Oliver Lake: Where Fantastic Fishing Is Only Part of the Fun

By Bill Schneider, 10-21-08

	Caption: The postcard moment from the deck of our cabin. BELOW: Bill with a big pike that couldn't resist his leeding leach fly. BOTTOM: Owners Mike Pundyk (left) and Jean-luc Dube. Photos by Bill Schneider.

Anglers spend a nice chunk of change to go to a fly-in fishing lodge, and the primary reason is always the terrific fishing. But fly-in fishing lodges offer more than fishing. What goes on before and after--and during--the fishing also matters, which is what makes the little fishing camp on Oliver Lake so special.

Northern Saskatchewan has about 60 fly-in fishing lodges. Of those, about a half-dozen are large corporate operations with their own landing strip, planes and pilots, large marketing budgets and a sizeable staff to make it all work. Large lodges cost more, mainly because they coat the fishing with a lot of luxury. They often cater to high-net-worthers and corporate clients, even offering corporate retreats and team-building seminars with a little fishing thrown in on the side.

That leaves more than fifty lodges in the small and mid-sided category run by a husband-wife team or one or two guys. These lodges stress fishing over luxury, and treat clients like individuals, not part of a group. Oliver Lake Wilderness Lodge is an ideal example. Owned by Jean-Luc Dube and Mike Pundyk (also our guide), the classic fishing camp on expansive Oliver Lake has a small, friendly staff. Everybody gets to know the owners and would have a hard time not liking them.

And, lest we forget the prime objective, the fishing is spectacular, especially for trophy northern pike.

In September, my fishing partner, Gene Colling, and I made our second trip to Oliver Lake. We put seven trophy pike (over 40 inches) in the boat, including two 45-inchers, and it seems, lost even more than we caught. We also caught a dozen or more just under 40 inches, along with hundreds of smaller pike, and a few lake trout, too.

Check out a video from our trip:

But most Canadian fly-in lodges have friendly owners and fantastic fishing, so what makes Oliver Lake different? That's the tough question I asked both the owners--and they had a tough time answering it.

"You can go to the big lodges, but you're just a number to them," Mike answered. "Here, you get a lot of personal service and one-on-one with the owners and staff."

He also uses the word "camp" to describe the lodge, which is definite tell. In my experience, fishing camps emphasize fishing over fancy accommodations and conveniences like wifi, cell service, and cable television you'd just as soon leave behind. I'm sure most anglers don't go to a fly-in fishing lodge for the room service.

"It's the overall quality experience," was Jean-Luc's answer, "and the quality of the fishing," which he believes is better than most lodges.

After two trips at Oliver Lake, I agree with both answers with an emphasis on the word, "experience," which is a lot more than pulling in a few big fish.

Another obvious difference both owners mentioned is the amount of the exclusive fishing opportunity. This is the only lodge on Oliver Lake and four other large lakes (Ghana, Horvath, Nakomis and Prichard). Together, this chain of pristine Precambrian Shield lakes spans about 70 miles of remote wilderness lake country, much more than most lodges can offer.

When you fish there, you might not see another boat all day. Even during the busiest two or three weeks of the year, there are less than ten boats on all of this water at any one time, and even then the lakes are so vast, you might not see one except at the lodge.

I've only been to about a dozen fishing lodges in my life, but given that limited experience, I must say the setting of this one--in a protected bay in the middle of the lake--has to be among the most stunning of them all. The view deserves to be on a postcard or magazine cover.

Early every morning, while waiting for the start the fishing day, I'd sit on the deck of our cabin, watching the sunrise, marveling at that view, and listening to the only sound I could hear, a concerto of singing loons.

Oliver Lake Wilderness Lodge Owners: Jean-Luc Dube and Mike Pundyk. Address: Box 23089, South Hill. P.O, Prince Albert, SK, Canada S6V 8A7 Nearest floatplane base: Missinipe. Phone: 306-763-1045 Email: BigOnes@oliverlake.com Website: www.oliverlake.com Access: Floatplane or boat. Capacity: 25, four cabins sleeping 4-8 each. No outpost cabins. Options: Both full and light housekeeping plans available. Fishing waters: Primarily on Oliver and Nokomis Lakes, both very large lakes, but also day trips to three smaller lakes--Canoe, Horvath and West Lakes Primary species: Northern pike and lake trout; some walleye fishing.

Visualize yourself sitting there on that deck soaking in the essence of wildness found everywhere around Oliver Lake. No cell phones. No Internet. No talking heads on cable news. No checking your retirement fund to see if you have enough left to go fishing again.

After a few of these postcard moments on the deck I surprised myself. I caught myself enjoying the experience more than the fishing.

And then there's the food. It's almost worth going to Oliver Lake just to do lunch--shore lunch, that is. And Mike, our chef who doubles as our guide with a little time left over to be a lodge owner, has turned shore lunch into a backcountry gourmet, long ago leaving behind the tradition of throwing spuds and chunks of breaded fish into a skillet of pure lard. His passion for cooking pops up every day about noon. "If I had a choice, I'd be cooking over a fire all the time," he said as he served the meal one day.

But we're the ones who really benefited from that passion.

Incidentally, Mike thinks northern pike tastes better than walleye, which makes two of us in the whole wide world of anglers who believe walleyes are the best tasting freshwater fish. For starters, he notes, you have to carefully cook walleye and hit it just right, but you can overcook pike, and it still tastes great.

(For a lot more on Mike's noontime feasts, click here.)

Another difference between Oliver Lake and other fly-in lodges is that it isn't strictly fly-in. Here, you have a portage option, which involves another 2.5 hours driving on an unpaved road north of Missinipe, Saskatchewan, a scenic boat rides across two lakes and a quater-mile walk between the lakes to get to Oliver Lake, but you save the expense of the floatplane ride, the cost of which is skyrocketing with higher fuel prices.

Like some other lodges, Oliver Lake offers a "light housekeeping" option, which costs much less than the "full plan" i.e. three full meals served per day. If you take the light housekeeping option, which we did this year, you have to bring a week's supply of food, including supplies for shore lunch. You cook your own breakfast and dinner, but your guide cooks shore lunch with the supplies you provide.

Last year, we did the full plan. The food was delightful, but frankly, I didn't need three big meals every day. This year, we had a light breakfast, which made sure we were famished when the gourmet shore lunch came around. After showing little restraint at lunch, we were so full we didn't need to prepare a big supper.

If you decide to try the light housekeeping, be sure to ask the lodge for a specific list of supplies you need for shore lunch, such as what type of cooking oil or foil and how much.

So, that's the story of Oliver Lake. Obviously, it's more than the fishing story. It's the scenic setting, the friendly folks, and the incredibly large, naturally functioning environment that makes a long drive and the price tag well worth it.

For a chronology of my articles on fishing the north country of Saskatchewan, click here. [End of article]