Welcome to Week XLI 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.
It's always great when the opening day of the fishing season greets you with bright sun and temperatures pushing towards the 20s.
That is especially true given that winter hung on with an unusual degree of tenacity this year, leaving us wondering if the snow was ever going to leave.
So with a nice Sunday, May 5 morning, I piled the new tackle box and reels with their new line, into my son's truck and we headed to the Theodore Dam.
We weren't venturing too far since reports had most lakes still covered with ice, but the spillway side of the dam was reported to have flowing water.
The reservoir itself was still basically covered with ice, but we found open water and by about 9:30 we were casting.
Four hours later, and a dozen or so lure changes each, we headed back to Yorkton, skunked.
I mean it was a day without so much as a nibble.
We stayed above the dam, but reports from below were the same; nice opening day weather, uncooperative fish.
While we were back in the city, things apparently did not improve in the afternoon.
Ken Keyowski posted to me on Facebook "went in afternoon but nothing biting anywhere. Talked to Game Warden and everybody getting skunked everywhere. They are there, however, saw two jacks swimming at the base of Theodore dam but they were not interested in my bait. Wood ticks were biting however."
Ah, but there was some good news. I had received a few Lyman Lures (www.lymanlures.com) in the winter, and of course had to try them out.
Yes they too were skunked, but they cast well, and have great action in the water.
The lures naturally float, but on retrieve dive, with quick sideways swim action. The harder you retrieve, the deeper/faster the lures dive. Slow, or stop, and the lure surfaces. That is great in a lot of rock. Feel the slight touch of skimming over the rocks, you can easily let the lure rise before swimming into a snag.
The history of Lyman Lures is interesting since it connects back to Saskatchewan.
"Lyman Dooley was born in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan in 1914. The family moved to Kelowna in 1929 and lived on the corner of Ethel Street and Dehart Ave. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the war and was stationed in Newfoundland.
One of Lyman' hobbies was tying flies," related the company's history page online. "In 1946, he and two other partners established Game Guide - a fishing sports store located at 1423 Ellis Street, across from the Memorial Arena. Lyman was production manager, Roy Longley was business manager and Colonel Gemmil was a silent partner.
"It was at this time that Lyman designed and started producing fishing plugs from yellow cedar and he labelled them Lyman Lures and sold these at the store. He joined Sun- Rype in 1949 as manager of the warehouse, at which time he left Game Guide but continued producing the plugs in his basement at his home.
"Ed Strachan, who was employed under Lyman at Sun-Rype, recalls working after hours and on week-ends producing the plugs on a lathe machine, firstly at Lyman's and then at his own home. Lyman and his wife Ernie would then paint them.
"In 1956, the Dooley's moved across the lake to Lakeview Heights and planted a vineyard. This ended the production of the lures and the equipment was stored for a number of years. In 1964, Fred August purchased it and moved it to the basement of his Interior Imports building
in Vernon. The equipment needed restoration after being idle for some years. Fred carried on with the Lyman Lures name and expanded the product line including plastic plugs. He would travel in the valley, to the Kootenays and to Vancouver Island, combining a selling trip with holidays.
"In 1973, the business was sold to Andy Klym and a silent partner. The operation was located on the Okanagan Landing road in Vernon. Andy's wife, Ing, painted the plugs produced from yellow cedar, while his partner took care of the accounting. These were sold to retail stores in the valley, Kootenays and the Island."
The company passed through several hands until Carl Neufeld took ownership in 1981.
"Since acquiring the company, it has been a real family operation, beginning with Carl and his wife Agnes, son Glenn and daughter Laura. When they took over there were 6 sizes of plugs and 47 different colours. 28 years later there are 10 sizes but over 100 different colours. Surprisingly only a few of the original colours have been dropped. The new ones result from feedback from fisherman - new colours being usually derived from variations of colour patterns already being produced - the ones that are catching the fish," detailed the website.
I look forward to trying the Lyman Lures on a day when the fish are at least a bit interested in feeding, hopefully this weekend.
As disappointing as a fish-less opening day was, the hassle involved in getting this year's license was far more disturbing.
When the Saskatchewan government announced it would be offering online purchases of licenses a few months back, I applauded what I expected was going to be an option. There are those who will like the convenience of online.
But as I said I expected it was to be an option. The release had said licenses would still be available through vendors.
What was not explained was those vendors would no longer have the simple license books of the past, but would need a computer, high speed internet access and a printer to sell licenses.
Many have simply abandoned the service, citing high costs, a lack of reliable Internet and too little return on their effort to make it worthwhile to sell fishing licenses anymore.
The result in Yorkton is two locations listed on the Saskatchewan Ministry of the Environment website where you can but a license, Home Hardware and the Department office.
So let's analyze the situation, a process I am convinced no one in government bothered to do.
To access a license online you first need a computer with Internet access, not something everyone has, although I'll grant most probably do these days.
You need a printer. Fewer have these as everything is stored online these days, with less and less need for printing. Recipes can go to your cell phone screen as easily as printing them out, and even photographs go to digital display screens you can hang on the wall.
And finally you need a credit card. This will again reduce the number of people who can go online.
Between the trifecta of needs the number unable to use the service is going to be significant.
So you are such a person in Yorkton you head to Home Hardware.
But what if you are in Kamsack? The Ministry website does not list a license outlet in that community. That is not convenient at all.
There are additional issues arising around the new system as well.
How easy will it be to run a license on a printer, photocopy it, and share with a friend down the street?
Before the government notes that is illegal I would point out how many people drive with an invalid license, or use false ID to enter bars. It happens and this makes it easy, especially since the last time a CO asked for my license he glanced at it for 10-seconds, asked what I had been catching, and was gone.
There is also the sort of Orwellian aspect of fishing license being tied to driver's license and health services card through a HAL number (Hunting, Angling and Trapping Licensing). That seems more interconnected than a system needs to be.
Now as an option, online makes some sense, but what is clearly needed is a return to the book system to facilitate small locations, such as Whitesand Regional Park near Theodore, to serve the fishing public.
It should be a focus to be as accommodating as possible in this matter since fishing is an integral part of tourism. It is the sort of activity where families often decide to head to a lake some Sunday afternoon, buying their license on-site, something largely impossible this year.
It is something I would have expected the voice of tourism to be leading the chorus to change to a more blended system, but Tourism Saskatchewan is no longer an industry led but is an arm of government so we can't expect to hear anything from that sector.
It is to be hoped the Saskatchewan government can admit for once it overstepped what is reasonable in this regard, and has the old books printed immediately.
It would even be reasonable that such on-site licenses cost a few dollars more as a vendor-fee to help make it worth their while and pay for collection of the fees.
But the main thing is a system which serves all fishermen better and more conveniently than the online version can achieve on its own.
