Marchel Lake

For some reason, I spent a week alone in northern Saskatchewan: fifty miles north-east of Flin Flon, Manitoba, to be exact, where I was anointed as a "very interesting" guy. I think stupid would have been a more accurate adjective. In any event, I've come back to Ontario to tell all. As the maxim goes, those who can do, teach. Based on my Marchel Lake experience, here is everything you need to know about spring fishing for pike, lake trout, and walleye. 

NORTHERN PIKE

• Best Lure: The Zoom Fluke is a godsend. The bite for pike can be tough in early spring, and before the water warms into the high 50's (Fahrenheit, of course) most of your fish, and all of the big ones, will come on this bait. Colour doesn't always make a big difference, but you can't go wrong with yellow, chartreuse, or anything silver or white. Throw something unusual every so often like Bubble Gum. Swimbaits are effective only after the bays heat up. 

 

• Pattern: When the going gets tough, you have two choices: you can try to find the warmest part of the lake using your electronics, or you can find transition or staging points, places where fish hang out before going into those shallow bays. Points around narrows are a good place to look because rocks that have been exposed to sun retain heat. Once the water gets into the high 50's, the smash fest begins. Didn't I tell you that it's good to be shallow? Two or three feet of water? Two feet from shore? No problem.

• Equipment: I learned to love using single hook lures, especially for pike, on my trip to Algonquin Park last fall. For swimbaits, use a heavy action rod with a baitcast reel: 50 pound braided line with a 130 pound fluorocarbon leader. Weighted hooks increase casting distance. The heavy rod really lets you bully fish to the boat, which is better, health wise, than playing them for extended periods. For flukes, use a medium heavy rod with a fast action, 30 pound braid, and a 50 pound fluorocarbon leader. A loop knot to exaggerates the side to side action of the bait. 

LAKE TROUT

• Best Lure: There is no close second: the Lucky Craft Slim Shad D-9 (all of my lakers were caught on this lure). Trolling, it runs between 10 and 13 feet deep. Any boat with an engine 9.9 HP or more is usually too fast for the three-way swivel technique which is great for spoons and spinners. Tie on a crankbait and get to work.

• Pattern: Keep your trolling speed between 2.5 and 4 kilometers an hour. If you can find the baitfish, you'll find the trout. Look for drop offs, cliffs, or other areas where these predators can ambush their prey. As a disclaimer to my video above: magic numbers may vary, but there will be fish suspended in 25 to 30 feet of water.

• Equipment: Use the same medium heavy action rod to troll for lake trout. When you travel 2,000 kilometers, there's only so much gear you can take, so versatility is key. 30 pound braid with a 50 pound fluorocarbon leader works just fine. Buy as many Tite-Lok Rod Holders as you need. They're built to last.  

WALLEYE

• Best Lure: When the fish are shallow and aggressive, don't be afraid to use obnoxious lures like the Berkley Havoc Chartreuse Silver Fleck Grass Pig. If you make them angry, they will bite.

Click to enlarge

• Pattern: Cover water quickly. We tend to think of walleye as being finicky and only susceptible to finesse presentations, but they will annihilate fast moving lures in the right conditions. Close to shore. Shallow. They'll be there when the water temperatures are in the low 60's.

• Equipment: Space permitting, take a medium light rod and use 6 or 8 pound braided line with a long 6 or 8 pound fluorocarbon leader. But when you're limited to two rods, leave the light stuff at home (unless you really want to target walleye). Believe it or not, you can and will catch fish on heavier equipment.

Doing this kind of trip solo is not for the faint hearted. It's not for people who have no experience backcountry camping. It's not for people who haven't had any kind of wilderness first aid training. It's for bizarre introverts who are obsessed with learning new techniques and new patterns. You don't go to Marchel Lake to catch a trophy fish. You go in an attempt to escape your many sins, even though you end up basking in your vainglory, spitting on the face of your ideal, and defacing the dream that brought you there. She gives as good as she gets, and you leave with the most beautiful scar imaginable.  

I booked my trip through Kississing Lake Lodge, which is based in Manitoba, but offers fly-in trips to a number of outpost camps. About half of these are in Saskatchewan. I can't say enough about the service provided by this outfitter. It was truly world class. I will definitely book a trip with them again in the future, and highly recommend them to anyone looking to do serious lake trout, pike, or walleye fishing.  

Greg Cholkan is a lawyer and fisherman. He works in Muskoka with Barriston LLP and his practice focuses on real estate, wills and estates, and business matters. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter.

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