Silver

As I stood on shore in the darkness of a cool and windy October evening on the shores of Lac Du Bonnet I was mesmerized by the object that’s was moving towards me through the darkness all ablaze. Thinking about in afterwards it reminded me of the flame throwing monster in Dr.

No, that kept all the unwanted riffraff off the tropical island. Of course, for those of you who are James Bond fans, it turned out to be an armored vehicle painted like a dragon.
In this case the boat that was emerging out the darkness, lit by a brilliant bank of lights, was affectionately known as “Silver” by fisheries biologist Ken Kansas. And silver it was with electrodes hanging off the front and arms thrust to front with more electrodes, a fearsome looking critter in its own right.
“SILVER”
This twenty foot flat-bottom aluminum vessel (designed and built by Smith-Root) is mounted with a genera¬tor that creates electrical currents that pass through positive (anodes) and negative electrodes (cathodes) hang¬ing partially submerged in the water in front of the boat. As the vessel cruises through the water, a field of electricity precedes the path of the boat. The right amount of current elicits taxis, an invol¬untary muscular response that causes fish to swim towards the anodes. Once fish reach an anode, they stop swim¬ming and go into narcosis (stunned), floating belly up. Since narcosis only lasts for a few seconds, biologists must quickly net the fish, which they put into a holding tank or live well during the “run” (sampling period).
That’s where Fish Futures President David Carrick and I came in. We had been asked by Kansas and Eastern regional fisheries manager Doug Leroux to see the boat in action first hand.
I don’t think we quite knew what we were in for.

Working in the darkness was critical since fish numbers rose dramatically under the cover of night. All species of fish become more active in the less than three metres of water that was required for this type of work. Off the front where a bank of lights that allowed those in the front of the boat who were netting the stunned fish to quickly get a net down to the fish. Since I was the one with the fancy camera, I was set on shore to capture the moment. And what moments did we have! On a trial run while it was still light out, I had dipped a massive lake whitefish that got my heart a pumping.

After a quick supper, we were back out in the darkness, starting out on a rocky point on the main lake that marked the entrance to a shallow bay. As Carrick and Kansas swung the electrode booms out and “kicked in the juice” a massive fish appeared off the starboard. Leroux immediately spotted the fish and piloted the jet drive to where Kansas could get his net under this massive specimen. But I get ahead of myself.

SOME HISTORY: Ken Kansas, who has been a biologist with the province for a number of years put together a summary of fish assessment since he has been with the branch. Here is a brief history.

“Fisheries personnel have used gill nets as a fish stock assessment tool for many decades. This technique is indeed an effective method to collect fish population data and has greatly assisted fisheries staff over the years to make the management decisions necessary to ensure sustainability of our fisheries resources. This method of assessment is certainly an effective tool, especially on large lakes where the amount of fish mortalities using this technique (usually 100%) will not negatively impact fish populations as a whole. In these scenarios, a well designed and sometimes annually occurring index gill netting program is quite necessary.
In the Eastern Region of Manitoba there are a large number of smaller lakes which have easy access, subsequent high recreational use including sport fishing and developed shorelines in the form of cottages and/or campgrounds. Most, if not all of these lakes have had their fish community assessed in the form of a gill net survey at least once in the past few decades. In some cases, as with Lac du Bonnet, an annual index netting program has occurred since the early nineties. Information gathered using this method is invaluable and has a very insignificant impact to the overall fish community considering the lake size (3500+ hectares) and the small amount of fish taken for scientific and management purposes.

On smaller lakes however (less than 500 hectares), which have a low Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) combined with potentially low success in terms of natural recruitment, any amount of fish removed for stock assessment (walleye for example) might have a negative impact on angler success for years to come.
Numerous government agencies across North America utilize non-lethal methods of fish stock assessment for the exact same reasons as mentioned above. Timely and consistent data collection, analysis and interpretation on high profile, heavily utilized lakes which receive high angling pressure is essential for fisheries managers to effectively manage these fisheries. Utilizing established, non-lethal stock assessment methods, these data can be collected without negatively impacting the fisheries and provides current and quality information required by the managing agency.

Some of these non-lethal methods which have proven effective in fish community assessments include seasonal trap netting and boat electrofishing. Both these methods feature extremely low mortalities (less than 5%) if conducted properly. Even though both techniques tend to bias towards the littoral fish community, conducted in tandem and during different times of the day and year, will yield quality data.

The Eastern Region of Manitoba has numerous lakes which fall into the category of high profile, developed and intensively utilized fisheries which require comprehensive stock assessment. Non-lethal assessment methods provide the only tool available to fisheries managers for fish community assessment that do not negatively impact existing fish stocks. According to Kansas the two main objectives are

1) up to date fisheries inventory data, species assemblages, catch/unit of effort, size, age etc…
2) assess eastern region walleye stocking program-all fry since 2006 have been marked with Oxytetracyline (OTC) we can determine stocked vs natural walleye because of this”

Here is a sample of the species we dip netted on this particular trip, a short two hours of work total

Walleye
Sauger
Perch
Smallmouth bass
Rock bass
Black Crappie (second documented ever)
Lake whitefish
Cisco
Mooneye
Northern pike
Ninespined stickleback
Emerald shiner
Spottail shiner
White sucker

Kansas says this variety shows the biodiversity in this particular section of the Winnipeg River. One species that we didn't get that evening are channel catfish which do exist in this section of river. With electroshocking in shallow water the majority of the fish are smaller in size. On this particular evening Kansas was impressed with the number of young of the year walleye that were taken.

FUNDING

So with major cutbacks in Fisheries budgets, I asked David Carrick how did this boat come about?

"The electrofishing boat is a very important piece of equipment that Fisheries Branch now has at its disposal, as it allows Fisheries Branch personnel to do vital research with virtually zero mortality to fish stocks. Obtaining access to this boat would not have been possible without funding provided through Manitoba's Fisheries Enhancement Fund, so every angler can be very proud that his/her contribution to the FEF made this possible."

In other words, without the support of Carrick and Fish Futures along with the Fisheries Enhancement Fund, none of this critical work would be taking place. Thanks be to that!

Fall smallmouth

Smallmouth bass have been a fall fascination of mine for years. Great sport on the end of the line, cold October days see these aggressive predators schooled up on deepwater structure chasing down anything that moves. One key point to consider when looking for areas that are holding fish at this time of year is that all spots are not created equal. On a medium sized lake like Falcon you might have most of the large bass in the lake in three small areas. This can make finding them somewhat of a chore but when you do, look out!
One of my first experiences with fall bass came on Lake of the Woods in Ontario many years back. Trying to find some late fall walleyes, two friends and I fished a series of islands that had a variety of structures nearby. This included shallow sunken rockpiles, weedgrowth and sharp drop-offs into the deeper water of the main lake basin. Bingo! Smallmouth bass were everywhere gobbling up anything that we threw their direction.
Fall smallmouth will hit a variety of lures; jigging spoons, jigs and plastic, live bait rigs with minnows all will work, some better than others depending on activity level. All predators including pike, muskie and even walleye will use similar areas at this time of year, prime ambush spots for open water forage which could include ciscoes and whitefish that are moving up on reefs at this time of year to spawn.
Later in the fall when water temperatures drop below fifty one degrees fahrenheit, smallmouth move even deeper, roaming sharp drops near the main lake basin. When the bass are positioned like this, I prefer vertical jigging with a jigging spoon tipped with a small plastic power minnow. The erratic swimming motion of an aggressively fished jigging spoon can solicit viscous strikes from even the most inactive smallmouth. This pattern worked on a recent trip to Tobin Lake in Saskatchewan but for a different species. We located a stack of walleye along a drop-off on a main lake island. By positioning the boat over the edge of the reef with the front electric troll motor we caught both trophy pike and walleye. This is also an excellent pattern for fall lake trout, with fish that will rip the road out of your hand.Once fish are found, depending on depth and wind, it is usually better to anchor. This allows you to keep your lure and line as vertical as possible, a key when fish are just a little off on the bite. Sometimes, it is impossible to get an anchor to hold because of depth or bottom composition. At Tobin, the anchor would not hold, which meant precise boat control was required. Luckily for us the wind dropped and we were able to stay in a small area marked with a floating orange buoy, a key when trying to maintain your location. Areas like this are usually not close to shoreline so this becomes a critical factor in staying on fish.

Traverse Bay

It was a beautiful fall day, the leaves a blazing orange in the distance on the shores of mighty Lake Winnipeg. Unseasonably warm after one of the wettest summers on record, we were on Traverse Bay in the southeast quadrant of this massive body of water. Water levels were up at least two feet in the lake and the Winnipeg River, just a half kilometer away, was ripping massive amounts of water into the lake. Water quality in the river was good, meaning decent visibility in the bay itself, a fact that is critical when trying to catch these sight feeders. Walleye like to roam the bay, feeding on large schools of shiner minnows and other baitfish that‘s attracted to the current plume streaming into the lake. The boat launch parking lot on the west side of the paper mill was full when we arrived at 8 a.m. in the morning but the lineup to launch was minimal. Part of this was testament not only to the good fishing but to tough conditions on the Red River. High and fast with poor visibility, the fall walleye bite had been almost non-existent. Anglers who normally fish the Red have been forced to make the trek to Pine Falls in search of the famous greenbacks.
Once in the lake, my partner and I decided to cover some water by trolling a wide variety of crankbaits, those that would dive anywhere from eight to fourteen feet. We started out almost in the middle of the bay, trolling a large sand flat next to the main river channel. Pete caught the first fish of the day, while reeling his crank bait back to the boat to check for weeds. A short time later he hooked another walleye, this one considerably larger. Again, it was the same scenario, he had been reeling his Rapala X Shad back in to the boat. Those two fish made me pick up boat speed to about 3.9 miles an hour according to the GPS readout on my Humminbird. Both came trolling into the current but running the boat with the wind. Neither fish was on the bottom, with Pete’s lure about three feet up. After about an hour of trying to duplicate our success we decided to moved further south, back toward a large rock pile that dominated this section of the bay. Dropping anchor, we decided to see if there was a jig bite. After about half an hour with only two small fish landed on jigs, we went back to the troll. As we headed to the side of the structure were a west wind was crashing some decent water on the rocks, I had my rod been over in half in the rod holder. As I struggled to gain control of the rod, the fish was taking off impressive amounts of 12 pound lime green Fireline. Unfortunately, one of the wraps had got wedged under another down in the spool. With no room for error, this big fish parted the line and kept going. Wow, what a bad way to start the day! Frustrated, I switched over to another level wind rod and reel combo spooled with ten pound mono. About noon, we decided to take a quick run back to the mouth of the Winnipeg River to see if the current bite was happening. Two spots later with three small walleye released I got a text from friend Jim Price, who was still out in the bay. He had found a big school of walleye a short distance away from where I had lost the big fish. He and his boat partners had released three trophy fish in a half hour. Quickly we headed back out into the bay to find Jim and another seven boats working a series of eight foot rock piles on the troll. Pete continued his hot ways, landing five walleyes in a row on Berkley Flicker Shad, black and white in colour. Finally, after switching to a similar bait I started to get the mojo back landing the next three fish.
Summary: Around five p.m we cruised over to Jims boat and thanked him for the information. We also lent him my anchor as we were headed home and he had a tournament coming up on the weekend.
Why the fish were in this part of the bay? My only guess was that a constant north wind the previous three days had piled up the bait against the south shore. Whatever the reason, another lesson learned about Lake Winnipeg. Keep moving around!!!!