Author: Don Lamont

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…

 JIGGING UP JUMBOS “There’s some trout” I say, looking at the screen of the Helix beside me, seeing some trout looking arcs hovering above bottom. We had just settled over a hump rising from around 50 feet to just over 40, and on top of this little hump were what sure looked like lake trout. I hit the anchor mode on the Terrova, grabbed a rod and sent a jig into the depths.    LAKE NIPIGON IS A WORLD CLASS DRIVE TO FISHERY We were fishing the giant expanse of Lake Nipigon and had found an area that seemed to be holding trout, and…

 MANITOBA FISHING REPORT Big China is back on the water and producing videos. He, like many others have been discovering the great fishing on Lake Winnipeg this year.  Check out his latest adventure! https://youtu.be/RmeKtKQhEB8 LAKE MANITOBA A combination of predominant winds from the west and the south have allowed the water of this big lake to clear to about three feet. This has improved the fishing for walleye, perch and freshwater drum with some pike thrown in for good measure. Some big fish are being caught as well in eight to nine feet of water. Trolling with cranks is catching…

SOURIS RIVER FULL OF SURPRISES Having the Souris river so close, I often check it out regularly. It’s a great river for a multi species fishing, with carp, suckers and bullheads in residence. It’s great fun to change it up every once in a while, as it does hold the odd surprise Manitoba Master Angler. It’s a relatively shallow river, more so in the summer but I do like to target the river with small plastics and swimbaits for walleye. On a good day in either spring or fall it can be constant action and like all fishing it can…

Crappie have become one of the most popular game fish in Manitoba. There range has spread across the eastern half of the province with isolated pockets in southwestern Manitoba as well. Anglers have had tremendous success catching them through the ice and in the springtime when they move shallow to spawn. The question for many anglers is how do you catch them in the summertime? FIND THE EDGE When the crappies are done doing the spring spawn they move out to deeper water. The key to finding them is your ability to find edges that these fish will use. These…