boat with friends in Yellowknife, I realized what opportunities there were here,” he says. He grew up on the Black Sea in southern Russia with a fishing rod in his hand. “I would go fishing with my dad and grandfather when I was three.”

There’s lots of fishing in the Northwest Territories – and it’s easily accessible. “I can be in the water within seven minutes from my driveway,” Maxim says. “Every 10 kilometres you can find a place to fish.” It’s not just that fish are plentiful. They’re big, too. Although he once caught a 13-pound trout, some as much as 35 pounds have been pulled from northern lakes. He also caught a 36-pound northern pike on a nearby river. The size is one of the things that keeps reeling him in. “It’s so addictive that you have to go and get them,” he says. “It’s this big monster that keeps you coming back.”

He’s also up for a challenge. Whitefish is his favourite species because they’re tough to catch. “They’re the hardest fighting fish pound for pound. It’s crazy. There could be 10 boats but you’re the only one catching. It’s not like throwing a lure in the water and catching them. There’s more finesse to it. You have to read your fish publications,” says the self-confessed fishing nerd. He likes to read up about the fish and understand their behaviour.

Thanks to support from sponsors in the local business community, Maxim now hosts his own Yellowknife-based fishing show on Northwestel Cable Television. He started Maximum Limit Fishing because on other fishing shows “they catch bass, bass and bass. There’s other fish other people want to see on TV. I don’t think it’s skilful to catch bass every show.”

Maxim tries to offer viewers plenty of information and some variety with the types of fish he catches and the segments he features. He tries not to fish for the same species for more than two or three episodes. He focuses on where to find them, how to clean and eat them. “I’m showing people how to cook on a boat, how to fillet a fish. A lot of people know there’s fish here but they don’t know how to clean them properly.” One episode will even focus on how kids can have fun fishing.

“The point of the show is that Yellowknife is just a small town of 20,000 people but we have the best fishing in North America by far,” he says. “You can go in at lunchtime with a rod and start fishing over your lunch hour.” Or catch dinner and cook it on your boat on a grill. “It’s in your backyard. You can do it on a Tuesday night with your wife and kids. If you have a boat, a grill and a fishing rod, you can have good time.”
www.maximumlimitfishing.com