This Saskatchewan lodge just might have Canada’s best pike fishing

This is a story about a very special place: the Cree River and Wapata Lake, way up in northern Saskatchewan, just 100 kilometres below the 60th parallel. Just how special was it? Well, in four days on the water at Cree River Lodge I saw and caught more and bigger northern pike than I ever thought possible.

I’ve caught big pike on both spin and fly gear on many remote waters. But I have never seen—or really imagined—a pike fishery of this quality. Plus there were Arctic grayling and endless numbers of walleye. At a conservative estimate, my group of four must have boated at least 400 fish, including over 20 pike of trophy size—and 98% of the northerns came out of water less than three feet deep. If you like pike, put this place on your must-visit list. Here’s a taste of the action…

How’s this for a start? About 30 minutes into our first day, my friend Dan Armitage of Columbus, Ohio, hooked this 42-inch monster (on a five-inch split-tail swimbait), demolishing his previous personal best pike record. And just as exciting was the 34-inch fish below. Why? Because it was the first-ever pike caught by my friend Jake Sotak, and he did it on his fly rod. Although he’s an experienced outdoorsman, this was Jake’s first time in the remote far north, and it made quite a contrast from the 350-square-foot Manhattan apartment he’d left behind the day before.

We pulled these fish—and at least 20 more in the mid-30-inch-range—out of a gently swirling, pond-sized back eddy of the Cree River known locally as the Devil’s, um, Perineum (well not that exact word, but we’re keepin’ it classy.) That two hours was incredible, but just a mild preview of what was to come.