Catfish will bite!

Gary with a beauty!

High water hasn't stopped the hardcore anglers from hitting the shores of the Red River. Here is a report from Gary Schewe.
"It was good to be back fishing on the Red River.I've been working in Sask. for the past year so it was good to be back home again. The current was wild near the locks,but if you could get near the shoreline without a lot of debris in your way,you had a fighting chance of landing a fish. Using a single kahle number 5 hook,fresh sucker meat and a lot of sinker weight(up to 12ozs),the deed was done to catch a lot of nice cats with the largest around the 38" mark.

 Gary with a bonus bowling ball!

The surprise of the day was when I snagged a 12lb. Bowling ball near shore. Can you believe it Don, you never know what lurks in the depths of the Red river."

Whitefish in April

A jigging spoon fish

Snowmobile in tow we were headed to Shoal Lake Ontario and our annual late ice adventure for the jumbo whitefish that swim in these pristine waters. A very late thaw, along with flooded ice roads, made the use of snowmobile by far the best mode of transportation. It was a beautiful Friday morning when we hit the lake. The major ice road was still in decent shape so we were able to drive out five kilometres on the lake to an area we could park the truck.  

Pete relaxing on the machine

After unloading the snow machine and other equipment, my GPS got us pointed south towards the main portion of this huge body of water. In the past we've had the best luck for whitefish out towards the main lake and the myriad of islands that dot the entrance to this massive body of water. Twenty minutes later we started fishing a shore line drop off in 35 feet of water.  I managed one beautiful 25 inch whitefish in the first ten minutes but after that things got awful quiet on our flashers. We quickly packed up and moved down the lake to another area we had fished in the past. Finding 51 feet of water, I quickly had on another whitefish, this one racing off the bottom to swallow my Lindy Techni- Glo Flyer. For the next couple of hours the action was consistent, with fish showing constantly on our flashers.

 Friend Pete Hiebert had switched over to a small white glow jig tipped with a pearl two inch Gulp grub. He would drop the 1/8 ounce jig to the bottom and raise it two feet up. If he saw a fish come up off the bottom, he would keep reeling it up to see if the fish would chase. The whitefish would usually take the small jig 20 feet off the bottom. I tried a variety of different techniques but the arrival of a cold front with snow really turned down the activity level of the fish.  We fished almost to dark but had virtually no bites the last three hours of the day.  While it was one of the slower ice fishing days we have had on this lake, it was certainly the most peaceful. We had the whole lake to ourselves other than three seagulls and four eagles keeping an eye on us. The stillness and lack of noise was special.

Pearl Gulp worked on a tough bite!

EARLY SPRING SMALLMOUTH BASS
Smallmouth bass can be a great choice to fish early season. In Northwestern Ontario when the ice comes off the lakes and rivers in that region, you are still able to catch these great game fish. In fact there is no closure on the season in Zone 5 though there is a size restriction at certain times of the year if you want to keep fish. I can remember fishing early season pike with Mike Asher on Shoal Lake Ontario, when we got into a nice school of smallmouth off a point in about 10 feet of water. This tends to be the exception, not the rule as early season bass tend to be in a bit deeper water at really early ice out. Last spring when fishing with Darrin Bohonis at Sioux Narrows, the water temperature was still real cool. In this case the bass were holding to sunken islands and points in about twenty feet of water. When the bass are this deep, dead sticking a Berkley four inch power minnow on a 3/8 ounce jig was the ticket. Darrin said the key was let the jig go to the bottom, reel up half a turn and hold the bait steady. Sure enough, he had the first five bass doing exactly that.

Darrin with real early season smallmouth!

 The rest of the day pretty much evened out on the fish catching once I got the presentation right. On Shoal Lake a south wind had been piling in some warmer water off the shoreline point and the bass had moved a bit shallower because of it. We caught them on power minnows but they were fished a bit differently. We used them on long shank weighted swim bait hooks, letting them swim and glide.

Pike baits, just down size a bit for smallmouth

This is a great technique in cold water and on inactive fish. I love using this type of presentation when fishing for spring pike with a fly rod and small streamer. You just let the fly glide slowly through the water, with a short twitch every once in a while. Usually the change in speed suddenly triggers a strike. This is better once the water temperature get over ten Celsius.

Spring time walleye caught on the fly!

I have caught plenty of shallow spring time walleye on this type of presentation with a fly rod. This happened on a recent spring trip to Big Sand Lake Lodge. The ice was still on the main lake, so we fished a smaller lake behind the main lodge. We found the walleye in a mud bottom bay eating insect larvae. A real small brown fly imitating the hatch was perfect.

GOOD ELECTRONICS WILL HELP!

Checking out the structure

While fishing with Darrin, we had nothing but the best in electronics, no less than four top of the line Humminbird units with all the latest technology. On the back two units, one had the Navionics chip for Lake of the Woods, the other the Lake Master chip with all the hydrographic contours outline in brilliant colours. What blew me away on the Lake Master program was the ability to highlight a depth range that we wanted to fish. Darrin had plugged in the 18-22 foot range this particular day, and every time this depth showed on the contour map it was a bright green. Now when he pulled up to a spot he would call up the side scanning feature on his left unit. He would then slowly troll with the big motor just off the edge of structure, checking to see how many fish he could mark on the side scanner. When he saw distinct stubby white dots that indicated bass, he would see how many fish he marked and if there was enough he would throw out a mark buoy. At least that hasn’t changed!

Getting ready to throw a marker

It was amazing how accurate this scanning really was. We caught bass on everyone of those key fishing holding structures. On the first area we caught more than two dozen smallmouth and has the day progressed it continued to be fun battling early spring smallmouth.

To visit Darrin’s website logon to www.bohonisenterprisesinc.ca

Late March and Lake Winnipeg

Perched on the back of Jim Price’s snowmobile, we headed out across the frozen surface of Lake Winnipeg for the last time this winter. It was Good Friday and half of Manitoba and North Dakota was on the lake with us. Seriously, as we unloaded the snowmobiles, a nonstop caravan of vehicles towing ATVs or snowmobiles was pouring onto the ice at Chalet Beach Road. By the time we headed out it was seven in the morning and despite the fog shrouding the lake, we could see that ice fisherman were scattered everywhere. We decided to start out near shore, but unfortunately the first place we stopped was a little too shallow and we only had about nine inches of water to fish.

Snowmobile was the best option out on the big lake!

We quickly moved out to three feet of water but after only one walleye in 20 minutes, it was time to head further down the lake to an area known as the Eaglenest. Between the four of us, we had two augers with long extensions but in this next stop, the snow was so deep, even with the extension we could not quite get through the ice.Grabbing a shovel, Jim cleared snow to the surface of the ice. Only then could we get through the ice to those walleyes waiting below. Quickly friend Dan MaCrae had three fish on the ice on a jigging spoon. Soon everyone in the group was catching fish with plenty of activity on our Hummingbird 55 Ice Flashers. In no time we had landed 14 walleye until we scattered the school a bit. These fish were caught on a variety of baits including jigging spoons and plain jigs.  I had good luck on a swimming jig, like the Lindy Slick Jig and the Lindy Techni- Glo Flyer. I just had a small salted shiner hooked on the back to add some scent.

Dan with a jigging spoon walleye

 Most of our fish were caught in less than five feet of water so using a lure that imparts action when moved is very effective on these fairly aggressive pre spawn walleye. None of the 30 walleye we landed this day were caught on a dead stick. The biggest fish of the day, which Jim caught, hit is Lucky Strike Red Flash Nickel spoon. Jim managed to coax this big fish off the bottom and the walleye smashed it just under the ice.

COMPLETE ANGLER NOTES:   Despite putting on sunscreen, I am suffering from a bit of sunburn today, a testament to just how dangerous it is at this time of year to not be protected.

After seeing the number of people out enjoying this great fishery on the Lake Winnipeg I have to wonder how much this ice fishery is worth to the province of Manitoba?

Last ice madness

It has been over two weeks since I last ice fished. I can’t say with the conditions in this part of the world I have been totally motivated. Cold and snow is something we have to deal with, making access to many of our lakes and rivers a very hard chore. My last trip was to East Shoal Lake in the Interlake. About three years ago anglers discovered large perch here and the word has slowly filtered out. Angling pressure has increased tremendously and one can only wonder how long those trophy perch will last.

Now that is a perch!

Speaking of trophy fisheries one of the most unique in this part of the world exists up near the Ducks Mountains. Called Twin Lakes this body of water was stocked with tiger trout a few years back. Now, that’s a fish with attitude!

These particular fish are a cross between brook and brown trout and are difficult to raise in the hatchery. Stocked a few years ago, tiger trout have found Twin Lake to their liking, a huge population of scuds allowing them to grow to impressive size. I received an email last week from Brant Broone, a forestry technician who now lives in The Pas. He had the opportunity to visit this lake at the beginning of the month.
“Also inspired by one of your online articles I decided to give Twin Lakes a try to catch those exotic Tiger Trout. I convinced my brother Derek to come along with me and we were sure glad we did. We fished in about 5 to 10 feet of water using a variety of hooks. We started off in a weedy bay just south of the parking lot but soon discovered it was hard to jig without pulling up a handful of weeds. So we moved further north towards the open water. About 20 feet from the shoreline, I tried for a while with my buck shot spoon and got one bite. Then we tried a variety of power tub jigs that I read about on your page and landed most of our fish using those. The pink micro tube jig seemed to do the trick on this day.

Brant with beautiful tiger trout

We landed 3 nice Tiger's with the biggest pushing 22 inches. It was a bright red male just like I saw in the pictures and packed on a lot of weight. I was very impressed so we snapped a few photos and got it back in the water quickly. For every fish we landed we lost two. I was amazed by the power of these trout. I would often get them up to the hole and they would dive back down and escape. I had one that came up to the hole 3 times before finally getting off. It seemed from 2 to 3 pm they were biting steady. After three p.m we never had a single bite all the way until darkness. It was a great memorable day of fishing and I can’t wait to get back out on the ice there and see what else comes out of those waters.”
Lake Winnipeg has been very good for walleye, but only if you have access to a snowmobile or tracked vehicle to get out to the fishing areas.
The best success has been on the west side of the lake near Matlock. Anglers have been catching some really nice fish at first light tucked close to shore in a metre of water. It seems the walleye have been herding schools of shiner in tight at first light. Later in the day the bite has been good in about three metres with lipless crankbaits the bait of choice.

 Dino with the first of two trophies!

Friend Dino Branfield ventured out Saturday and caught two 32 inch walleye within two hours. What a day! Dino was fishing ten feet of water and caught both on a big jig and big minnow!

Dino with another monster

Dino only had his cell phone along but here are some pictures he took of these two monster fish. You only have a short time to get out there and it is still pretty much snow machine only or tracked vehicle to get out.
The season closes in southern Manitoba at the end of this month and it should be interesting to see when the ice goes out on the big lake this year.

End of summer lake trout

Wobble, wobble went the big dodger on the end of my line. Suddenly a massive tug nearly ripped the heavy action rod and reel from my hands. My level wind reel started to give up line, no mean feat considering that it was so tight I could barely pull it out by hand. Something quite large was on the other end, down in about 20 metres of cold crystal clear water. My flame green Fireline continued to go out as friend Jim Price started reeling in his line to prevent any possibility of tangling. Our guide for the trip, Mark Mayert swung the boat to the inside, putting the motor in neutral at the same time. Given the fact that I had six ounces of weight on a three-way swivel, as well as a huge dodger it was no mean feat to bring the lure in at the best of times. This fish, however, was a totally different story, surging, head shaking and rolling only like a big lake trout can.

THERMOCLINE TROUT

In August lake trout like to hang around just below the thermocline and the electronics that our guide was using clearly marked that thermocline at the depth this lake trout had struck.

What is a thermocline you ask? It’s simply a stratification of warm and cold water, a separation. Trout like to stay below this separation where the water is cooler and there is still enough dissolved oxygen. That means lake trout have to survive mostly on forage that also is close to this depth. That could include lake whitefish, longnose and white suckers, and lake chubs. Burbot and young lake trout can also be included in the mix. Earlier in the year ribbon leeches can make up a substantial part of the diet as well whatever other shallow forage is available.

When lake trout become larger, over the Master Angler length of 89 centimetres or 35 inches, they start to switch over to bigger meals. These size fish start to become scavengers, making the smaller lake trout chase the ciscoes above the thermocline, taking the wounded fish that flutter to the bottom.

Jim Price and guide Mark Mayert

A beautiful day and and a pretty fish!

Don’t get me wrong, if pickings are slim the big boys will get up and start making things happen. This must have been the case with the fish that I had hooked, though I was still within three metres of bottom when this fish hit. We were on Nueltin Lake, a body water that currently holds the Manitoba Master Angler record length lake trout. It was caught by a guest of lodge in 2001 and measured 137.16 centimetres or 54 inches. Thousands of anglers are lured to northern Manitoba every year in hopes of catching a fish this size. 

That is exactly why Jim Price and I had come at the very end of the season at Nueltin for guests. In fact the caribou had already started to migrate south towards their winter homes. We were fortunate though that the weather was still decent while there with little wind to prevent us from travelling a large part of the southern half of the lake in search of deep holes that were holding the majority of the larger lake trout. It was in just such a deep hole that this fish had committed. After about a ten-minute tug of war with my forearms and right elbow feeling the strain we got a glimpse of the fish some four metres down. Slowly, I eased it up the last short distance to the waiting net. After a quick measure this impressive fish was released back down to the depths.

Measuring 39 inches it was to be the largest of the seven Master Angler lake trout we were to land this trip.

Barbe Lake is still the best!

BARBE LAKE

What a trip, one of the most memorable I have ever had in close to thirty years of fishing!   Barbe Lake is about seventy kilometres north of The Pas, up Highway 10, past Rocky Lake then left at the Sturgeon Landing road for about five kilometres.  The first time I was to fish this lake was with friend Rick Hubbs back in 2007 and they say first impressions last. For me, the beauty of this lake and the quality of the environment was stunning!

First trip to Barbe with Rick

THE LAKE

While the length is only about three kilometres , there is a incredible diversity of habitat with huge weed flats at one end, deep water and rocks at the other. With my polarized sunglasses and excellent water clarity I could spot huge schools of small minnows hiding in the shallow rocks at the north end of Barbe Lake. Hubbs says this is only part of the equation. He says the diversity of food sources allow these fish constant feeding opportunities. There is an incredible volume of scuds and hellgrammites plus other small aquatic creatures that exist in the weed clumps and mud bottom areas in almost every section of the lake.

We started out the day fishing with small crankbaits that imitate the minnow base in the lake.  

Nice brookie on the taildancer!

Our first trolling run around the lake was relatively uneventful as I lost the first fish of the day right beside the boat after the rainbow jumped about a metre, spitting the lure past my head. We continued to change lures, both profile and size to find what the fish wanted this particular day. At the north end Rick hooked and landed a beautiful brook trout on a small blue and white Rapala Tail Dancer.  

All in all we hooked about forty fish this day, landing less than half, with the majority nice healthy rainbows. Two monster fish were lost after long distance releases but it was a day I will never forget.

All these memories came flooding back when I received the following email.

 My name is Brant Broome and I am a huge fan of yours. I grew up watching the Complete Angler. As a kid I remember this one day where my dad took me to see one of your shows in Yorkton Saskatchewan, and I remember catching a small trout in a pool you had set up there. That was a very memorable experience and one I won't forget. It influenced me to start fishing at a very young age. Later in life while I was attending Duane Whyte’s biology class in the Swan Valley Secondary School. He asked if there was anyone interested in giving the Complete Angler a ride across town. So I was quick to volunteer myself, along with another classmate. That was a very exciting opportunity to get to know someone I grew up watching on the t.v. From growing up on a farm and watching the Complete Angler I was inspired to live a life outdoors and enjoy the nature of Manitoba. I started off catching Creek Chubs in the Ruby River near our farm, which is a small tributary to the Roaring River. Eventually I was hooked on fishing and actually to this day I still find it exciting to stop by the Ruby River and catch a couple 10" chubs. I spent 5 years out west working in Grande Prairie, Alberta. I finally moved back to Manitoba in August of 2012 and am now working in The Pas as a Forest Technician for Tolko. 

The following is Brant’s story about his experiences on Barbe:

Brant Broome with a Barbe Lake Monster!

Through one of your articles online I was inspired to give Barbe Lake a try. I like to use my Pelican kayak for fishing since I can get into shallow weedy areas easily. So on September 9, 2012 I started paddling with the intent of circling the entire lake and end up back at the parking lot where my vehicle was. It was a very long day without a bite. I was close to packing it in, but I decided to kind of troll along the shore until I reached my car. I let out a lot of line and was paddling rather slow.

Brant in the Kayak

 I had a small orange spoon on with black dots. Just as I could see my car clearly, I heard the line screaming. The rod was placed behind me in a rod holder and was a little tricky to grab. At first I was frustrated thinking I had snagged the weeds. When I grabbed the rod and looked over my shoulder what I saw absolutely shocked me, a huge rainbow trout jumping 2 to 4 feet out of the water. My adrenaline kicked in at that point. And now the fight was on. At one point I nearly tipped the kayak trying to land the fish. The fish seemed to be able to spin the kayak whatever direction it wanted to. Each time it approached the kayak it would make another run and I would watch the line on my reel disappear. 

The final time it approached the kayak it was rather tired and I was blown away with how huge it was. Prior to this trip my largest Rainbow was a 19 inch from Vini Lake. After 10 minutes of action I finally landed it and it measured in at 26.6 inches 8.6lbs. After that much excitement I was hooked on this lake and returned many times. Sometimes I would walk the shore all day, sometimes I would kayak all day and a few weekends my brother Derek would come up with his boat. On September 15, I managed to land a 26.2 inch rainbow while fishing with Derek and he caught a nice 21 inch rainbow. The fights were just un-real. At this point I discovered my favourite hook a medium sized spoon with a perch colours. (dark line down the middle, green and yellow on either side). During that same day I had a monster one which I would guess was 28 or more inches and almost had it in the boat when it made another run straight for land and appeared to have actually hit land. When I tried to turn it back around the hook slipped out and it was a goner. I have never seen anything like that in my life.  September was the best month of fishing in my entire life and the majority of it was on Barbe Lake. I was proud of my decision to come back to Manitoba and have enjoyed the outdoors here so much. I got into ice fishing this year and so far I have made 4 trips to Barbe Lake. I caught nothing 3 of the days but luckily I did catch a 25 inch and a 20 inch on the very first day (February 9, 2013) using a buck shot spoon.

Dave Colibaba with a beauty through the ice