Big Lake Big Pike

June 6, 2010

Morning came rather quickly in Saskatchewan, Canada. We did not get to bed until after 2 am last night. We fished till midnight then we were so keyed up after catching our biggest pike of the trip that we couldn’t stop talking about it. At 6 am lodge manager Phil woke us up with hot coffees in hand. I could barley see straight. I was already tired from Pagato, but now having less than four hours of sleep – I was hurting bad. But I heaved myself from the bed and chugged the coffee. Then we had a great breakfast and met our guides at the dock at 8. 

Today is the first day of the season for Lawrence Bay Lodge. The ice left Reindeer Lake only two weeks ago. Chris and I fished with a guide named Nelson. Nelson is an Indian that was born and raised on Reindeer Lake. His grandfather, a man that lived to an astonishing ninety-eight, guided here for sixty-seven years! You could tell Nelson was going to be excellent right from the get go. We pushed off from the dock and he informed us we had an eighteen minute drive to his first spot. He was talkative and gave us info on this huge lake and about growing up in the remote area. I enjoy getting the rundown on more than just the fishing. 

Once again the weather was incredible. Here we are this far north and it’s nicer than it’s been back home. If you look at Reindeer Lake on the map you will see that it is enormous. I would expect such a monster lake this far north to be windy at all times. This morning it was so calm it was like glass. However, although the sun shined bright, the ice cold water of the lake made for a cold ride and I couldn’t wait for our speedy run to be over. When we got to the place I stood on the bow and looked around. It was a shallow bay and I could barely see bottom. As we drifted further in it shallowed up nicely and I could see weeds. The back of the bay was ridden with lily pads and sunken trees. This had high potential. 

On my fourth cast with a huge chartreuse bunny streamer I got jolted. I was so used to the Pagoto Lake hammer handle pike that when this fish started peeling line I barely remembered what to do. When I was able to hoist back on the brute I was delighted to see a fish of at least 36”s! About then Chris shouted he had one also and a few minutes later we were both releasing pike larger than we’d seen the entire trip.

We probably landed ten pike from that first spot. Most of them were about 33” – 35”s long. Generally, a 35” pike is close to 10lbs. This was incredible fishing! Nelson took us from bay to bay and we caught at least several pike over 30” each time. 

As the sun got higher we began to see the pike. I saw a gargantuan pike slowly swimming along the bottom. He was aware of us and would have nothing to do with my fly. A minute later I spotted another big boy. This pike was pointed towards the bank as if waiting for a frog, bird or small mammal to make a mistake. I made a decent cast into the grass where he was facing and I could see him turn ever so slightly. Sure enough he slowly stalked my fly before picking up speed and devouring it. Landing a big pike with this many submerged trees in the water is a challenge. Luckily, when you fish on Reindeer Lake you fish heavy tippet with a foot of wire. My exact rig was a stout 30lb tippet attached to 40lb Rio Knottable wire. With my 9-weight Ross fly rod in hand I bullied the pike to the boat and avoided all the logs. Nelson (who forgot his net) reached over and wrestled the pike to where we both could lift him into the boat. It was a magnificent 39” monster! 

This may sound insane, but by days end Chris and I landed at least twenty-five pike over 30”s. Many of these were better than 36”s and Chris boated a 43”er! I love pike fishing anywhere I go, but after today, it will never be the same again. We ended our fishing promptly at 5 pm. It was tough to quit but the fishing hours at the lodge are from 8 am to 5 pm. Worse than that, it was the end of our trip. At 6 pm we got picked up by the float plane and enjoyed a bouncy twenty minute ride to Southend where we left the truck a week ago. Without wasting a minute we started our twenty-six hour drive. It’s now 3 am and we just left Saskatoon. I’m exhausted but I’m helping Chris spot the whitetail deer crossing the road. To the south it is dark like it is supposed to be at 3 am, but behind us to the north is the glow of the midnight sun. What an incredible trip! I already miss it but it’s time to go home. I have a bass fly fishing tournament on Thursday!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Small Pike & Big Whitefish

June 3 – 5, 2010

There were no complaints about the incredible first day of fishing we had on Pagato Lake. I have never caught so many quality walleye on the fly in a day. In fact, during our next three days on Pagato, I’ll bet I landed sixty or more! However, this trip is meant to be a hunt for big pike.

By the end of day three on Pagato we had fished every river and creek mouth, every shallow bay, windward points, down deep, different flies, you name it, but the end result was a few pike just over thirty inches with hundreds under twenty-five inches. Where are the big pike?

Our outfitter claims they are here. Could it be like Flat Creek in Jackson, WY? A place that swarms with big Snake River Cutthroats yet somehow I’d send an angler there from the fly shop and they wouldn’t see a one. Then they would come back in and say I was crazy. No. This was different. Our four man team consists of good anglers all experienced with fly fishing for pike. We should be able to find them. Shouldn’t we?

Luckily, when struggling to succeed in one area you often succeed in another accidentally. One such highlighted event involved finding a rare opportunity to catch lake whitefish on a fly. For those Rocky Mountain anglers that think a whitefish is a whitefish, try again. There are several different species. The one found in Rocky Mountain streams is the mountain whitefish and is usually easy to catch. But lake whitefish are far more difficult. The main reason is because they spend much of their lives down deep in lakes. Because it is early season here in northern Saskatchewan, we found them in the Pagato River one mile downstream from the lake. To be exact, Bill and Steve where exploring the river for big pike and came around a corner and fish were rising everywhere. They were dumbfounded because the literature for fishing on this lake doesn’t even mention whitefish. Boy are they missing out!

Not expecting a small dry fly situation during this trip, Bill and Steve barely managed to scrape up two small dry flies between them. Then they took Bills 9-weight and a floating line and tied on eight feet of 2X tippet. It wasn’t easy to thread the small dry fly but once they did they were rigged the best they could be. During the next two hours they managed to scrape up three whitefish on the tiny dry while fishing it submerged. Then, because they are great guys, they came and found Chris and I and gave us the 9-weight set up and led us in to catch a few.

Chris and I couldn’t have missed the place. There were rises everywhere. I guarantee with a 4-weight, a nice long 4X leader and some good flies we could of raked in these fish. But with the 9-weight and no fly to choose from, attached to level 2X leader, it was a challenge. Luckily, Chris and I each landed one without too much difficulty. These whitefish fight incredibly well and best of all they are big. Each fish has the length and girth of a giant Henry’s Fork rainbow. The beauty of the event for me, a new species on the fly!

Although we could have stayed at the whitefish pool all week, it was back to the hunt for “a” big pike. Fortunately, being the smart guys that we are, we gradually drifted from our big pike dreams and capitalized on the walleye. Pagato Lake is the best walleye fishery any of us have ever fished. Today, our final day on Pagato, all we did was chase the walleye. To do this means smaller flies and keeping them on bottom. I took my 6-weight Ross Rod and dredged with my Rio Type 3 Full Sinking Line and a Clouser like concoction of a fly. Man did it work! We hit points where we caught random walleyes on pike flies earlier in the week and went up some of the creeks to where we found waterfalls and rapids. By using more walleye like flies we caught more walleyes then we could count. And of course, we had a shore lunch to remember!

At 6 pm tonight the Beaver float plane arrived to pick us up. It was an incredible four days of fishing. Although we didn’t catch our big pike on Pagato, we experienced the best walleye fishing of our lives, added the lake whitefish to our species list and enjoyed watching numerous bears while we fished. It was also the nicest weather you could imagine for fishing this far north. We had one cold windy day, the rest were fantastic. It was a fantastic stop on this adventure. The good news is we did not fly back to the truck to go home tonight, but rather to Reindeer Lake. The outfit we are using for this entire trip, Lawrence Bay Lodge, has a place on Reindeer Lake and the lake is renowned for giant pike. Upon our arrival, they let us take the boats out on our own to a nearby bay and we pummeled pike up to 35”s! Tomorrow we will be guided for the first time this trip. Judging by tonight, we may just find the beast we have been dreaming for.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site