Fly Fishing For Trophy Pike: Phelps Lake

The Canadian wilderness is a place where you can still experience untouched pike fishing – a unique and compelling escape for those who dream of catching a veritable trophy pike.

- Rasmus Ovesen

If there is a carbon-dioxide hell, that’s probably where I’ll be going after this trip. I have already covered three flights in order to get to the city of Saskatoon in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Early tomorrow morning, another three flights await before I’m ready for the final leg of the journey: a flight that departs from the barren outpost of Stony Rapids in the northwestern corner of Saskatchewan, and one that involves an old de Havilland Turbo Otter hydroplane – a Canadian-manufactured plane that had its heyday in the post-World War II era. After two days of arduous travelling, the propeller-driven air freighter will touch down on Phelps Lake’s vast surface and moor at Wolf Bay Lodge in the middle of the Canadian wilderness.

On our way, out of the dead airspace above Saskatchewan, I can see how we’re slowly transcending the realm of civilisation and disappearing into what appears to be a massive void way beyond. Symmetrical and lush green pastures, neatly outlined by fences and bordering gravel roads, are gradually relieved by vast woodlands, the monotony of which is only broken sporadically by the flickering waters of ancient, glacial lakes and quietly meandering rivers. Once on the hydroplane with a course set for Phelps Lake, there is nothing but wilderness as far as the eye can see.

THE PIKE HUNT IS ON!