Author: Don Lamont

NO SPRING IN SIGHT! I don’t know about you, but this winter has been one of the longest on record. I can’t remember one that I have had to spend so much time indoors. Now we have the storm of record proportions bearing down us, set to dump massive amounts of snow. With all of that I am thinking it might be a good April to visit the west coast. Outdoor writer and hardcore angler Dave Shmyr extended an invitation to come out and try some Vancouver Island bass fishing this past year and it is starting to look pretty…

MANITOBA The angling season in the southern section of the province closed this past week, marking one of the toughest access years ever. Record snowfall in this part of the world, combined with extreme cold temperatures made it an ice fishing season to forget. As we move into April there are still angling opportunities to be had in this province. Stocked trout lakes remain open for angling and the Duck Mountains has seen increased angler activity. Fishing in the northern divisions of the province do remain open until May 1st.  Many of the lodges keep their accommodations open during April…

THE MYSTERY OF FISH MOVEMENT ON LAKE WINNIPEG EDITOR’S NOTE- THIS IS THE SECOND ARTICLE IN A  THREE PART SERIES ON  THE RISE AND FALL OF FISH STOCKS IN LAKE WINNIPEG AND IT’S TRIBUTARIES. IN THE FIRST PART I RECOUNTED MY OWN EXPERIENCES WITH THE BIG LAKE AND ITS TRIBUARTIES. IN THE SECOND PART WE EXAMINE FISH MOVEMENT THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM.   IN THE THIRD PART WE WILL DISCUSS WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS. Lake Winnipeg has undergone a number of environmental stresses over the last two decades. These include massive algae blooms, overharvest by commercial fishers, a die off of smelt…

MANITOBA LAKE WINNIPEG With the arrival of spring finally, the fishing success in this province is picking up. Lake Winnipeg, the prime destination for those who are after a walleye of a lifetime, has really come on in the last week. While access is still limited to tracked travel, there has been some great action. Both sides of the lake have been producing both numbers and large walleye. One problem that persists is the amount of snow and slush that is still around, especially close to shorelines. This has really made access difficult in many areas and if you want…

SPECTACULAR VIEWS AND BIG FISH The last two years has not been kind to northern outfitters and lodges. First there were travel restrictions to the north because of the pandemic, then last year fires affected many areas of the province. Now with a war in the Ukraine, gas prices have jumped through the roof. I had a chance to talk to a number of lodge operators recently about their challenges. THE GOOD NEWS Many of the remote lodges had already hauled in their supply of fuel over winter roads for their needs this open water season. This before the dramatic…

MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE  Over the last forty years I have visited many wonderful places across the prairies and Northwestern Ontario. Not all have been fishing related, but most have. It has allowed me to fine tune my approach on where I want to go and the experience I am looking for. With travel opening up people are anxious to get out and enjoy the great country and province we live in. CHOOSING A LOCATION What separates some angling destinations in this part of the world from the rest of the crowd? A complicated question, one that people in the…

MANITOBA March madness has officially arrived but it’s more to do with the weather than anything else. Brutal conditions continue and getting out on the ice is a major challenge. Fishing right now is only for those well equipped.  That means contacting one of the many guides that we have working on Lake Winnipeg or the few in  the northern part of the province if you don’t have a tracked mode of transportation. One of the best equipped is Kris Kaune, who guides on Big Windy. He has been putting his clients on some of those monster greenback walleye. Jay…

UNCONVENTIONAL BUT WHO CARES It was the winter of 2009, in my second semester of university. I was tucked away in a dark corner of the campus basement, when the urge was starting to resurface.  Again, I caught myself flipping through tabs on the internet of all the local fishing forums. And then I came across it, an idea so far-fetched I was destined to fall for it. The thread was titled ‘Fly fishing the Red River.’ Scrolling through the photos of drooping bellied channel catfish was enough to convince me, “I need that!” The better part of me spoke…

MANITOBA Okay, we give up, enough already!  As we head to March, the knee that old man winter has on our throat has made most of us concede he wins. As I try and collect fishing reports from across the west, Jamie Bruce from Kenora summed it up the best when he said it hasn’t been about fishing but survival. All his time has been spent battling the elements, not fish. For those with the proper equipment, which means tracked vehicle for the most part, there has been some angling success. For those still fishing the Red River there are…

HOME FOR THE WINTER IN 2020 EDITORS NOTE: Kaitlyn Lawes and Stephan Vigier wrote this column last winter for the print edition of Hooked Magazine. I had met Kaitlyn at a golf tournament a few years back and when I heard she was home for the winter of 2020 because of the pandemic I asked her if she would like to write about her fishing adventures with her fiancée. She loves to get out on the water whenever she can but this past year was a busy one. She and the Jennifer Jones team ended up going to the Olympics…