Yellowknife River

The Yellowknife River comes down from the north through a chain of lakes and ends in Yellowknife Bay on Great Slave Lake, just outside the city. Below Prosperous Lake it runs about 12 km, starting with Tartan Rapids at the lake outlet, and the Ingraham Trail crosses the lower river close to town. Above Prosperous Lake, a short, fast reach drops in from Bluefish Lake.

Arctic grayling move into the river once the ice goes out, and they rise to dry flies through June and into the summer. Northern pike hold in the slower water and at the mouth, and lake whitefish are in the lower river too. The lakes above keep the flow steady: read the gauge at the Prosperous Lake outlet, where the river fishes best from about 20 to 40 m³/s, and over about 55 it is high. The water temperature on this page comes from the station at the inlet to Prosperous Lake, a little upriver.

The reach between Prosperous Lake and Bluefish Lake is closed to sport fishing from September 1 to October 31 each year. Elsewhere the general NWT limits apply: 3 grayling a day and 3 pike. Only barbless hooks are allowed in the NWT, and no one may fish within 23 m downstream of an obstruction. The NWT has advice on arsenic in lakes around Yellowknife, so check the fish consumption guidance before you keep fish. The river runs through Yellowknives Dene First Nation land.