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Fishing Parkland Shorelines - Finding a new spot at Welwyn Lake

Welcome to Week CLXIX of ‘Fishing Parkland Shorelines’. Like most of us I am a novice fisherman, loving to fish, but far from an expert.

Welcome to Week CLXIX of ‘Fishing Parkland Shorelines’. Like most of us I am a novice fisherman, loving to fish, but far from an expert. In the following weeks I’ll attempt to give those anglers who love to fish but just don’t have access to a boat, a look at some of the options in the Yorkton area where you can fish from shore, and hopefully catch some fish.

This weekly excursion into all things fishing has been running for a while now, so it might be expected that most of the places within reasonable driving distance of Yorkton that a lure can be tossed from shore into water with fish have been touched upon.

But that might never be the case.

There always seems to be new lakes to search out, or new spots on long-fished waters that someone finally divulges the secret to finding.

It was one of those new lakes I went in search of recently.

In this case it wasn’t that I had been unaware of Welwyn Lake, it had come up in conversation a few times, but the amount of information on the waters was pretty scant.

I gathered it was not a large body of water, and that while there were fish, it never garnered much of a reputation, at least among those I had spoken too, as far as a ‘fishing hole’.

But there is something about trying new water which has always interested me, and since starting this weekly endeavour it’s almost part of my mandate now.

In the case of this trip it came up when I found out I’d be heading to Rocanville for a little survey work for another of my passions disc golf.

Anytime you can combine hobbies into a single trip it’s a good thing, and when it’s two interests which hold nothing in common, well it’s simply a stroke of uncanny luck.

For this trip I gathered the better half, and friends Audrey and Rob and headed out.

Getting to Rocanville was easy.

Now I could write half a newspaper on our search for the area I was to look at regarding disc golf, it was a drive here, stop ask directions, drive more, ask for new directions, drive again, back to town for a third set of directions sort of tale, but not exactly related to fishing. Let’s just say the spot was found, and it made me quite happy with possibilities.

As for finding Welwyn Lake, that was easy.

But wait I should add we decided lunch might be a good idea before fishing. We found a restaurant and had a very good Chinese lunch. The New Fortune Inn is recommended.

However, in our time at the restaurant the proprietor asked what we were doing in Rocanville (in a small town visitors stand out so it was obvious we were visitors). When we mentioned fishing at Welwyn Lake he grinned, called it a lagoon, and headed to the kitchen.

It was not a particularly encouraging comment, but we were too close to turn back.

The road to the Welwyn Regional Park is pretty well signed from Rocanville, although right at the tiny community of Welwyn the sign is small enough we zoomed past and had to flip around at the next approach.

The park itself might best be described as cozy.

The area is well-maintained, and while there were a number of campers, it was not full, so it’s likely there would often be spots available. There weren’t a lot of amenities in terms of things to do, although there was a playground area for youngsters, but it was the kind of place those wanting just to get away and breath some fresh air, roast some weiners over an open fire, and read a good book or two would be quite content.

After the little tour we headed for the lake, the word ‘lagoon’ stuck in our collective minds, unsure what lay around the curve.

Our fears proved to have been false. Welwyn Lake is not large, but it is rather picturesque, nestled as it is in a little valley, the walls extending up from its far shore.

There is a boat launch, a dock for fisherman, and swimming area.

As for shore fishing there is some 300-feet of shore accessible to shore fishing, some of that having sure weeds to cast over, but still manageable.

Now it was the first week of August, and it was a small lake, so I was expecting to fight weeds with every cast.

That was not the case though. It was in fact almost completely weed free.

I did snag on a rock once, donating a feathered lead head to the water, but that was it in terms of obstructions.

I sat in a lawn chair and cast easily in one of the nicest shore fishing spots in the region.

Now a source had said Welwyn Lake had pike and walleye, standard fare locally, and while a few surface flops suggested there were fish, I came up empty. My three trail partners spent their time simply soaking up the sun, which might have scared the fish away as Rob did take off his shirt (not a pretty sight I assure), so they were no help in trying to catch a fish.

I didn’t exhaust hours in the attempt, knowing an afternoon in August is about as non-prime fishing time as possible, but the spot is one I do want to return to. I think a late fall trip, or an early in the new year visit might well yield a few fish, and if not, it’s still a pretty spot to cast a few.