Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories: ice fishing

Great Slave Lake is a lake in the Northwest Territories, about 26,700 km² in size, near Yellowknife, about 652 km N of Fort McMurray (straight-line distance). Sport fish recorded here: Lake Trout, Pike, Whitefish and Inconnu.

What fish are in Great Slave Lake?

Sport fish recorded in Great Slave Lake: Lake Trout, Pike, Whitefish, Inconnu.

Guides: Lake Trout ice fishing guide

Is the ice safe on Great Slave Lake?

Nobody has reported ice thickness on Great Slave Lake yet this season. Do not assume the ice is safe: drill and measure it yourself. Ice thickness guidance.

What are the fishing regulations for Great Slave Lake?

Regulation zone: Northwest Territories — NWT Fishery Regulations (federal, under the Fisheries Act); DFO publishes closures, quotas and size limits for Arctic waters

Season: Ice fishing in the NWT generally runs December to May once ice is safe. Seasonal NWT sport fishing licences expire each year on Mar 31.

Limits: Daily catch and possession limits by species are set in the NWT Fishery Regulations — check the current DFO/GNWT summary for lake trout, pike, whitefish and inconnu before keeping fish.

Licence: You must carry a valid NWT sport fishing licence while fishing (NWT resident, Canadian resident and non-resident classes), or be able to produce it for an officer on request.

Official regulations (GNWT Environment and Climate Change — Fishing Licence General Regulations). Always confirm against the current official guide before you fish. This summary may be out of date or incomplete: you are responsible for reading and following the current regulations, and Ice Fish Canada is not responsible for any violation or illegal harvest (poaching) that results from relying on it.

Catches and lures

No catches logged on Great Slave Lake yet. Sign in to log yours and see what's catching as the reports come in.

Updated 2026-11-06. Lake names and locations: Canadian Geographical Names Data Base (Natural Resources Canada). Lake sizes: HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016, CC BY 4.0). Nearest towns: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). About these data.