CENTRAL SASKATCHEWAN WALLEYE MECCA
We all dream of fly-in fishing lodges where the fishing is non-stop and you regularly set the hook into big fish! Locations where you know with your next cast you could be fighting a fish of a lifetime.
As much as I love fly-in fishing locations the province of Saskatchewan has no end to drive-to trips of a lifetime!
AN ANGLERS DREAM DRIVE-TO DESTINATION
Chitek Lake is one of those spots, a mere three-hour drive north of Saskatoon. It is well within central Saskatchewan, nestled in Saskatchewan’s beautiful Boreal Forest. With abundant weedbeds, especially at the north end of the lake, Chitek Lake is well known for its northern pike fishing. These toothy creatures are targeted with a variety of baits throughout the year. The lake also has a healthy population of whitefish that provide great sport during the ice fishing season. Most anglers though, are after Chitek Lake’s trophy walleye.
EDGE OF THE CANADIAN SHIELD
Chitek Lake’s location within the province of Saskatchewan puts it at the furthest southern outside edge of the Canadian Shield. Because of that connection, the lake has an abundance of structure that holds walleye. Many attract walleye year-round, while others are used by the walleye for seasonal movement. I’ve had the good fortune of fishing this lake several times over the years and at different times of the season.
The structure that consistently holds walleye, is not surprisingly, sunken hardbottom humps, sharp rock drop-offs, and large rocks on the flats. Many of these underwater structures can be found less than five minutes from the boat launch.
CONCENTRATE ON KEY STRUCTURE
With today’s technology, you can download topographical maps off the internet. I highly recommend doing so whenever you plan to fish a new water body. Once on the water, with the aid of my electronics, I look for sharp drop-offs and sunken humps. Once I find one of these locations I thoroughly fish the structure and the surrounding area adjacent to the structure.
COVER WATER
I like to start by bottom bouncing the surrounding area and the structure. In most cases on Chitek Lake, I would have consistent hook-ups bouncing a hammered-brace, silver, or chartreuse Colorado Blade with red, yellow, or pink beads in front of a #2 Mustad Slow Death hook.
Baits varied from a frozen minnow, soft plastics, and nightcrawlers, but the majority of our hook-ups came when bottom bouncing a leech. Speed varied due to wind direction, however, all our hook-ups came when we were moving fast enough that our bouncer would contact the bottom every two to three feet.
BOTTOM BOUNCE TO FIND THE FISH
After working the area, if we had two or more hookups in the same area on the structure we would hit Spot-Lock on the trolling motor and pull out our jigging rods. However, it’s important to jig where the hook-up came not where the boat is when you hit Spot-Lock.
THE SPOT ON THE SPOT
A common mistake made by anglers when bottom bouncing is they hit Spot-Lock and begin jigging where the boat stops. However, depending on the water depth you’re fishing, speed, and line deflection through the water column, the hook-up may have come 20, 30, or even 50 feet from the boat’s Spot-Locked location. That 20, 30, or 50 feet behind the boat where the hook-up came can often be a major or minor structure change within the structure that is holding the walleye. This major or minor structure change can mean all the difference between setting the hook into walleye or just wetting a line. And in some cases, it may only be a foot or two difference in-depth change.
JIG FISHERMAN AT HEART
I’m a jig fisherman at heart, so once I found walleye holding on structure out came the jigging rods. Chitek Lake walleye seem to prefer the slower presentation of vertical jigging. We would tip a 1/2oz Big Sky Jig with a frozen minnow or a soft plastic imitation minnow and send it into the depths until it hit the bottom. Then we would reel up the slackline and slowly lift the jig off the bottom one to three inches, then slowly set the jig down. It was important to slowly control the jig as you set it down as it wasn’t uncommon for the walleye to take your offering on the decent of the jigging sequence. On many occasions, you wouldn’t feel the bite, you would just feel the weight of the fish. When this happens, set the hook.
MIDDAY BLUES
On some locations, you would pull three or four walleye off a structure location while on other structure, you could set the hook into walleye all day and never have to move. During the heat of the day, the bite would slow as it often does when walleye fishing. However, we would return to key structure and locations that we marked on our electronics earlier when the bite was on. Once again we would send down the same Big Sky Jig tipped with a leech and lift the jig just off the bottom and hold it stationary. We would get one bite every three to 10-minutes during the heat of the day, however, it wasn’t uncommon to set the hook into five to 10-pound walleye in the middle of the afternoon when everyone else was off the water or enjoying other watersports.
THE EVENING BITE
After supper walleye were equally as aggressive as they were during the morning bite, but the walleye within the depths of Chitek Lake were willing to take angler’s offering all day. And if you get tired of setting the hook into walleye, don’t forget about the great northern pike fishing at the north end of the lake.
WORLD CLASS DRIVE-TO
Chitek Lake is a world-class drive-to lake that has everything an angler needs. These include beautiful campgrounds, and a convenience store selling live and frozen bait, and basic groceries. Chitek Lake also has a first class boat launch and filleting shacks. Please practice catch and release so the next generation of anglers can enjoy fishing on all of our amazing drive to water bodies.