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My Saskatchewan Fishing Adventure

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bigbuckhunter88

PMA Member
Well if ya don't like to read scroll to the pictures. Around November of last year my buddy from Colorado informed me that his group of guys were going to Canada again this spring after missing 4 consecutive years and they had an opening. I jumped at the chance as I had heard the stories, but had yet to make a trip to Canada. We started making our plans, getting our licenses and I had to apply for my Passport. We planned that me and one other guy from Iowa would leave early Friday morning and meet my buddy at his in-laws ranch by Miles City, Montana. We would spend the night there and meet up with the group Saturday afternoon and make the trip to Canada. The trip to Montana was pretty uneventful other than seeing the beautiful landscape for the first time and seeing a few new species in the wild. I saw my first wild antelope and mule deer. We arrived just in time for supper and the homeowners spoiled us by cooking prime rib with all the fixin's. We stayed up plenty late and had some cold ones talking about what to expect in the days to come. The next morning the ranch owner gave us a tour of his property and it was an awesome experience. 15,000 acres of pasture/ag/hill area. A portion of the land is leased, but the majority is not and I may have worked my way into a western hunt trip.
This was what I saw when I turned down the county road that takes us to the ranch.

This was laying in their den. They don't hunt, but a relative does. This is a shed found on their property.
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The next year a relative found the same bulls set and had a mount done.
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They kill some decent deer there too. The guys who lease it from out of state have killed some dandy whitetails and muleys. But these were killed by the relative.
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Standing in this ridgetop alfalfa field the rancher told me he owns as far as I could see.
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Well after the tour was over it was time to pack our stuff up and go meet the rest of the crew to head North. Everything went off without a hitch and we were on our way. We made it to the border before nightfall and we were worried we would end up with a delay. We crossed without any problems and were only there 10 minutes before we got the "all clear".

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Warning. I am missing quite a few photos, but will add when I get them emailed to me.
We ended up making alot better time than we thought and we arrived at Newmart Fishing Resort around 6AM. It is located on Mirond Lake.
We started unloading all of our food, beverages, clothing, and most importantly our fishing equipment. Once everything was placed where it was needed, everyone started rigging up their rods and getting ready to catch some fish. It had rained for 7 days straight from what we were told and the forecast was looking good for our stay. We were rigged and ready by 8AM and waiting for the resort owner to give us the run down on the boats and send us on our way. We launched our boats around 8:30AM and headed towards one of the coves in search of walleyes.

It was about a 25 minute boat right and all 3 boats were at our destination. The group have had hard times finding the walleye in the past and I didn't quite know what to expect. We stopped at a rock point and decided to pitch some jigs while the rest of the boats went deeper into the cove. Everyone's first cast resulted in nothing, but on my second cast I felt something tap my jig and I set the hook. I hoping for a walleye, but when the drag started screaming I knew I had a pike, but could tell he was a good one. I let him wear himself down and this was about the time that we realized that the owner didn't put a net in our boat. All the other boats had nets, and we never even thought about ours. It was decided then and there that I was going to be the designated fish grabber for the day. I let him play himself out a little longer and managed to get him behind his gator head. It was then that I knew I was in for a long day of grabbing.
He measured right at 33". Not bad for first Canadian fish.

After a few more pike, but no walleyes we moved on to another rock shelf. There were 3 of us in the boat and two of us had hits on our first casts and we both hooked up. They were both keeper walleye and we knew we had found them. Both fish were around 17" and perfect for eating. We ended up sitting on that spot and pounding fish until it slowed down. If I had to guess, I would say we caught 100 walleye off that spot. We kept our daily limit knowing we were going to be eating shorelunch and that some of our walleyes would be eaten. The biggest we pulled out of that spot were a couple 22" eyes.
Good 21" shore lunch walleye.

At lunch we ended up eating quite a few walleyes because everyone was hungry due to not eating breakfast and everybody was ready for some fresh fish. We had done the best by far, but everyone had some walleyes in their boat. It was a great sign.
Shore lunch view. Can't beat it

Had to snap a pic before I went to work on some fish.

We had certain jobs. Half of us cleaned fish, the other half cooked. I volunteered to clean fish so I could relax while the food was cooking.

This is what the lake calls Trapper's Cabin. It is a cabin for the Natives to use. It is a common spot for people to have their shore lunch. You don't actually go inside, but its kind of neat to look around.

They started on another one, but no progress has been made since the last time this group was up there 5 years ago.


After eating our fill and relaxing everybody went back out in search of some more walleyes and maybe a few pike. We let others head to our little honeyhole and we went off in search of new water. We ended up having a slow rest of the day only catching a dozen more walleye and a few small pike mixed in. The sky darkened and we decided to head back to the resort as we knew we had plenty of fish to clean.
We ran out of nails on the resort's board, and we had more fish that could have been hung, but none the less it made for a good picture. The big walleye was one guys over fish of the trip. It was 23.5". We threw the pike in to mix it up, but we could have had an all walleye board.


Once done cleaning fish we went and had a great pork loin supper and washed it down with a few cold beers. We played some cards and the plan for day 2 was to find some more walleye for shore lunch in the morning, and then head out in search of some pike to take home and some big pike also...
To be continued.
 
Looks like a great trip! Canada hunting/fishing/shed hunting trip is def on my bucket list
 
Day 2 turned out to be another amazing day north of the border. Woke up and had a great breakfast of french toast, sausage, and a few pots of coffee. The plan was to catch some walleye early for shore lunch, and then to target pike the rest of the day. Going into day 2, the pool leaders for walleye was 23.5" by one guy and I had the big pike at 34". I knew the pike wasn't going to hold on, but it was fun doing some jawing while it lasted. We tried a bay on the opposite side of the lake and it was another almost half hour boat ride until we reached our destination. We didn't find the fish right away, but eventually the boat I was in managed to find some walleyes with some northern scattered in. I don't think I've ever had the problem of catching too many 16-20" walleye, but that day we did. It was awesome while it lasted and we again had plenty of fish for shore lunch. When we arrived for shore lunch I learned that my pike no longer was the big fish of the trip as one guy hooked into a 39"er while trolling an X Rap. We cleaned/cooked up the walleyes and made ourselves some fresh fish sandwiches and talked about the day.

No one found concentrations of good pike, so after lunch we were headed farther north on the lake to a different bay. We went our separate way as we entered the bay and came across a shallow flat that was loaded with pike. It was awesome being able to sight fish pike in 6 foot of water, but also frustrating when some wouldn't bite. The smaller ones would eat anything you would throw at them, but the big ones were being picky. After catching over 15 pike I decided to tie on a jerkbait. As I was watching it work, the leader wouldnt let the bait work like I wanted and I was having plenty of follows. I decided to forgo the leader and hope my 65lb braid would hold up. My first cast after switching I had a hook up. It was a high 20" fish which is what we were aiming to keep. After that fish I started slamming them and it was the best afternoon of fishing I have ever had. One of the highlights was hooking into a high 30" fish, only to have him bust me off. I tied on another jerkbait and was hooked up with another good fish. When I went to unhook the bait it was missing the rear treble and part of the body. When these fish hit they do some damage. After I released that fish a pike jumped about 30 yards from our boat. One guy in our boat was casting that way and noticed something in the water. We motored over to the area and there was my jerkbait that had been busted off. I decided to tie that one back retire the busted one. Another highlight of the day was when we saw a bobber floating near our boat. We went to retrieve it and it started swimming. Curiosity had us and we all kept our eye out for that bobber. 10 Minutes later the bobber reappeared and this time we slowly motored over to it. We grabbed the slack line and the fight was on. I didn't personally get to handline the fish, but I did get to net it. It ended up being a great 34" pike. Not sure whose line it was, or how long the fish had it in its mouth, but it was a giant treble hook. We popped it loose and let the fish swim away. Once all the boats saw us having success they all soon were anchored in our little bay. I got to watch one guy land 37" pike throwing a spoon, and another guy who was jig fishing landed a whopper 41"er. Both of those big girls were released. We kept piling up the fish and were still sight fishing them. We were drifting and I had just made a cast when a big pike came into view on the bottom. I told the guys in the boat that I was gonna catch that fish. A few seconds later the bait was in front of her mouth and she was interested. A couple more twitches and we all got to see her inhale the bait. It was something I won't likely forget. She started peeling drag instantly. A few minutes later the big girl was in the net. She measured just over 36" and turned out to be my personal best of the trip. We soon after called it a night because we had a bunch of pike to clean. It was one of those days that keep you wanting more.
This is the jerkbait that lasted all of one fish until it was destroyed.


This bait was completely blue at the start of the day. I have no idea how many pike this lure enticed to bite, but it was alot. Enough that everyone in the boat was trying to match this color and style.


This was my big girl of the day. I wanted a quick photo of her and then let her swim away.

And this is most of the days haul. There are a few that didn't make the board because there wasn't enough nails.I thought I was good at deboning pike, but after this day I was a pro at getting the Y bones out. All fish kept were between 25" and 29" except for a few people's "over"(over 29.5) fish. There was alot of meat in the freezer after day 2.
 
Let's see what day 3 offered up.

After the past few days, if I didn't catch another walleye this summer, I'd still have a good avg per day.
 
Sorry for the delay. Was waiting on everyone to get picture forwarded on and was busy over the 4th. Hope everyone had a great weekend.
Day 3 we awoke to another great breakfast while staring out at a lake that was pure glass. My one regret from this trip was not taking enough pictures. We talked over breakfast and decided we were going out to target more walleye to bring us as close to our limit as possible with still allowing us to catch enough for shore lunch. We were heading back to the same bay as day 1. We were also boated up with the same people from Day 1. Our boat was going to let a different boat try the area where we found the walleyes from the first day, while we went to a different area to try and find some active fish. Well the area we went to was dead except for a few small pike. We decided to go see how everyone else was doing. They had the same story with no walleyes in the boat. We decided to backtroll close to where we had luck the first day, but just farther up east. We had just started trolling and I had a hit that felt like a walleye but couldn't connect. My buddy hooked up with a pike a few seconds later, while my other buddy connected with a walleye so we decided to anchor up and work the area over good. Once again we were on the fish. We were catching and releasing dozens of walleyes between 14 and 20 inches. We were keeping a few for shore lunch and a few for our limits. We would fish an area until they stopped biting and then move. We had just moved to get the back half of the boat into a better fishing area and I had just dropped the anchor in the front. First cast resulted in a 19 inch walleye. We were fishing a unique area where you could see the rock shelf. You could cast the jig onto the ledge in 2 feet of water and slowly let it drop off the edge to the awaiting fish. On cast number two I had just pulled it off the ledge and was letting it slowly fall when I felt something smack my jig. I set the hook and my drag instantly started peeling. I thought for sure I had a 30" plus pike on. I let the fish wear itself out while gaining line when I could. It was started to come up when all 3 of us in the boat saw the telltale flash of gold when it made another run. That is when everybody got pretty amped. One more run and the fish was in the net. We took a rough measurement and it went 26.5". If I had to guess it was a little longer than that due to the measuring devices being on the side of the boat and hard to stop belly sag and get a tail pinch, but I'm calling it a 26.5" walleye. After that it was nonstop catching until it was time for shorelunch. We caught more eater walleye and plenty of really good pike along the way. Our big pike of the morning went 37".
We spent the rest of the day in the same bay trying to find more pike and walleye. It ended up getting quite a bit slower as the day wore on, but we still racked up plenty of fish. We decided to head back towards the cabins and fish the bay where the cabins are looking for a few more pike towards our limit. It was kind of ironic how the rest of the day all we could catch were small pike, and plenty of eater walleye. The bay where the resort is really ended up being a producer for eater walleye, except we didn't want anymore at the time to keep an open space in our limit for shore lunch. It was kind of funny to hear certain people complain about catching walleye; because I was loving it. We went back to the resort and cleaned the rest of our fish and got our final counts of fish in the resort freezer so we knew how many we needed for our limits. The plan for the 4th day was to finish our limits of fish so that on the last day we would eat brats for shorelunch and wouldn't have to do any fish cleaning. We could pack up our stuff and celebrate a successful trip. This was also the night where we decided we might need another case of beer to celebrate our successful trip on the last day and one guy wanted a bottle of Canadian whiskey. So five drove the 30 miles to a lake that had a liquor store (only place they sell beer up north). Once we saw the prices we almost decided against it, but figured if we split the cost it was no big deal. A case of beer, no matter what kind, was $55, and the liter of whiskey was $45 and from what we were told by some people that were lodging by us from Saskatoon is that is normal price. It was still nice to see other areas of the Province that we otherwise wouldn't have seen.
This was my big walleye. Ended up being the big walleye of the trip and won me some cash.

Another one of the healthy pike

This is what our cabin looked like. They were very clean and well kept. This cabin had a bear break into it last year around this time.

Shore lunch pic

This picture should have been in Day 1, but I didn't have it. First Canadian fish. 33" Pike.
Side note, my Echo Valley Archers hat is now my lucky fishing hat and hopefully it will continue to bring me some luck this fall in the treestand.
 
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