The Texan living in California wishing she was Canadian…
Ganglers has quickly become a fave of North Seal River Lodge guest Claire Swift and her husband Jeff and son Harrison. They have embraced the experiences the North Seal has to offer and always thinking of new adventures to enjoy. Their initial 2023 adventure was so enjoyable they put off an African safari they had planned for 2024 to return and have already rebooked for 2025. We will share her family’s total adventure at a later date but here is her enjoyable take on her 2024 Ganglers experience –
As a Texan living in California, wishing I was Canadian, it is reassuring to know there is still a family run fishing operation in Northern Manitoba that offers access to remote, unspoiled, protected, historically preserved land and provides luxury accommodations. Furthermore, it offers the features a relatively high maintenance wife looks for in privacy, hospitality, wine, shopping, tankless water heaters, reverse osmosis water filtration, and laundry service. Our first trip to Gangler’s began as a bucket list trip for my husband in August 2023, his dreams of fishing remote and isolated lakes is why I assumed fishing lures were arriving at our house weekly for a year straight. This trip was our second year back.
Over our 11 day stay we fished, hiked eskers, explored the wilderness, ran from bugs, admired the Northern Lights, kayaked, deepened our knowledge of local history and edible plants, marveled at wolves and the occasional moose, enjoyed sunsets, flew in float planes and a helicopter, and ate 5 star meals.
Our 9 year old son, Harrison, could not get enough of fishing but very much looked forward to shore lunch where he would find animal tracks, antler sheds, bugs, chopped firewood voluntarily, and tried to avoid the temptations that come with a daytime campfire. Jeff unbelievably caught his largest Northern Pike from the shore on Keewatinkinokumaw Lake, it measured 42 inches, thankfully I caught my 44 inch pike a few days into the trip on a more easily pronounceable body of water, Blackfish Lake.
Ken arranged for us to fish Neekik Lake, having been unfished for several years before our arrival, you can imagine our surprise when we boated over 300 walleye! Pure bewilderment and fisherman fatigue set in, walleye were flying into our boat so abundantly we asked our guide to promise us the next two days would be dedicated to a different species. True to his word we welcomed a detox at Atim Lake, famous for the crystal clear water of “Frustration Cove.” Through the transparent water we were face to face with fish that would not bite our lures. In the end we did manage to land a 39 and 38 inch pike who ultimately relented because they felt sorry for us and wanted us to leave.
If you haven’t heard of the Canadian Grand Slam, google it like I did, and force your family to fish for the Arctic Grayling. We are not fly fishermen so this was a feat but we managed to catch our largest, a 17 inch, with spinning gear when traditionally they are caught on a fly rod.
Jeff and Harrison took turns reeling in a 38 inch trout on Blackfish Lake, our biggest yet!
So many fish and so many memories it was truly hard to leave our favorite vacation destination.
Ken, thank you for customizing our trip and making it a unique experience we will never forget. See you next year!
