Wet snow was falling from the heavens I loaded up my vehicle with fishing equipment for my annual fall trek to Tobin Lake, Saskatchewan at the end of October. Stopping in Portage la Prairie to pick up friend Jim Price, we headed up the Yellowhead Highway during the night, slowing down to sixty kilometers at times as we navigated slippery, snow covered road conditions.
Located near Nipawin, Tobin Lake has been producing trophy walleye for years. I first fished it in 1979 when working in Prince Albert and since that time I rank it as one of my top three favourite places in the world to fish.
While the pike fishing on this reservoir can be outstanding it was trophy walleye we were after. An annual trip, we were a week later than usual. In this case it worked out for the best. We had escaped the weather bomb that had hit the prairie provinces, dumping large amounts of snow in certain areas. In our case, it had made the highways a mess but the forecast held promise of beautiful sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures.
As we pulled up to Russ’s driveway in Carrot River after a trip of close to nine hours, anticipation was incredibly high. After a delicious breakfast we headed out to Tobin Lake Resort and friend Dale Pihowich’s cabin which was to be our fishing headquarters for the next four days.
Jim and I where to fish with friend Boyd Holmen in his Lund rigged out with the latest Minnkota front troll motor and top notch electronics, all keys in fine tuning our fishing. Fog greeted us as we launched the boat in plus one celsius conditions. Cold and damp was the best way to describe the first day on the river. While we caught a few walleye the conditions weren’t optimum.
Jim with a first day walleye
The sun finally broke through the fog about three in the afternoon and we decided to fish until dusk on the first day, the long day and damp conditions zapping some of our adrenlin.
Next: Day Two on the Big Lake.