Ashton’s favorite fishing trip for the year is ice fishing on Lake Louise. Unfortunately, last year, we were not able to do our annual fishing trip in March. Due to my knee surgery, we had to cancel it. Ashton was super bummed about that, especially because he was going to be allowed to bring one of his friends. This made the 2026 Lake Louise trip even more anticipated because we didn’t do it last year and he knew he would get to take a friend. Even better, this year for his birthday, Ashton was gifted a guided fishing trip for big lake trout. The combination of all this made the trip to Lake Louise this year extremely hyped.
We went to Lake Louise in November and the fishing wasn’t
the best. We got a couple fish, but we needed more burbot to fully supply our
annual fish fry. This trip, we were hoping to target large lake trout (which we
don’t keep or eat) and a couple more burbot to keep. This year’s trip was also
going to be a guy’s only trip. That meant no Mom and no Josie. The girls were
going to stay home and do their own thing while the boys went to Lake Louise to
fish hardcore while leaving our filters at home.
Ashton decided to ask his friend Broderick to go with us on
the trip. Broderick’s dad was unable to get the time off of work, so I invited
Kevin to come along and slay some fish with us. About two weeks before the
fishing trip, my truck started acting up. After taking it to the shop, I was
told something major was wrong with the fuel system and I would not get it back
for quite a while. That meant we could not take the truck and the camper with
us to Lake Louise. We almost canceled, but then I remembered that my friend
Wilbur had a cabin on the Lake. Luckily, he wasn’t using it and it was free for
that weekend. Fishing trips saved!
We were scheduled to go over a three day weekend, however,
due to excessive snow days, the school scheduled a makeup day on the Friday we
were supposed to be fishing. Because fishing is more important than school, the
boys skipped.
Day 1
Once school was out on Thursday, I picked up the boys and
brought them back to the house. As they were goofing around and playing
basketball, I packed up our gear and got everything ready for Kevin to pick us
up. We had to take Kevin’s truck because mine was broken. Kevin got off work
around 5 and came and got us as soon as he was done. We loaded up shortly after
and hit the road towards Lake Louise. We stopped briefly to fill up on gas, grab
some heating oil, and eat dinner. The boys played on their tablet the entire
time and we were at the lake before we knew it.
We were surprised to see the parking lot still had snow on
it; it was the middle of April and the parking lot is typically bare at this
time. We feared having to ride our snow machines on cement, but this was a nice
surprise. We unloaded our machines and sleds and got ready to ride in to
Wilbur’s cabin. Before we left, I asked a guy in the parking lot about an
attachment on his trailer. He then asked me if I knew Wilbur. I was shocked to
find out that this guy was Scott Schneider, a pharmacist at my hospital. I
didn’t know Scott very well, but he is really good friends with Wilbur. I have
actually talked to him on the phone before after Wilbur had his accident and we
were coordinating how to get Wilbur help. It was nice to run into him and chat
for a little bit. We didn’t talk long because it was already late and we needed
to get to the cabin so the kids could get to bed early-ish before our fishing
charter the next morning.
We got to Wilbur’s cabin at about 10:00 PM, and it was still
daylight out. The ride in wasn’t bad on the lake but the trail to his cabin was
getting pretty bare and rough due to the warming temperature. We settled in
quickly and got comfortable. Wilbur’s cabin is small but it is perfect for a
group of four guys looking for a place to stay warm over the weekend. He has a
generator and a battery store to power things, multiple different stoves to
heat, propane appliances for cooking, and everything else you could need for a
comfortable stay.
The boys were psyched to get fishing, and so were the
adults, so it was tough to settle down. We had to be up at about 5:00 AM the
next day, but we didn’t get to bed until midnight.
Day 2
We woke up super early and struggled getting out of bed. We ate
breakfast, put on our warm clothes, and packed for a long day of riding and
fishing. We left the cabin at 6:00 AM to meet the guide at 6:30 on the trail.
Halfway to meeting the guide I realized we didn’t have the Gopro. I left Ashton
with Kevin and Broderick and high tailed it back to the cabin as fast as I
could. I found the Gopro on the ground underneath the chair where one of the
boys decided to put it so they could sit at the table. I was able to get back
to Kevin and the boys within a few minutes, and it didn’t make us late meeting
the guide.
Our guide was Patrick Hankins, the owner of Chasing Tails
Adventures. I’ve spoken to him often about fishing on Lake Louise and he is
super nice. He’s a good friend of Wilbur’s as well and Wilbur says that he is
even nicer than Wilbur is. Pat catches multiple monster lake trout and knows
how to fish this area well. There are no promises of catching a monster on this
day, but Pat would give us the best chance.
It took about 30 minutes to ride the trail between Lake
Louise and Crosswinds Lake. The trail was a lot better than I thought it would
be too. There were a few bare spots but nothing bad. The trail was well groomed
and it made it very easy to go fast and not beat up on gear or bodies. At one
point along the way, there was a big caribou on that trail. We spooked it off
and it ran with us for a few hundred yards. We also saw a couple tundra swans
on the lake looking for water. Those poor birds were way too early as there was
still 4 to 5 feet of ice on the lake. We were concerned that if they didn’t get
somewhere soon they would likely starve. This is why they say Alaska kills and
the strong survive.
We got to our spot on the lake in a place that I would have
never tried to fish. We have fished Crosswinds Lake many times in the past when
Kevin and I used to go there and sleep in tents in early March to hammer burbot.
The spot we went to would have likely been one of the last spots we tried if we
were on our own. It was only 10 feet deep where we were fishing. Everything I
thought I knew about lake trout was thrown out the window. I have always been
told lake trout are in the deepest holes on the lake. This lake goes to 150
some feet deep and here we are drilling holes in 10 feet of water.
We drilled two holes in the middle of where we were going to
fish. We set up the fish hut on top of them and the Live Scope sonar to watch
the fish come in (we didn’t really need the hut on that day because the weather
was perfect with little wind, temps in the 30s, and cloudy cover). We then
proceeded to drill about 10 more holes in a pinwheel fashion all around the
fish Hut. These holes ranged from 50 to 100 yards away from the Hut in every
direction. We used fish traps to set our poles in holes.
As we were drilling our 3rd hole, the first trap
sprung. We screamed at the boys who were jigging in the ice hut to get the
pole. The boys were then running through the snow trying to get to the fishing
pole as fast as they could. The first boy to get to it was going to be able to
land the fish, and Broderick was the winner. After Broderick landed the lake
trout, we asked the boys what they did with the fishing poles. They let us know
they set the poles down but they kept their bait in the water. We then told
them that was a bad idea because these fish will grab the bait and rip it into
the water. We got back to the fishing hut and luckily both fishing poles were
still there.
We would then rotate people to land the fish on the fish
traps as they sprung. Ashton would get the next fish, then Kevin, and then me.
We would then rotate again if we got more fish. If a fish got off the line and
it didn’t hook itself, that person would then get to land the next fish. This
was a fun way to fish because we would hang out in the middle, and watch the poles
all around us. As soon as the flag would spring, we would have to jump on the
snow machines and get to it as fast as possible. The traps were too far away to
run to, even though the boys tried multiple times.
After I caught my fish of the first rotation, Ashton slowly
made his way over to us with his tail tucked between his legs. I asked him what
happened, and he explained that a fish pulled a fishing pole down the hole. He
further explained that he set the fishing pole down to get some food out of the
hut and when he came back it was gone. Apparently, they didn’t listen when we
told them not to do that. I felt terrible because Pat has expensive poles and
he forgot to bring very many that day. Ashton was upset, but Pat did an amazing
job of assuring him that it wasn’t a big deal. It was a big deal to me because
his Lack of listening resulted in a big financial loss to Pat, the boy’s not
getting to land a large fish, and potentially the death of that fish that now
had a pole being dragged across the ground. Ashton’s bank account was a couple
hundred dollars skinnier after that accident.
The first rotation of catching didn’t produce any giants,
but resulted in a couple respectable fish. It wasn’t until Ashton’s second fish
that we were blessed with our first giant. One of the furthest poles away
sprung and we all jumped on our snow machines to get to it as fast as we could.
Ashton jumped off Pat’s snow machine, grabbed the pole, and the fight was on.
We could immediately tell it was a big fish because the line was screaming off
the drag. These poles were meant to handle big fish, but you couldn’t tell by
looking at the bend in the pole (which the guide said he has never seen it bend
that much). It didn’t take as long as I thought it would to get the fish to the
hole, but I think that may be a result of us fishing in only 10 feet of water.
Regardless, Ashton played the fish perfectly. He kept the line tight when it
needed to be, let the fish run when it was aggressive, lifted up and reeled down
when the fish gave him some slack, and didn’t rush it when it got to the hole.
When the fish finally had its head pointing up the ice hole, Pat was excited
with how big it was. Pat was also shocked to see another fish was in the lake
trout’s mouth. Actually, two fish were in the Laker’s mouth… two burbot tails
were sticking out! Pat pulled the fish out of the hole and we all screamed in
excitement. Ashton just landed the first 40 inch lake trout that Pat has ever
seen come out of this lake. It wasn’t a fat fish, but he was trying to make
himself fat by gorging on two fish and then hitting the jig
Absolute monsters of fish are named Walter. Prior to this
fish, Pat talked about Walter and how Walter has broken his line many times on
the Lake, but he has never landed him. Pat officially called this fish Walter
as it was the elusive 40 inch monster that has been giving him the slip for
years. The biggest Lake trout that Pat has ever caught in Alaska was 38.5
inches long. Everyone was so excited for Ashton, but Pat was probably the most
excited because he was the only one that knew how big of a unicorn this fish
truly was. Ashton knows he caught a monster fish, but I don’t think the size
and rarity of it will ever be truly recognized.
During the chaos of landing, measuring, taking pictures of,
and releasing the fish as quickly as we could, Pat dropped his cell phone down
the fishing hole. This wasn’t good, because he had other clients that needed to
reach him to coordinate fishing throughout the coming weekend. Luckily, I had
an underwater camera and a heavy duty magnet to retrieve a phone in case we
ever dropped one in the water. It took us about 20 minutes and a few more
drilled holes, but we were able to get it back. Not only did we retrieve it,
but it was still fully functional.
Shortly after Ashton landed his fish another trap went off
on the other side of the Hut. It was now Kevin’s turn to land the fish. Kevin’s
Fish was also a giant measuring 37 ½ inches long. It wasn’t as long as Ashton’s
fish, but it was many pounds heavier. Kevin was thrilled to finally get a huge
lake trout in his hands.
Broderick and I caught a couple of fish but nothing massive.
That’s OK though, at least somebody caught some big giants. Overall, we landed
a total of 10 fish and missed about 5
that day. The bite slowed as it got into late afternoon. You could tell
Pat was anxious to get back to the lodge and share the accomplishment of
landing such a big fish. We packed everything up around four and headed out.
We rode back to the cabin to refuel and take a little break.
The boys goofed around, cracked inappropriate jokes, and reflected on how much
fun the charter was. After an hour, we decided to head to the lodge for dinner.
We were going to meet Pat there too after he got some other fishermen settled
for the night.
The lodge was busier than normal and we had to wait a very
long time for a table and our food. After a couple hours at the lodge we had to
hurry back to our cabin in order to get the tip ups set out for the night.
There was a rush, but we were able to drill many holes and try for burbot. The
fishing wasn’t good that night and we got skunked. We were actually really
tired too so we didn’t fish too late and went back for a good night’s sleep,
crashing hard. We left the tip ups out overnight hoping to have something on in
the morning.
Day 3
We slept in late since we were pooped from the day prior. I
set up my drone and was able to check the tip ups from ½ mile away. Many flags were
up and that got the boys excited to scarf down their breakfast and get on the
lake to fish for the day.
The first tip up had a burbot on it, exactly what we wanted.
The second had a lake trout on it, and unfortunately, it swallowed the hook.
Broderick wanted to keep a lake trout so this was going to be his fish to take
home. The third tip up was a false alarm. The 4th tip up had a fish
on it, but it stole the bait and got off the hook somehow. The 5th
and final tip up had something happened to it that has never happened to me
before; the line was broken off. This must have been a huge fish because that
is not a common thing to happen with a tip up.
Our plan for the day was to fish. We are going to fish all
around the ice hut and out towards deeper water away. Unfortunately, Mother
Nature had different plans. The weather got gorgeous! It was mid to upper 40s
and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The high pressure system rolled in and
completely shut off the fish from biting. It made for amazing snowball fights
all day and staying warm, but it resulted in lousy fishing. We spent the whole
day just goofing off and not landing a single fish. The most exciting part of
that day was when an eagle landed next to the burbot we caught earlier and tried
to steal it. We had to scare it off and then bury the fish to keep the eagle
from grabbing it again.
Around 5:00 PM I made the kids go back to the cabin to take
a nap and get out of the sun. We were all still sleep deprived from the past
two nights and we knew we were going to stay up late to fish again. Kevin took
a nap in the Hut while we rested at the cabin. After our rest, I restocked our
food, drinks, and snacks for dinner and a movie in the fishing hut that night.
At about 7:30 the boys and I went back to Kevin to fish for the rest of the
night.
I started cooking the pizza rolls, pulled pork, and hotdogs
over the buddy heater while everybody else was fishing. At the same time, we
had Top Gun 2 projected on the side of the hut. If we weren’t going to catch
fish, we were going to have a good time trying while watching a movie and stuffing
our faces.
We ended up only getting one bite that night when we were
jigging and Kevin missed the hook set. We would check the tip ups every 20
minutes or so and we did end up landing one burbot on a tip up. We ended up
fishing until 1:00 AM until we decided to call it a knight. We ended up going
to sleep at about 2:00 AM that night which isn’t bad, only six hours passed the
boy’s bedtime.
Day 4
We were up at about 9:00 AM the next morning and repeated
the drone check of all the tip ups. Three flags were up this morning which
again got the boys excited and out of bed. We decided the fish weren’t going
anywhere so we took our time getting out to the tip ups. Instead of heading all
the way out there to fish for a little bit and then come back and pack, we
agreed to clean up the cabin and pack everything up first, and then head to the
hut to fish and pack that stuff up. While we were packing up, a herd of caribou
were crossing the lake. I flew my drone over to them and counted about 20.
Caribou hunting in this area is currently closed, but hopefully one day it will
open again.
The boys were a huge help packing everything up in the cabin…
not. The boys were busy goofing around and telling inappropriate stories. They
left Wilbur a couple of notes and pictures of body parts.
When we got to the ice hut, the boys checked the tip ups
immediately. Only one tip up had a lake trout on it and the other two were
missed hookups. Kevin and I tore down the ice hut and started packing stuff
away while the boys were in charge of pulling all tip ups and collapsing those.
That was the first time Ashton took the lead on putting the tip ups away, and
it was a huge help. It was a very windy day which made putting stuff away
fairly difficult. The fishing would have likely been good with the lower
pressure, but we had to get home.
The trail out and loading in the parking lot was fairly
uneventful. I drove home since Kevin drove to the lake. We saw more caribou on
the road and it was fairly gross spitting rain. The most exciting part of the
drive home was when Broderick threw up everywhere inside Kevin’s truck. The
boys were watching a movie on the tablet and this contributed to Broderick’s
motion sickness. He didn’t tell anybody he wasn’t feeling well and he didn’t
even tell people that he was puking. I pulled over quickly and he continued to
puke inside the truck. We had to pull him out while he was throwing up to try and
keep the back of Kevin’s truck from being completely destroyed. We then spent
the next 20 minutes cleaning puke off of Broderick and the inside of the truck.
This wasn’t a fun thing to do and I’m actually shocked at how well Kevin
handled the situation. He doesn’t have kids and the inside of his truck is
gorgeous, but he was more concerned about Broderick than his truck getting
demolished… What a good guy.
Overall it was an amazing weekend. We caught some monster
fish, and we kept some fish for the fish fry. There was so much inappropriate
talk, no girls were allowed (including moms), no rules, no filters, and no
shortage of fun. I didn’t know how much fun Kevin would have adding two young
boys to our adventures, but he mentioned that it was a good time being a dad
for a bit. This fishing trip will be hard to top.
