Earlier this summer I was presented with an opportunity to fish Lake Tobin in northern Saskatchewan, with out any hesitation I agreed. The lake is known throughout the world as one of the best chances of catching a trophy walleye, where fish in the “teens” are not uncommon. We booked our accommodations with Curtis & Tressa of http://www.tobinlake.net/ Twin Marine in Nipawin Sak. Boat rental, lodging, license, and a full dining right on the shores of the Saskatchewan River system that flows into Lake Tobin
Early Thursday morning we loaded the rental boat, got a map of the river and off we went. The report from local fishermen was lindy rigs with leeches drug on the edge of the river channel. Leeches in 50 degree water????? With no live bait we decided to look for aggressive fish via blade baits, ringworms, and paddletails. Thinking these walleyes were preparing for winter. Well after seeing several big fish caught on leeches it wasn’t long until we decided to slow our presentation down by dragging ringworms and paddle tails. Our fish big fish was finally caught a healthy 28.5” walleye with a huge belly. We continued to drag and pitch plastics the rest of the day with only a few smaller fish to show for it.
On Friday the game plan was to run cranks along the same edge of the channel. Deep diving tail dancers, reef runners, trolled up against the current at 1.8- 2.2 mph. This presentation proved to be the best for numbers of fish as well as size of fish. These fish would absolutely crush the crank, almost ripping the rod out of your hand. What an awesome feeling. Targeting inside turns of the river channel proved to be the best, with a better concentration of fish. Also with the famous “S” turns in your trolling run proved to put more fish in the boat as well. We decided to stick with cranks the rest of the trip, boating numbers of fish with the occasional upper 20” fish thrown in.
Here is my dad with the biggest fish of the trip. 30” fish with an enormous girth. We didn’t have a scale but figured the fish to weigh about 12 something. Nice fish dad.
Overall the trip wasn’t good for fish size for our group. A couple factors played a huge roll we think. The weekend prior they had a local tournament call the http://www.vanitycup.ca/index.php Vanity Cup, which consisted of 50 boats 8 fish limit with a winning weight of just under 64 lbs. Big fish of the tournament was 15.5 caught by the winning team. A husband and wife team won and the wife caught the 15 lb fish. Throughout pre-fishing and tournament days the angles estimated that they caught 400 fish that weighed in excess of 5200lbs which is a 13lb average. So the big fish are definitely able to be caught, just seems they have sore mouths from the weekend before.
In addition another factor was the hydro-electric dam. For some reason they lowered the water level about 18” on Friday night which in turn slowed the current down, and cause the fish to spread out more.
So, would I do it again……In a heartbeat….Timing is everything. I think I would go before the Vanity Cup to cash in on some of the big fish prior to the tournament.
This trip is very reasonable in terms of cost. We drove from St. Cloud MN, which is 13.5 hours to Nipawin; rented a boat and gas for 4 days, cabin for 4 nights, license, and 2 meals at Twin Marine for less than 600 bucks per person.
I would recommend a trip to Lake Tobin to everyone who reads this, truly a chance at a once in a lifetime fish. I would also recommend Twin Marine for all your accommodations, Curtis,Tressa, and staff do an excellent job.
We are going planning on a trip next year. Anyone care to join us????????? Here is the crew from this year!
Few more pictures!
Simply Awesome Cal
Are you heading Back???
Nice report!
Looks like a great place to chase walleyes.
Boog
Nice Job Cal. It was a great trip. Rob if we do go back we will be going 2 weeks before the tournament. Rob we have saved a spot for you and Stacie if you want to go.
John
Looks like it was a great trip.
Good report Calvin.
Someday….
Thanks for the read Calvin.
Looks like a great place.
Great report!!!
Looks like a great trip to make!!!
Looked like a great trip and it sounds like you learned alot. Look out next year! Thanks for the report Calvin
Looks like a ton of fun. No one likees a chane at a teen walleye do they?!
Great report and pics cal!! Wonder if you could ice fish up there…
Great fish Calvin! Sounds like it took some hard work but it definitely paid off with that trophy. What a fatty!!
Great report Cal! Did you guys venture out into the lake portion at all chasing any eyes or did you spend all the time in the river?
We stayed in the river, we had some windy days that would have been a rough ride in the rental boats…We did see some people head out to the lake, but they were pounding some serious waves…
If the wind would have laid down we were planning on trying the lake area…
Great report Calvin!
Sorry I couldn’t make it up there with you guys this year. Looks like you guys had a good trip. Congrats!
Looks like a fun trip Cal!
Thanks for the report.
Question….Do you think your odds would have been better if you were able to get out on the main lake and target some of the off shore reefs or shoreline points? Obviously wind plays a huge role with those rental boats I am sure?
Any night bite opportunities?
Also, would you trailer your own boat there next year?
I would have liked to get on the main lake, I think more fish were in the lake vs the river….Twin Marine requires the rental boats to be back at 630 pm so a night troll is out of the question.
. The plan for next year is to take our own boats up….Steve I did see a River pro from Montana running around……well that was until he clogged up his intake. 
He took a corner too short and got into some serious trouble. He trolled back to the resort on his kicker, 13 miles or so….
I think leaving the River Pro at home would be a wise choice when venturing to big water… Your kidneys would thank you over and over!
I was thinking in the back of my mind of grabbing my brothers Ranger 619 if you guys had room for another next year?
I think it would be fun to have a big group of IDAers on Tobin for a few days. We were already thinking late septemeber for next year
Let start planning….
Its a long drive from here but I would still be interested in that trip.
I would need to have it planned well in advanced though.
The sooner the better in my case.
Hello IDA,
I am a newcomer to IDA…just registered today but have enjoyed the site this season. I too was at Tobin 10/3-10/7. We had similar luck. Caught lots of fish the first two days, but then slowed down the last two. Rigging with leeches provided most fish during the day, then we switched to cranks in the evening and fished until midnight most days. Biggest fish was 10-14. Here are a few pics of our big girls over 9 lb.
Hey Shawn- Welcome to IDA. I was up on Tobin with Cal. I think I remember seeind you guys crusin around. Were you guys in the Lunds?
John
We were in a Red 1900 Pro-V IFS. Probably talked to you as there weren’t too many out there during the week.
We were also the guys towing in a Blue Tyee on that Friday night if you saw that….some guys from Alberta were having engine troubles.