LAKE OF THE PRAIRIES- PART I

A brisk south wind was driving away some of the rain clouds as we hopped from wave to wave on the choppy waters of Lake of the Prairies on this late May day. It had been a few years since I had wet a line on this productive reservoir that stretches for more than 30 kilometres between Russell and Roblin Manitoba. Perched right on the Saskatchewan border this destination receives visiting anglers from across the prairies and the upper Midwestern United States. Though not as well known as some walleye destinations in other parts of the region, after spending two days there last week I would have to say it would have to be the best walleye fishing I personally have had in many a moon.

In the mid 80's and the early 90's Lake of the Prairies produced incredible catches of walleye but increasing angling pressure and a few poor spawning years reduced the number of fish available to anglers. A slot limit that restricted harvest of fish between 45 and 80 centimetres has remained in place since that time and a few good spawning years in the late 90's and at the turn of the 21st century has seen an incredible recruitment of fish into the restricted slot.

We had launched my boat at Rickers Campground on the northern end of the reservoir near Roblin and headed south toward a spot regional fisheries biologist Ken Kansas had recommended we try. It was a small mud point that extended out slightly into the main river channel, not an obvious spot on this big reservoir to the naked eye, but once scanned with electronics, showed huge potential. For the experienced eye, the depthfinder showed a fairly shop drop-off area from one metre to two metres of water that was a natural holding and ambush spot for marauding schools of big walleye. A brisk southwest wind was piling up water into the point and as two friends and I pulled up to the point we decided to try a controlled drift, positioning the boat along the breakline by using the back electric troll motor. Ken said the fish were in shallow water so we had tied on 1/8 ounce jigs tipped with a variety of baits including leeches, dead shiners and nightcrawlers and black power Bungee leeches. On the first drift, dragging a jig about six metres behind the boat, I suddenly felt extra resistance. Lifting the rod tip on my six foot Series One jigging rod, I could feel solid weight. Snapping my wrist to finish off the lift of the rod tip, I felt the solid hook up of a good fish. Sure enough it was big Lake of the Prairies walleye who was not impressed about coming to boat. After a hard fought battle the first walleye of the trip, a beautiful 60 centimetre specimen, was netted, digitized and released.

That was just the beginning. After catching and releasing about a dozen fish on this spot we continued on down the lake to another mud point. Sure enough we caught a couple more walleye on jigs and leeches but with the windy conditions we decided to change tactics a bit. We dropped the anchor and rigged up some slipfloats, small jigs and leeches. Positioned on the inside of the point we set our bobber stops at one and a half metres and threw out the slipfloats slightly upwind of the boat towards the shallower water. Sure enough one of my friends had the float disappear almost instantly. Reeling up the slack and sweep setting the hook, he had his rod bend over in a classic arc. This kind of action continued non stop for the next two hours as walleye between 40 and 75 centimetres continued to patrol the shallow shelf, grabbing our baits that were dangling in their faces on a regular basis. We finally pulled anchor and got off the water just in time to make it back to Roblin that evening to grab a bite to eat. Staying at the clean and neat Harvest Moon Inn, we managed to make it one of the local restaurants just before the ten o'clock closing time. You might want to remember that if you come off the water hungry. Don't leave it too late, at least not in Roblin.

The next morning after a hearty breakfast at Terry's Drive-in we headed back down the lake. As we drove down the hill the second morning the sun broke through the clouds as predicted. The forecast was for beautiful sunny day in the Parkland and it must have been the signal for the fish to go crazy! A cold spring had left the water temperature in the reservoir hovering around the nine Celsius range and any sunlight along with warmer temperatures was going to move those fish into shallower water with only one thought in mind, eating!

Sure enough on this day there was no need to anchor and use slipfloat. A simple jig, tipped with bait or power bait was enough to solicit viscous strikes from walleye that had gone crazy. It was every anglers dream, a trip where you didn't have to hear somebody say. "you should have been there yesterday". After the smoke had cleared, the three anglers in our boat had probably landed a hundred or more walleye in the ten hours we fished. It really didn't matter were we fished that day as long as the boat was in one to two metres of water. The only bad part was that none of us in the boat had remembered the sunscreen.

It must be stated that Lake of the Prairies has returned as one of the premier walleye lakes in this part of the world. This jewel on the prairies has to continue to be protected so anglers from all over can enjoy this great resource.

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