By Bertrand Ngim, Ph.D. | August 2019

Reindeer Lake in Western Canada is such an awesome, world-class fishery that should be in every enthusiast angler’s bucket list of places to fish. I have had an absolute blast there fishing with a group of anglers from Asia recently and was blown away by the outstanding quality of the fishery and my overall experience during my stay at Reindeer Lake Lodge. Before I make a start, I would like to thank the proprietors of the lodge and its Asia correspondence for flying us there to experience everything they had in store for us.

It is no big secret that Canada is one of the top destinations for multispecies angling, from largemouth and smallmouth in the southernmost parts of the country to cold water species such as trout, salmon, northern pike and walleye across most parts of the country. When it comes to cold water species, Reindeer Lake is among the best fishery in Western Canada.

Short angling season

The fishing season in Reindeer Lake is relatively short, starting early June to September. The lake ices during winter where the lodge is shut from October to late May. The best seasons are from the months of June to August. Early June is the time of the year where most species can be caught in the shallow areas, making that the perfect window for fly anglers to catch big lake trout, northern pike, and walleye or even arctic grayling in shallow waters just a short boat ride from the lodge.

Spinnerbait and swimbait fishing action

We were there in early July where spinnerbaits and swimbaits were the deal of the week both in terms of quality and numbers caught. In fact, the spinnerbait bite was truly outstanding that it enabled us to make the front cover on three angling magazines in Asia. All in all, I would be throwing spinnerbaits in areas where other anglers would be throwing conventional spinners. Spinnerbaits lets you get into places where conventional spinners would hang up.

Alternatively, if I could do this all over again, I would like to fish Reindeer Lake with nothing but large swimbaits. The swimbaits I had with me during the trip were mostly 6-inch swimbaits, but based on what I have experienced out there, I would probably go with 8-inch or even larger swimbaits.

Into the Canadian wilderness

I am pretty sure that most of you have seen and read the BBZ’s recent coverage of Plummer’s Arctic Circle Lodge. As a follow-up to that, I would like to share with you my very own version of The Call of the Wild in this picture heavy feature. Last but not least, I will include a short section about the travel logistics and information about the lodge and services in the closing segment of this feature. So sit back and keep scrolling down. I will let the pictures do the talking.

Reindeer Lake Lodge’s main dock. They run a fleet of 18-foot Lund aluminum boats, transporter barge, and a floatplane. They are one of the most well equipped ‘out in the middle of nowhere’ fishing lodge known to me.

Our local fixer, Kenneth Sim from Calgary (left) strikes a pose with Liszt Tzing (middle) and Peter Hsiuh (right) from Taiwan. They had a blast catching monster northern pike. If you think you have seen those guys before, Liszt and Peter were both featured in the Taiwan episode of ‘Fish My City with Mike Iaconelli’ on Nat Geo Wild channel earlier this year. How cool is that?

Taiwanese hotshot, Peter caught the largest walleye of the trip on a DUO Realis Fangbait 120DR. He took a gamble with a large, 1oz jerkbait and his efforts paid off!

There are plenty of areas where you could ‘vertical jig’ fish for big lake trout around the deep ledges. This is a technique that reminds of saltwater metal jigging that is extremely popular in the Far East.

We encountered a variety of weather conditions, from slick, calm to windy and rough water which I love. When I feel the wind and waves pushing in, I know for a fact there will be a swimbait pattern occuring somewhere out there.

It may be blue skies up above, but the lake and water conditions sure looks rough.

This is the backwater pocket where I caught my personal best northern pike.

I was hooked onto something big and heavy!

I caught my personal best northern pike on a BBZ-1 60 (matte firetiger) in a backwater area. I was working the bait slow in between sparse vegetation where it got hit. The fish measured 47 inches from nose to tail.

The wind picked up speed and we had to take cover in a mossy, wooded area for our shore lunch of the day. This is a place where I could lie down and forget about everything, literally!

Our guide, Robert Clarke is awesome guy who knows all about starting fires and cooking in extremely windy conditions.

We have had numerous double-headers! This is one of the hilarious ones where my boat partners were forced to cross lines and rods with each other. They both ended up landing their fish and it was all good.

We fished a variety of conditions, from sunny, windy, calm and sleek to frontal conditions. The fishing was tremendously tough when a weather front pulled in during the third and final day.

Anybody for some Canadian-style onion rings for lunch?

The duo from Taiwan sicking fish after fish on spinnerbaits.

Peter had a blast catching some giants on swimbaits!

Magazine columnist, Aznir Malek from Malaysia goes old school with a Blue Fox Super Vibrax spinnerbait and produces big results.

No matter the species, whether it is saltwater species or lake trout, anglers from Taiwan are naturally gifted when it comes to vertical jigging in deep water. As a case in point, we were fishing around 80-foot to 100-foot deep in this particular area.

One of the many hard fighting, hard rolling lake trout caught by our Taiwanese duo.

Peter’s boat partner, Liszt is equally as proficient in vertical jigging. He is the guy who is featured in the seabass fishing segment in the Taiwan episode of ‘Fish My City with Mike Iaconelli’ on Nat Geo Wild channel earlier this year.

Our local fixer, Kenneth gets into position to land his catch.

The Taiwanese duo shows us how to catch big walleye power drifting on sand flats.

Liszt goes full on heavy-cover fishing mode as he is seen here pulling a big northern pike out of the grass.

This is one of the many giant northern pike Liszt landed on straight fluorocarbon line, without a wire leader! Impressively, he landed every single northern pike he hooked, on straight fluorocarbon line and never got cut, not even once.

Peter was on fire when conditions were cold, wet and windy during the final day.

The BBZ-1 60 is my preferred swimbait of choice for northern pike when conditions call for slow presentation. It is a swimbait that catches quality and numbers. Most of all, it is a super durable bait that is made for hard-hitting fish with sharp teeth.

Alternatively, I would switch to a magnum spinnerbait when I am targeting big fish along the grass shoreline. My spinnerbait of choice is the Realis Spinnerbait G1 (G-Fix) by DUO Japan.

The JDM Realis Spinnerbait G1 (G-Fix) by DUO Japan is built like a tank all-round. The heavy-wire and stout hook construction makes it a super solid and durable spinnerbait that can take on big fish.

My swimbaits of choice for Reindeer Lake, the BBZ-1 60 and S-Waver 168S. I learned the hard way that not all hardbody swimbaits are northern pike worthy. One of my S-Waver 168S and Gan Craft Jointed Claw 148 got destroyed. I had zero issues with the BBZ-1 60.

We got our first cover story on Malaysia’s Rod&Line (Malaysia’s top selling angling magazine). This is an image of a northern pike that hit so hard it broke the arm of the spinnerbait. Though the bait was still functional, the hook broke after prolonged use two days later.

We also made it to the front cover on Lure China (China’s top selling angling magazine) with another spinnerbait story.

Front cover story for China’s ‘Fishing’ magazine. This is a story about the Patterson River delta where a northern pike decided to make a meal out of one of the walleye I caught on spinnerbait.

Reindeer Lake Lodge and travel logistics

My journey to Reindeer Lake Lodge, from where I am currently based in the United Kingdom, spanned around twenty-nine hours door-to-door, starting with a transatlantic flight from London Heathrow to Toronto Pearson, followed by a regional flight from Toronto to Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker, and finally two chartered flights on West Wind Aviation.

The journey was long and grueling and I am not going to lie about that, more so for my collaborators from Malaysia and Taiwan, but once you arrive at the lodge on that tranquil island, it is like you have stepped into a different world. In my opinion as an angler, this is truly a once in a lifetime trip that you ought to experience.

I am a foodie and I totally love the food at Reindeer Lake Lodge where they really go the extra mile to deliver you the best they can. It is hard for me to comprehend that the lodge, especially its remote location, even has a full-fledged kitchen and regular delivery of fresh food and produce.

If you are thinking or planning an angling vacation in Canada, I highly recommend that you check out Reindeer Lake Lodge at https://reindeerlakelodge.ca/ for more details.

We were on the first flight of the day out of Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker to La Ronge on West Wind Aviation.

There were only five passengers and two pilots on board. We had the entire cabin to ourselves!

The take-off was quick and smooth and so was the ride to La Ronge.

We had to deplane and reload for the second and final flight to Reindeer Lake Lodge.

Numerous small islands in Reindeer Lake.

Deplaning, unloading and reloading at Reindeer Lake Lodge’s airstrip was quick and efficient.

Reindeer Lake Lodge is located on a private island on the north west half of Reindeer Lake. It is one of the oldest and most established angling lodges on the lake.

Reindeer Lake is predominantly a clear and cold water fishery.

We stayed in one of the lakefront cabins where the views were breathtaking!

Some of the available cabin options at the lodge.

The lakefront cabins are spacious and cozy.

The pool and bar area beside the dining area lets you unwind and talk about fishing.

The food and hospitality is top notch and the day’s itinerary runs like clockwork. The day begins with breakfast at 7:00am, lunch midday, pre-dinner drinks 5.30pm and dinner at 7:00pm.

If you're checking out this article in Asia, feel free to reach out to the lodge's Asia correspondence Gary Sim on +65-9757-5091 by phone or WhatsApp, or email garysim@singnet.com.sg for more info.

Western Canada’s Reindeer Lake

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