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Outdoors
DESTINATION: BIG SAND LAKE LODGE
The paradise they call Big Sand Lake
Trip to subarctic of northern Manitoba serves up big helpings of daylight, scenery, great fishing ... and good food
By Brad Dokken
Herald Staff Writer
BIG SAND LAKE, MAN. - The calendar says early June, but the ice has been off the lake only four days - early, compared with the last couple of years. Occasional chunks of frozen water still linger along the sandy shorelines. Permafrost lies just 2 feet below the surface. We're a long ways north, much closer to Hudson Bay than Winnipeg.
It's the start of another summer here at Big Sand Lake Lodge, and Cree fishing guide Allan Dumas is revisiting the haunts that have earned this northern Manitoba getaway a reputation for trophy northern pike and lake trout and numbers of walleyes.
We're hoping to add some new stories to that tradition.
Joining me on this trip to Big Sand Lake are Kevin Grinde of East Grand Forks, Allan Monsrud of Badger, Minn., and Bernie Brazier of Greenbush, Minn. While Monsrud and Brazier pair up with guide Lloyd Moose to chase lake trout, Grinde and I decide to mix it up and spend our 41/2 days with Dumas fishing pike and walleyes. If we stumble across a lake trout or two, well, that will be OK, too.
Dumas, an admitted pike fanatic, isn't complaining either.
Head guide at Big Sand Lake Lodge, Dumas, 36, has been probing the nooks and crannies, the rivers, back bays and holes of this 70-mile-long lake for 13 years. From early June until late July, there are no days off for Dumas and the 15 other Cree guides he helps oversee. Or for the cooks, waiters and other staff who make this five-star lodge in the Canadian subarctic run smoothly. They're here to help visitors escape the rat race and - like every living creature in this rugged country - to make the most of a summer season that's all too short. Even in early June, the sun is only below the horizon for a few short hours, and daylight never really loses its hold. Daytime temperatures vary from 45
degrees to 70 degrees.
Subarctic paradise
Located 525 miles north of Winnipeg and accessible only by air, Big Sand Lake Lodge is a wilderness paradise. Ptarmigan and caribou make their homes in this wild country, and visitors sometimes glimpse timber wolves and black bears within a short distance of the lodge.
Long and narrow, Big Sand Lake gets its name from the impressive sand formations, called "eskers," which formed in the wake of retreating glaciers ages ago. The eskers define the landscape, even more than the stilt-like jack pine trees and willows that seem to line every inch of shore.
The runway that provides access to Big Sand sits atop one of those eskers, as does the lodge. A wilderness castle that overlooks the lake, the 5,000-square-foot log building serves as a gathering place for those who visit here, just as the shores of Big Sand Lake have served as a gathering place for the Cree Indians who call this land home.
Members of the Cree Indian community of South Indian Lake, Man., built the lodge in 1987. Every log, every nail, every pane of glass was either flown in or hauled by semi across a rugged "winter road" forged through the 140 miles of bush that separates South Indian Lake from the lodge.
The heavy equipment used to cut the road never went back, and stayed on site to construct the lodge's 3,400-foot gravel runway. Today, Big Sand Lake Lodge, with a staff of about 35 Cree, is South Indian Lake's largest employer.
"We're pretty proud of it," Dumas said. "It's a good feeling to know you're part of a team."
The outdoors life
For Dumas, the outdoors has been a way of life for most of his 36 years. He spoke only Cree until learning English in kindergarten, and he then attended school in South Indian Lake through 10th grade. The community doesn't offer school beyond 10th grade, so Dumas finished his last two years of high school in Cranberry Portage, Man., about 150 miles to the southwest. He spent the next few years working a variety of jobs, all in the North, before joining the Big Sand guiding staff in 1992.
It's a good job, he says, in the way people talk when they get paid for doing what they love.
When he's not guiding, Dumas works to share his passion for the outdoors with youths in South Indian Lake. As part of a community-based recreation program, he takes them hunting and fishing. Out on the land, he says, they learn skills that serve them better than spending time watching TV or playing video games. In the outdoors, they're less apt to get into trouble.
Dumas also spends extra time with rookie guides at the lodge, showing them how to spot fish, identifying treacherous places to avoid and building their confidence. It takes a combination of skills to be a good guide, Dumas says, and he puts communication at the top of the list. There's always more than 70 applicants seeking guiding jobs at the lodge, he says, and each must complete an extensive guide-training course before he's even eligible to apply. The course includes everything from boating basics to orienteering, photography, hunter education and skills for interacting with the guests who visit the lodge.
"You also have to know how to fish, and you have to know how to cook," Dumas said. "You have to learn to read the weather - what the clouds and the wind are doing. If the wind is blowing into a bay, the baitfish will be there, and maybe there'll be a big fish that wants to bite."
Gator Bay
That's what we're hoping when Dumas steers the boat around a back bay of Kitimew Lake, a smaller lake adjacent to Big Sand that's popular among lodge visitors for its pike and walleye fishing. Because of its smaller size, Kitimew Lake warms up faster, and perhaps that means the pike will be more active.
Right after ice out, the pike converge in the warmer water of shallow bays, and Dumas has a knack for seeing them. The big ones are a bit sluggish.
Still, there's reason for anticipation in this particular bay, which Dumas calls "Gator Bay." A panorama of Canadian beauty, the bay has served as backdrop for more than one trophy pike photo over the years, Dumas says, and it's not long before he spots a big one cruising the shallows.
We try to entice the fish with conventional pike tackle, such as spoons and Mepps spinners, but it's not interested. "Tie on your Hundred Dollar Lures," Dumas says.
Coa
xing the bite
A couple of days earlier, Dumas had watched a similar scenario play out in a shallow bay of Big Sand Lake. We could see big fish cruising the shallows, and when heavy tackle didn't do the trick, Dumas suggested Grinde and I downsize the gear to a plain hook tipped with a Berkley "Gulp!" scented tail.
The "Gulp!" quickly lived up to its name, and I landed the biggest pike of my life after some intense maneuvering with my lightweight walleye rod.
At 42 inches, it exceeded the 41-inch minimum required to qualify as trophy fish in Manitoba's Master Angler Program.
All of Big Sand's guides carry Polaroid cameras for such occasions, and Dumas snapped two photos of the fish - one for the trophy board at the lodge and one for me to savor the moment - before releasing the fish.
So, when Dumas ordered us to again break out the Gulp!, we listened.
It worked, and this time in Gator Bay, it was Grinde's turn. It might have been the second cast, or maybe the third, but his walleye rod soon doubled over, and the 6-pound test line screaming from his spinning reel suggested the presence of something big at the other end.
"This is a nice fish," Grinde said.
The powerful fish made several runs as Dumas leaned over the boat with the cradle net he uses to land bigger pike. After a couple of near misses, Dumas got the 421/2-inch pike in the cradle. Thick across the back with distinct yellow spots across its flanks, the pike was as beautiful as it was impressive.
Under a cloudless blue sky, Gator Bay again proved a worthy setting for a trophy fish photo. So much for all the pricey pike tackle we'd bought before the trip.
We left the bay a short time later to catch a few walleyes for shore lunch and soak in some sun on a sandy shoreline. Our lunch of fresh walleye, fried potatoes, beans and "cowboy coffee" brewed over an open fire was just beginning to settle when we returned to Gator Bay for our last stop of the afternoon. It wasn't long before we spotted a fish big enough to make even Dumas gasp. This pike dwarfed the 21/2-incher Grinde had caught earlier.
"There he is, oh my God!" Dumas said, as the massive fish appeared, as if in slow motion, beside the boat. "It's at least 47 inches - maybe more."
The fish showed mild interest, but we couldn't convince it to bite, even with plain hooks and Hundred Dollar Lures. Perhaps our pounding hearts frightened it away. We were almost relieved.
Using the barometer of time, which always flies on good fishing trips, the days at Big Sand Lake Lodge passed much too quickly. The Master Angler pike were highlights, of course, but the action for other fish, at times, was unbelievable, and Grinde and I quit counting the number of walleyes and northern pike we landed. Monsrud and Brazier, meanwhile, each landed Master Angler lake trout - 36 1/2 inches and 37 1/2 inches, respectively - and their guide landed a 43-inch monster that easily weighed more than 40 pounds.
"Theekawi Sakahikan," the Cree proclaimed: "For long as the sun shall shine,there will be fish in these waters."
They were right, there are indeed fish in these waters. Rain or shine.
*For more information on fishing and hunting opportunities at Big Sand Lake Lodge, call (800) 348-5824, check out the Web site at www.bigsandlakelodge.com, or e-mail info@bigsandlakelodge.com.
Dokken reports on the outdoors. Reach him at (701) 780-1148 or (800)477-6572 ext. 148; or bdokken@gfherald.com.
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