VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE
Way too often when you talk about fishing in the province of Saskatchewan, our thoughts quickly turn to northern Saskatchewan. These include numerous untouched lakes, world-class fishing lodges, and the mystery of the breathtaking landscape the north holds. It seems that every angler has an amazing fishing story from northern Saskatchewan. The anglers that haven’t done battle with monster northern pike, walleye, lake trout, and many other species within the depths of a northern Saskatchewan lake, have a goal and dream to one day head north and do battle with these monster fish. Southern and central Saskatchewan, however, is far too often overlooked for its world-class fishing.
TROUT WATER ABOUNDS
There are many waterbodies throughout central and southern Saskatchewan that anglers can fish for a variety of trout species. The Cypress Hills is one area that can easily accommodate both fly fishing and spin-cast fishing for rainbow trout, brook trout, and brown trout. If you’re new to fishing the area, upon arriving at the park, stop at the Visitor Center for maps and updated information on where the fish are biting. Anglers can spend hours catching and releasing these three species along hundreds of kilometers of shorelines in and around the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park.
LARGEMOUTH BASS?
Estevan, Saskatchewan was established as a city in 1957 and is well known for its hardworking blue-collared residents surrounded by its agricultural roots. Nestled within the agricultural land not far from the city is Boundary Dam, home to Saskatchewan’s only largemouth bass fishery. Not just any largemouth bass, monster largemouth bass!
Due to the power plant’s warm water discharge that sits on the shoreline of Boundary Dam the water within the dam is kept at a comfortable temperature year-round. Combine the comfortable water temperatures with the dam’s abundant underwater structures, weeds, back bays, abundance of bait, and a good mix of deep and shallow water, the dam has everything that largemouth bass need to thrive and grow year-round. Anglers from Saskatchewan, neighboring provinces, and the northern United States, come to Estevan every year to fish the city’s pride and joy.
I had the good fortune of fishing Boundary Dam for the first time in 2020, with good friend Brad Graham, a local Boundary Dam bass fishing expert, and because of the incredible largemouth bass and walleye fishing I experienced on the dam, I now have Boundary Dam penciled on my calendar for the 2021 and 2022 fishing season.
MIGHTY LAKE DIEFENBAKER
Another world-class fishery with multi-species located in southern Saskatchewan is Lake Diefenbaker. Lake Diefenbaker is actually a reservoir that was filled in 1959. Lake Diefenbaker is 225 kilometers long with over 800 kilometers of shoreline. It’s well known for its trophy-size rainbow trout, including the current world record rainbow trout and the current world record burbot.
Lake Diefenbaker not only grows world-class rainbow trout and burbot, but within its depths swim several other popular Saskatchewan gamefish including trophy northern pike, yellow perch, walleye, and lake sturgeon.
THE CENTRAL PLAINS
I don’t know if I have ever met another Canadian that didn’t have some sort of tie or connection to Regina or Saskatoon. If you’re near the city of Regina then you need to take time to fish the Fort Qu’Appelle area. Just this past spring we headed to the Fort Qu’Appelle area and booked five days at Sundays Log Cabins. We ended up fishing Pasqua, Echo, Mission, and Katepwa lakes, literally outside our cabin door.
For five days we did battle with northern pike, walleye, and even tried our hand at bow-fishing carp and rod and reel carp fishing. We kept a couple of walleye each day for supper and enjoyed them seasoned in Wild West Seasoning each evening from the comforts of our cabin. This was a true fishing trip of a lifetime nestled in the Fort Qu’Appelle Valley, in southern Saskatchewan.
SASKATOON AND AREA
Blackstrap Reservoir is a special place for me. My son, Denver, caught and released his very first fish on Blackstrap Reservoir. Denver and I went ice fishing on a sunny January day when he was only two-years-old. We only drilled two holes before we were into a school of yellow perch. It only took a minute and Denver reeled up a 10-inch perch. I think we ended up catching and releasing 30 or 40 perch that day, but Denver’s first one was the most memorable.
PLENTY MORE TROUT WATER!
As you head further north out of southern Saskatchewan into central Saskatchewan, agricultural land begins to meet with boreal forest and lakes become more abundant. North of Shell Lake, Saskatchewan, reservoirs give way to natural lakes, and there is no shortage of natural lakes in central Saskatchewan. Most are abundant with walleye, northern pike, whitefish, and perch. The province of Saskatchewan has an incredible trout stocking program, and scattered throughout central Saskatchewan, and even further north, are lakes of all sizes stocked with rainbow trout, brook trout, tiger trout, and even splake.