160 boats/ 10 miles of river
Baits in the Saskatchewan River must be presented at the speed of the river - at the bottom. It follows then that the boat must be travelling at the same speed, a tricky thing to do given that the current speed in the boat zone is somewhat different from that of the strike zone.
Trolling a crank bait should be done while motoring upstream or out in the lake itself, made possible this year by extending the boundary somewhat. We had limited success at the eastern marker buoys with deep divers and line weights.
Take a tip from the stated opinion that there was a run on minnows at the bait shops. The big fish were quite likely jigged up from the bottom with 1/2 oz. or 5/8 oz. jigs from three or two deep pockets in the river channel. Heavy jigs with light wire hooks (and a stinger) were needed to maintain a vertical presentation.
It also stands to reason then that there were upwards of 50 boats gathered at these spots and boat control was critical. Not a lot of room to pull blades at 1.1 mph when all the rest of the gathered fleet were travelling anywhere from 0.2mph to 0.7 mph depending on the outflow from the dam plus the effect of the wind. Not to mention the snow and the freezing temperatures.
Sadly for us, we were only able to land slot fish, some of which were either I/8" too long or 1/4" too short. Plus a few unders and two monster pike.
Experience of a lifetime.
|