Crowduck Lake Camp

After arriving home to Winnipeg from that memorable trip to Gunisao Lake, I got a call from friend Jim Price. He had made arrangements for us to get into Crowduck Lake on Sunday. I am not sure that my walleye jigging arm could handle any more fish but I was sure prepared to try.
After leaving my house in Winnipeg for the two hour drive to the pickup point at Big Whiteshell Lake, memories of master angler walleye danced in my head. It was in 1995 that I filmed a show in Crowduck for “The Complete Angler” television series with Mitch Dorge, who at the time, was the drummer for The Crash Test Dummies.

Mitch had never fished before and after landing a Master Angler walleye that day, along with about thirty other fish, he probably never ever understood how good the fishing was on this body of water. While the numbers of trophy sized fish have since gone down, on this particular day we caught about a hundred fish between Jim and myself. Most of the walleye were between eighteen and twenty one inches, chunky fighters that made us forget the miserable morning that had us shivering in our rain suits. In fact, when we got checked out on the lake by Manitoba Conservation officers around 11 a.m. the sight of these two made us feel warm. One had his teeth chattering and was on the verge of hypothermia. After a quick check for barbless hooks, fish, and a license, they were on their way to lodge for a hot drink. Shortly thereafter the sun broke through the clouds, with the temperature rising dramatically in a very short period of time. By one in the afternoon we were down to our shirtsleeves, catching walleye like crazy and enjoying every moment. We started out in “Dark Bottom Bay” pitching small jigs rigged with Berkley two inch Gulp minnows in five feet of water. Jim had two walleye in the boat before I even picked my rod up. ( I was driving) After catching about twenty walleye in no time flat, we moved out to the shorelines to see if we could catch some smallmouth- (no, just more eighteen inch walleye.)
Jim then suggested we head out to Gull Island, a spot on the lake renowned for trophy walleye. Back when we filmed the show in 1995, we sent down our underwater cameraman. He came back with some incredible footage of huge walleye cruising the rock piles below. It was here that Mitch caught his master angler fish. On this day the fish were still here, just a bit smaller. I let the boat drift over the corner of the island in about ten feet of water. Using an orange ¼ ounce jig with a large dead shiner minnow threaded up the shank, I immediately had on a good fish. In a short period of time we caught and landed a number of good solid walleye between eighteen and twenty one inches. As the sun got hotter and the wind died down, Jim and I decided to do some power trolling with heavy bottom bouncers and spinners. While we didn’t catch the numbers we had been getting with jigs earlier when it was overcast, we triggered some really good fish to hit these rigs. All in all it was another spectacular day on this great walleye fishery.
About seven o’clock Jim and I headed back to camp, just in time to see Nick Kolanski, Bill’s dad feed a raven on the front steps of the main lodge. Nick and the raven had become friends over the last year. Bill has taken over running the lodge and has he drove us out of camp and across Big Whiteshell in one of the four big yawls he owns, he told me it has been 28 years since he started working for his dad at the camp. Bill puts in a long day, up at four in the summer and driving the last guests out at sunset. While his U.S. business and dropped off a bit because of the economy, more and more Canadians are coming to his camp. A lot of anglers from southern Manitoba also come in the for the day trips he offers. Just a note, if you plan on renting a boat from the camp, your need to bring in your own electronics.
Also while the boats are in great shape, they only have 25 HP motors, so you are way better off to keep two anglers to a boat, at least if you want to explore. Believe me there is plenty to see and catch!
For more information on the camp, visit their website at www.crowducklakecamp.com

Budd's Gunisao Lake Lodge

I couldn’t imagine a week that could be any better for a hardcore walleye angler. First on the fishing agenda was a three day trip to Budd’s Gunisao Lake Lodge. Budd’s registers about a thousand master angler walleye each year. That was to be followed by a one day adventure to Crowduck Lake in the Whiteshell Provincial Park. Crowduck Lake has long been famous for its 100 to 200 walleye days per boat. Wow, are you ready to catch some fish!
I had been dreaming for years to return to Gunisao Lake in east central Manitoba, world renowned as the home of Manitoba Master Angler walleye. I had first visited Gunisao in 1992 when Dr. Jim Budd asked me to come up at film an episode of “The Complete Angler” television series there. Dr Jim had only had the lodge for five years and he felt it was time to let the rest of the world know just how good the walleye fishing was on this pristine, mesotrophic lake located 250 air miles north of Winnipeg. (www.buddsgunisaolakelodge.com)
It was Tuesday at five a.m. when I met up with John Toone , his son John Jr. and Vic Mann at the Esso Avitat hanger on the east side of the Winnipeg airport. We hauled in our luggage and shared stories of fishing trips gone past as we waited for the pilots and ground crew to load our gear on the three Keystone charter airplanes that would fly the eighteen guests up this particular morning. Gunisao has a 3600 foot all weather airstrip that is one of the finest all weather landing strips in Manitoba.


It took us less than an hour in the air and we were on the ground meeting up with friends Karen and Glen Smith in the lodge’s main dining room. Karen and Glen, who reside in Winnipeg, have been going to the lodge for the last four years. Owners of Priority Restoration, they are avid anglers, travelling across Manitoba to enjoy the great lodges and fishing this province has to offer. They had already been in camp four days and had three more to go. Checking out the Master Angler board in the main dining room, we saw that Karen and Glen had already landed six trophy fish during their stay, the biggest a 31 ½ inch fish. I should mention that in order to qualify for a Master Angler Award from Travel Manitoba, walleye have measure at least 28 inches. That is a pretty nice walleye in any ones book. Karen and Glen were to finish with 14 Master Angler Walleye before they were done!
What makes this lake produce so many big fish? Dusty Budd says the lake was commercially fished for lake trout for years until the trout fishery collapsed. After anglers discovered how great the walleye fishing was a lodge was established on the lake. Dusty’s dad, Dr Jim Budd purchased the lodge in 1987. Since that time the Budd’s concentrated their fishing efforts on the walleye that had filled the niche left by the lake trout. They soon discovered that the walleye grew to trophy sized by chasing down ciscoes that had once been the primary forage of the lake trout. Gunisao Lake itself is sixteen miles long by four miles wide and holds abundant spawning grounds. On our trip the big walleye were just staging outside the spawning areas and could be caught using a vertical jigging presentation. Karen and Glen fished one small area in “walleye hole” with orange ¼ ounce jigs tipped with a dead shiner minnows. Glen said the key to get the big post spawn females to bite was to the let the jig sit on the bottom for about five seconds, then slowly lift it six inches. Almost all the bites were extremely subtle in nature, requiring a slight lift on the rod tip to make the walleye commit to the bait.
While the Smiths stayed in a few areas, we travelled all over the lake in search of both walleye and pike. While our group caught three Master Angler fish we certainly enjoyed the outstanding fishing for both walleye and pike. In fact, despite only fishing for pike for three hours I managed to land a 40 inch fish, one short of Master Angler length.
Dusty Budd runs a first class operation with experienced guides, many of whom have been guiding for the Budd’s for years. We had Wally Bailey from Norway House for two of our days. He had learned the trade from his father before him and knew every inch of the lake. Just to give you an idea of how good the walleye fishing was, the average guest at the lodge while we were there caught at least one hundred fish a day.
TACKLE: While the Smiths had all their luck for post spawn walleye using jigs, we tried a variety of different presentations. We had great luck trolling crankbaits, in particular the shallow running Berkley Frenzy in a perch pattern. We used them on the Daniels River for about an hour and had numerous triple headers. Out in Daniels Bay switched over to Live Bait rigs with spin and glows hooked with a dead shiner minnow. This produced non-stop action on our last morning of the trip as the fish were actively feeding on mayfly larvae in this dark bottom bay. While we could not manage a master angler fish this morning our group did manage to land three as I mentioned earlier, the biggest a 30 inch walleye caught by John Jr.
Budd’s Gunisao Lake Lodge is one of the absolute finest walleye destinations in the world. The staff was friendly and courteous and the food was first class. Dusty made sure he was around in the main lodge in the evenings to serve up a cold Moosehead draft or find tackle you might need.
After arriving home to Winnipeg, I got a call from friend Jim Price. He had made arrangements for us to get into Crowduck Lake on Sunday. I am not sure that my walleye jigging arm could handle any more fish but I was sure prepared to try.