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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - First it was diamonds. Now the amount of visitors who travel North to snag 40-pound lake trout may become another casualty of tightened luxury spending during the recession, according to some NWT fishing lodge owners.

"This is the year that they're going to stay home, especially the Americans," said Wayne Witherspoon, owner of Frontier Fishing Lodge near Lutsel K'e.

Harry Yetman, a guest at Plummer's Great Bear Lake lodge last July, snags an immense lake trout with the help of guide Craig Blackie. Bookings covering all the Plummer's lodges in the territory are down 30 to 35 per cent compared to last year, a common theme among lodge operators this year. - photo courtesy of Plummer's Arctic Lodges

If Witherspoon's prediction about southern visitors holds true, the declines in total American visitors to Canada are part of ongoing trend.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of U.S. residents visiting Canada has dropped by 34.7 per cent in the past five years, from 34.6 million in 2004 to 22.6 million last year. At Frontier Fishing Lodge, the percentage of guests from the U.S. has also plunged, from 70 per cent years ago to 30 per cent now.

That spells bad news for lodges operating in the territory, which depend greatly on a steady flow of American tourists.

The number of fishers, whether they're from the United States, Canada or Europe -- and the amount of money they're spending – has also dropped, according to the GNWT.

In 2000-2001, 8,611 fishers dropped their lines in Northern waters; in 2007-2008, the most recent recorded year, that number shrank to 7,470.

Less visitors has resulted in less spending in the North. Fishers pumped $21.8 million into the NWT economy in 2000-2001, compared to $17.5 million in 2007-2008.

"The NWT Sport Fishing industry has long been popular with the U.S. and Canadian markets. Unfortunately, this sector continues to decline at a steady rate," read a GNWT marketing plan released earlier this year.

At Witherspoon's lodge, which can house up to 30 people per visit, bookings are down 30 per cent compared to this time last year, prompting Witherspoon to hire fewer staff, which typically includes guides from Lutsel K'e.

"We should have 90 per cent of our expected bookings now," he said, pointing his finger squarely at the economy.

"When people don't have money to travel, they're not going to travel ... It is damn simple. Like everything else, people are not buying cars these days, either. Why? They want one, but they can't afford it."

Shane Jonker is a spokesperson for Plummer's Arctic Lodges, which operates three lodges on Great Bear Lake, with the community of Deline on the lake's southwest shore. The company also has a lodge on Great Slave Lake and another on the Arctic shore near Kugluktuk.

Compared to this time last year, bookings are down 30 to 35 per cent, said Jonker, adding, "we are not anticipating a great deal more to come this year.

"We have heard from our friends in the business that some of them are down 60 per cent or more," he said. Jonker said that many of his repeat customers – who account for 80 per cent of Plummer's business – have opted to stay home this year, for various reasons – some surprising, some not.

In some cases, guests who rely on high-income, market-based retirement earnings have seen their savings take a hit, leading them to tighten their purse strings. Other guests who are wealthy enough not to be affected by the current collapse have declined a visit because "frugality is en vogue and people are just not in the mood to spend on luxury items. Look no further than the diamond mines to clarify that," said Jonker.

But even long-time loyal customers, whose businesses are remaining successful even in these hard times, are keeping their rods in the shed, he added.

"One fellow told me that his company is so engrossed in acquisitions right now that he can not afford to miss out on what he expects to be a hot summer of picking up struggling businesses at a discount," he said. "Another corporate group indicated that they are doing so well but do not want to be perceived as doing so well by their various suppliers and customers. Crazy but true."

Artist-cum-businessman Bern Will Brown, who, at 88, is still accepting bookings for fishing trips at Colville Lake Lodge, said he hasn't received a single booking yet for the summer – the first time that's happened since he opened the lodge in 1965.

"For the last five years, we'd had only one or two parties book in," said Brown. He did add that customers may have shied away from booking this year because he was due to have hip replacement surgery last week and didn't know how long his recuperation would last.

Though Brown hardly depends on the lodge for his income – 90 per cent of his current earnings come from the sale of his artwork in Norman Wells, Yellowknife, Fort McMurray and Edmonton – the disappointment he feels watching the deterioration of a sport that's close to his heart is palpable.

"Those people that we had coming here 30 years ago would still be coming if they were alive. They've all died off. And there hasn't been a substitute group younger that has taken that up." Brown has discussed the challenge of attracting a younger generation to the sport with the GNWT and others.

"Some of them say that younger people have found ... fishing spots that are closer and cheaper to get to, especially on the West Coast. And that may be a factor. I don't think anybody has the answer to that question, but everybody's asking it: 'What happened to everybody?'"

Eric Beck, who began running Aurora Nights Lodge near Fort Resolution with his 18-year-old son Devon two years ago, said his summer is looking "pretty good. I've got eight guys coming in from Holland in a couple weeks. And I've got another guy from the States."

Though that may not seem like a lot, Beck said he's still in the process of growing his business and is remaining optimistic about the future, despite one cancellation this year from a group in Ireland who cited that country's slumping economy as the source of their pulling out.

"I think it should be getting better for me every year," said Beck,

"We're doing fine," echoed Clark Jenney, business manager for Kasba Lake Lodge, located north of the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border. However, Jenney declined to provide details about his bookings for this story.