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Welcome to The Complete Angler, your source of information on the outdoor industry in Central Canada.
With over 35 years in the field, host Don Lamont covers topics and issues with industry leaders and influencers to bring you up to speed on what’s happening in the outdoor world.
And now, here is your host, Don Lamont.
Ralph Smart has been a hardcore angler all his life.
His grandfather took him fishing every opportunity he could while growing up on the family farm near Waskada, Manitoba.
This passion turned into a lifelong pursuit as he traveled across Manitoba and Saskatchewan to fish.
Ralph recently bought a guiding license on Rafferty Reservoir.
In order to support this business, he purchased a store at Main Prize Park.
It’s located in the regional park, halfway between Estevan and Weyburn.
He and his family run the Damstar, which has fuel, fishing supplies, groceries, and the best soft ice cream in southern Saskatchewan.
Ralph, welcome to The Complete Angler Podcast.
Great to have you on.
Yeah, thanks so much, Don.
Glad to see you again.
Well, I understand you just got off the water.
How are things on the Rafferty Reservoir today?
Today is dead calm out here, which is kind of a rarity for the prairies, but sunny and warm.
No, that’s great.
Well, we got a chance to fish together recently.
Kevin Stovey, the publisher of Hooked Magazine and myself, came out for a little visit.
And I must admit, Ralph, we had an absolute great time.
Now, I hadn’t fished Rafferty since 1997 when I did a couple of TV shows and then the old Complete Angler days.
But I couldn’t believe how healthy and how many fish are in this reservoir right now.
Yeah, we’ve seen a huge influx of walleyes here the last few years.
I attribute that to our lake maturing.
Now that the lake’s getting, you know, 25, 30 years old, we have weed growth in the lake now.
And we have weeds right out to 14 feet for 32 miles down each side.
And it’s just full of habitat for the fish now.
Well, it sure showed when we, our hottest spot when we fished together was a nice sandbar with a little bit of scattered weed
and fresh green cabbage and eelgrass and the walleyes were just in there feeding heavily on minnows.
Yeah, we can see them coming right to the surface, the minnows.
There’s so many in there right now.
And, yeah, it’s made for some fantastic fishing here.
Now, you’ve, like many other places in Western Canada, have had a real increase in water levels
because of all the water we’ve got this year.
Has that helped?
Immensely.
Our lake, I figured last year, was down 7 1⁄2 feet from normal,
which really showed on the shorelines and the structure that was normally underwater.
So, this year from all the big rain, not from snowfall, but from rain, we’re up 4 1⁄2.
And we’ve even come up probably 6 inches since you were here just a week ago.
So, yeah, it’s a positive for sure.
Now, this business of yours, your guiding business called Prairie Pro Outfitters,
you’ve only had this, what, in the last year?
Ralph, when did this all start?
Yeah, there’s only one guiding rights for the lake,
and I purchased those from the previous owner January of 21.
So, I operated last year.
Not a whole lot of clients, but, you know, building and building.
And then this year, it’s been full-time.
Yeah, busy, busy.
Well, that’s good.
The word is out, obviously, that you know what you’re doing.
Now, you’re not a rookie at this game.
You’ve been fishing tournaments for many years, I understand.
Yeah, tournaments here, Manitoba, in the States.
Pine Falls up in your part of the world, a little bit.
And Rafferty has two tournaments now, and I participated in them for the last number of years.
But that just attributed to a lot of my drive to get into the guiding business.
Okay.
But how does a farm boy from Wiskata, Manitoba, fall in love with fishing?
I want to know that one.
Well, I had a grandfather that loved to fish, and a father that loved to fish.
And I was one of his few nephews that loved to take fishing.
So, I got to go every chance I could.
And, yeah, I just fell in love at a young age.
And I was fortunate enough to be in waters down here in southern Manitoba, you know, Oak Lake, Pelican Lake, Lake of the Prairies.
We fished out a lot as a kid.
And, yeah, I just fell in love with fishing.
Well, that’s great.
Now, how long did you farm in Wiskata?
I grew up there, farmed myself, 26 years, 26 crop years.
And then we sold that, like, 18 years ago and moved to Estevan, Saskatchewan.
Okay.
Yeah.
So, how are you enjoying Estevan?
Well, it was a booming place when we got there.
Oil was through the roof, you know, and everything was a bustle, bustle.
And it slowed down to what people call the new normal now.
But the lake, you know, for this busy end area doesn’t get utilized very much.
Rafferty Reservoir, like you saw when you were out there, very few boats out there, maybe a dozen boats all day.
And, yeah, it’s just a very unutilized body of water.
Well, I think a lot of people don’t realize how good a fishery it is.
Of course, there’s a lot of competition in that part of the world.
You’ve got a fantastic lake in Last Mountain that’s north of Regina.
So, I’m sure a lot of people from that part of the world go north rather than south.
But, you know, you’re right in between two pretty big towns of Weyburn and Estevan.
So, you know, but there’s also lots of other good water around there, too.
Like Alameda, I understand, is a pretty good fishery.
And so there’s lots of places to adventure down in southern Saskatchewan, isn’t there?
You bet.
We’re kind of known for a numbers lake here.
We do have trophy fish, you know, perch, walleye, and pike.
And we’re only, where I’m sitting right now, I’m only eight miles from the U.S. border.
So, it’s an extremely easy transmute, you know, for them to come up here, whether from North Dakota, Montana.
And instead of having to, you know, drive so many miles north, we get into the exact same fishing we have right here.
Yeah, no kidding.
That’s an excellent point that people need to know that.
And I know that you’ve been trying to get the word out.
In fact, Rogers sent me a roaming notice that you’re that close to the border, so.
Yeah, no, we’re, yeah, no, I get it every day, saying you’re in the, out of the Sastell area, so.
Well, you’re not just an angler.
When we were together, you were telling me stories about your baseball career.
How did you get into hardball?
Well, Skata always had a very good men’s hardball league in that area with Boise Vane, Deloraine, Maletta, you know, in that southwest corner.
Very competitive.
Of course, there was lots of us farm boys around back then.
Yeah.
And throwing a bunch of school teachers, you know, that like to play baseball.
And baseball in Manitoba was unreal back in those days.
So we stuck together for a lot of years and played a lot of ball and, you know, provincials, Brandon, a lot in Winnipeg, Morden, Winkler.
So traveled the whole province, but now that I live in Saskatchewan, I also play with Team Saskatchewan quite a bit and get to travel all over, you know, Western Canada and meet new people.
That’s the biggest thing.
And you were also on Team Canada for two years, were you not?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We traveled down to Phoenix and played tournaments there and a little bit in Vegas, too, with a team out of Seattle.
So, yeah, if I can avoid injuries long enough, fishing’s a little less impact on the body, but, yeah, I totally enjoy being outside.
Oh, yeah, and a little bit of golf with you.
That’s the first time in a lot of years.
Well, yeah, and he hasn’t golfed in 12 years and he shoots 91.
I’d say that’s pretty darn good.
But speaking of hard on the body, all those years in a tiller and banging my back, I got a little arthritis down my spine.
But other than that, I’m holding together pretty good.
Let’s talk a little bit about your guiding business, because I was totally impressed with the kind of equipment you got.
You’re 21-foot nitro.
You’ve got a, was it a 20-foot Ranger?
Yeah, 21, yeah, 621 Ranger, yeah, we just purchased.
Yeah, both those boats have 300 Beratos on them and are fully loaded with new electronics.
Kind of my tournament boats.
And just today and yesterday I was out, I have a 24-foot Tri-Tune newer boat with a 150 on it.
And that’s mainly for family groups, you know, or groups over four.
And with electronics and electric trolling motor on it, it handles wonderfully out on the water.
Yeah, that’s a lot of fun.
You can take families out.
There’s a washroom on board.
And, oh yeah, it’s fun fishing out of a pontoon boat and quite relaxing as well.
Yep, that’s what everybody just pointed out yesterday.
And just before I was on air with you, I just got a text from the family saying how much they enjoyed the day.
And it was bright and sunny too, so we have a bimini top on it, you know, to get out of the sun and a little bit of shade.
And no, it’s just a great time.
So if people want to come and fish with you for more than one day, is there accommodation in Maine Price Park?
There is.
There’s the Burntwood Cabins.
There’s nine cabins there for rent.
And if you look up under Maine Price Park, you’ll see them listed on there.
Just click on their link and it’ll take you right to how you can book with them.
And they’re not, usually they have openings, you know, during the weeks.
Weekends can be a little bit questionable whether they’re open or not, but it’s pretty quiet out here.
Since COVID had hit, you know, and it’s starting to lean out, it’s getting better, but all the tourism has really taken a hit because of it.
But they’re good accommodations and they’re right beside my store and right beside the marina here.
Yeah, we stayed in one of the cabins when we came out there and they must have the most comfortable beds I’ve slept in in a long time.
They’ve redone them.
They’re really nice.
Yeah, it works out really good for us here.
So you ended up buying the store and there’s a funny story behind the name of it.
Maybe you could tell us about that.
Yeah, we call it the Dam Store.
Of course, this is Rafferty Dam that we’re sitting on, or Reservoir, we call it the Dam, but I was trying to get a business name for it.
We just purchased this store last year, it was our first year of operation.
So, of course, you have to have a registered business name and I applied all these names I sent in and none were accepted.
They were, oh, too close and sounding to what other stores were.
So finally, the lady, I said to her, I said, oh, the Dam Store anyway.
And she goes, oh, well, you can have that name.
So there it went, the Dam Store.
Oh, that’s great.
And at the store, you’ve, you know, you’ve got basics, you’ve got bait, and you understand you’ve got some really good ice cream, too.
We sell the best soft ice cream here in southern Saskatchewan.
It costs us a lot more.
Actually, we’ve had people come in and say it’s too creamy.
So, whatever that means.
But, yeah, we try to carry a little bit of everything.
We’ve got the gas here, bait and tackle.
We try to sell these jigs.
There’s a young boy, one of the students, my wife’s principal at one of the elementary schools in Estevan.
So we sell a line of his jigs here and the plastics that he pours and try to promote it.
It’s a pretty good little deal for him.
And it’s really taken off for him.
I use a lot of his jigs.
Oh, good.
Yeah, and it’s a family business, too.
Your son, Nate, he’s going to help you guide as well, right?
And your wife, Michelle, runs the store, even though she’s a principal in the summertime.
You’re making her work.
How does she like that?
He’s sitting right here, so if a shoe comes flying, I better watch what I say.
Yeah, no, it’s been entertaining.
We’ve met a lot of new people.
We’ve learned a lot.
We’ve more or less purchased it for Nate, our son, who’s 23, to own and operate it eventually.
And he’s an avid angler, accomplished angler.
He’s done well in tournaments.
He just won our local tournament here on the water here two months ago.
And he generally runs that big Ranger, 621 Ranger, that’s loaded with the 300 on it.
And yeah, between us, we’ve got lots of boats, lots of supplies.
We’re just ready to show people what we can show us here in the southern body of water.
And you have some pretty aggressive plans for the future.
You were talking about maybe getting a houseboat on the water?
Yeah, we do.
Actually, we purchased one.
Hopefully, here in the next two weeks, we’ll have it out here situated and get it up and going.
Get all our paperwork done for all our liability and everything else.
And when we do, we’ll let you guys know.
And it’ll be posted on my webpage at that time, too.
Oh, that’s great.
Yeah, that would be an awesome adventure.
Park in one of the many arms on the reservoir and away you go.
Yep.
Yep, for sure.
Yeah, that’d be a lot of fun.
So, what else does the future hold?
Well, we’re looking into ice fishing a little bit more.
It’s unreal fishing on here.
Ice fishing, you know, as anything, can be pretty tough in the wintertime.
But it is good early ice and late ice.
So, we’re going to venture more into that as far as trying to get, like, ice castles or, you know, top-end accommodations.
We do offer day trips right now for ice fishing.
This lake has unreal perch in it.
Like, they call it the Church of Perch.
Yep, they’re really tough to catch.
And summertime, they’re very few caught.
It’s just, but if you drop a camera down, it’s just loaded with huge perch in this lake.
But you just got to figure out with everybody else on how to catch them.
Well, judging by all the bait that I saw when I was there, Ralph, it’s probably just an abundance of forage.
These things are probably stuffed full of food.
Yep.
Makes it a little bit tougher, that’s for sure.
If I was to come out there and wanted to catch a trophy fish or have a better jet, tell me peak times of the year that you would consider open water.
Our season opens here, Don, May 5th, which I believe is a week or 10 days earlier than you guys.
Most water, something like that.
And being so southern Saskatchewan, our, you know, our lakes open up a little earlier too, but we fish tournaments here on this lake.
We fish the back bays, two to four feet of water, and we catch an unreal amount of trophy fish, whether it’s pike, you know, or walleye.
Throwing shallow crankbaits or tossing little, like, plow sticks like we were.
And that’s really our trophy time.
Late October is always trophy time here too, off the points.
We’re catching them then.
Winter time, we’ve done really well on giant pike in here on tip-ups.
And that’s my big promotion, this huge pike on tip-ups.
But no, May through the first half of June is really your trophy time on this lake.
You do a lot of work with you.
So when I was there, I saw you working with all these young kids and tying jigs on for them, telling them how to jig properly, just working with them.
Now, you also have a program out of Estevan, do you not?
Yeah, we do.
It’s part of the Wildlife Federation out of Estevan, and they run a summer kid camp there, kids camp.
75 youth.
I believe you have to be, I think it’s 16 and under, I believe, yeah.
Okay.
Well, it allows about, like, 80 kids.
And it’s all set up with a big shop, and they have their outdoor facility.
There’s camping there, and the kids learn archery, shooting shotguns, skate, paintball.
I do the fishing part of it.
I take my pontoon boat for a couple days and have the kids out on the water.
Now, this is on Boundary Reservoir, which is just south of Estevan.
And it has unreal fishing, too.
It’s a hot water discharge lake from one of the coal mines.
And, yeah, the kids just have a ball there.
They learn everything from woodcraft to, boy, the sky’s the limit.
It’s really, very well organized.
But my passion is teaching these young kids who’ve never held a fishing rod before, you know, how to jig up fish.
And, yeah, I look forward to it more than anything all year.
I could tell how you work with these young kids.
It’s just great to see you, Ralph.
And you wear many hats.
You’re also quite involved in trying to promote the area through Tourism Estevan, right?
Yeah.
Yep, I am.
Yeah.
City of Estevan, Tourism Estevan have helped me out immensely.
And just trying to get them up and going.
They don’t receive as much tourism or they don’t push this body of water as much as they should.
Even though it’s only really virtually five miles from Estevan, the south end of this reservoir.
So I’ve been on advisory for them.
I’m trying to get them on board, trying to get more involvement with them.
Well, that’s great.
Ralph, you came up and introduced yourself at the Yorkton Outdoor Show this spring.
And I’m glad you did because it’s great that you’re promoting this part of the world and the great fisheries that exist down here.
So kudos to you.
Yeah, no, it was a super thrill for me to have you in your boat, Don.
I watched you on TV many, many years and admired what you did and how you did it.
And wished I could have been on your boat many of those days you were out there enjoying yourself.
And I learned a lot from you, too, over the years.
So not just through angling, you know, and how fisheries can be promoted and the joy that, you know, like you said, the joy was in the catching, not the keeping.
So I try to promote that every time I have people out.
Well, that’s great, Ralph.
I really appreciate all the work that you’re doing and coming on the podcast.
And good luck to you, Michelle and Nate, with your business.
Yeah, well, thank you very much, Don, and thanks for the invite.
And if anybody wants to look me up, I guess they can see my ad in your Hooked magazine and under Prairie Pro Outfitters.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Why don’t you give us your contact information just verbally here before we let you go?
Yeah, I have a new website up.
You can phone me on there, but all my pictures, all my information, what we offer.
And even if you have specialty requests as far as, like, say, wheelchair access to our pontoon boats or anything, I’d be more than glad to talk to you about it.
My phone number’s on there, 306-461-8353, and it’s on there.
And any questions on the Dam store, it’s also on there and under Main Prize Park.
All right.
Sounds great.
Thanks again, Ralph.
Yeah, thank you, Don.
Take care.
Thanks for tuning in.
Visit hookedmagazine.com to subscribe to The Complete Angler and never miss an episode.
With over 35 years in the field, host Don Lamont covers topics and issues with industry leaders and influencers to bring you up to speed on what’s happening in the outdoor world.
And now, here is your host, Don Lamont.
Ralph Smart has been a hardcore angler all his life.
His grandfather took him fishing every opportunity he could while growing up on the family farm near Waskada, Manitoba.
This passion turned into a lifelong pursuit as he traveled across Manitoba and Saskatchewan to fish.
Ralph recently bought a guiding license on Rafferty Reservoir.
In order to support this business, he purchased a store at Main Prize Park.
It’s located in the regional park, halfway between Estevan and Weyburn.
He and his family run the Damstar, which has fuel, fishing supplies, groceries, and the best soft ice cream in southern Saskatchewan.
Ralph, welcome to The Complete Angler Podcast.
Great to have you on.
Yeah, thanks so much, Don.
Glad to see you again.
Well, I understand you just got off the water.
How are things on the Rafferty Reservoir today?
Today is dead calm out here, which is kind of a rarity for the prairies, but sunny and warm.
No, that’s great.
Well, we got a chance to fish together recently.
Kevin Stovey, the publisher of Hooked Magazine and myself, came out for a little visit.
And I must admit, Ralph, we had an absolute great time.
Now, I hadn’t fished Rafferty since 1997 when I did a couple of TV shows and then the old Complete Angler days.
But I couldn’t believe how healthy and how many fish are in this reservoir right now.
Yeah, we’ve seen a huge influx of walleyes here the last few years.
I attribute that to our lake maturing.
Now that the lake’s getting, you know, 25, 30 years old, we have weed growth in the lake now.
And we have weeds right out to 14 feet for 32 miles down each side.
And it’s just full of habitat for the fish now.
Well, it sure showed when we, our hottest spot when we fished together was a nice sandbar with a little bit of scattered weed
and fresh green cabbage and eelgrass and the walleyes were just in there feeding heavily on minnows.
Yeah, we can see them coming right to the surface, the minnows.
There’s so many in there right now.
And, yeah, it’s made for some fantastic fishing here.
Now, you’ve, like many other places in Western Canada, have had a real increase in water levels
because of all the water we’ve got this year.
Has that helped?
Immensely.
Our lake, I figured last year, was down 7 1⁄2 feet from normal,
which really showed on the shorelines and the structure that was normally underwater.
So, this year from all the big rain, not from snowfall, but from rain, we’re up 4 1⁄2.
And we’ve even come up probably 6 inches since you were here just a week ago.
So, yeah, it’s a positive for sure.
Now, this business of yours, your guiding business called Prairie Pro Outfitters,
you’ve only had this, what, in the last year?
Ralph, when did this all start?
Yeah, there’s only one guiding rights for the lake,
and I purchased those from the previous owner January of 21.
So, I operated last year.
Not a whole lot of clients, but, you know, building and building.
And then this year, it’s been full-time.
Yeah, busy, busy.
Well, that’s good.
The word is out, obviously, that you know what you’re doing.
Now, you’re not a rookie at this game.
You’ve been fishing tournaments for many years, I understand.
Yeah, tournaments here, Manitoba, in the States.
Pine Falls up in your part of the world, a little bit.
And Rafferty has two tournaments now, and I participated in them for the last number of years.
But that just attributed to a lot of my drive to get into the guiding business.
Okay.
But how does a farm boy from Wiskata, Manitoba, fall in love with fishing?
I want to know that one.
Well, I had a grandfather that loved to fish, and a father that loved to fish.
And I was one of his few nephews that loved to take fishing.
So, I got to go every chance I could.
And, yeah, I just fell in love at a young age.
And I was fortunate enough to be in waters down here in southern Manitoba, you know, Oak Lake, Pelican Lake, Lake of the Prairies.
We fished out a lot as a kid.
And, yeah, I just fell in love with fishing.
Well, that’s great.
Now, how long did you farm in Wiskata?
I grew up there, farmed myself, 26 years, 26 crop years.
And then we sold that, like, 18 years ago and moved to Estevan, Saskatchewan.
Okay.
Yeah.
So, how are you enjoying Estevan?
Well, it was a booming place when we got there.
Oil was through the roof, you know, and everything was a bustle, bustle.
And it slowed down to what people call the new normal now.
But the lake, you know, for this busy end area doesn’t get utilized very much.
Rafferty Reservoir, like you saw when you were out there, very few boats out there, maybe a dozen boats all day.
And, yeah, it’s just a very unutilized body of water.
Well, I think a lot of people don’t realize how good a fishery it is.
Of course, there’s a lot of competition in that part of the world.
You’ve got a fantastic lake in Last Mountain that’s north of Regina.
So, I’m sure a lot of people from that part of the world go north rather than south.
But, you know, you’re right in between two pretty big towns of Weyburn and Estevan.
So, you know, but there’s also lots of other good water around there, too.
Like Alameda, I understand, is a pretty good fishery.
And so there’s lots of places to adventure down in southern Saskatchewan, isn’t there?
You bet.
We’re kind of known for a numbers lake here.
We do have trophy fish, you know, perch, walleye, and pike.
And we’re only, where I’m sitting right now, I’m only eight miles from the U.S. border.
So, it’s an extremely easy transmute, you know, for them to come up here, whether from North Dakota, Montana.
And instead of having to, you know, drive so many miles north, we get into the exact same fishing we have right here.
Yeah, no kidding.
That’s an excellent point that people need to know that.
And I know that you’ve been trying to get the word out.
In fact, Rogers sent me a roaming notice that you’re that close to the border, so.
Yeah, no, we’re, yeah, no, I get it every day, saying you’re in the, out of the Sastell area, so.
Well, you’re not just an angler.
When we were together, you were telling me stories about your baseball career.
How did you get into hardball?
Well, Skata always had a very good men’s hardball league in that area with Boise Vane, Deloraine, Maletta, you know, in that southwest corner.
Very competitive.
Of course, there was lots of us farm boys around back then.
Yeah.
And throwing a bunch of school teachers, you know, that like to play baseball.
And baseball in Manitoba was unreal back in those days.
So we stuck together for a lot of years and played a lot of ball and, you know, provincials, Brandon, a lot in Winnipeg, Morden, Winkler.
So traveled the whole province, but now that I live in Saskatchewan, I also play with Team Saskatchewan quite a bit and get to travel all over, you know, Western Canada and meet new people.
That’s the biggest thing.
And you were also on Team Canada for two years, were you not?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We traveled down to Phoenix and played tournaments there and a little bit in Vegas, too, with a team out of Seattle.
So, yeah, if I can avoid injuries long enough, fishing’s a little less impact on the body, but, yeah, I totally enjoy being outside.
Oh, yeah, and a little bit of golf with you.
That’s the first time in a lot of years.
Well, yeah, and he hasn’t golfed in 12 years and he shoots 91.
I’d say that’s pretty darn good.
But speaking of hard on the body, all those years in a tiller and banging my back, I got a little arthritis down my spine.
But other than that, I’m holding together pretty good.
Let’s talk a little bit about your guiding business, because I was totally impressed with the kind of equipment you got.
You’re 21-foot nitro.
You’ve got a, was it a 20-foot Ranger?
Yeah, 21, yeah, 621 Ranger, yeah, we just purchased.
Yeah, both those boats have 300 Beratos on them and are fully loaded with new electronics.
Kind of my tournament boats.
And just today and yesterday I was out, I have a 24-foot Tri-Tune newer boat with a 150 on it.
And that’s mainly for family groups, you know, or groups over four.
And with electronics and electric trolling motor on it, it handles wonderfully out on the water.
Yeah, that’s a lot of fun.
You can take families out.
There’s a washroom on board.
And, oh yeah, it’s fun fishing out of a pontoon boat and quite relaxing as well.
Yep, that’s what everybody just pointed out yesterday.
And just before I was on air with you, I just got a text from the family saying how much they enjoyed the day.
And it was bright and sunny too, so we have a bimini top on it, you know, to get out of the sun and a little bit of shade.
And no, it’s just a great time.
So if people want to come and fish with you for more than one day, is there accommodation in Maine Price Park?
There is.
There’s the Burntwood Cabins.
There’s nine cabins there for rent.
And if you look up under Maine Price Park, you’ll see them listed on there.
Just click on their link and it’ll take you right to how you can book with them.
And they’re not, usually they have openings, you know, during the weeks.
Weekends can be a little bit questionable whether they’re open or not, but it’s pretty quiet out here.
Since COVID had hit, you know, and it’s starting to lean out, it’s getting better, but all the tourism has really taken a hit because of it.
But they’re good accommodations and they’re right beside my store and right beside the marina here.
Yeah, we stayed in one of the cabins when we came out there and they must have the most comfortable beds I’ve slept in in a long time.
They’ve redone them.
They’re really nice.
Yeah, it works out really good for us here.
So you ended up buying the store and there’s a funny story behind the name of it.
Maybe you could tell us about that.
Yeah, we call it the Dam Store.
Of course, this is Rafferty Dam that we’re sitting on, or Reservoir, we call it the Dam, but I was trying to get a business name for it.
We just purchased this store last year, it was our first year of operation.
So, of course, you have to have a registered business name and I applied all these names I sent in and none were accepted.
They were, oh, too close and sounding to what other stores were.
So finally, the lady, I said to her, I said, oh, the Dam Store anyway.
And she goes, oh, well, you can have that name.
So there it went, the Dam Store.
Oh, that’s great.
And at the store, you’ve, you know, you’ve got basics, you’ve got bait, and you understand you’ve got some really good ice cream, too.
We sell the best soft ice cream here in southern Saskatchewan.
It costs us a lot more.
Actually, we’ve had people come in and say it’s too creamy.
So, whatever that means.
But, yeah, we try to carry a little bit of everything.
We’ve got the gas here, bait and tackle.
We try to sell these jigs.
There’s a young boy, one of the students, my wife’s principal at one of the elementary schools in Estevan.
So we sell a line of his jigs here and the plastics that he pours and try to promote it.
It’s a pretty good little deal for him.
And it’s really taken off for him.
I use a lot of his jigs.
Oh, good.
Yeah, and it’s a family business, too.
Your son, Nate, he’s going to help you guide as well, right?
And your wife, Michelle, runs the store, even though she’s a principal in the summertime.
You’re making her work.
How does she like that?
He’s sitting right here, so if a shoe comes flying, I better watch what I say.
Yeah, no, it’s been entertaining.
We’ve met a lot of new people.
We’ve learned a lot.
We’ve more or less purchased it for Nate, our son, who’s 23, to own and operate it eventually.
And he’s an avid angler, accomplished angler.
He’s done well in tournaments.
He just won our local tournament here on the water here two months ago.
And he generally runs that big Ranger, 621 Ranger, that’s loaded with the 300 on it.
And yeah, between us, we’ve got lots of boats, lots of supplies.
We’re just ready to show people what we can show us here in the southern body of water.
And you have some pretty aggressive plans for the future.
You were talking about maybe getting a houseboat on the water?
Yeah, we do.
Actually, we purchased one.
Hopefully, here in the next two weeks, we’ll have it out here situated and get it up and going.
Get all our paperwork done for all our liability and everything else.
And when we do, we’ll let you guys know.
And it’ll be posted on my webpage at that time, too.
Oh, that’s great.
Yeah, that would be an awesome adventure.
Park in one of the many arms on the reservoir and away you go.
Yep.
Yep, for sure.
Yeah, that’d be a lot of fun.
So, what else does the future hold?
Well, we’re looking into ice fishing a little bit more.
It’s unreal fishing on here.
Ice fishing, you know, as anything, can be pretty tough in the wintertime.
But it is good early ice and late ice.
So, we’re going to venture more into that as far as trying to get, like, ice castles or, you know, top-end accommodations.
We do offer day trips right now for ice fishing.
This lake has unreal perch in it.
Like, they call it the Church of Perch.
Yep, they’re really tough to catch.
And summertime, they’re very few caught.
It’s just, but if you drop a camera down, it’s just loaded with huge perch in this lake.
But you just got to figure out with everybody else on how to catch them.
Well, judging by all the bait that I saw when I was there, Ralph, it’s probably just an abundance of forage.
These things are probably stuffed full of food.
Yep.
Makes it a little bit tougher, that’s for sure.
If I was to come out there and wanted to catch a trophy fish or have a better jet, tell me peak times of the year that you would consider open water.
Our season opens here, Don, May 5th, which I believe is a week or 10 days earlier than you guys.
Most water, something like that.
And being so southern Saskatchewan, our, you know, our lakes open up a little earlier too, but we fish tournaments here on this lake.
We fish the back bays, two to four feet of water, and we catch an unreal amount of trophy fish, whether it’s pike, you know, or walleye.
Throwing shallow crankbaits or tossing little, like, plow sticks like we were.
And that’s really our trophy time.
Late October is always trophy time here too, off the points.
We’re catching them then.
Winter time, we’ve done really well on giant pike in here on tip-ups.
And that’s my big promotion, this huge pike on tip-ups.
But no, May through the first half of June is really your trophy time on this lake.
You do a lot of work with you.
So when I was there, I saw you working with all these young kids and tying jigs on for them, telling them how to jig properly, just working with them.
Now, you also have a program out of Estevan, do you not?
Yeah, we do.
It’s part of the Wildlife Federation out of Estevan, and they run a summer kid camp there, kids camp.
75 youth.
I believe you have to be, I think it’s 16 and under, I believe, yeah.
Okay.
Well, it allows about, like, 80 kids.
And it’s all set up with a big shop, and they have their outdoor facility.
There’s camping there, and the kids learn archery, shooting shotguns, skate, paintball.
I do the fishing part of it.
I take my pontoon boat for a couple days and have the kids out on the water.
Now, this is on Boundary Reservoir, which is just south of Estevan.
And it has unreal fishing, too.
It’s a hot water discharge lake from one of the coal mines.
And, yeah, the kids just have a ball there.
They learn everything from woodcraft to, boy, the sky’s the limit.
It’s really, very well organized.
But my passion is teaching these young kids who’ve never held a fishing rod before, you know, how to jig up fish.
And, yeah, I look forward to it more than anything all year.
I could tell how you work with these young kids.
It’s just great to see you, Ralph.
And you wear many hats.
You’re also quite involved in trying to promote the area through Tourism Estevan, right?
Yeah.
Yep, I am.
Yeah.
City of Estevan, Tourism Estevan have helped me out immensely.
And just trying to get them up and going.
They don’t receive as much tourism or they don’t push this body of water as much as they should.
Even though it’s only really virtually five miles from Estevan, the south end of this reservoir.
So I’ve been on advisory for them.
I’m trying to get them on board, trying to get more involvement with them.
Well, that’s great.
Ralph, you came up and introduced yourself at the Yorkton Outdoor Show this spring.
And I’m glad you did because it’s great that you’re promoting this part of the world and the great fisheries that exist down here.
So kudos to you.
Yeah, no, it was a super thrill for me to have you in your boat, Don.
I watched you on TV many, many years and admired what you did and how you did it.
And wished I could have been on your boat many of those days you were out there enjoying yourself.
And I learned a lot from you, too, over the years.
So not just through angling, you know, and how fisheries can be promoted and the joy that, you know, like you said, the joy was in the catching, not the keeping.
So I try to promote that every time I have people out.
Well, that’s great, Ralph.
I really appreciate all the work that you’re doing and coming on the podcast.
And good luck to you, Michelle and Nate, with your business.
Yeah, well, thank you very much, Don, and thanks for the invite.
And if anybody wants to look me up, I guess they can see my ad in your Hooked magazine and under Prairie Pro Outfitters.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Why don’t you give us your contact information just verbally here before we let you go?
Yeah, I have a new website up.
You can phone me on there, but all my pictures, all my information, what we offer.
And even if you have specialty requests as far as, like, say, wheelchair access to our pontoon boats or anything, I’d be more than glad to talk to you about it.
My phone number’s on there, 306-461-8353, and it’s on there.
And any questions on the Dam store, it’s also on there and under Main Prize Park.
All right.
Sounds great.
Thanks again, Ralph.
Yeah, thank you, Don.
Take care.
Thanks for tuning in.
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Ralph Smart has been a hardcore angler all his life. His grandfather took him fishing every opportunity he could while growing up on the family farm near Waskada, Manitoba. The passion turned into a lifelong pursuit as he travelled all over Manitoba and Saskatchewan to fish. A bit later he got the tournament bug and has competed in a number of events every year.
Several years ago he moved to Estevan with his family. In the last year he was able to buy a guiding license on Rafferty Reservoir. In order to support this business he then purchased the store located at Main Prize Park. This popular regional park is situated halfway between Estevan and Yorkton. His family and he run The Dam Store, a convenience store with fuel, fishing supplies, groceries, etc. located right next to the boat launch.
Ralph has a website called Prairie Pro Outfitters and all his information can be located at http://prairieprooutfitters.com. Prairie Pro Outfitters offers all inclusive packages out of 3 boats with top end equipment. He caters to all kinds of anglers but especially likes to take out families on his pontoon boat. 
