Welcome to Week CLXII of ‘Fishing Parkland Shorelines’. Like most of us I am a novice fisherman, loving to fish, but far from an expert. In the following weeks I’ll attempt to give those anglers who love to fish but just don’t have access to a boat, a look at some of the options in the Yorkton area where you can fish from shore, and hopefully catch some fish.
If you recall, amid a lovely stretch of weather dating back to basically early April in this neck of the parkland, June 14, was maybe the coldest day in weeks.
So of course with clouds constantly passing in front of the sun to create a dullness to the day, and a brisk breeze which seemed to be coming off a lingering snowbank somewhere, it was decided to head east to Manitoba for some fishing at the spillway.
Our first stop was a convenience store in Russell where we picked up Manitoba fishing licenses nice and simple. We took the conservation option, which is brilliant in that is offers a slightly lower fee for those who realize for walleye are still a fine feed.
It would be great to see one more level at some point, a catch & release, style license. It would be for fishermen who fish strictly for sport and pleasure with no plan to ever take a fish home. I am certainly evolving in that direction. It is increasingly rare to bring a pike home, the exceptions being the ones who attack the lure hard and end up taking it deep. In freeing the fish, even off a barbless hook, they can end up in too rough a shape that I feel their survival on release would be likely, so they are harvested to eat.
Four walleye is a good lunch for two, so that is about the extent of take home, and in some cases if the walleye are slow to hit, they still go back, since not really wanting to clean a lone fish at day’s end.
With license in-hand we head to the park office to get a pass, as the area is within the provincial park. It’s Sunday. We hit the office at about 5:10 to find it closed at five. There is a notice that park passes are available at the convenience store.
It takes a bit of finding in the park, and once we do we learn it is free access weekend, so we didn’t need a pass, which was nice since the store sold only daily passes, not season ones, which seemed a tad strange.
Finally we are down the hill, finding the entire length busy with fisherfolk, not that we couldn’t comfortably settle in.
I spoon fished for a while hoping for a pike, but none obliged.
The better half was meanwhile tossing out a pickerel rig with minnows as bait. She had one keeper walleye in the pail, the broken pail actually, as she had tossed it to me to fill with water. It banged on a rock and split like an egg.
So my least favourite fishing is with a jig, but when that method is catching, and I am not, I dig out some minnows, and join in.
Now I have to admit the walleye weren’t exactly swarming the jigs. So most of the late afternoon was spent shivering, rod in hand, hoping that the tug which was almost always the current would occasionally be a walleye.
And when I say shivering, it was blatantly cold. My old Yorkton This Week bunny hug just wasn’t cutting it in terms of keeping me warm, so I dug out an old mackinaw and added it as a layer. Even then I lamented not having a scarf as the wind was finding my neck (a situation I am now prepared for after tossing a scarf in the back of the rig the next day). My hands were just about in need of gloves too, which reminds me to throw those in the gear too.
I should know better. If you go out to do anything in Saskatchewan make sure you take a parka, scarf, toque and gloves, since the weather, even in July and August, can turn darned cold because of wind and showers.
I managed a couple of tiny walleye that went quickly back into the water, and was realizing it was going to be another slow day of fishing.
And then things changed.
There was a tug on the line.
I set the hook, and then the rod bent like a bow, and the drag began to whine as something decided it was not pleased with a hook in its lip.
The power in the run meant it could be only one species of fish, my most coveted prey, the carp.
I am sure many of you will shake your heads at my reverence for the carp, but I am a fisherman who wants a fight and a challenge.
Walleye are never that unless you under-gear, meaning when you tie into a big pike or carp you have likely lost the battle before it starts.
So I run a bit heavier gear awaiting the times I am fortunate enough for the big pike, or the always stronger carp.
I know immediately this carp has good size, and with the current too, the fight is going to take some patience on my part.
I keep the rod bowed deep, and let the drag fight the brute.
There was an early run where I looked down and realized if he had had the power to make a second run right then he might have ran my rig out of line. He was a long way out, and by sheer dead weight and the current made gaining line hard work. I ended up with a mark on my belly where I had the rod handle pressed for purchase in the fight.
The fight took time, and with time a fisherman’s mind starts to wonder.
My first thought was that a hook on a pickerel jig is not generally of the highest quality, and I worried it might straighten in the fight.
Then I was wondering if the leader was strong enough.
And then the line came to mind. Generally I never worry about my line. I am a huge fan of Fireline®. I generally run 14-pound, and I’ve straighten hooks to pull them free of snags, and more than one line which someone else had lost, came free to my gear.
But that said I usually change line every spring. I had bought new line weeks ago, but had been plain lazy and it was still sitting at home. On my reel was line faded from more than a season’s use, and I realized one spot worn on a rock at some point, and the carp was going to win, and I’d have no one to blame but myself for being tardy in replacing the line.
Slowly though I was winning. The runs were shorter. The line was accumulating back on the reel.
Then I could see him offshore. Big, brutish and beautiful.
The carp still had a couple of runs left, but he was mine.
When the better half finally slapped the net over him I could fully admire the big carp.
The barbless hook came out of its lip slickly, and after a few snapshots, he was back in the water and gone in a blink.
Now I recognize it is only mid-June, but I am betting the carp is the highlight of the season. He was all fight, and pure fun.
To be fair I did have a bit more of a surprise that day. It was near quitting time, and I got a tug, which felt like it might be a bigger walleye. Instead it was a doubleheader; two wallies on the same jig. I’ve done that a few times, and seen others do that on perch, but as far as I can recall it was a first for me for walleye. The pair went home along with the better half’s first fish, and the trio made a tasty lunch Monday, but not near as tasty as the memory of the carp.
