Fish Fudger's Adventures. Ice fishing for Splake, Rainbows, Brown Trout and Pike In the awe-inspiring Region Northern Saskatchewan.
I arrived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on the thirtieth of August 2002. What a beautiful day it was, the sun was shining, the sky was as blue as the Caribbean Sea and the air was warm and fresh. I was looking forward to attending the Horticultural Science Department at the University Of Saskatchewan starting on the fourth of September. What I wasn't looking forward to, however, was not being able to fish for steelhead for the next eight months!
The first month and a half passed slowly; I had only gone fishing twice on Blackstrap Lake. Blackstrap is a manmade lake that was dredged out to create a ski hill on the flattened landscape of this province. Let me tell you, float tubing in Saskatchewan is not my walk in the park.
The Prairie landscape is almost literally flat and treeless, just a few undulating hills here and there. Naturally, this causes a huge problem with float tubing; the wind howls in your face all day long. I was surprised, also, to discover that negative temperatures and snowfall begins at the end of September in this province. I caught a few pike and walleye that October, but in all honesty, they were not worth going out in that dreadful weather for; I had to come out of the water several times a day to warm up my frozen wader engorged legs and feet. I just had to find another way of fishing in Saskatchewan!
I went to the folks at the Fishing Hole, a well-known fishing store in Western Canada. "Are there any lakes that are frozen in Saskatchewan yet?" I asked the folks at the fishing Hole "yes", they replied "just three hours north of here, Rainbow Lodge on Piprell Lake" I was astonished. It's just incredible to think: this was in the beginning of November…I wasn't used to ice fishing until late December in Southern Ontario. Now I was nervous to ask, "what kind of fish one can catch in Piperell Lake?" A quick reply announced that I could catch splake, tiger trout, brown trout and rainbow trout. I was in "AWE," I didn't believe them, but sure enough they showed me pictures of the trout caught in Piperell Lake over the past few years. These fish were not, by any means, small. Some of these fish exceeded fifteen pounds! The weekend was coming…heart beating, blood pumping…must go ice fishing for trout, must! I bought a few spoons and jigs; more specifically I purchased
I woke up at three o'clock am that Saturday and was on the road by four. By six o'clock I was north of Prince Albert and the landscape was changing drastically. The flat treeless fields were becoming hilly with scatters of deciduous trees, mostly birch and poplars. I was driving through the transition zone from the southern prairies to the northern boreal forests of Saskatchewan. Soon enough I hit highway 913, a gravel road, where I saw vast numbers of deer and the odd Moose crossing the road; this, my friends, is a little taste of heaven! The landscape was now predominantly pines and spruce as well as other coniferous and deciduous trees. I turned at the "Rainbow Lodge" sign into a narrow winding driveway, and was suddenly confronted with an incredible lake with not a footprint on it. Well, ok, I lie, there were animal paths all over the place, along the tree line. I got my gear ready and was given a topographic photomap from Rick and Ricky, the owners of Rainbow Lodge at the time. Rick told me to be very careful on the lake, as the ice was only two to three inches thick. In one ear, out the other, and off I went to conquer Piprell Lake.
I chose a spot about mid depth, according to the map, and drilled a few holes with my trusty hand auger. I tried several types of bait about ten to twelve feet deep with no success. After about two hours I had my first hit, what a fight! I landed a three-pound splake. Then, my other rod went off…then another; I was fighting two fish at the same time. I managed to land them both, a splake and a brown trout! The action was non-stop from then on into the afternoon. The water was just beautiful, clear enough that I could see the bottom. I watched through the hole in the ice and in moments several trout cruised by and thrashed at my bait. I landed over ten fish that day, a combination of splake, rainbows, and brown trout.
I went home and returned bright and early the next day to enjoy more trout action. This day was much slower in the morning than the previous day but as the afternoon rolled in I started hammering splake, one after the next. I landed several four pound fish that day and a few that were most definitely over six pounds. I left that evening a happy man, as I had successfully conquered Piprell Lake and learned a lot about ice fishing for trout in Saskatchewan.
I care to share my basic lessons: First and foremost, it was pointless to fish any deeper than twenty feet of water in these relatively small glacial lakes. Second, brown trout and rainbow trout cruised near the ice, while splake preferred the lake bottom. Third, There was a single bait that was exceptional for catching most of the trout; I will leave it up to Kris, At Fish On Line Canada to tell you about this bait if he wants to. Fourth, subtle jgging or still baits were essential; any vigorous movement was sure enough to spook most of the fish. Fifth, chumming with corn and minnows was a great advantage to attracting these beautiful trout toward the holes. Although this was a lot to learn after only two expeditions, there was a lot more that I didn't know.
The next weekend I had planned for a two-day fishing trip. The weather was dreadful, twenty-five below and blizzard conditions as I left home Saturday morning. My penniless self and trusty 1983 Toyota Tercel froze the whole way up to Piprell Lake. The ice was thicker now so I was able to move into the second bay from the main lodge. I found a spot that looked nice on the photomap and drilled some fresh new holes. Once again there wasn't a single footstep or snowmobile path on the lake just the odd deer and wolf trail. Piprell Lake now had six inches of ice in the second bay and the fishing was even hotter than the previous week. My secret bait that Kris may tell you about was also hotter than ever. I landed sixteen splake, a rainbow and a brown trout that day. I used corn as chum, and jigged large Williams's spoons to attract near by fish towards my holes. These fish fought like fall running Niagara fish. Several minute fights with thrashing headshakes and long spirited runs over and over again; I figured these fish must be on speed. Later that day I learned from Rick that there were several dozen lakes within a half an hour drive from Piprell lake that were thriving with splake, rainbows, brown trout, tiger trout, brook trout, kokanee salmon, lake trout, northern pike, walleye, whitefish, burbot and perch. I then ate a can of tuna which I unfroze using the "warm" air that came off my car fans and went to bed in the back of my car, It was literally minus thirty degrees Celsius that night. I will never ever forget that day or night in my life, it was beautiful.
The following morning, Sunday, I drove for five minutes to Clarence Lake. I walked out on the ice about five minutes, drilled beside some reeds in six to seven feet of water and dropped down some dead minnows and Williams spoons. Within minutes it was SLAM, BANG, BOOM, I was getting more hits than I could handle! Unfortunately, I lost most of them because I had no wire leader and was trying to pay attention to two rods with all this action; it was virtually impossible. While tying one hook to my broken line, the other rod would go off. I stuck with the Williams spoon since less pike could break my line this way. I succeeded to land eighteen pike on a combination of minnows and Williams spoons. The largest one weighed just over ten pounds and the average fish was about five to six pounds. Regardless of the catch, the fishing experience was exceptional, as I was the only fisherman on the whole lake and not a single footprint or snowmobile path was visible as far as the eye could see.
That fall I never missed a weekend in Northern Saskatchewan. I slept in my car almost every Saturday night in an average of twenty to thirty degrees Celsius below zero until I met some great friends, Mickey and Richard, who literally forced me into their cabin. Mickey and Richard shared Snowmobile rides, moose sirloin/tenderloin meals, and warm musical ice fishing huts. Their friendliness made me enjoy this part of the province so much more. In addition these warm hearted bush experienced friends got me into some great fishing and hunting. I would like to thank Rick and Ricky from rainbow lodge, Kris at Fish On Line Canada (who gave me advice on some special baits which only he can tell you about) and the folks at The Fishing Hole for introducing me and guiding me through this great Northern Saskatchewan fishing experience.
I am now into my fourth year of fishing and hunting in Northern Saskatchewan. My wife, Angela, and I have caught many lake trout, rainbow trout, brook trout, tiger trout, brown trout, burbot, whitefish and perch over the years in Saskatchewan. I have shot over ten whitetail and Mule deer, more than a hundred spruce, ruffed, and sharp tail grouse, Hungarian partridge, several coyotes as well as bush and jack rabbits. Angela and I have also seen several wolves, moose, deer, pronghorn antelope, coyotes, grouse and Hungarian partridge in the wild. We are huge nature lovers and although we do hunt and catch a lot of our food, we respect and enjoy nature for what it is. The most striking aspects of Saskatchewan are the friendly people, never ending northern lights and the warm feeling of wolves howling at the moon.
If you ever get a chance to visit this beautiful province don't ever give up the opportunity. Despite the cold it is abundant with its wildlife and fishing experiences. I assure you I will be posting more articles like this one about Saskatchewan's beauty as well as my other fishing experiences in Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia, Cuba, America and Northern Africa. It has been a pleasure writing this article and I wish everyone the best of hunting and fishing for the years to come.
Hanny Elsadr aka Fish Fudger