Day Four on Tobin Lake



First fish of the day, off to a good start



Day Four started out warm and friendly. It was not to last though as a cold front arrived just after lunch bringing rain and sleet. Given our success the evening before trolling crankbaits, we decided to give it a hard go today just to cover water because of the lack of numbers of fish in the system. It could not have started out an better as I nailed yet another fish on my red and white Bomber Long A not five minutes into our first trolling run. This fish hit in twenty feet of water with 85 feet of line out. After a brief but intense battle Jim got the net under a nice eight pound walleye. Neither Boyd nor Jim had yet found a bait that was consistently put fish in the boat but that changed this day. Jim hit the next fish on a purple deep diving storm Thunderstick then Boyd followed that up with a nice walleye on the new Rapala Troll-To Minnow in chrome. With a good start, we gained confidence in the cranks and covered water, eventually landing eighteen nice walleye on these baits. With weather rapidly going down hill, we packed it in a little earlier this day with no bites after four p.m.



Still it was a great trip with excellent weather, good friends and beautiful surroundings.
Here are some of the most memorable catches from the last ten years at Tobin Lake during the fall run.







Day Three on Tobin Lake

Traditionally Day Three on Tobin has been a big one, both for big fish and numbers. We have had by that time, time to figure out where the majority of the fish are holding in the river. Not so this year but we had only spent one day on the river though and figured we better to look around to see if we were missing anything. Captain Boyd headed upriver, past the White Rock to the stretch called Grassy. After a quick drift and no fish, we head up past the regional park at Nipawin to the old railway bridge. Here we managed to land three walleye, the biggest, about five pounds, on a live bait rig and leech, the staple of many an angler on this stretch of river. We then headed up to the dam to have a look for old times’ sake. The water was boiling pretty good so we decided to head back down river to see what was happening. Near the mouth we finally found a good school of walleye by using the electronics and we sat on them with jigs and minnows. We caught a number of nice fish in a short period of time,. We figured we would also be able to crank up some of these fish given the conditions, with a clear sky allowing the walleye to silhouette the baits. After cranking from the lake all the way up the Eaglenest we managed to land four nice walleye the biggest close to eight pounds which I once again hooked on the Bomber A with a red nose and white body. It was a good way to end a tough day.



A clear sky added up to a decent night bite

 Meantime our friends Russ and Dale were finding it tough slugging as well. Last year on this day three, Russ landed a monster fifteen pound 8 ounce fish.

This is why you fish Tobn Lake!

Tobin Lake Day Two

Day Two:




Jimmy with a ten



No frost on the boat this morning with a brisk wind blowing out of the northwest. After a hearty breakfast we headed west to the mouth of Saskatchewan River as it emptied into Tobin Lake. Last fall on this stretch we had some of the best walleye fishing any of us had ever experienced. What was it to be like this year? First thing on order was to use the electronics to see if we could mark any major schools of walleye in the deeper water. This turned out to be a major disappointment the whole trip as we never marked the numbers of bait or walleye the whole four days than we had last year. We decided that we had to cover a whole lot of water and our first drift from the Eaglenest to the main lake was about two miles in length. Only two small walleyes came to the boat. This was to continue on until about three in the afternoon when at the start of a drift Jim hooked into a real big fish on a pink jig tipped with a minnow.

Bulldogging down this fish took Jim all around the boat. Finally getting the net under the fish, we celebrated our first really big fish of the day. Boyd scaled the walleye at 10 pounds, four ounces, a real nice fish in anyone’s book. Not five minutes later Jim hooked another toad on the same drift. This one didn’t quite match up, weighing 8 pounds, two ounces. Still the space of five hundred yards and ten minutes Jim had caught and landed our two largest fish of the day. We stayed until dark this day and started trolling crankbaits a half hour before sunset. It was relatively successful this day with three good fish landed, mine the largest at just less than eight pounds caught on a Bomber Long A with a red head and white body. It was the one that got away that was the real story on this day. I had a monster fish on the second pass but with three lines out you never know if you are going to get hooked up in another line.

Good friends and a nice fish!

In this case, the big fish had taken off about fifty feet of line after hookup running back into Jim’s line, who was fishing the middle of the boat. Trying to get his lure in, he wrapped around my line. I was at a standstill, I couldn’t reel in anymore and the fish was still on the end of the line. Jim held my line as he tried to cut of his lure but unfortunately slack was created when he freed his lure. The monster at other end then had slack and with barbless hooks as is the law on Tobin the fish got off. Ouch! Jim was very apologetic but such is life when you fish in the dark.

Day One on Tobin Lake

Day one of our late fall adventure turned out to be just gorgeous, warm and calm. Friend Jim Price and I had arrived the day earlier from Winnipeg on our annual fall trek to Tobin Lake, Saskatchewan. On our trip last year, which you can read on this blog spot, we drove up all night on icy roads. Not this time, it was smooth sailing all the ways up to the Tobin Lake Resort were we met up with all our friends from Carrot River. Given the beautiful weather it was an easy decision to make the twenty two mile boat ride out to the main lake. As was standard procedure, we started out trolling bottom bouncers and spinners along the main lake basin. Captain Boyd Holmen was on the role to start the day, landing six of our first seven walleye. Nightcrawlers hooked behind a pink colorado blade was the ticket most of the day. By three in the afternoon though, things slowed down quite a bit and we decided to anchor up on a point that extended into the main basin. I should clarify the word anchor, because Boyd had the new I Pilot from Minnkota and all he had to do was hit the “anchor feature” on his front troll motor and the boat would stay in position. What a bonus when you are fishing in snaggy conditions or for big fish and not have to worry about an anchor rope. You can get a bit of sway when windy but on this day the boat kept positioned perfectly. We started catching fish right way with Jim hooking and landing six walleye this way. I was also into fish, setting the hook on the biggest walleye of the day, a solid nine pounder on a jig tipped with a Nipawin big chubby minnow which Boyd had brought along. The key for us this whole trip in triggering walleye bites was to hook the minnow up through the back of the head so it pointed straight towards the jig head. After landing a few more walleye and some bonus pike we headed back down the reservoir marveling at the good fortune we had with the weather this last week in October.

After cleaning the walleye we had kept it was time for a huge fish fry to celebrate another fall trip to Tobin Lake with great friends!