History: Aylmer Lake

In 1907, Ernest Thompson Seton, who was a prominent wildlife artist, author, and co-founder of the Boy Scouts, launched an expedition to the Northwest Territories and into Aylmer Lake.  In July 2015, the Academy sent out “The Arctic Prairies Expedition II” expedition to retrace his route around this remote lake. The result of their research about Seton’s journey is chronicled in this film.

The land around Aylmer Lake is unique. Depending on the time you fly over the Tundra, the water can glow like molten gold. The eskers are sand embankments that link both land and water. Two-hundred-foot high eskers slash across the landscape – some 100 miles or longer.  Eskers formed as a result of the rivers flowing within the glaciers that once covered this land. Aylmer Lake is the seventh largest lake in the Northwest Territories.

In 2000, Aylmer Lake Lodge opened – intended to serve primarily as a caribou camp.  After being open for five years, the business was shuttered.  In 2012, new life was breathed into the Lodge when we took over.  With an exclusive allocation of over 1700 square kilometers of truly wild and remote lakes, Aylmer Lake Lodge became the home of amazing fishing.  There has never been commercial fishing or First Nation’s sustenance fisheries on these lakes, and nearly no sport fishing before 2013.