Fishing in Aulavik National Park

Aulavik sits at the northern end of Banks Island in the Northwest Territories — fly-in only, no roads, no trails, no facilities. The park covers roughly 12,000 square kilometres of Arctic lowlands: river valleys, polar desert, buttes, and bold seacoast.

The water here is cold, clear, and remote in a way that resets your sense of scale. The Thomsen River is the park's spine.

It runs the full length of Aulavik — about 160 kilometres — from the upland plateau in the south to Castel Bay on M'Clure Strait in the north, and it carries the designation of Canadian Heritage River.

It's one of the most northerly navigable rivers in North America, and notably gentle: no rapids, no portages. Most paddlers take around three weeks to float it, putting in near the southern boundary.

Sampling in the Thomsen during 2000 and 2001 turned up Lake Trout and Arctic Char — the Char count included both adults and juveniles, suggesting the river holds a self-sustaining population.

The best window for a river trip is late June through late July, after ice-out and while the spring freshet is still running. Fishing is permitted in the park, but the rules are specific to this place.

You need a valid National Park Fishing Permit — a territorial licence does not cover park waters. Permits are available from Parks Canada offices in Sachs Harbour and Inuvik. Only angling is allowed: one line, one hook arrangement, no set lines.

A special restriction currently limits anglers to an aggregate daily catch and possession of one fish across all species — check with Parks Canada for current conditions before you go.

Getting here means chartering a plane from Inuvik, roughly 750 kilometres to the southwest. The park has four landing sites. Weather can ground flights for a day or more, so build margin into any itinerary.

This is not a place that rewards tight schedules or light preparation. The fishing is incidental to most visits, which are built around the river journey itself.

But for anyone willing to make the trip, the Thomsen offers Arctic Char and Lake Trout in water that very few rods ever touch.