Lake Winnipeg wins round one

Leaving Winnipeg at six in the morning we were the first truck to venture out on the frozen surface of Lake Winnipeg. A group of anglers had decided to walk out but previous reports indicated a good solid base of ice, 16 inches on the average. Soon the ice was covered behind us with vehicles. Along with me this day was Steven Wintemute from Hooked Magazine and Darrin Bohonis, another friend.

I was driving with Vince D’Angelo who I had met through the Fish Futures banquet committee. The four of us headed north onto Balsam Bay to be stopped by a huge ice ridge about a mile after driving on the lake. Setting up along the ridge we decided to put up our portables to keep out of the steady rain that was falling this morning. Yes, that’s right rain in the middle of December. It would later make the roads pretty slippery, a consideration when we decided to leave a little earlier than normal at the end of the day. As Darrin showed me the new features on the GPS Unit mounted in tandem with my Ice 55, I could only marvel at the technology. With a Navionics chip of Lake Winnipeg I will be set for the winter on all my ice fishing ventures to this part of the world. Best yet the GPS unit can be popped of the ice fishing mount and put on the mount in your vehicle. I will have more on this amazing unit in another story.

My usual fishing partner Jim Price was about an hour behind us. We saw him a short time later about a quarter mile way. While I marked one nice fish on my Ice 55 to start the day, I did not get him to bite. Meantime Jim had hooked up with four fish right away. And it was to continue like that for the rest of the day even though Vince I matched Jim and his two friends spot for spot and hole for hole as we moved around the lake. Our total for the day was two perch, with Darrin and Steven catching one walleye total. Not so Jim.



My one fish, a perch came on a Live Target



Jim and his two buddies caught six walleyes at the end of the day in eight feet of water, making their total 16 for the day. Jim caught 12 of them. Part of the reason that they did so well is mobility. Drill, fish for 15 minutes and see if you are marking fish. Try and catch them two different ways. This is how Jim did it for your future reference...a still line with jig and minnow which has his flasher set up...he periodically will come over and look at the flasher and jig..if he sees a mark, he will move his jig to trigger a bite...he will move it anyway even if he doesn't.

He doesn't use a flasher on his aggressive rod..he just works the column with a longer rod, and sweeps his jigging rapala up slowly and then on a slow drop. He had a full minnow on the bottom treble. When the fish are scattered like yesterday I think this is the key... yesterday we should have started in eight feet, moved out as the day went on, and then back shallow. I won't make this mistake twice.

Okay, round one to Jim.

Merry Christmas

Now is big fish time on the Red River!

Cold days and even colder nights with limited or no snow cover is making some awfully good ice. This bodes well for some great ice fishing in the province this year. I can remember in both 2007 and 2008 first ice walleye fishing on the Red River north of Selkirk was on fire. With great fall fishing this year on the Red many anglers are predicting a great ice season on the river. And guess what it is happening right now!

My first trip in December 2008 was to a section of river north of Selkirk which had extended stretches of deep water, in the twenty to thirty foot range as an average. After spending some time drilling holes and then checking it out from the boat in open water it just seemed to be a big flat at the end of a deep hole along a straight stretch of the river. If you had to pick this kind of area out of a dozen other better looking areas you would be a magician. For whatever reason though, it consistently holds big fish, really big fish. Along this day was friend Darrin Bohonis, a hardcore fisherman who also reps Minn Kota and Humminbird. We unloaded our vehicles in the early morning light, filling our two sleds with an auger along with our own portable ice shacks. We headed out to the middle of the river, careful to check for thin ice, a very real consideration at this time of the year. Soon we had our holes drilled, our two ice shacks set up twenty feet apart so we could compare notes of what was happening on the electronics. Both Darrin and I were using the Humminbird ICE 55 flasher, the most critical element in this type of fishing.

As we dropped our transducers down the hole, we adjusted the depth in the hole to make sure we could have our lures within the cone. This would allow us to watch our baits and to react to any fish that might appear below.

While ice fishing, you are allowed two lines, so on my still line I put on a 3/8 ounce blue jig tipped with a big salted shiner. On my other rod I had tied on an in line swivel to prevent line twist, then a small cross lock snap so I could change baits. I decided to use something big and aggressive, a gold Hawger spoon with a rattle and a long single hook. I have found with bigger jigging spoons that if you use a single hook, your hooking percentage becomes a lot higher. It was certainly the case this day as I landed all four bites on my jigging spoon, two of which were walleye well over eight pounds. My still line didn’t disappoint this day either, landing the same number and ratio of walleye. So here’s the deal, my jigging spoon fish all came at least eight feet off the bottom while my jig fish were within a foot and a half. With limited current, you will find a lot of big fish suspended at this time of year and without electronics you won’t have a chance to catch them. This also holds true in the big lake. A large number of the walleye suspend on Lake Winnipeg as well, especially when they move out to main basin areas during the middle of the winter. Fishing out of a portable shelter with a heater allows you to focus on your electronics, the key to catching suspended walleye.

Day Four on Tobin Lake



First fish of the day, off to a good start



Day Four started out warm and friendly. It was not to last though as a cold front arrived just after lunch bringing rain and sleet. Given our success the evening before trolling crankbaits, we decided to give it a hard go today just to cover water because of the lack of numbers of fish in the system. It could not have started out an better as I nailed yet another fish on my red and white Bomber Long A not five minutes into our first trolling run. This fish hit in twenty feet of water with 85 feet of line out. After a brief but intense battle Jim got the net under a nice eight pound walleye. Neither Boyd nor Jim had yet found a bait that was consistently put fish in the boat but that changed this day. Jim hit the next fish on a purple deep diving storm Thunderstick then Boyd followed that up with a nice walleye on the new Rapala Troll-To Minnow in chrome. With a good start, we gained confidence in the cranks and covered water, eventually landing eighteen nice walleye on these baits. With weather rapidly going down hill, we packed it in a little earlier this day with no bites after four p.m.



Still it was a great trip with excellent weather, good friends and beautiful surroundings.
Here are some of the most memorable catches from the last ten years at Tobin Lake during the fall run.







Day Three on Tobin Lake

Traditionally Day Three on Tobin has been a big one, both for big fish and numbers. We have had by that time, time to figure out where the majority of the fish are holding in the river. Not so this year but we had only spent one day on the river though and figured we better to look around to see if we were missing anything. Captain Boyd headed upriver, past the White Rock to the stretch called Grassy. After a quick drift and no fish, we head up past the regional park at Nipawin to the old railway bridge. Here we managed to land three walleye, the biggest, about five pounds, on a live bait rig and leech, the staple of many an angler on this stretch of river. We then headed up to the dam to have a look for old times’ sake. The water was boiling pretty good so we decided to head back down river to see what was happening. Near the mouth we finally found a good school of walleye by using the electronics and we sat on them with jigs and minnows. We caught a number of nice fish in a short period of time,. We figured we would also be able to crank up some of these fish given the conditions, with a clear sky allowing the walleye to silhouette the baits. After cranking from the lake all the way up the Eaglenest we managed to land four nice walleye the biggest close to eight pounds which I once again hooked on the Bomber A with a red nose and white body. It was a good way to end a tough day.



A clear sky added up to a decent night bite

 Meantime our friends Russ and Dale were finding it tough slugging as well. Last year on this day three, Russ landed a monster fifteen pound 8 ounce fish.

This is why you fish Tobn Lake!

Tobin Lake Day Two

Day Two:




Jimmy with a ten



No frost on the boat this morning with a brisk wind blowing out of the northwest. After a hearty breakfast we headed west to the mouth of Saskatchewan River as it emptied into Tobin Lake. Last fall on this stretch we had some of the best walleye fishing any of us had ever experienced. What was it to be like this year? First thing on order was to use the electronics to see if we could mark any major schools of walleye in the deeper water. This turned out to be a major disappointment the whole trip as we never marked the numbers of bait or walleye the whole four days than we had last year. We decided that we had to cover a whole lot of water and our first drift from the Eaglenest to the main lake was about two miles in length. Only two small walleyes came to the boat. This was to continue on until about three in the afternoon when at the start of a drift Jim hooked into a real big fish on a pink jig tipped with a minnow.

Bulldogging down this fish took Jim all around the boat. Finally getting the net under the fish, we celebrated our first really big fish of the day. Boyd scaled the walleye at 10 pounds, four ounces, a real nice fish in anyone’s book. Not five minutes later Jim hooked another toad on the same drift. This one didn’t quite match up, weighing 8 pounds, two ounces. Still the space of five hundred yards and ten minutes Jim had caught and landed our two largest fish of the day. We stayed until dark this day and started trolling crankbaits a half hour before sunset. It was relatively successful this day with three good fish landed, mine the largest at just less than eight pounds caught on a Bomber Long A with a red head and white body. It was the one that got away that was the real story on this day. I had a monster fish on the second pass but with three lines out you never know if you are going to get hooked up in another line.

Good friends and a nice fish!

In this case, the big fish had taken off about fifty feet of line after hookup running back into Jim’s line, who was fishing the middle of the boat. Trying to get his lure in, he wrapped around my line. I was at a standstill, I couldn’t reel in anymore and the fish was still on the end of the line. Jim held my line as he tried to cut of his lure but unfortunately slack was created when he freed his lure. The monster at other end then had slack and with barbless hooks as is the law on Tobin the fish got off. Ouch! Jim was very apologetic but such is life when you fish in the dark.

Day One on Tobin Lake

Day one of our late fall adventure turned out to be just gorgeous, warm and calm. Friend Jim Price and I had arrived the day earlier from Winnipeg on our annual fall trek to Tobin Lake, Saskatchewan. On our trip last year, which you can read on this blog spot, we drove up all night on icy roads. Not this time, it was smooth sailing all the ways up to the Tobin Lake Resort were we met up with all our friends from Carrot River. Given the beautiful weather it was an easy decision to make the twenty two mile boat ride out to the main lake. As was standard procedure, we started out trolling bottom bouncers and spinners along the main lake basin. Captain Boyd Holmen was on the role to start the day, landing six of our first seven walleye. Nightcrawlers hooked behind a pink colorado blade was the ticket most of the day. By three in the afternoon though, things slowed down quite a bit and we decided to anchor up on a point that extended into the main basin. I should clarify the word anchor, because Boyd had the new I Pilot from Minnkota and all he had to do was hit the “anchor feature” on his front troll motor and the boat would stay in position. What a bonus when you are fishing in snaggy conditions or for big fish and not have to worry about an anchor rope. You can get a bit of sway when windy but on this day the boat kept positioned perfectly. We started catching fish right way with Jim hooking and landing six walleye this way. I was also into fish, setting the hook on the biggest walleye of the day, a solid nine pounder on a jig tipped with a Nipawin big chubby minnow which Boyd had brought along. The key for us this whole trip in triggering walleye bites was to hook the minnow up through the back of the head so it pointed straight towards the jig head. After landing a few more walleye and some bonus pike we headed back down the reservoir marveling at the good fortune we had with the weather this last week in October.

After cleaning the walleye we had kept it was time for a huge fish fry to celebrate another fall trip to Tobin Lake with great friends!

Tips for catching fall Red River Greenbacks

By most accounts fishing has been pretty good this fall on the Red River north of Lockport Manitoba. A variety of techniques have been working, including trolling crankbaits into the current. Veteran Red River walleye fisherman say if you have an option of when to come out to fish the Red, wait for days when the north wind is blowing. It’s been proven over the years that when Lake Winnipeg flushes water into the river and backs it up to Lockport that the walleye fishing is substantially better. Given the forecast of a huge north wind for today and tomorrow, this could be the week to catch your trophy.
Anchoring in the Red is a time honoured tradition and most big walleye are caught this way. It does help to have two anchors if at all possible. Put your heavier anchor off the front and drop a lighter anchor off the back to prevent your boat from moving back and forth with the current surges. Some anglers will drop two anchors at the same time in order to get their boat sideways into the current. This allows anglers in the boat to spread out their lures,covering more area. Jig size will vary at this time of year depending on wind direction and current flow. Many veteran anglers of the Red fall walleye run will pound a heavy jig off the bottom to attract fish from a distance away. Many also bulk up their jigs with some kind of power bait over the shank of the hook, then add a couple of salted shiners over the back point of the hook. Since it is barbless your best option is to take an elastic band and cut it in short pieces. Once your bait is on your hook, add the piece of elastic over the point of the hook to keep your minnows on. I will sometimes hook my two minnows through the eyes for more action. Other times you can put the point of the hook through the mouth of the minnow, down through the gills , turning the minnow over to make sure the point of the hook then goes through the main body of the bait. This will help with short striking fish especially, eliminating the need for a trail or stinger hook. Vary your action with the jig, remembering that in heavier current conditions, fish will tight to the bottom and in shallower water. When current flow is slow, trying working deeper water along the main channel. If you can anchor on a channnel break with one angler shallower and the other deeper it will increase your odds of catching fish.
Anglers from shore are also reporting excellent success in the stretch of river between Lockport and Selkirk.