SASKATCHEWAN FISHING LODGES

Foster Lake Lodge, Five-Star Dining Spiced with a Little Fishing

By Bill Schneider, video by Gene Colling, 10-15-09

	A Foster Lake pike that fell for a jig, Noel and Trent Brunansky (and Chatwin, the camp dog), master guide Tim Prutton cooking shore lunch, his chowder and bannock, and social hour at the lodge before dinner. Photos by Bill Schneider.

UPDATED NOVEMBER 2, 2010: I am so sad to report that a July forest fire burnt Foster Lake Lodge to the ground. There are no immediate plans to re-built it.--Bill Schneider

After visiting about a dozen fishing lodges in northern Saskatchewan, we’re starting to notice a lot of similarities, especially the fishing and environs, but we had no problem seeing how Foster Lake Lodge stands apart from the rest.

The lodge is located on Middle Foster Lake, which is just another amazingly pristine wilderness lake loaded with lake trout and northern pike, but the only lodge on this sprawling shield lake is like no other fishing camp or resort in the province.

People go to fishing lodges to fish, of course, but to camp managers Trent and Noel Brunansky, the terrific fishing on Middle Foster Lake is only part of the experience, perhaps not even the best part, and definitely not the only reason people go there. And go back! Almost all of Foster Lake Lodge’s guests are repeat customers.

“You can go anywhere and catch fish,” Trent answered my standard what’s-different-about-your-lodge question. “Here, it’s the personal touch and the food. When people sign our gift book, that’s the first thing they always say. That’s what sets us apart.”

And he isn’t only talking about the morning and evening meals at the lodge, but also the shore lunch, which is close to the best, if not the best, we’ve ever had, with all meals courtesy of head cook extraordinaire Noel. 

“I was so lucky to marry a woman who was such a great cook,” he added.

And I’ll add: That’s an understatement. I’d say she could wear one of those fancy white chef hats at any five-star restaurant in North America.

Foster Lake Lodge, again unlike most others, doesn’t even offer a light-housekeeping or cook-it-yourself option. The five comfy cabins don’t have kitchenettes because the lodge was designed for a full-service meal plan from the beginning, which was 27 years ago when Trent and Noel bought the lease and built the lodge themselves.

I’m always wondering how these remote lodges even get built when accessible only by floatplane. In this case, Trent kept us entertained with blow-by-blow stories of the challenging job of building the lodge. Many lodges can bring building materials in by boat or over the snow and ice in winter, but at Foster Lake, it all had to be flown in. Trent actually had a DC-3 with wheels and loaded heavy with building materials land on the winter ice, twice. He must’ve been quite the salesman to convince a pilot to try it.

Trent had a vision from the get-go and stuck with it--to provide a more relaxed wilderness experience. Or as he puts it: “We have a more leisurely pace here.”

He brings fresh coffee and tea around to the cabins at about 7 am. Breakfast is 7:30-8 am, and fishing usually doesn’t start until 9-9:30 am, at least an hour later than most lodges.

Shore lunch often takes 1.5 to 2 hours--and worth every minute of it. Then, the local native guides bring the anglers back to the lodge about 4:30-5 pm. After a social hour and complimentary drinks (most lodges charge extra for drinks), Noel serves dinner about 6:30 pm, and it lasts until about 8 pm, again worth every minute of it.

Noel runs a five-night dinner rotation--Canadian, English, Hungarian, what she calls “Thanksgiving” and either Italian or German “nights.” The lodge usually operates on a five-day schedule, so most guests get to enjoy all of her special nights. Regrettably, we only had a chance at three, but that makes me want to go back for the two I missed.

On Hungarian Night, for example, we started with fresh cabbage roll appetizer, followed by the entrée of Transylvania paprika chicken with homemade noodles, and topped a sweet tart dessert filled with custard and glazed with apricots and toasted almonds, all finished off with a dash of Hungarian pear brandy. Get the picture?

Besides flying in a lot of fresh vegetables from her garden back home, Noel insists on using only the very best cuts of meat and always adds that unexpected touch like her award-winning Saskatoon berry jam.

And, yep, it’s all deadly scrumptious, so be forewarned; you might need a little diet when you get home.

Another difference I noted was the elevated sense of responsibility for the delicate wilderness resource. When somebody get a commercial lease for a lodge and exclusive fishing rights to certain waters, they also take on a de facto responsibility to care for that resource. Trent clearly takes this very seriously. He was, for example, one of the first camp managers to push for catch-and-release fishing, which was a cultural sea change for anglers used to flying on coolers stuffed with fillets. Now, the provincial government classes Middle Foster Lake as “CR3,” which means anglers must use barbless hooks and all fish must be carefully released except a maximum of one per angler per day for shore lunch.

Trent also runs the lodge completely on solar and wind power, with a small backup generator just in case he needs to charge up the batteries. So, leave your laptop, electric razor and hair dryer home--no outlets in the cabins. Trent also flies out his garbage instead of burying or burning it. And in case you noticed, I don’t have a good photo of the lodge because Trent likes to preserve the natural vegetation around the buildings so it blends in with its environment.

I’ve already written a lot about shore lunch (click here), but I have to do it again because Foster Lake Lodge does such a superb job at it. Many lodges have stayed with the traditional deep-fry every day, but Foster Lake only does that about once each week. On the other days they have fish chowder, grilled and marinated pike, or a Chinese-style creation that, sadly, we missed because we had to catch a floatplane. On some days, the guides also cooked Bannock, a tasty quick bread, and Noel always added a yummy brownie or cookie for dessert.

Head guide Tim Prutton fillets the fish in the boat before heading for the lunch spot, so he doesn’t have to waste time doing it on shore. Other innovations include cutting up the spuds in advance, boiling the side dishes in their cans instead of setting them directly on the fire, using real plates and cups (less garbage and waste), and my favorite, a special “wilderness tea,” cooked up with every shore lunch. Sorry, no coffee. About time we tea drinkers had our day, eh?

Anybody who fishes the shield lakes of Saskatchewan knows that traditionally, two months, June and September, offer the best fishing. This means July and August are slower months for most lodges, but unlike others, Trent had a simple plan to deal with it. Back in 1999, after his accountant told him he wasn’t making any money in July and August, he decided not to open the lodge on those months. Not only is Foster Lake Lodge small and quaint (ten guests maximum, two per cabin), it’s only open June and September.

As you can easily surmise, this very light pressure from the only lodge on a huge shield lake, combined with catch-and-release fishing, puts very little pressure on the fishery, so no surprise, the fishing stays terrific.

“People come here to fish, of course, but also to experience the wilderness,” Trent said. “We have a passion for doing things right and for making sure our customers are pleased. We do this because we enjoy it. We don’t have to do it to make a living.”

I guess that says it all.

Footnote: For more on traveling and fishing in Saskatchewan, click here.

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