Fishing in the Arctic - Chasing Monsters - Nature & Adventure Documentary

You hear that? Andre! That's a bear. That's a bear, man. There, there, right there. Right there. My name is Cyril Choquet. I'm surrounded by bull sharks. And I travel the world chasing monster fish. That's why I'm in northern Canada, where I've heard stories about First Nation fishermen whose lines have been broken and their nets ripped by humongous fish. That's unbelievable. There's definitely monsters in this water. These fish are so big and powerful they're said to be impossible to catch. I want to see just how big they can get and if I can catch one. The problem is that the land here is so vast, remote and wild that finding them can be dangerous. There have been outsiders that have been attacked by bears, even killed by bears. Some people have been killed? Really? It's a giant, no? Oh man, this thing is humongous. That's a monster. Look at the size of that thing. There's so much water, so many huge lakes and rivers that finding one is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. I'm heading deep into the land of the Innu and Naskapi First Nations, way up in the Canadian north. A territory so huge that the only way to get from one spot to another is by helicopter or floatplane. Somewhere in the thousands of lakes and rivers lives enormous fish, true monsters. My first stop is to meet David, an elder from the Naskapi First Nation who has come close to these big fish before. David, how big of a fish are we talking about? Those monster fish, how big can they be? Wow. The big ones you cannot catch? No, no, no. Really? Break the nets? Yeah, break it. Tear the nets? Yeah, break it. What David is telling me sounds exactly like other stories I've heard about these monster fish. The fish is smart? Do you think I can catch it? That's not a good sign. These stories of massive fish that tear nets and break lines can only point towards one suspect, Lake Char, also known as Lakers. These are giant fish that can grow to 100 pounds. But finding one of these giants in such a vast expanse of water is not going to be easy. David told me about a good spot on a river where he used to fish, a few hours' hike into the bush. Black bears are some of the most dangerous predators in North America. If they feel provoked, they can attack. We're in the summer. There's snow left. That gives you an idea of how far north we are. That's crazy. But it's a good thing because Lake Char is like cold water. I finally get to the river that David told me about. There should be some fish in these rapids, but the lakers I'm after are not going to be found in the water this fast. Impressive. But I got to get down to the bottom of these rapids because I'm pretty sure that down there, there'll be a big, deep pool where predator fish will be hiding, waiting for food to be washed downriver by the current. But it's a waste. Black bear attacks are rare, but you still got to keep an eye out. I keep walking for about an hour and finally make it to the base of the rapids. Oh no, it cut me off. Unbelievable. It broke the line, the braided line. Whatever did that must have some sharp teeth, but now I've got a metal eater. Yep, fish on. What did I tell you? I knew there'd be predators down here. Nice pike. It's just not the right kind of predators yet. And look at the fangs right here. I don't know if you can see them. They have about 700 teeth. So let me tell you, if you're a prey and you get grabbed by this, there's no way out. Another pike. Talk about predators here. There's a few of them. And a few predators that are eating me up right now. Mosquitoes and black flies. I'm getting devoured. I keep casting. Yep, pike again. And I keep catching. But they're just pike here. Not a single laker. I don't think I'm going to catch a monster laker from the shore here. I would need a boat. Tomorrow, I'm off to a lake known for its massive char. And there, I will have a boat. Communities here can be hundreds of miles apart. And there are no roads. So to get around, I have to take to the skies. The territory is so vast. There's so much water. So many lakes and rivers. That for sure somewhere in the depths, monsters are lurking. We've flown 150 miles north to an area on this capy land that looks promising. But first, I need to ask permission to fish in these waters. You must be Noah. You must be Cheryl. How are you doing? Good. Good to meet you. Welcome. The chief in person. So this is where you guys hang out, huh? This is where you hunt? Yeah, this is paradise here. There's lots of caribou. And it's also known for big fish. Big fish. That's you. That's why I'm here. I heard. I did my research. What kind of safety gear do you have? Gear? For survival. I have GPS, satellite phone, and that's it. Do you have a rifle? Do you have a bear spray? No. So there have been outsiders that have been attacked by bears. Even killed by bears. Some people have been killed? Really? Yeah, there have been incidents in the past, but never with First Nations people. To show me just how dangerous they can be, Noah's got something to show me. A bear actually destroyed it. What do you mean it destroyed it? It bit through this? Bit through this. Ripped out the chair. Totally destroyed. Wow. Hey. Okay, serious stuff. I have no intention of shooting a bear, but in case I get charged, Noah insists I take his brother's rifle. Safety. But first, he wants me to take a practice shot. Missed it. I guess you don't even want to think about what would happen after you miss the charging bear. Thank you. I hope I see you again. Noah lent me his boat, but once again, finding a monster in such a vast lake is no easy task. It's a great feeling being on my own in a boat in the middle of this vastness. But that's it. That's the challenge. Finding the fish in such a big body of water is going to be tough. It's a real challenge. It's like fishing in the ocean. It's so big. Plus, I can't go too fast because I don't want to hit a boulder. There could be big rocks in the middle of the lake just underneath the surface. So I got to keep an eye out. Instead of fishing this lake, I'll focus on some rapids Noah told me about. But first, I got to cross this lake. The wind has picked up quite a bit. It's getting hard moving around on the lake. Plus, with the waves, it's even harder to see the rocks. Wow. See, that's exactly what I'm talking about. See that rock right here? Those rocks, they stick out of the lake in the middle of nowhere. This is surrounded by deep water, and you don't see it. You can't see it. It freaks me out. If it was calm, I could see a little bit of the rock sticking out, but with the waves, you can't see it. It's super dangerous. Man, I almost hit it. Got to go super easy. I finally get to the other side. But now, I have to hike to the rapids. Wolves. It's a wolf pack. I get to the rapids, but first, I have to check for dangerous animals. No, I don't see any bears on there. Still going to check with the scope to get a better look. There's a lot of brush. Very few little trees. But again, it's not because I don't see them that they're not there. I've been in this region before, and I'm telling you, this one time I was fishing right next to a river like this one, and this massive bear came out of a bush. You know, a bush like this. A very tiny bush. You would have never known that a bear could hide in there. And all of a sudden, this massive bear comes out. Freaked us out. It didn't attack us, but it was a close call. I'm clear. For now. If I do get charged, I'm hoping that a shot in the air would be enough to scare it off. Feisty laker. Nice laker. Beautiful lake char. Splendid animal. I love him. And you can tell this fish has worked out quite a bit. You know, it's a river fish. It's used to fighting against the current. That's why it's slender as opposed to being fat. And now, I just need to catch a monster one. I move a couple hundred yards down the rapids to a deeper pool. Oh, fish on. It's a little laker. It's incredible. I put a big spoon on so I could catch a monster fish. And yet, the little ones attack it as if it was nothing. Oh. Fish on. It's another little one. There's so many lakers here, they're fighting for my spoon. The only problem is that they're far from the legendary monster fish I've been hearing about. There's tons of fish here. Just nothing of any real size. Nothing that can rip a net or break a line, that's for sure. Well, I know there are monster lakers here on this crappy land. I just haven't been able to catch one yet. There's so much water here, it'd take me forever to find it. But I have a plan. I'm flying to Innu territory to see my old friend Andre. A few years ago, we caught some nice lakers on the ice together. The Innu have been catching these fish for generations. And with his help, I think we can get the big one. I'm happy to be back, in the summer. But the bugs are insane. And that's not the only challenge. Looks like we're going to get rained on. So we get to work fast, building our camp. Unbelievable. These guys can build a tent in 10 minutes. In 10 minutes, you have a roof over your head. Before we can head out to fish, I have to get my rods ready. For sure, this rod can handle a big fish. I've caught really big fish with this rod and reel. The idea, and I told you that already, but a big fish, even a 70-pound fish, it doesn't actually weigh 70 pounds. The fish weighs 70 pounds, but it's supported by water. Once it's in the water, you're not pulling on it that weight. If you're using a good reel, good rod, and good line, it's just a matter of playing the fish right, letting it go when it wants to go, and then pulling when it stops going. It's just playing it right. But this can handle a big fish. Hopefully a monster. Man, this canoe is beautiful. I love it. It's actually a modern version of what their ancestors used to use, except they were smaller, but the shape was pretty much the same. And back then, they would paddle for very long distances, miles, tens of miles, hundreds of miles. Imagine. To catch a huge laker, André gets to work on a traditional rig. In certain regions of Canada, like here, only First Nations people can use natural bait, traps, or nets. I'd love to help them out, but I can't do anything. I'm not allowed to touch anything that is a traditional First Nations fishing technique. I can't. It's just illegal. Okay, so I understand. He's going to use that as the floater that's going to stay on top of the surface, keeping the line down from there, suspended in the water. And he's leaving a couple branches there so he can see it from a distance. That's his bobber, basically. Okay. Well done. It's clean. Yeah, it's clean. I can't reach it. Here we go again. Non-stop rain, sun, rain, sun, rain, sun. Crazy. He's right about that. I never thought about it. If it was up to us, we'd always choose sun, sun, sun every day and never any rain. And nature would suffer from it. You know, it's stuff that you don't think about. But they think about that kind of stuff. They live with nature all the time. It really starts to come down. But André is on a mission to finish his monster fish rig. It's really deep. It's around 50 feet. Easily 50 feet. We wait for the rain to stop so André can finish setting up his rig. Floating on the surface, the tree will keep the bait off the bottom. And if there's a bite, we'll see it move. We use a whole four-pound whitefish as bait. But traditionally, they'd use even bigger ones. We could use a bait. If he had a big bait, we could use a bait this big for a big monster lake trail. This big. Imagine the size of the mouth of the fish. They're big. They have big heads. They're big monsters. We're going to leave this trap for now and head out to a spot where the guys have come across monster lakers before. This body of water is endless. And with limited time, we have to focus on the spots they know. The size of the lakes here. Unbelievable. Water as far as the eye can see. And fish are not everywhere. They're in certain spots. So one of the most effective ways to find them is to do what we're doing right now. We're covering a lot of ground by trolling, which means that we're slowly moving forward with the boat, dragging some lures behind the boat at slow speed until one of them gets attacked by a predator. And then when that happens, most likely there'll be more than one in the same spot. So then we can stop the boat and fish hard until we get a monster bite. Fish. Fish, fish, fish. Oh. I think it's a laker. It doesn't feel like a big fish, but I hope it's a laker. Is it a pike or a laker? Oh yeah, it's a laker. We're going in the right direction. Right species. It's just not the right size. Yet. All right. Lake Char. The biggest of the Char family. They get up to a hundred pounds. Imagine. That's a baby. All right, buddy. Go get your mama. The guys want to move to another spot. And on the way, they check a net that they had set up just before I got here. They use nets to catch whitefish, a good eating fish that they bring back to the elders of the community. And sometimes they get big lakers too. No monster laker yet, but they're whitefish. Look at the size of that speckled trout. Unreal. If I catch it, I'll tell you it's a five pounder. I'm a fisherman. André pulls in the rest of the net and a few more whitefish. Look at the size of that hole. That's unbelievable. They're pretty strong nets, you know, like look at the mesh. That's some serious rope. Look at that. I could fit through it. The only fish big and powerful enough to rip a hole that big would be one of those legendary monster lakers. And there's got to be more than one around. With the lightning coming close, it looks like we can't fish for much longer. Oh, here we go. It's a laker. Oh no, it's a landlocked salmon. Okay, good, good. That's a landlocked salmon. Nice. Beautiful fish. Beautiful animal. A landlocked salmon. It's pretty much the same fish as an Atlantic salmon, except that this one doesn't migrate back to the ocean. It stays in freshwater. Oh, strong fish too. It's not what we wanted, but it's always cool to catch a fish. The skies have cleared up. We'd keep fishing, but we got a long way back to the camp before dark. We caught a couple of nice fish today, but far from the huge laker I'm after. And tomorrow, is my last day on this lake. Did you hear that? You hear that? There's a bear. That's a bear. André, André Janus. He's playing with the rods. Up there, bear. Right there, right there. I'm missing a rod. He took off with a rod. I can't believe it. I think he was attracted by the smell of fish on the rods. Right here. Check out what he did to the rod. He chewed up on it. It's all chewed up. That was a close call. I think I'm gonna bring the rods inside the tent. Guys, there's a bear outside. Look, guys. Last night, a bear took my rod. It was there. I explained to the guys what happened last night, but judging from their reaction, I don't think it's the first time they've dealt with a bear. What made me laugh was that I was there and you were right next to me. André, André, André. You didn't wake up? No. I don't think it impressed you at all. It's not your first bear. No. We head out to try and catch a giant laker. But first, we're gonna check André's bait trap. Do you see him, André? He's over there. If there's something on that line, it's gonna be huge. The size of the bait is like this. There's one. There's one? He's strong. I really want to help André, but there's nothing I can do. The fish is so powerful, he can't hold on to the line. It's still on. The tree's moving. We turn around, and André grabs the line again. It's huge. Man, it must be a really big fish. It's so big. Did it let go? He lost it. No. It must have been huge. And the rod you used was like this. Yes. That's the monster we're looking for. I'm just as frustrated as André right now. It must have been huge. Now, I guess it's time to go back to my rod and reel. We keep trolling in the area, but two hours go by without a single bite, and I'm starting to lose hope. At first, it looked promising. I caught a laker. All right. Lake char. And André even held on to a monster one, but we lost it. At least, I know they're here. But these lakes are so big that the fish could be anywhere. So it's time to try another spot. I'm on my way to another lake where I've heard stories of massive fish. It's incredible the amount of water here. It's one gigantic lake after another, as far as the eye can see. Before I head out on the lake, I want to speak with a couple of elders who have spent their lives here. In my opinion, a fish that size could only be a sturgeon, but they are not found in this area. However, they are giant lakers. They tell me that in their culture, Inus consider big lake char as intelligent as the eagle. Their son Daniel, who grew up on this lake, knows all the good spots for big lakers. Kwe kwe. Cyril, me. Kwe kwe. So we're going to catch big graylings. Big gourmets. Gourmets. Let's go. There's no way, not at all. Ideal conditions to fish the depths where monster lake char lurk. I'm using a pretty heavy lure because those fish, they like the cold water. So they're going to be very deep in about 60, 70, 80 feet of water. So what I do is I cast it out and let it sink all the way down to the bottom. Down. Here I am. I close the bail now. Make it move up and down. Up. Down. Up. Until it gets bit. That's a nice fish. That's a good one. That must be the fish I'm looking for. I think this is the fish I'm after. I really think this is it. No! That's the big fish I wanted. You see how bent that rod was? That's fishing. You know, you lose some big fish that's part of the game, you know? That's what keeps you coming back. Look, the bubbles. As they come up the water column, sometimes they release the air that they have, the excess air they have in the swim bladder. That tells me he was right there. I saw it. Got off. That's really disappointing. But now I know for a fact there are monsters down there. So I rig another bait and send it right back down. Here we go. Oh yes. Good fish. This is a big fish for sure. It's a long way to the surface when you're in 80 feet of water. It's a big fish. I'm in for a fight. Big head shakes. I stopped it. I'll start getting some line back. I see the bubbles. It's right there. Yep, it's a big fish. To make sure I don't lose it, Daniel grabs the net Yes! That's a good one. Well done, Daniel. That's starting to be a nice laker. Beautiful fish. And imagine those fish they can get up to 100 pounds. That's about 20 pounds of fish right there. That means five times the size of this fish. A true predator from the north. Straight back down to where it lives. Thank you, my friend. Super. That's cool. It feels good to catch fish. I spend the rest of the afternoon looking for that monster fish. And I keep catching it. But no giant. I can never get enough of catching such beautiful fish. I caught some really nice fish today. But is there really a monster out there like the elders have been telling me about? It's time to try one last spot further west. I'm headed to Cree Lake in northern Saskatchewan. It's known for its enormous lakers. Adam knows Cree Lake like the back of his hand and seems confident that we'll catch the monster fish I'm after. We head straight for one of his favorite spots. An underwater drop-off by some deep cold water. This time, we've got a sonar which gives us a good indication of what's below the boat. Marking like a big cloud of bait fish right below us here. Yeah, dropping. Dropping indeed. 100 feet straight down. Come on, fish. We're going to jig up a big fish. Yeah, you feel it? Oh yeah. Mark's all over the map. There's definitely monsters in this water. The key is to just keep working that bait until you get that massive strike. I'm working on it, man. I've been chasing this monster bite that you're talking about for a long time, man. I just missed one. He was a nice hit. This is it. Man, Adam, that's a big fish. Oh, that's a big fish still. I think that's it. That's it. We got it. Oh, man. Oh, look at him take line. I think that might be the monster fish I've been chasing all this time, man. That's a big fish. Look at this. Oh, this is a big fish. It is. It's touching bottom right now. I don't like that, though. I don't like that. This rock, I'm done. Yeah, just take your time. That thing is a tank, man. It's a giant, no? Oh, man, this thing is humongous. That thing is spooling drag and sucking the bottom. That is a big, big fish. This is awesome. Oh, head shake, head shake, head shake. Big head shake. Oh, yes. Okay, getting line. I don't want to jinx it right now. I'm just not saying anything, but I think we're close to it. It's coming up. It's biting. I think it's coming up now. It's coming up. Might want to grab the net. Oh, she's coming up. That is a big, big fish. That's a monster. Look at the size of that thing. Oh, yes. Yeah, here we go. I love this trout. That's exactly what I've been looking for. Look at, look at this fish. Unreal. It's a monster. It's got to be 60 pounds and they get even bigger than this. Can you imagine? That's the kind of fish that can break lines and rip nets. That's a giant. Thank you so much, Adam. That is a beautiful fish. That's a monster fish. I'm so happy right now that's exactly what I've been chasing this whole time. That thing was a tank, man. That was a big fish. Over 60, right? Oh. It pushed him 60 pounds easily. That thing was a giant. That's all thanks to you, man. Yeah. Good job, Cyril. One of the best days of my life right now. I finally caught the monster laker I've been searching for. I traveled hundreds of miles across northern Canada in search of this legendary monster. We came close to catching one with André. But we lost it. I also had one on the line. No! But it got off. I caught some really nice fish and finally got the monster I wanted. That's the kind of fish that can break lines and rip nets.