Big Sand Lake Lodge - Winnipeg

Not very friendly staff

I've been to Big Sand Lake Lodge twice, once for fishing, once for moose hunting. Both trips were fabulous. Fantastic fishing for lake trout, northern pike, walleyes and arctic grayling. The lake is 70 miles long and virtually unfished. All catch and release except for what you eat for shore lunch so the big ones are all still there. The lodge and cabins are exceptional. Great food, great native guides. The moose hunting in their moose. The size of the racks were unbelievable--52" average with one 60". I'm going back next year for sure.

FRAUD IS WHAT I AM HEARING I was warned about big sand lake and the warnings were right. Promises and more promises from Anna they were taking care of things never happened. It has been months. Multiple managers have come and gone. Was told on the phone they were working to try and get things repaired and in working order. I was told they were taking money and then filing bankruptcy. True or not does not matter My personal experience has been lies for .months. do not use I did get a check after months of waiting and havnig to pay an attorney It could be they are just doing very poorly

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!! I rarely review places but feel I must share my experience with Big Sand Lodge to help other people avoid the rip-off that my party experienced. A group of 6 of us, including my uncle who has been visiting the lodge periodically for the last 25 years, booked a 7 day fishing trip over the 4th of July week. Our whole process started poorly as the camp manager that we had been dealing with via phone and email with for months was suddenly non-responsive and had apparently just left and no one was in place to respond to incoming clients. Once that was finally worked out, we arrived at the main lodge only to find that the place was in serious disrepair and neglect; the decking was rotten and dangerous, the lodge itself was straight out of the ‘80’s(and not in a cool nostalgic way), the hot tub and sauna were being used for storage, I could go on, but that’s not the main complaint. I wasn’t looking for a 5 star resort, just excellent fishing. The main complaint is that we paid for 7 days of fishing at one of their outposts, Chipewyan. This was pre-arranged as the outposts are normally booked for 5 days, but we had made special arrangements, and more importantly we PAID EXTRA for the 7 days instead of 5. Well that’s where things fell apart…the outpost was not ready for us, the cabins at the main lodge were either booked, or in such bad shape that we couldn’t sleep in them the first night we arrived. Keep in mind we should’ve already been at the outpost by now with lines in the water, but were getting the run around. Instead, we were given blankets and told we could sleep on the floor of the rec room by the pool table. It was another full day after that before we got to the Chipewyan outpost which was a train wreck when we arrived. Broken windows that had been hastily taped back together and let in mosquitos, zero running water as the pump wouldn’t work and generally just a neglected outpost. Our camp guide and cook did their best, but it was a comedy of errors. Instead of guiding us and showing us the lake, of which we were unfamiliar with, he spent ALL of his time trying to fix the pump and repair the dilapidated outpost. Prior to actually getting to the outpost, we had met with the lodge manager Anna and she tried to make amends and PROMISED us a refund of $700US/per guest(basically the two days extra we had paid for)…That was over two months ago and after repeated follows ups by phone and email that have not been responded to, I see no other route but to voice my complaints. This lodge is a sham and there are many better options out there. The staff do not care, nor do the owners. If you are going to pay thousands of dollars for the fishing trip of a lifetime, GO ELSEWHERE!!

Went on a moose hunt in 2019, and they have the moose! The guides know the area and know how to find moose... so the hunt in and of itself was 4 stars. That being said, everything else about the trip (communication, logistics, lodging, meals, etc) was a cluster! My group got halfway to Big Sand and were wondering if our hunt was even going to happen because nobody was responding to any communication. Pretty nerve racking considering the money spent to go on a hunt like this. Hopefully the tribe that owns the lodge finds a good solid manager and they clean up the logistics and put some mo eh back into their lodge and outposts, then this place would be amazing.