Last Mountain Lake Pike and Walleye fishing 2017
Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 9:18 pm
Once again Last Mountain Lake has proven to be an outstanding drive to fishing destination. If you are a lover of Pike and walleye fishing, this is the place for you to visit. It seems as though there is nothing much else to do I the area, but if it’s a week full of catching and not just fishing you’re after, I encourage you to give this lake a try.
On June 2nd the Packernut and I headed to Helena Montana to meet up with fellow NWFR member Lucious, and began our trip. After a short night’s sleep, and a quick trip to the local Walmart for a new trailer hitch stinger, we hit the road and started the long drive north.
Our plan was to get groceries for the week in Regina Saskatchewan. Let me tell you. The last thing you want to do is drag a boat through the parking lot of the Costco in Regina, at 5pm. A word to the wise. Get your shopping done at home, and avoid the confusion of what to buy and who wants what, when all three of you can’t wait to get to the lake and start catching fish.
We got to the water Saturday evening and squeezed in a few hours of fishing to kick things off. Water levels were lower than we had seen before so we had to relearn the lake a little, and come up with a few new strategies. When the water is a couple of feet higher, you can just pick your slough or backwater bay and start catching fish. When the water is down, it’s not so easy. We were able to fish some of the locations we had fished in the past, but fortunately, we were able to find several new main lake points and shorelines that produced fish. I have to give credit to Mr. Lucious. He forced his will on me and made us fish in a few spots that I would have never stopped at, and every location produced for us. My hat’s off to him. Besides that, we were fishing out of his boat and he was driving, so we didn’t really have a choice. I’m just glad he has a good eye for finding new spots.
We fished for 6 full days and that few hours on Saturday evening. I don’t remember everyone’s numbers but I was able to catch and release 107 pike and 8 very nice walleyes. We were targeting pike so the walleyes were a nice bonus. I was once again amazed at how aggressive the walleyes are up there. We were catching them on 6” pike lures and caught them anywhere from a 16”er (caught by lucious) to a 30 ½”er, also caught by luscious.
The pike were biting on a variety of lures but by far the best producing for the whole trip was the Rapala Glidin Rap. However, three out of our four largest came on Johnson silver minnow spoons. It’s a shame Rapala has discontinued the Glidin Rap. If you love catching pike, I recommend you email Rapala and ask them to resume production of this bait. It is hands down the most productive pike lure I have ever fished.
We had good weather, but windy conditions every day except for one. Ambient temps were in the 70’s and 80’s. Unfortunately the no wind day had blue bird skies and 88 degrees, and there’s nowhere to hide from the sun up there.
As for the size of the fish, it was another good year. We all caught fish 39" and bigger. I personally got one fish at 40" and one at 43" for my top two fish. I also had two at 38 1/2", two at 38" three or four at 37" and many many more between 30 and 36". My largest walleyes were 28 1/2" and two at 27". I think I speak for the three of us when I say, the fishing as well as the company was great, and a great time was had by all. The biggest issues we had were three broken fishing rods, having to wait out a storm for a few hours one day, and having to come back and take a short nap while the batteries charged back up. Here's a tip for you. Just because the extension cord is plugged in to the boat, that doesn't mean it's plugged in to the cabin. Oh ya, and there was this one time at fishing camp, where I stuck a super sized Glidin Rap treble hook into the palm of my left hand, well past the barb. The barbs don't look that big but when you try to get one out that's deeply embedded in your hand, they're HUGE. DAMN that hurt.
The cabins there are comfortable but not fancy, the showers are hot and free, and the cabins are VERY reasonably priced. Lucky for us the exchange rate had the American dollar at $1.35 on the Canadian dollar. That really helped keep the cost down. The results of my credit card statement aren’t in yet, but I believe we all kept our bills under $700 per person for the whole trip, including the fishing license.
There you have it. If you like fishing windy conditions, and love to catch pike and walleyes. Pack your bags and head to Last Mountain Lake in Saskatchewan. I HIGHLY suggest taking a deep V hull boat, like Lucious’s Lund Pro V. I imagine my 20’ bass boat would have spent more than one day on the trailer on this trip due to the wind. Fortunately for those that get stuck on shore because of wind, there is some great fishing opportunity right in the marina area.
On June 2nd the Packernut and I headed to Helena Montana to meet up with fellow NWFR member Lucious, and began our trip. After a short night’s sleep, and a quick trip to the local Walmart for a new trailer hitch stinger, we hit the road and started the long drive north.
Our plan was to get groceries for the week in Regina Saskatchewan. Let me tell you. The last thing you want to do is drag a boat through the parking lot of the Costco in Regina, at 5pm. A word to the wise. Get your shopping done at home, and avoid the confusion of what to buy and who wants what, when all three of you can’t wait to get to the lake and start catching fish.
We got to the water Saturday evening and squeezed in a few hours of fishing to kick things off. Water levels were lower than we had seen before so we had to relearn the lake a little, and come up with a few new strategies. When the water is a couple of feet higher, you can just pick your slough or backwater bay and start catching fish. When the water is down, it’s not so easy. We were able to fish some of the locations we had fished in the past, but fortunately, we were able to find several new main lake points and shorelines that produced fish. I have to give credit to Mr. Lucious. He forced his will on me and made us fish in a few spots that I would have never stopped at, and every location produced for us. My hat’s off to him. Besides that, we were fishing out of his boat and he was driving, so we didn’t really have a choice. I’m just glad he has a good eye for finding new spots.
We fished for 6 full days and that few hours on Saturday evening. I don’t remember everyone’s numbers but I was able to catch and release 107 pike and 8 very nice walleyes. We were targeting pike so the walleyes were a nice bonus. I was once again amazed at how aggressive the walleyes are up there. We were catching them on 6” pike lures and caught them anywhere from a 16”er (caught by lucious) to a 30 ½”er, also caught by luscious.
The pike were biting on a variety of lures but by far the best producing for the whole trip was the Rapala Glidin Rap. However, three out of our four largest came on Johnson silver minnow spoons. It’s a shame Rapala has discontinued the Glidin Rap. If you love catching pike, I recommend you email Rapala and ask them to resume production of this bait. It is hands down the most productive pike lure I have ever fished.
We had good weather, but windy conditions every day except for one. Ambient temps were in the 70’s and 80’s. Unfortunately the no wind day had blue bird skies and 88 degrees, and there’s nowhere to hide from the sun up there.
As for the size of the fish, it was another good year. We all caught fish 39" and bigger. I personally got one fish at 40" and one at 43" for my top two fish. I also had two at 38 1/2", two at 38" three or four at 37" and many many more between 30 and 36". My largest walleyes were 28 1/2" and two at 27". I think I speak for the three of us when I say, the fishing as well as the company was great, and a great time was had by all. The biggest issues we had were three broken fishing rods, having to wait out a storm for a few hours one day, and having to come back and take a short nap while the batteries charged back up. Here's a tip for you. Just because the extension cord is plugged in to the boat, that doesn't mean it's plugged in to the cabin. Oh ya, and there was this one time at fishing camp, where I stuck a super sized Glidin Rap treble hook into the palm of my left hand, well past the barb. The barbs don't look that big but when you try to get one out that's deeply embedded in your hand, they're HUGE. DAMN that hurt.
The cabins there are comfortable but not fancy, the showers are hot and free, and the cabins are VERY reasonably priced. Lucky for us the exchange rate had the American dollar at $1.35 on the Canadian dollar. That really helped keep the cost down. The results of my credit card statement aren’t in yet, but I believe we all kept our bills under $700 per person for the whole trip, including the fishing license.
There you have it. If you like fishing windy conditions, and love to catch pike and walleyes. Pack your bags and head to Last Mountain Lake in Saskatchewan. I HIGHLY suggest taking a deep V hull boat, like Lucious’s Lund Pro V. I imagine my 20’ bass boat would have spent more than one day on the trailer on this trip due to the wind. Fortunately for those that get stuck on shore because of wind, there is some great fishing opportunity right in the marina area.