Saskatchewan Northern Pike Trip

[DaubsNU1]

My Brother has always wanted to fish Canada but never got to go. I have fished Lac Seul three times over the years with friends...took my Dad the first year. Brother could never make the trip, always had work commitment. Life changed and a Canada trip looked promising...but where to go?

 

About two years ago my Brother got to talking with an old college buddy (Gary) who had been fishing Slim's Cabins in Sandy Bay, Saskatchewan since the 1980's. Big pike & nice walleye on the Churchill River system. Brother spent the next two years picking his Gary's brain on lures, locations, water hazards, what to bring, what to leave home, the drive up, etc. The information share was priceless!!

 

On Monday, 22-July-2024 we packed up his truck and Lund Alaskan and started the 1,200 mile journey from Nebraska to Saskatchewan. 

 

Do you think we were excited??

 

 

The wife's deviled eggs are legendary...and we needed a good supply!  And yes, we ate them ALL!

 

 

First leg of the journey was 11 hours of drive time...stayed at an Air BnB in Mulvihill Canada.

 

Just north of Watertown South Dakota we passed the last hill...it was table tip flat through North Dakota and most of Manitoba. In Winnipeg my brother said, "look, there is a hill...no wait, that's a landfill"  : ) 

 

Day 2 was 8+ hours of drive time...the last hour and a half was on gravel, wash-board road...not fun, but we did not care!

 

I think we brought enough food and water. Cabin was great, right there at main lodge and ramp. Full kitchen, microwave, wifi, etc. Very nice accommodations!  

 

 

Boat on the water that night for a quick fish...so we actually fished 5-1/4 days

 

 

First full day started off with some challenges. Forest fires were causing some haze, and the lodge had to evacuate fishermen at an outpost cabin (Brother and I were staying at the main lodge). We boated through some thick smoke, but the wind was good and we eventually had clear skies.

 

That first morning we tracked our route carefully using the Humminbird's, OnX Maps, and Navionics, and kept the Garmin InReach with us as emergency backup. Gary and the lodge owners marked the underwater hazards, and "falls" we had to boat through. Once we had it all mapped out, traveling from the lodge to our fishing areas was a piece of cake. About an hour boat ride one way. Beautiful scenery!!

 

 

 

 

Brother's goal was to catch a 40" pike...which he did! 

 

This fish was 42" and weighed 18+ pounds!

 

 

About thirty minutes later he boated this 44" fish! Two Master Angler pike in less than an hour!

 

 

I managed this nice 40" pike

 

 

We caught enough walleye to eat...did not really target them much...they actually hit on daredevil spoons!?!?

 

Caught 20+ fish over 30"

 

Weather was generally cooperative...overnight low's in the lower 60's...highs the first few days were in the 80's. Day three started off with rain, but cleared up. Day #4 was windy and ride back to the cabin was rough. Day 5 was beautiful. 

 

At the end of Day #5, our last day...we stopped to hit a bay and weed lines that Gary had recommended. Boated this nice 35" pike and called it a trip. Great way to end the adventure!

 

 

We are already planning our next trip!!

 

 

 

 

[WackyWormNedRig]

Monsters!!!!!!

[TnRiver46]

Now that’s awesome!! Huge fish and I can’t believe you ate all that food 😂 

 

we saw some of that wildfire smoke in Minnesota and Michigan also 

[Fishingmickey]

Love the write up Daubs! Looks like a very fine trip with some serious gators caught!

FM

[A-Jay]

Really Nice ~

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Such Great Memories.

A-Jay

[Dwight Hottle]

Congrats on the sweet trip. Nice looking pike.

[Swamp Girl]

That country is my happy place. It makes me ache with longing to see your photos and read your account. It also makes me very, very happy for your brother and you. 

[MIbassyaker]

Amazing trip -- Land of the beasts!

 

10 hours ago, DaubsNU1 said:

Just north of Watertown South Dakota we passed the last hill...it was table tip flat through North Dakota and most of Manitoba. In Winnipeg my brother said, "look, there is a hill...no wait, that's a landfill"  : ) 

 

 

Ah yes.  having grown up in that area, I know exactly what you mean by the "last hill" -- you descended into the prehistoric bed of Glacial Lake Agassiz. 

[Alex from GA]

I envy you.

[DaubsNU1]

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Now that’s awesome!! Huge fish and I can’t believe you ate all that food 😂 

 

we saw some of that wildfire smoke in Minnesota and Michigan also 

 

@TnRiver46 we ate ALL the deviled eggs...but the rest of the food? Brought home probably 1/3 of what was in that fridge. Fresh walleye and eggs for breakfast...yum!

 

Wildfires were not what I expected. It's not like what you see on TV in California with walls of fire, quick moving. Most fires were small and smouldering...then a big pine tree would ignite and flame up...then die down...and move on slowly to the next. Lots of smoke though.

 

[Further North]

Very cool!

 

That hour ride to and from fishing would have been tough for me...I'm used to good fishing near lodges. 

[warefisher]

What a nice trip report!  You did your homework and the prep paid off.  Thanks for posting.  Did all the great pike hit on spoons?

[Jar11591]

Awesome report, beautiful fish, and what a trip! A trip just like this is on my bucket list. Congrats on the nice pike and successful adventure. Glad the wildfire didn’t screw with it much!

[DaubsNU1]

@Further North, we originally were going to stay in one of the outpost cabins to be closer to fishing areas...but being our first time at that location, wanted to be cautious. Most of the lakes Brother and I fish around home are 5 MPH, no wake and not large. Running for an hour each way was kind of a nice change from our normal fishing patterns.

 

@warefisher the biggest pike hit on buck-tails and spoons. My Brother threw the kitchen sink at them...even made a few "franken-lures" to try. We did catch some on different lures, but the majority were on big 1 oz. spoons or buck-tails.

 

The crazy thing was walleye...we were catching them on big spoons with 12" steel leaders(!)

[DaubsNU1]

Here is the OnX map/track from day one. From the main lodge to the impassable falls, it is 34.8 miles...took us an hour and a half, averaging 22.5 MPH. His Alaskan tops out around 36 MPH, but we wanted to save fuel and ran ~25 MPH most days. Burned about 10 gallons of fuel daily.

 

Red X's mark hazards or smaller falls that are passable. Small town to the right of the dam is Sandy Bay.

 

The area is HUGE, with so many places to fish. We relied heavily on the fish finder tracking to navigate the lake / river system & mark spots.

 

We did not even touch Sakatesewin Lake between the dam and lodge.

 

We fished Wednesday through Sunday and saw only one other boat on the water fishing.

 

[gim]

Now those are real pike.  Gators as some people call them. 

 

Not the annoying slime darts that I mostly catch here in MN.

 

Canada is one of the last strongholds for catching consistent numbers of large northern pike.

[TOXIC]

Awesome trip. My first real fishing trip was to Lac La Ronge in Saskatchewan when I was 13 (I’m 67 now) with my grandfather where we only kept walleye over 8lbs and my grandmother caught a 25lb pike.  We had an Indian guide that my grandfather used every year. 

[roadwarrior]

 

 

                                                 

[GreenPig]

Excellent. Thanks for sharing.

[Bankbeater]

Wow! What a trip.