Cross Bay

Cross Bay is legend among walleye anglers in the know here in Manitoba. Lodge owners don't publicize the fishery, nor do the anglers who head up there every year. If you cruise the Internet you will find discussion on this massive bay on the east end of Cedar Lake, stories of 200 fish days, sunken timber, large waves and fish; walleye and pike of legendary proportion! A couple of years ago I made my first trip to this fishery, an event that I had been planning for the last two years. As I drove from Winnipeg the 400 kilometres up Highway 6 to the town of Grand Rapids, memories came flooding back of one my first fishing trips ever to this area back in 1984. Camped on the shores of the Saskatchewan River below the massive Grand Rapids Generating Station, I remember tremendous walleye fishing from a run of fish that came in off of Lake Winnipeg; attracted by the current flow generated from the dam itself.( this past June, the walleye run in this river was a strong as ever, matching the fishing of twenty years ago.) Built between the years of 1960 and 1968, this huge structure was the first major hydro electric project in northern Manitoba and is the only dam on the Saskatchewan River in Manitoba. The fourth largest river in Canada, the Saskatchewan River derives its name from the Cree word Kisiskatchewan meaning swift current. The rivers origin is in the Rocky Mountains and travels over 19 hundred kilometres before it enters Lake Winnipeg at Grand Rapids, draining an area of almost 340,000 kilometres. Grand Rapids was for many years the gateway to the vast northwest region- part of the water highway that took explorers, fur traders and settlers past this very difficult set of rapids as they headed west up the Saskatchewan River. In 1877 the Hudson Bay Company built a tramway to move horse drawn cargo cars from below to above the rapids. Vestiges of that tramway can still be seen along the river as you head up towards the dam.

Grand Rapids was the logical spot to put the dam because of a series of natural waterfalls along this stretch of river that formed a total drop of 35.6 metres. Alexander Mackenzie, first traveled this route in July of 1793 and in his journals described the area as abundant with wildlife and its waters rich with fish, especially sturgeon. As the dam was built, a large reservoir was created above the dam in Cedar Lake. Its water level was raised 3.5 metres, flooding a large tract of land, making it now cover an area of close to 3,500 kilometres.Cross Bay is on the east end of the lake were the reservoir drains into Lake Winnipeg. It is closed to commercial activity and produces huge walleye and pike A few years ago conservation officers found an illegal net on the far end of Cross bay. As they lifted it, Manitoba Conservation fisheries technician Walt Lysak documented the fish caught in the net. Lysack, who has been test netting the lake since 1979 says the smallest walleye in the net weighed in at 5.4 kilograms (12 pounds) with the biggest almost 6.8 kilograms(15 pounds).

As we pulled into the community of Grand Rapids we turned right along the river and pulled into the Pine Grove Cabins, a set of neat cabins built just up from the shore of the Saskatchewan River. Gary Hobbs and his family run this operation, a place were fisherman headquarter. Gary says his clientele is made up of anglers from across North America, many who have been coming to stay at his cabins for years. Most will make the short 15 kilometre trek from town up to his dad and brothers other resort located on the shores of Cross Bay itself. Garys son T.J, is an avid fisherman and last fall he witnessed a walleye that still have a lot of people shaking their heads. T.J and a friend were contracted to remove fish guts from area resorts. As they headed up a short distance from his dads place to Hillside Resort they ran into a group of American bear hunters from South Dakota who had just gotten in from fishing Cross Bay.One of the hunters told T.J to check out the cheeks he had just removed from a huge walleye. T.J said the cheeks were so big that they looked like small plates. He then dug the carcass of the walleye out of the fish barrel and measured it with his friend as a witness. T.J swears the fish was just over 40 inches or 101.6 centimetres, by far the biggest walleye he had ever seen in his life.

Lysack says by using a conversion chart and given the growth rate of fish in Cedar Lake and Cross Bay, the walleye could have been 25 pounds! This almost matches the huge pike that was commercially caught a few years ago that biologists estimate was 66.5 inches in length. While there was a picture of that huge pike for some reason T.J and his friend never kept the carcass of the fish, a fact many of the lodge operators in the area rue.

Lysack says the walleye in Cedar have the second highest growth rate in Manitoba and a 43-54 centimetre walleye is about 8 years in age and about two to 2.5 kilograms (4 1/2 to 5 1/2 pounds).

He says part of the reason the fish grow so fast is the size and abundance of forage in this huge reservoir. He says there are tullibee in the fishery that are 14 to 16 inches in length and anglers mistake them for whitefish. The walleyes also have suckers and perch to feast on as well as spot tail shiners.

A DAY ON THE WATER
The late July sun was already starting to dip, lengthening the shadows, but not diminishing the stature of the of this huge bay, stretching some ten kilometres at the widest and more than 30 kilometres in length.

A warm and friendly gentle west wind was blowing in our faces as we followed lodge owner Fred Hobbs across Cross Bay to one of his favorite walleye reefs. As I took in the scenery I could not help but be impressed with the pristine look of the water, with clarity in some spots over three metres, a help in spotting may of the sunken reefs and free floating logs that dotted the bay, prime habitat for the large numbers of pike and walleye that make this body of water one of the better fisheries that I have ever visited.

Earlier that same day we had launched our boat at the protected marina at Hobbs Resort, one of three catering to anglers along the gravel road that accesses the east shore of Cross Bay.

Gib Hobbs settled in this region as the Grand Rapids dam was being constructed in 1960 and established a number of business ventures in the area. One of them was Hobbs Resort and he and his son Fred have no problem filling their cabins just from word of mouth advertising.

As we arrived at the spot and positioned the boat for a long drift over the shallow sunken island that spread out before us, it was for me a culmination of two years of research about this area and its fishery. We weren't to be disappointed with a quick double header of eating size walleye to the boat in no time flat.Over the next two days, this scenario was to repeat itself over and over again until you just got plain tired of catching fish if that is possible. Now you can have slow days on this fishery just like any other but according to Freed Hobbs the summer months of July and August certainly bring consistent action for walleye as these fish group on the many reefs that dot the bay. One of the highlights of the trip came when my cameraman Ian Rogers dropped the Aqu-View to record some underwater footage on this one long reef we had been fishing for an half hour. All I could hear as I was sitting at the back of the boat, was "There is another one, and another one and wow look at that really big one. OOPS, watch out for the logs!" Yes, be prepared to donate some tackle on this trip if you decide to partake. A large majority of Cross Bay is flooded timber, a direct result of flooding when the Grand Rapids dam raised the water levels 3.5 metres. Of course, you can find some spots with just limestone and other rocks but the majority of the places we fished over the two days had walleye and timber mixed in. I mean mixed in! As Ian watched on the underwater camera, the walleye would come darting out of the sunken lumber as your jig drifted by, then swim back underneath it as quickly as possible. Usually though, you would catch one of the two or three that were competing for your bait.

While we fished mostly with jigs and new Berkley Gulp while we were there, I was dying to try some crankbaits. Somehow with all that timber I never got the courage up, but Fred assures me it can be done, just make sure you don't get too close to the bottom with your bait.!

Fred Hobbs knows that they have been lucky to have a resort on this great fishery, and also very fortunate to not have to worry about commercial fishing on this section. Still, many of his clientele come to keep fish to eat and he has to make sure to encourage the release of trophy fish, which include many bragging sized pike. Fred enjoys the outdoors immensely and fills his winters with ice fishing and trapping. In the summer evenings, you can catch him relaxing in a chair by the camp office ready to tell you a story or two. They usually include the mighty northern, because Fred loves to catch big pike and we spent one afternoon catching some nice sized fish in a couple of the bays across from the lodge. It was all the more impressive considering it wasn't really prime time in the middle of the afternoon with an air temperature of 33 Celsius. Fred tells tales of massive pike, best caught in late May, early June, then again in September. It sounds like the making of another trip!

If you do plan on making plans to visit, call one of the resorts well in advance. There is camping available at pretty much all the resorts, including the provincial campground in Grand Rapids itself. For more information on the area, visit the Travel Manitoba website at www.travelmanitoba.com or check out the Travel Manitoba Fishing and Hunting Adventures guide.

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