There's a place where the monsters are real

Lean in close. We have a secret to share.

It's a secret that lies beneath. Lurking. Impossibly numerous. Impossibly large. Patrolling these depths for centuries – yet it's never felt the bite of a hook.

Until now.

So if you promise not to tell, we'll let you in on our secret. Here are 10 reasons why angling in the Northwest Territories is stupendous – and, sometimes, just a little bit scary: 

American doctor Aviars Slucis is the Ahab of the Northwest Territories. Sixteen years ago, while fishing at a lodge on Great Bear Lake, he reeled in his Moby Dick  – a leviathan Trout, perhaps a century old and estimated by his guide to weigh a world-record 79 pounds. Did he mount it on his office wall? Nope. He let it go. And he returns, year after year, hoping to catch it again. It’s still here, somewhere, waiting for him – or for you.

It isn't just our Trout that are record-breakers. We also have the most gargantuan Arctic Char on Earth, tipping the scales at more than 30 pounds. 

Down south, fishing is a tradeoff – you can either go for size, or for frequency. Up here, you don't have to choose. Angling in the Northwest Territories is remarkable not just for our supersized fish but for the rate at which you'll catch them. At many of our lodges it's not unusual for an angler to have a 100-fish day. And of course, since we practice catch-and-release, all those fish are back in the water, ready to be caught again.  

Great Bear Lake is the largest lake entirely within Canada, with the biggest Lake Trout on Earth. Its surface area exceeds that of Belgium – yet it's only visited by about 300 sport fishers per year. That averages out to less than one angler per day, or, even if they were all on the lake simultaneously, one fisher for every 25,000 acres of water. Most lakes in the NWT are like that: It's possible to fish all day, all week, or all month, and never see another boat. 

Great Slave is the deepest lake in North America. If you fish in Christie Bay, not far offshore from the community of Lutselk'e, the bottom will be a dizzying 2,100 feet below you....

To drop a hook in those depths would require a heckuva lot of line – but you just might catch something remarkable. Thriving in Great Slave's dark, cold abyss are deepwater Sculpins, Ciscos and a fat variety of Lake Trout called a Siscowet. Anything that swims down there is adapted to withstand intense pressure – around 800 pounds per square inch, which would be the equivalent of 1,000 tonnes on the average-sized human body.

Our lodges are a wild escape. Even if you have no interest in angling, spending time at a remote Northern fishing lodge is a true retreat – into blissful nature, into peace and quiet, and into the lap of luxury. Feel free to sit on the deck all day, doing absolutely nothing, just relaxing in our pure, tranquil world.   

In the Northwest Territories, you can fish the mountains, the Arctic coast, or the Barrenlands. You can fish in racing rivers and vast lakes, at the base of frothing waterfalls or in placid roadside ponds. You can fish off the edge of the dock in just about every community. Or you can go to the ends of the Earth, stand on a lonesome shore, and cast your line ....

Fishing under the Northern Lights. Up here, it really happens. 

What is it about those days out on the water that draws people together – grandparents and children, old school chums, co-workers, brothers? Maybe it's the lack of distractions – no cell phones, no deadlines, no worries. Maybe it's the transcendent experience, battling big fish in a pristine place way up at the top of the globe. Whatever it is, it's the best way possible to reconnect, with yourself, with the natural world, and with those who truly matter to you.