Author: Don Lamont

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…

MANITOBA Travel on all our waterbodies remains difficult with deep snow, large drifts and slush in many spots. This didn’t stop hardcore anglers Petro Hrynda and Nolan Plew from heading up to the Porcupine Hills recently. They were after a bucket list fish of a lifetime, the rare Artic Char. I saw a post of a huge char on Instagram and reached out to Petro so he could tell our readers about this incredibly difficult adventure. Here is his story. FISH OF A LIFETIME – PETRO HRYNDA In the dead of winter, an opportunity opens up to chase trout deep…

 SOME OF THE FINEST FISHING IN THE WORLD Over the last 30 years I have visited almost every corner of the Wheat Province, experiencing some of the best angling in the world! One thing you must understand about this province is that there is drive-to access to two-thirds of it. This dramatically increases opportunity while reducing costs. It is impossible to write one article that outlines all the great fishing opportunities. What I hope to do, is reveal some lakes, reservoirs, and rivers that I have come across in my travels that I have thoroughly enjoyed fishing. SOUTHERN SASKATCHEWAN In…

MANITOBA With cold temperatures and heavy snowfall in January, travel on the ice in most regions has been difficult. Most is restricted to snowmobile or SnoBear travel. Some hardcore ice anglers have been travelling in truck convoys in order to help the others get unstuck. It really is not the safest time out there. Jay Siemens recently headed out by snow machine from Gimli and had a successful day on the water thanks to help from Mat Hobson of Icebound Excursions https://youtu.be/-0QKYLl8wq8 NORTHERN MANITOBA Meantime Clayton Shick continues his tour of northern Manitoba. His latest adventure is on Lake…

LAKE WINNIPEG-UNLOCKING THE PUZZLE-PART ONE EDITOR’S NOTE- WE ARE GOING TO PUBLISH A THREE PART SERIES ON  THE RISE AND FALL OF FISH STOCKS IN LAKE WINNIPEG AND IT’S TRIBUTARIES. IN THE FIRST PART I RECOUNT 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. THE EARLY DAYS In the forty years I have been fishing Lake Winnipeg, during the 80’s and 90’s  I rarely fished the open water on the main lake. The truth be told…

WINTER DOLUDRUMS? NOT SO MUCH! An extended cold period across the prairies cut down on ice fishing activity over the Christmas Holidays and into the New Year. Despite the extreme cold, there has been some spectacular ice fishing in this part of the world. With the technological advances in portable shelters, clothing, and heaters, you can fish comfortably in almost any weather. Where it does get tricky is getting to where you want to go without the danger of getting stranded, or even worse, breaking through the ice. Every year vehicles go on down and this year is no exception.…