A knife of a lifetime

As a professional angler, one of the questions I get asked most often is what kind of filleting knife would I recommend. Well, I was lucky enough some fifteen years ago to get a Cutco filleting knife as a present. I had donated a day of my time to take a young angler with cancer fishing. His family was so grateful that they gave me the Fisherman's Solution. With the extendable stainless steel blade; pivoting sheath that doubles as a gripper; built-in, notched line cutter and sharpening stone, this knife has been the answer to my filleting needs for a wide variety of species of fish since that time. Fisherman's Solution has a 6" - 9" adjustable blade with a release on the handle to adjust the length according to the size of fish you are cleaning. My release broke about two years ago, and the blade wouldn’t stay in place. Now with Cutco you have a lifetime warranty called their “Forever Guarantee” which means you can ship your product back to them and it will be fixed. Better yet, I ran into Justin Gregoire at the Mid Canada Boat Show at the beginning of March. He was manning the Cutco booth as the regional sales representative for this outstanding product. Justin took down my name and phone number when I explained the problem with the knife, offering to come by a week later to replace the handle. One week later Justin is on my doorstep and the knife is now good as new. If you are interested in this product plus a look at all the Cutco knives contact Justin at justingregoire@hotmail.com or visit the website at www.mycutcorep.ca/justingregoire. How good is this knife? While fishing Lake Winnipeg this past week, I lent it to friend Pete Hiebert to clean the walleye we had caught that day. When he started to clean the first walleye, he cut right through the backbone the knife was so sharp. “Wow Don” he exclaimed, “I have never cleaned a fish with a knife this sharp” Pete now has one on order. This knife is also used by many of the commercial fisherman on Lake Winnipeg that clean fish for a living. I like the knife because it has some flex to it. This makes it perfect for cleaning fish like walleye and pike, especially when you take the ribs out and y bones on pike. How much is the knife? It cost $99 but money well spent for a lifetime of use. I also learned many years ago from an expert how to properly sharpen knives with the Lansky Sharpening system. For a filleting knife a 20 degree sharpening angle is best. Visit them online at http://www.lanskysharpeners.com to find out more about this outstanding product and view the video on how to properly use them. You will never have a dull knife in the kitchen again.

Whiteout!

Five o’clock in the morning couldn’t come soon enough this past weekend. Steven Wintemute, the editor of Hooked Magazine was on the way over to pick me up for a day of ice fishing for whitefish on Shoal Lake, Ontario. As usual Steven was right on time, a trait that I appreciate. Five minutes later we were headed to south Winnipeg to pick up friend Darrin Bohonis and then on the road The sun was burning down from a cloudless sky as we pulled up next to a large island. In this particular area, two other groups of ice anglers had arrived before us, so we headed to area between the two groups. Bohonis quickly drilled a hole to find a depth with Steven (www.hookedmagazine.ca ) right behind with the Humminbird Ice 55 to check depth. “We need forty five feet of water Darren!” stated Steven. Lo and behold as the depthfinder powered up, 46.5 registered on the digital readout. “Bingo!” yelled Steven and Darrin then proceeded to drill holes in a line to keep the same depth. After the third hole, something snapped in the power auger and it was done for the day. Fortunately we had one hole each, just enough to allow us to spread out to enjoy a spectacular day of ice fishing for a great sport fish. As is usually the case, Steven was fishing before the rest of us had finished drilling and setting up our gear, which meant, of course, that he had the first two whitefish on the ice before we even dropped a line!!!! On the second fish, his rod was bent right to the hole. “Oh, its huge guys, you got to see this fish!” he screamed. Naturally, we had to drop everything, grab our cameras and rush over to help with getting the fish landed. Out of the hole came a whitefish so fat, it filled the eight inch ice hole on the way up. As we started to snap photos of this monster, I noticed that my Canon 40D was telling me that I had no flash card inserted. Ouch! I had committed the cardinal mistake of not checking before I left on the trip. Not only that, I didn't have a backup card in my Pelican case, two rookie mistakes. Luckily all three of us had virtually the same cameras so we got lots of great shots on this day. After some photos, I ran over to my pail to get a measuring tape. It registered 26 inches in length with a whopping 15 ½ inch girth. Now that’s what I call a whitefish! As the sun rose in the sky, the fish continued to bite, some on the bottom, some just under the ice but most at around 36 feet on this particular day. Darrin ended up catching the most, with Steven right behind ( I disqualified his first two because we weren’t fishing yet.) I was a close third, not bad considering my flasher had pretty much packed it in at the start of the day. LURE SELECTION: Darren had his most success using a Berkley white power tube jig in the one inch size on a Northlands 1/8 ounce silver eyeball jig. (www.northlandtackle.com) Steven, meantime was using a more aggressive presentation, a Little Cleo green and silver ¼ ounce spoon fished plain. I caught my first eight fish on a 3/16 ounce Blue Fox Lil Foxee Jiggin Minnow(www.rapala.ca/products/bluefox/lfjm.php) in white and sliver tipped with a Berkley one inch white power grub. After that I caught a few more on small Berkley Realistix chartreuse minnow and jig. At the end of the day I scratched out two more fish on a ¼ Rattlin Snakie Jigging spoon tipped with a small Berkley Power Natural earthworm.(www.berkley-fishing.com) When I dropped this presentation down the first time, a whitefish streaked off the bottom fifteen feet to inhale the bait. This particular fish, though not the biggest of the day, gave me an incredible fight, peeling 10 pound test Berkley Crystal Fireline three times. Each of us that day was also using fluorocarbon lead of two feet with a small swivel to attach to the main line. You also want to use a medium action ice rod with a soft tip for the small baits that we are using. You need decent backbone on the rod though to get good hook sets in deeper water. Anglers Notes: We all forgot sunscreen on this particular day, not a great idea at this time of year. Luckily we each had top of the line, sunglasses. My Maui Jim dark blue pair saved my eyes from the intense refraction. To see some great photos from the trip, check out Darrin online at http://web.me.com/dbohonis/www.bohonisenterprisesinc.ca. Darrin is a tremendous photographer and can provide some incredible shots for a wide variety of use. Steven also has a blog from the trip at www.hookedmagazine.ca. Ontario does not allow non-residents to order their Outdoor Card online any more. You have to go to a dealer in Ontario to pick one up, a major inconvenience considering you are also only allowed to buy a one year license. In the past you could purchase your card for three years at a time. Not sure why any of this happened but it sure seems like they are going in the wrong direction.

Late March on Lake Winnipeg 2011

Huge chunks of ice littered the shoreline and dock at Balsam Harbour as we ventured down Road 100 on the east shore of Lake Winnipeg this past Thursday, March 24th.. As friend Pete Hiebert eased his truck on plowed road on the north side of the dock, water surged over the gunnels. This was big truck 4x4 territory and on this day only his huge Nokian studded snow tires were to save us from a fate a number of other anglers were to face this day; a truck buried in a snow drift with a foot of slush underneath. Twice on this day, we went to the rescue of those less fortunate, or not as well equipped. One truck we pulled out had a dad with a bad back and a son who was going in for heart surgery the next week. They had already been stuck for an hour when Pete arrived. Most of the anglers out on the bay this day though were still riding snowmachines, a wise choice. Keeping out of the major drifts we ventured north, stopping at a number of different spots to try our luck. Things were slow at our first stop so I got on the cell and called “Manitoba Walleye” Roger Stearns. Lo and behold, he was a short mile away from us with the television crew from “Next Bite” t.v.; long time acquaintances Gary Parsons and Keith Kavajecz . Life time pro anglers and tournament fisherman, we had shared some good times together many moons ago on both the Professional Walleye Trail and The Golden Walleye Classic up on Lesser Slave Lake. In fact I first meet them both at the inaugural PWT event held in 1989 at Mille Lacs in Minnesota. Al Lindner of In Fisherman fame, had invited Alex Kessler and myself to represent Canada at this huge event. While Alex finished in the top ten, I was able to put together a solid pattern the second day of the tournament that got me in the top third of the field. Parson and Kavajecz were making a name for themselves at this stage in their career with a number of tournament wins.
HIGH NOON ON LAKE WINNIPEG: As high noon rolled around we pulled the truck up a short distance to were they were fishing and I walked over to say Hi. It was great to see them again and we caught up on all the news from their part of the world. It turns out they were filming a couple of ice fishing segments, one to be aired on ‘Next Bite” and another on the newly resurrected “Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World. They had already caught a number of nice walleye for the cameras and with half a day to go, they were just hoping for a Manitoba Master Angler walleye to finish things off.
After lunch Pete and I continued to cover the lake, finding fish at almost every spot we stopped. Unfortunately once a couple fish were landed, one had to move on. The fish were scattered over a large area from 12 feet of water to 20 feet but when you marked a fish you caught it, one of the few days I can honestly say that the fish were that aggressive. All the fish were caught with an aggressive lift and drop. The number one bait was the blue and silver Koppers “Live Target” lipless crankbait. Second choice on this day was a perch “Chubby Darter” while Keith and Gary caught a lot of their fish on the Berkley “Rattlin Frenzy”. I have two boxes of these baits in all colours but according to Craig Ferens, another hard core ice angler, who is a member of WAAM (Walleye Anglers Association of Manitoba) the chartreuse has been his colour of choice on Lake Winnipeg this year.
We still have a week left in the season on the big lake, but I recommend that unless you have a big four by four half ton with aggressive snow tires and a partner truck to go with, use a snowmobile. The fish are starting to turn on and the weather forecast looks good!