Tobin?!

[Lowrance Fishburn]

Hey guys, headed to Tobin lake next week, finally. Going after walleye and hoping to top my personal best - 8 lbs even. Never fished Tobin before, but have been trying to gather intel. Any tips or advice from members whom have fished there before? I've got a copy of the lake map and the designated "fishing spots" marked with an "x" but who knows how accurate those are. Any techniques or lures/baits that work particularly well? really, REALLY wanting to crack the 10 lb mark. Any advice would be appreciated here fella's

Cheers

[cube]

Hey guys, headed to Tobin lake next week, finally. Going after walleye and hoping to top my personal best - 8 lbs even. Never fished Tobin before, but have been trying to gather intel. Any tips or advice from members whom have fished there before? I've got a copy of the lake map and the designated "fishing spots" marked with an "x" but who knows how accurate those are. Any techniques or lures/baits that work particularly well? really, REALLY wanting to crack the 10 lb mark. Any advice would be appreciated here fella's

Cheers

The map is pretty accurate and you will also see boats on the spots as well. You of course will have to find the spot on the spot your self as given with any river these things change.

The locals are more than willing to help out. They are truly great that way.

Be careful with the shallow area`s if you are not used to navigating rivers. They do have some markers to help navigate by and after a day or two you will get used to it.

THERE ARE LOTS OF SNAGS YOU WILL LOOSE LURES. I have never lost so many rigs and hooks in my life. Most people will use fairly long lindy type rigs so they wont get snagged to often and if they do will not make them cry if they loose the bit of mono and a snell or two. Some think slinky weights get caught up less but remember you will loose a fair number so if your going to use them make them your self. I would also say bring lots of rig making hooks etc. so you can make your own and also have a bunch pre-tied.

You can use more expensive hooks in the old river canal as it is deeper there and fewer snags are present. (they did not log out the valley before flooding it so there are whole trees down there to get snagged on) speaking of which you must always keep your eyes peeled for trees sticking up in the middle of nowhere. the water could be 40 feet deep and there is a tree sticking up about that. The scary part is most of those trees have Brocken off just at or a little above the water surface so can be hard to see, esp late in the day heading home with the sun in your eyes. This brings up one last point. If you get allot or rain it will wash up allot of black, heavy, water laden, drift logs that float at or just under the surface and hitting these can be quite exciting.

GPS and saving tracks are your friend. We found having the passengers scanning for hazards while I focused on the gps and navigating to be the best method of getting there safe and quick.

The Locals are Friendly and want you to have a good time and come back so they are honestly the most help fishermen I have found.

Good luck and let us know how you made out. (my best walleye there 12 lbs)

[Freedom55]

Stop in and see Steve at Twin Marine - on the river. Lot's of information as the Nipawin Hawks tournament was on this past weekend. Or see their Facebook page.

If you Lindy rig, put a white bead on your leader at the hook and a big fat leech that knows how to swim.

Free

[Lowrance Fishburn]

Thanks for the tips boys, good to hear the locals are friendly and willing to help out. As far as losing a lot of hooks goes, guess thats just the price ya pay in those waters. I tend to do a lot of vertical jigging/current fishing with soft plastics when im in a river body - Hopefully that works, Im not huge into lindy rigging but hey, if thats what works! Will have to watch out for those trees though, good advice!

[THERICARDO]

Can get Jumbo leeches in Choiceland just before u get to lake... Guys been smashing at The flats.. Like previous post said u will see a large number of boats at the hot spots! good luck and have fun

[Lowrance Fishburn]

Can get Jumbo leeches in Choiceland just before u get to lake... Guys been smashing at The flats.. Like previous post said u will see a large number of boats at the hot spots! good luck and have fun

Jumbo's in Choiceland. Thank u!

[dustinjoels]

Are you planning on heading out to the main lake or sticking to the river around the nipewan area?

[Lowrance Fishburn]

We are there for 7 days so I think we are planning a bit of both. Definitely likely to try the river first but I plan to explore as much of the lake as possibly throughout the trip. Any suggestions aside form whats been mentioned?

[deschambault]

I have fished Tobin a few times but always in June, so I'm not certain about mid July but my advice is this - the walleye all tend to relate to the edges of the old river channel. All of the spots where we caught numbers of walleye were river channel edges, the biggest we caught were +- 30" but there are much bigger in there. I am also fairly certain that the big pike will also have gone deep by now, especially with the recent hot weather.

[Sask Bearman]

I was there for a week. Came home last Thursday. We got lots of numbers but only managed a couple of real gooders between 8 and 9 lbs (picks).

[Sask Bearman]

I have fished Tobin a few times but always in June, so I'm not certain about mid July but my advice is this - the walleye all tend to relate to the edges of the old river channel. All of the spots where we caught numbers of walleye were river channel edges, the biggest we caught were +- 30" but there are much bigger in there. I am also fairly certain that the big pike will also have gone deep by now, especially with the recent hot weather.

The water is still pretty cold. 68 to 69.5 degrees last week. We caught lots in 15 to 18 foot range, the jacks won't be deep, 15 to 20 foot.

[dustinjoels]

Trolling crankbaits on the old river channel in the main lake was always my favorite.

[Lowrance Fishburn]

Thanks for the info fella's, i'm sure I will try every technique under the sun. I know mid-summer isn't exactly peak walleye season but i'm going to throw everything but the kitchen sink in that water body until I find my 10+ pounder.

If anyone else has any insight or info/tips on Tobin Lake it's much appreciated.

[Sask Bearman]

I hope to be back there on the 21st. The bite should be pretty decent.