One of Canada's most recognized anglers had high praise for the bass fishing in the Boundary Dam Reservoir.
Pete Bowman, the host of Fish'n Canada was in the area over the weekend taping an episode of the long running show.
Although he was admittedly skeptical at first, Bowman said the quality of bass fishing was incredible and that he and his crew were having a great time taping the show.
"When I first heard about large mouth bass in Saskatchewan, I said 'what, are you kidding me?'" Bowman said in an interview with The Mercury Saturday during the 2012 Beach Bash event held on the Boundary Dam beach. "When we first got on here we looked out, saw the dirty water, the high water temperature, we thought this is going to be hard.
"But you know what, in the last two days we have had some of the most phenomenal largemouth fishing we've ever had. It's that good."
Bowman added if he were to rate Boundary in comparison to all the other areas where he has fished for largemouth bass, he would give it either an eight or a nine and that was after just two days of fishing.
"It's a phenomenal fishery, it really is. We've got them up to close to five pounds. The key is to get those fish that are close to four pounds and up. We have caught a lot of them. If we've caught that many in two days then we know there are some giants in here."
A member of the Canadian Angler Hall of Fame, Bowman said the warm water on Boundary is likely responsible for the quality bass fishing. He noted that unlike in most cold water lakes which freeze over in the winter, the bass in Boundary have a much longer growing season.
Despite the high praise the bass fishing in Boundary Dam draws from Bowman and other top anglers who come to the area, the fish remains down the list in terms of popularity when compared to other species found in the reservoir. Bowman said he wasn't surprised to learn as many people don't like to go after a particular fish when they are allowed to keep just one per day.
"A lot of people say 'I don't want to fish if I'm not going to keep the fish,'" he said. "If you just get rid of that mind frame and say I am going to bring a new species into my life, living in this area especially, you've got a fantastic, one of the top lakes in the country for largemouth bass here, it's just that people have to start thinking that way."
Although he is not quite a household name, Bowman is a familiar face to fishing enthusiasts from throughout Canada. A native of Oshawa, Bowman has been involved with Fish'n Canada for over 20 of the show's 25 years. After being involved with the show part-time in the beginning, he eventually worked his into a full-time role.
"It's a pretty cool job," said Bowman, who noted his work on the show has opened the doors to a series of incredible experiences.
"We have fished tuna two times over the last two years on the east coast and the biggest one was over 900 pounds. How often do you get a chance to catch a 900-pound tuna? We came here to Saskatchewan last year and caught pike about 25 pounds. We are going to B.C. later this year for halibut and salmon and sturgeon. It's kind of a dream job, to say the least."
Asked for his favourite fishing experience, Bowman said landing a 440-pound shark off the coast of New Brunswick rates high, but it was a trip down the Amazon River that stands out for him.
"That was pretty well the bomb right there, it was pretty cool," he said. "We caught bass, Amazon catfish, thousands of piranha and all these species we had never even heard of. That was a cool trip; we went to a village where I don't know if they knew what Canadians were.
"We have seen the fishing world and it's pretty cool."
