Smoke on the Water
It’s hard to resist the intoxicating wonder of adventures in wild places, and the remote regions of Northern Saskatchewan are one of my favorite places to find the unfiltered adventures I dream about. My friend Bob Vogel and I were invited to Tazin Lake lodge in Northern Saskatchewan by the owners, Barry Prall and Trevor Montgomery, to explore the fall fishing in September.
Saskatchewan, with its estimated 100,000 lakes and rivers, has the reputation for yielding exceptionally big trophy lake trout and northern pike. Fall is my favorite time of year to chase big lake trout with both fly rods and conventional gear as they begin to move into shallow water to get ready to spawn and offer sight fishing opportunities and spectacular battles when hooked in skinny water.
When we arrived in Fort McMurray on September 1 from Detroit the smoke from forest fires in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories had socked in the area with a thick haze and our pilot had to land on instruments. The next day, when our float plane was to fly us to the lodge, the visibility was too low to take off. We were sent back to our hotels and told to report back to the airport the next morning at 7 a.m. The visibility being just above legal minimums, the next morning our plane lifted from the tarmac and flew an hour and a half northeast to Tazin Lake. We found out later that our plane was the only plane allowed to take off that day from Fort McMurray.
As the float plane settled onto the lake the acrid taste in the air from distant wildfires in the NWT was unmistakable. A thick smoky haze enveloped the crests of the steep hills surrounding the lake, creating a surreal vision with only the jagged tips of the hills visible giving us the Jurassic illusion of the thorny backs of sleeping dinosaurs napping at the edge of the lake.
After an enthusiastic greeting from the camp’s staff, we headed up to the lodge, which is perched on a sandy beachfront with an expansive view of the lake for lunch and a brief orientation to the coming week’s fishing program before heading to our assigned cabins to gear up and start chasing fish.
The cabins at Tazin Lake are cozy and paneled with the classic wilderness comfort of knotty pine, have hot and cold running water, and a cast iron wood stove to keep the cabin cozy and warm.
Tazin lake is an emerald gem mounted in a setting of birch and spruce covered slopes accented with steep rocky Precambrian chutes and outcroppings. The lake is of modest size at 22 by 12 miles, but most importantly is rich with the ideal structure for producing trophy lake trout with depths up to 900 feet, endless drop offs, and more bait balls than I have ever seen on a fish finder. I knew Tazin Lake held the DNA for monster lake trout as I have had several friends fish successfully during the spring and summer months regularly catching lake trout 30, 40 and even 50 pounds and larger.
Keeping the Faith
On the morning of our third day at the lodge I stood on the front deck at the break of dawn. Temperatures had dropped overnight to 36 degrees and chilled raindrops were ricocheting off the porch’s shingles from a passing front. I watched a stream of purling white smoke ascend into the wet air from the field stone chimney of the lodge and inhaled the scent of the rain-infused wind as I sipped my first cup of coffee while pondering the past two days of fishing.
We had spent the past two days covering as much water as possible with Trevor in search of spawning lake trout while trying to pattern their movements. The surface water temperatures were unseasonably high at 57 to 59 degrees. Lake trout generally don’t begin to congregate to spawn until the surface water temperatures drop to 54 degrees or lower. We were swimming upstream against the odds, yet with the 36-degree temperatures registering this morning and a forecast for cooling temperatures the rest of the week, Bob and I were optimistic and kept the faith that our luck was about to change.
We fished hard all day, targeting pike in a channel that led into a bay called “The Tree” that held excellent structure and expansive cabbage beds. We caught dozens of respectable fish, but just couldn’t make the connection with the trophies we were hoping to find. In hindsight, I think the big girls (large trophy pike are females) had moved into the deeper water where the temperatures were cooler and the bait more plentiful. When they disperse to the deeper water, it can become difficult to locate them as they are spread out and suspended throughout the lake. A couple of the other guests in camp had the good fortune to land a 43 inch and a 46 ½ inch pike today. The next day we would focus on finding trophy lake trout.
Patience and persistence
The mists of morning hovered over the lake like a predator as I stood on the front deck of the lodge sipping a cup of hot coffee. The view across the lake was spectacular, as a horizonal fog bank appeared to cascade down the steep hills across the lake like a waterfall spilling into the lake. Bob and I were confident today was the day the magic would happen, and the trophy trout would come out and play.
We encountered challenging conditions on day four with temperatures in the low forties and the wind blowing pelting rain sporadically throughout the day from the west at 15-25 mph. Trevor suggested we head directly to a reef called “Trout Rock” and troll for lake trout. Bob had just cracked a joke that he was done fishing and ready to start catching when his baitcasting rod buckled with the strike from a powerful fish. He worked hard for the next 15 minutes to respool the 150 feet of line the trout was connected to before swinging it boatside where Trevor rolled the huge trout into the net for a win! This was Bob’s first trophy lake trout and at 45 inches estimated to be 35 to 37 pounds.
After a few victory whoops and grip-and-grin photos Bob eased the trout into the lake. With a powerful swipe of its broad tail the trout was headed back to the reef to rest. Shortly after Bob landed his big fish, I was jigging a Rocket Devle in front of a large boomerang shaped arc on the fish finder when my rod was almost yanked out of my hands by a powerful take. I played tug of war for 10 minutes with what turned out to be one of the most powerfully stubborn 18-pound trout I have ever fought. Patience, persistence and a good guide had finally paid off for us.
The remainder for the day we hooked and released 15 to 20 smaller trout. The stocky muscular condition of all the fish we caught this week speaks to the healthy forage base of ciscos, sculpin, and other baitfish we regularly observed as “bait balls” on the fish finders screen while trolling. After 10 hours of fishing in the wet chill of the day we headed back to the lodge and our cabin to fire up the wood stove and celebrate the kind of day that makes you feel alive and tested by the harsh elements of an untamed land. There is something particularly satisfying about striking a match to the kindling in a wood stove, the spark and pop of the local spruce logs and the first push of hot air as the logs begin to burn. We were quickly rewarded with the radiating heat from the stove’s iron skin as we changed into dry clothes and headed to the lodge for a great meal, fish stories and the satisfying camaraderie that develops with new friends while at a remote fishing lodge.
A Spectacular Theater
Our final day was spent trolling and jigging in the morning while watching the ethereal images of elusive trout on the fish finder with little effect other than to enhance our frustration at their lack of enthusiasm for our baits. Trevor suggested we give pike fishing a try in a nearby bay. As we slipped into the mouth of the bay, I noticed two bald eagles resting their wings on the morning thermals above us, their majestic presence adding to the magical vision of the shallow pike waters we were about to explore. The water in front of me exploded as a pike absolutely blasted the Dardevle spoon I cranked in at full speed on my first cast. For the next two hours almost every cast we made with our Dardevle spoons was met with big takes from enthusiastic pike. It was an absolute blow out finish on our last day hooking more than 50 feisty pike in a spectacular theater set with beautiful fall scenery.
