Welcome to Week LIX 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.
How things can change over a period of 12-months.
It's Saturday, the July 1st long weekend, and I have catching some bullhead catfish on my mind. I want the tasty little critters to go with hominy grits for a recipe that's been rolling around in my head for a while.
So the Shellmouth Dam Spillway is the place to go, at least that was the expectation, as last summer bullheads schooled there in swarms just under the surface of the water.
We hit Russell and buy our conservation licenses at a gas station. We show our Saskatchewan driver's licenses, pay our $28 bucks and we're good to go. So quick, simple, convenient and the conservation aspect is a reasonable offering to help maintain a resource. Too bad Saskatchewan is about as far away from those elements as you can get it seems.
Ah but enough of bad government decisions, we're after bullheads.
Of course it never hurts to hit the water having enjoyed a good meal, so we seek out a Chinese restaurant in Russell, and find Club Club. The place is huge, nice without being fancy, and the host is amiable. He carries on banter with customers and had us smiling before we had even ordered.
The menu is extensive, and they had hot plates, a favourite of mine since my first experience with one at Raymond's Family Restaurant in Canora.
I picked a Satay beef hot plate with carrots and mushrooms. A nice touch is you can pick the veggies you want.
It came quickly to the table steaming and crackling like a hot plate should, and once it cooled a bit was very tasty. I rate it the equal of Raymond's, and that is high praise.
If you're ever in Russell don't be afraid to check out Club Cafe.
Full, it's off to the spillway.
It's warm, sunny, and a long weekend, so the place is busy, but there is a lot of fishing room, so we settle in for the day.
We fish for about six hours.
And we never saw a bullie come out of the water, nor so much as a shadow of a school.
The recipe in my head will have to wait.
But Lake of the Prairies and the spillway off it is also a noted walleye fishery, but alas those were a rare catch. We managed one on the day, and it was above the slot limit at 50-centimetres so it was released back into the water with some sadness of course.
Ah, but there are pike aplenty in the spillway.
Yes my better half caught a couple, one having to come home for my filleting knife since it basically swallowed the minnow jig, but no matter what I threw out on my line no pike obliged me, and believe me I tried a lot of different lures.
But I did catch five fish on the day.
At this point you probably are thinking perch.
I never saw anyone land a perch Saturday.
So here's where the day gets a bit unusual, at least compared to only a year earlier at the same location.
I caught four suckers.
Not totally unusual, but that was more than I've ever caught on one day before, not that I'm bragging since unless you are canning them suckers are only a bit of a tussle when landing them and then a quick drop back into the water.
Meanwhile as I am struggling to catch anything worthwhile, a guy downstream lands a silvery-sided fish, one he tosses back.
Myself and another fisherman wonder whether it might have been a whitefish, then discount that as unlikely as they tend toward large lakes.
Another fisherman across the spillway catches one, proclaims it a goldeye and throws it back.
In time the better half gets one. I tend to think it a mooneye, more than a goldeye. Either way we keep it.
I grew up fishing Tobin Lake and its spillway and goldeye were not so rare there.
I recall our first one mom fried along with the pike we had caught. The goldeye was oily and frankly terrible in a frying pan.
And then a high school science teacher Larry Solomon told me about smoked goldeye. It is amazing.
Since my son and I bought a small smoker last year, I am looking forward to smoking the one goldeye.
Then the better half lands what at first looked like another sucker.
As it hit the shore though the feisty fighter turned out to be a carp, her first.
I had wanted a carp this year to try cooking. While looked at with disdain here, in Europe and Asia the carp is held in much higher regard both as a sport fish and to eat.
For its small size the carp was all fight that is for sure.
Soon she has another fish, this one really battling her efforts.
It's a seven-plus pound carp.
We keep it too.
By now I am frustrated, admittedly a bit jealous, and even a bit dejected.
But I finally do catch a carp. My first too. It's nowhere near seven pounds, but showed me by nature carp are powerful fighters.
Mine goes back. I figure two are enough to experiment in the kitchen with, the results of such experimentation to be shared here one day I promise.
We head home and my first stop is my computer to search exactly how to clean a carp.
The fish is skinned from the tail to the head. To accomplish this they suggest nailing its tail to a board. I don't have that set up, so it was a challenge to hold onto.
The scales are tough as armour, and on the seven pounder the size of quarters. You need to scrape a few off at the tail then cut through the skin so you can grip with pliers.
Once you cut along the backbone and belly the skin comes off reasonably easily, revealing flesh that has dark and light meat, sort of like a chicken.
As for how I will cook the carp, that remains to be determined, but I am looking forward to it.
The next day (Sunday) I plan to find Margo Lake.
This time my son goes and we stop at Stoney Lake first.
I get a hit, see the nice pike break water, and then spit the hook.
The lake is cold.
Adam frustrates quickly.
We hit Pelican Lake and our favourite spot where pike are always obliging, well except for this day.
Back to Stoney were we each homemade chili and chips, then try again.
Twice more I catch fish. They get close enough to shore to see, then spit the hooks.
So it's time to find Margo Lake.
It's a challenge.
Stoney and Pelican are right along a grid road and there is no signage.
We see a body of water southwest of Margo and assume it's Margo Lake.
There is a sign for Aurora Beach, a new development that has street light standards up, but only two cabins yet.
I walk to the water's edge but there is no visible place to shore fish.
That was disappointing, as I love fishing new lakes and spots.
By this point we have planned to head back to Canora Dam, when we see the sign for Foam Lake. Adam has never been to Fishing Lake so we head down the highway and are surprised how quickly we hit the lake. It really makes fishing the lake at Margo more attractive as Fishing Lake is a close alternative on a slow day.
Finally here I catch six pike, and am once again content as a fisherman. It helped my better half was skunked. It seemed as though the balance of the fish scales was again tipping my way, at least for the day.
Adam caught a nice walleye, after losing two hooks, tangle-knotting his line, and lamenting the day repeatedly. At least he drove home somewhat more content, at least until the next slow day at a fishing hole to be determined later.
