It was late May when Hooked publisher Kevin Stobbe, Garther Cheung, (Big China) Ryan Montgomery and I headed up the east side of Lake Winnipeg to Sasaginnigak Lodge on the first fly in trip of the year.
My only visit to this popular angling destination was back in 1993 so I was not sure what to expect as we drove to the St Andrews Airport for our flight in. It didn’t take us long to find the brand new Northway Aviation terminal. This huge building was a beehive of activity, people waiting for a number of different flights to all parts of northern Manitoba. Finding Bonnie, the ground coordinator for the lodge, we soon loaded up into a wheeled float plane for our short 40 minute flight northeast.
NORTHWAY AVIATION: A HISTORY
Northway Aviation was established and started charter operations in 1962 and is owned and operated by the Johnson family. Northway once operated out of Arnes (wheels and skis) and Willow Island (floats). The floatplanes eventually moved to the Icelandic River in Riverton. Operations out of Winnipeg began in the 1980s and relocated to St. Andrews and Pine Dock in the 1990s.When I visited their lodge on Sasaginnigak Lake in 1993, I flew out of Riverton. Back then, they had one new cabin, called the Master Angler, which is currently under renovation. Jimmy Johnson was my guest on my Complete Angler television show that particular time. Johnson had been featured in a National Film Board production called Bush Pilot: Reflections on a Canadian Myth, which was produced in 1980. Currently his daughter, Karmen Johnson, runs the lodge operation and is Vice President of the airline. I had a chance to meet Karmen on our return from the lodge and we shared some stories about the success this company has realized over the last few years.
DAY ONE:
It was a great day to fly, a clear blue sky allowing us to take in all of the south end of mighty Lake Winnipeg. Our pilot Trevor was more than willing to share information on the different lakes and rivers unfolding below us. After landing we were quickly ushered to our beautiful Super Six cabin right on the lake. We had our own dock just out the front door with brand new 16 foot boats with flat floors and state of the art Humminbird Helix 5 fishfinders. I must admit to being a little shocked at all the changes to the place. Two years ago they finished off a brand new main lodge building which also WiFi access to catch up on emails and other news. Sasaginnigak Lodge is a light housekeeping operation which works out perfect for those who want to come and go as they please with no time table the whole time you are there.
We had brought a limited amount of gear, but enough to make sure we could catch the abundant walleye and pike in this large mesotrophic lake with a myriad of islands. In the old days it would have been very easy to get lost but both Garther and I brought along the Humminbird Zero Line cards that provided an outline of the lake. With the Helix 5 capabilities, we both had the option of doing some Auto Chart live recordings. During our three days of fishing this allowed us to explore at will and tap into fish populations that probably had never seen a lure. We certainly didn’t have anybody fishing anywhere near us.
After arriving, Justin, the lodge manager pulled out a map of the lake and gave us some starting points. This included a rundown of rocky reefs to look out for, which was a valuable bit of information. He allowed us to keep this large map of the lake and pointed out the East River, which the walleye use for spawning. While the spawn had been over for about three weeks because of an unusually early ice out, we could still find lots of fish there. After getting everything unpacked and rigged up we headed out, a brisk west wind promising some good fishing.
We found the mouth of the river and headed up about halfway until we hit a T in the channel. Going to the right side, Kevin and I started out jigging, landing a few small male walleye and one nice pike. I decided to switch tactics, putting a Rapala X Rap on a three way rig while Kevin was using a Berkley Flicker Minnow. On our first trolling run in 10 feet of water my lure suddenly stopped dead. Pulling up on my long rod, this snag started moving. Wow, what a way to start the trip, a huge walleye coming into view behind the boat. Kevin was trying to capture this all on film but after the fish wallowed on the surface a few times, he grabbed a net and we got this beautiful fish in the boat. It was a great way to start the trip and was to set the tone for the next two days. After a successful day we retired to our executive cabin with leather couches and all the comforts of home. Big China was our chef this evening and some large steaks later we called it a day.
DAY TWO:
The wind was still from the west and the skies overcast, perfect for walleye fishing. At the end of the previous day I had stopped on a wind-swept point only five minutes from camp. While I had marked lots of fish on my depthfinder, we had only caught a few small walleye. Heading back out, a hunch told me to give this spot a second try. Boy, did that work out! In no time we had caught and release a number of walleye in the 21 to 24 inch range, all longer than the allowable level to be kept. We found them in among the rocks in six feet of water. A constant west wind for two days had been piling up the bait fish on this shoreline point and the walleye were taking advantage!
A short time later we headed to the largest section of the lake, the southeastern basin. Here we tried some mid lake structure with limited results (too early for these spots) and another shoreline point (bingo). Ryan Montgomery had keyed in on this area, marking some larger fish on his Helix 5. We finished the morning off here, landing a number of nice walleye. Then it was shore lunch time. Three of us quickly cleaned the walleye we had kept on a cleaning station in front of our cabin, which was also next to the propane deep fryer we would use to cook the fish. In no time we had everything prepared, a direct result of the smart planning by the lodge in the layout of the facility.
WALLEYE CHALLENGE!
Over lunch we heard from Garther and Ryan that they had managed to get us in a fish-off that evening against the staff on the main dock. And guess what, the losers had to jump in the frigid water! So when 8 p.m. rolled around the contest began with a number of the lodge guests taking in the action. For all the results as they unfolded check out the video below.
DAY THREE:
On our last day at the lodge, Kevin decided to catch up on some work and prepare the evenings meal so it would be Ryan, Garther and I in one boat fishing for pike. We had found some of the larger fish in deeper water the day before so we started out trolling deep diving crankbaits in 20 feet. We did find some decent pike, but no true trophies. A bit of rain and wind convinced us to pack in a bit early and we headed in for braised short ribs!
All in all it was a great trip. Each of us loved the layout of the facility plus we caught fish until our arms got sore. Thanks Karmen and Bonnie for making this happen. Visit them online at www.saslodge.com
Watch short video of our trip highlights here: