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Otter Falls
It took a couple of hours to get all my fishing gear packed, more time actually than
the drive to get my particular destination this day. Heading north out of Winnipeg
on Highway 59, past Birds Hill Park, the sun was shining off the water filled
ditches. Turning east on Highway #44 past Beausejour, it was a short jog to
Highway #11, then east on Provincial Road #307. Entering the town of Seven
Sisters, I noticed a federal election sign by an outdoors portable toilet touting it as
a polling station. Nice to see people still have a sense of humor after a long winter
and cold spring. Stopping at the only gas station left in this small community next
to the Whitemouth River, which had broadened, considerably with all the rain, I
renewed acquaintances with the owner. He reassured me that the fishing was
picking up and after getting some pike bait and a drink, I was back on the road,
trailering my boat along the highway that parallel's the Winnipeg River. In no time I
had arrived at Otter Falls, a narrowed down section close to the halfway point of
this impressive body of water. As I pulled into Otter Falls Resort I couldn't help
but be impressed with the neat appearance of the store and the beach that
nestled back along a protected bay off the main river channel. After talking to
lodge operator Lori Derksen I headed back next door to the provincial
campground to launch my boat and buy a season parks pass. While the boat
launch was in excellent shape, boat trailer parking was back across the highway.
This didn't affect me as much as it might others since I was booked into one of
the five luxurious waterfront cabins this resort has to offer.
Still, launching a boat by oneself can be a chore, but as luck would have it, an
angler who was fishing off the dock at the launch had no problem giving me a
hand. After all this is friendly Manitoba! A short time later with the truck and boat
trailer safely stored, it was time for a quick trip around this section of the Winnipeg
River. As I idled away from the dock, the first thing that stood out was the surface
water temperature reading on my fishing electronics, a shivery 9 Celsius. Then as
I rounded the point from Eleanor Lake to the main river channel, the sheer volume
of water that was coming through this section of channel was impressive enough.
Otter Falls was indeed almost a falls again, water churning and rippling over a set
of granite just to the north of the resort, a confluence of Eleanor, Margaret and
Dorothy Lakes. It's hard to imagine, given the ruggedness of this part of the world
that it is a short one-hour drive from Winnipeg. Not only that but the fishing in this
river has become spectacular again, caused by the introduction of a slot size that
restricts walleye harvest between 42 and 70 centimetres.
That didn't manifest itself on this particular trip, as walleye fishing was pretty tough
with the colder water temperatures. However the smallmouth bass fishing made
up for it, with some good smallies caught in back bays and off shoreline points
and current breaks.
On the second day there, things started to come together pattern wise, with some
big bass and walleye showing up off of back eddies and slack water areas next to
major current breaks. One particular moment stands out when both a guest and
myself had jumbo smallmouth on at the same time only to lose both, one jumping
off and the other breaking the line. While we spent time in the back bays and
shallow shoreline areas, the majority of the fish seemed to be in slack water areas
next to current in from one to four metres of water.
Fishing along this section of the Winnipeg River can be tremendous and look for
things to improve as the water gets warmer.
There are two lodges located at Otter Falls, both with first class accomodations.
Riverview Lodge is just before Otter Falls, with a nice protected bay to park a
boat as well as a licensed restaurant and steak pit. Otter Falls, were I stayed has
a nice private sand beach, restaurant and boat rentals. Both have shoreline cabins
with hot tubs, great places to get away.
The campground at Otter Falls is also well situated and has been a popular
destination for Winnipeggers for years.
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