Saskatchewan - Land of the Endless Skies!!We woke up early and it was cloudy and rainy. We hooked up with Dustin (Duzza – his new Aussie name) and Mike. After loading the car, we headed north, only an 11 hour drive ahead of us!! It rained and rained and our gear was getting wet. The fields were full of canola and it was very green. We stopped off in P.A. (local term for Port Angeles. We went into Canadian Tire and Auto. Now, for me this suggests, say, a K-mart auto service place. How wrong was I. This place is like Bunnings meets K-Mart meets Supa-Cheap auto. A big shop full of gear. We didn’t buy an ATV but when I asked which aisle is the “tarps” in the lady said “Down there in aisle 24”. Duz and I walked down to see a row full of basin sets, yes, taps and plenty of them. Mate – this time you ask her. We found the “tarps” and we were set. We covered up the back and we were off even though it looked like a large green spinnaker on the back of the truck.
We drove in the pouring rain, occasionally stopping to adjust the tarp. At one stage it was 10 degrees and pelting with rain. Not a good sign at this stage. We saw a couple of deer in the paddocks next to the woodlands. We got to La Ronge, the closest thing to civilization from the camp. It’s only 430 km to the Raven Camp from here. We were all fanging for some tucker, and the first place we saw was Kant F’in Cook.. Yes KFC…. The girl that served us was as interested in being there as the paint on the walls. We had our grease overload and had a drive around. La Ronge is close to Stanley Mission and has lots of local First Nations people.
The best thing about La Ronge is “Robertson’s Trading”, a store that has all the hard core cold weather camping gear and a huge selection of local fishing gear. The best thing about this shop is the array of stuffed wild life. A taxidermist would’ve been in business for over a few years with this shop alone. Stuffed otters, wolverines, beaver, bald eagles, fish – massive lake trout, pike and grayling, and stuffed heads of wolf and bear. We are in the interior and trappers come through and sell there furs. Brendo and Mike touched up a couple of arctic fox (defiled them actually). Type Robertsons Trading into Google. It is unbelievable place and full of animals I wouldn’t get to see normally.
We had to stock up. I bought a bug jacket (a fly net and fly jacket all in one), a $80 Saskatchewan fishing licence, and about $100 worth of fishing gear. We were going all out. A local Indian fella showed us the best lures to get – Five of Diamonds is the key!! Brendo bought a squidgy in the shape of frog on his advice. I didn’t as they looked like a gimmick.
After stocking up, we went to the bottle-o for some supplies. The camp is technically dry but been discrete with a few tins is overlooked. A 15 pack of beer and I was off. Brendo went a 1.5l white rum which come in a plastic bottle. The shop had a closing time of 3am during the week. That’s late!!!
After about 20km, the road turned to gravel and it was really bad for the first 30 km. Maybe it like this to stop tourists going this far north. We drove and drove through drumlins and eskers, glacier remnants from the last Ice Age. The drive was really good with tall pine trees and greenery. The dips and crests with the occasional oncoming truck wasn’t too much fun.
The lakes in this area were absolutely beautiful, and around every corner was another post card shot. Americans pay big money to come up here fishing in the lakes. I’m getting paid to come up here fishing. How good is that?
We got to camp met the team and then got our gear ready. The Aussie crew had talked up the fishing that much that I was going fishing tonight. We loaded up the truck and headed to Kewen Lake. The area was really shallow and Leo warned us all of snags. Wind those lures in fast. As luck (skill) would have my second cast produced a 4lb pike. I was ecstatic and boyz couldn’t believe it. We all nailed fish in this area and had an awesome time. One of mine could have swallowed a 2lb pike quite easily.
After a little while we drove about 500m to another lake . Fishing in northern Saskatchewan with the sun setting on the pines was magical. I had nailed lots of fish in my first day (about 10) and we all had heaps of fun. Brendo caught the world’s smallest pike which made him honorary Mr. Rubbish for the day.
We drove in the pouring rain, occasionally stopping to adjust the tarp. At one stage it was 10 degrees and pelting with rain. Not a good sign at this stage. We saw a couple of deer in the paddocks next to the woodlands. We got to La Ronge, the closest thing to civilization from the camp. It’s only 430 km to the Raven Camp from here. We were all fanging for some tucker, and the first place we saw was Kant F’in Cook.. Yes KFC…. The girl that served us was as interested in being there as the paint on the walls. We had our grease overload and had a drive around. La Ronge is close to Stanley Mission and has lots of local First Nations people.
The best thing about La Ronge is “Robertson’s Trading”, a store that has all the hard core cold weather camping gear and a huge selection of local fishing gear. The best thing about this shop is the array of stuffed wild life. A taxidermist would’ve been in business for over a few years with this shop alone. Stuffed otters, wolverines, beaver, bald eagles, fish – massive lake trout, pike and grayling, and stuffed heads of wolf and bear. We are in the interior and trappers come through and sell there furs. Brendo and Mike touched up a couple of arctic fox (defiled them actually). Type Robertsons Trading into Google. It is unbelievable place and full of animals I wouldn’t get to see normally.
We had to stock up. I bought a bug jacket (a fly net and fly jacket all in one), a $80 Saskatchewan fishing licence, and about $100 worth of fishing gear. We were going all out. A local Indian fella showed us the best lures to get – Five of Diamonds is the key!! Brendo bought a squidgy in the shape of frog on his advice. I didn’t as they looked like a gimmick.
After stocking up, we went to the bottle-o for some supplies. The camp is technically dry but been discrete with a few tins is overlooked. A 15 pack of beer and I was off. Brendo went a 1.5l white rum which come in a plastic bottle. The shop had a closing time of 3am during the week. That’s late!!!
After about 20km, the road turned to gravel and it was really bad for the first 30 km. Maybe it like this to stop tourists going this far north. We drove and drove through drumlins and eskers, glacier remnants from the last Ice Age. The drive was really good with tall pine trees and greenery. The dips and crests with the occasional oncoming truck wasn’t too much fun.
The lakes in this area were absolutely beautiful, and around every corner was another post card shot. Americans pay big money to come up here fishing in the lakes. I’m getting paid to come up here fishing. How good is that?
We got to camp met the team and then got our gear ready. The Aussie crew had talked up the fishing that much that I was going fishing tonight. We loaded up the truck and headed to Kewen Lake. The area was really shallow and Leo warned us all of snags. Wind those lures in fast. As luck (skill) would have my second cast produced a 4lb pike. I was ecstatic and boyz couldn’t believe it. We all nailed fish in this area and had an awesome time. One of mine could have swallowed a 2lb pike quite easily.
After a little while we drove about 500m to another lake . Fishing in northern Saskatchewan with the sun setting on the pines was magical. I had nailed lots of fish in my first day (about 10) and we all had heaps of fun. Brendo caught the world’s smallest pike which made him honorary Mr. Rubbish for the day.
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