Author: Don Lamont

ORGANIZE FOR BETTER SUCCESS In preparation for the ice fishing season, I took my ice auger blades in for sharpening recently. On the last trip of the ice season last year I hit bottom and banged up the blades badly. Veteran ice anglers will tell you that when not drilling holes you should always have your blade guard on.  It might also save you the embarrassment of looking for holes someone else had fished just so you can wet a line! That happened on my last trip and luckily there were plenty of anglers that had left open holes everywhere.…

 MANITOBA Hard to believe but ice fishing has started on the small ponds in the south and bigger ones up north. Aaron Wiebe (Uncut Angling) has been out already on the ponds of Lac du Bonnet. These stocked ponds north of the town of Lac du Bonnet have been a big hit with anglers thanks to the hard work of the Lac du Bonnet Wildlife Association. The Wildlife Association Pond is located on PTH 11, 1 mile North of the junction of PR 313. It consists of 75 acres of crown land!  The Red River kicked out some beautiful fish…

By Carly Deacon, Managing Director of the Manitoba Wildlife Federation, Photos by Dr. Vince Crichton We have made great strides in our province over the last couple of weeks, standing up for conservation, protecting our vulnerable moose population, balancing Indigenous rights, all while ensuring safe hunting practices are enforced for increased public safety.  The new legislation passed under Bill 29 – The Wildlife Amendment Act (Safe Hunting and Shared Management) which has established safer hunting and paves the way for one shared management plan and sustainable wildlife in Manitoba, was no small feat by our government. PROACTIVE MEASURES ARE NEEDED…

MANITOBA RED RIVER It’s almost two weeks ago that the walleye starting showing up in numbers on the Red River from the main lake to Lockport. While anglers fishing closer to the lake have been having sporadic success for about a month, in the last week those fish have moved up to the traditional areas closer to the locks. Stretches of river like “Doc Reeds”, the Power Plant and the “Miracle Mile” all have a place in Manitoba fishing folklore, legendary over the years for their mind numbing catches of green hued walleye. Some years the run of fish starts…

DEDICATED TRUST FUND A GAMECHANGER! Some great news for those in this province who want to protect and enhance our fish and wildlife resources. The Manitoba Government announced the creation of the new Fish and Wildlife Enhancement Fund model through a trust administered by The Winnipeg Foundation. In the last fiscal year, the province invested $20 million to create the fund, which will generate approximately $1 million in 2020. Minister of Agriculture and Resource Development, Blaine Pederson says this represents a more than 40 per cent increase in annual funding. “The creation of this trust fund for the Fish and…

Anglers are always looking for an edge when it comes to catching more and bigger fish. The amount of information out there is a bit overwhelming but if you watch and read enough of it, much of it overlaps. Over the years I have tried to become creative when looking at ways to fish big soft plastic. When I had my television show, The Complete Angler, we spent a lot of time in remote locations. While it was great experience, one had to learn to pack with purpose. Loading up soft plastics was a quick, easy, and light way to…

BIG FALL FISH ON THE MOVE! MANITOBA Anglers in Manitoba are still enjoying multi species success. Pick your species, freshwater drum, sucker, bullhead, pike, crappie and of course the most popular of all, walleye. Oh yes, don’t forget about the mighty channel catfish and huge carp. While the catfishing in the Red and Assiniboine has been excellent all fall, with water temperatures cooling, the walleye run is taking over. Guide Todd Longley says the big greenbacks are starting to move in major numbers, with some extremely large walleye being caught. His guest have had great success using jigs and salted…

MANITOBA The number one question that most anglers want to know is if the fall walleye run has started yet on the Red River. The last few years have been slow on the Red, but reports indicate a slow bite. Anglers are catching more fish in the lake itself that the two rivers. Speaking of rivers, the Whitemud River north of Portage la Prairies is starting to produce fall walleye and drum as well as big carp. Lake of the Prairies continues to impress for the quantity and quality of the walleye being caught on a consistent basis. Jigging raps…

MANITOBA Fall has arrived, the most dynamic time of the year to fish for a variety of species. With angling license sales up by 30 percent, Manitobans are enjoying what this province has to offer! If the summer bite on Lake Winnipeg is any indication it should be a great run of big fall walleye on the Red and Winnipeg River at Pine Falls. It has not happened yet on the Red given muddy water conditions and extremely fast current. Many anglers are watching the wind and heading out on the big lake with consistent success for both numbers and…

SASKATCHEWAN ROGER & SUSAN GERES We took our summer holiday to last mountain camping for 12 days. It was a great holiday and caught some big fish including my personal best at 30.5 inches! The fishing changed with the weather, wind  it seemed but we found the 26 to 30 foot depth range the best zone to find those big fish. In most cases we drove around until we marked a big fish, then dropped a jigging Rapala down to them. This produced most of the big fish. We also used bottom bouncers and spinners along with walking sinkers. We…