Late Ice fishing on Barbe Lake

Late Ice in Northern Manitoba

It was day three of our ice fishing adventure to northern Manitoba and on this particular day we were headed to Barbe Lake, one of the more famous of the stocked trout lakes in the province. Located north of The Pas on the Sturgeon Landing turnoff, this lake has been making headlines since the world record brook trout was caught there in 2006. Tim Matheson of Sherridon (northeast of Flin Flon) and a friend had launched their boat on October 21st in search of a trophy trout. Little did he realize at the time that it was a day that was about to change his life. They were trolling crankbaits on Barbe Lake when something really large grabbed a hold of his bait, a jointed chartreuse Rapala. It turned out to be world record brook trout in the catch and release category. Measuring twenty nine inches with open tail with a girth of twenty one inches it was a true trophy. Tim quickly released that fish back into the two degree Celsius water after taking some pictures of this incredible brook trout. While this fish overshadowed everything else they caught that day, there was some big rainbow landed as well.
A replica of the brook trout now adorns a wall at Kenanow Lodge on Kississing Lake, his fulltime home. Tim has been back to Barbe eight times since that day but nothing that large has come his way since.
EXPECTATIONS:
As we checked out the ice this first week of April day, we did not have any expectations of catching fish near the massive size that Tim had landed that incredible fall day. We were just hoping to find a few brook trout in amongst the abundant rainbow that were all over the lake. The good news that the ice was a solid 21 inches thick and we could drive wherever we wanted. So off to the far end of the lake we went, Rick Hubbs leading the way to the spot we had fished four summers ago with some degree of success. In fact it was on this end of the lake that we had lost two massive rainbow trout, well over master angler size.
As we set up our lines along the breakline in nine to seventeen feet of water, my Humminbird flasher indicated that there was no shortage of fish in the area. In fact, in the first five minutes I had three fish move right in on my bait, to exit stage left, not a particularly encouraging sign.

As the day wore on and sun blazed down on us we managed to catch a few aggressive male rainbows, none of the bragging variety. Nary a brook trout was spotted on the underwater camera. Too soon it was time to pack up and head on down the road to our third destination on this trip, Footprint Lake north of Grand Rapids.

Finessing Late Season Lake Trout

The sun was shining as we headed north on Highway Six on our way to The Pas, Manitoba. It was the first week in April, and we had three and a half days of trout fishing planned and according to the weather channel we were to be blessed with some mighty fine conditions to catch fish in. Arriving at the house of friend Rick Hubbs on the shore of Clearwater Lake later that afternoon we could see the water shimmering on the surface of the lake in the bright sunshine. It was wet, said Rick, but the ice was still thirty one inches thick and getting around was not a problem. Staying at Carpenters Lodge just down the road, we unloaded the quads and headed out to a couple spots close by. I was joined on the trip by Murray Olafson and son Wesley with Rick as our tour guide for most of the adventure. As we splashed out to our first spot, we were amazed at the amount of water that was being sucked down each hole as we drilled in our first location. While action was slow that evening, the beautiful weather with the high cumulous cloud and gorgeous sunset more than made up for it. Early the next morning we headed far down the lake with Rick leading the way in his 1981 Land Cruiser. We were to fish a large bay which had a shallow rock reef in the middle and sandbars all around. Hubbs discovered this trout hotspot by accident a few years back, originally looking to catch some pike. After landing three lake trout over twenty pounds instead he knew he had found a honey hole. Since that time, every April he ventures back in this bay to find the shallow water trout. These fish are feeding on the small tullibee that move into this area during last ice.
As we drilled holes across a wide area most of the success we had as the day progressed was along the deeper water side of the reef, anywhere from fifteen to twenty feet. In no time at all I had a fish on and lost it at the hole, a nice trout. Then Ricks fishing partner Dale Kerwin landed one, then another and another. By the time we packed up in mid-afternoon close to twenty lake trout had been landed, a pretty decent day in any ones book. In catching this fish, the key was to keep your bait tight to the bottom, a white tube jig from Berkley the top performer by far. Most were tipped with a very small piece of sucker to add a little extra scent. A key piece of information that I learned on this day came from Dale, a guy that not only caught the most trout but did it using a hockey stick. Yes that is right a hockey stick, or at least the handle of one. He used it to store his line, while jigging his tube bait by hand, the same method he used to land his fish. Dale explained to me how he made sure the bait would glad forward and not spiral, the key element in catching lake trout on this particular lake.
Further to that, most of my success in catching lake trout through the ice over the years has been with baits that glide and dart through the water column. Baits like the Walleye flyer jig from Lindy, tipped with small Berkley power grub with the tail cut off, then tipped with small slice of sucker cut in a thin triangle (belly piece is always the best) . The key when rigging your jigs is not to overpower the lure so it becomes unbalanced. Smaller airplane jigs still catch trout as do jigging spoons but these are aggressive presentation for aggressive trout. On Clearwater on this particular trip, the fish were anything but. A fluorocarbon leader and finesse techniques were required to put fish on the ice.