Author: Don Lamont

The nature of living well in Manitoba is a lot about having as much fun in our brief summers as you possibly can. For many of us, the perfect summer day is hitting the beach with family in tow. To me the only way to make a lazy summer day at the beach better is mixing in some fast and furious walleye catching. I first got onto this amazing beach pattern about 6 years ago. We were at my wife’s family cottage near Grand Beach. We were set up on the sand with our toddler having a great time when…

I’ve put in more time exploring and scanning google maps for potential Carp hot spots then I care to divulge (winters are long). Progressing into hot summer days devoted to driving, hiking and scouring beaches in search of Carp tails. Occasionally hitting pay dirt and other times stumbling onto nude beaches with my waders on and fly rod in hand. I don’t have a photo to prove it but somewhere out there are two old wrinkly white guys telling the story of “The guy said he was looking for Carp, Carp?!?!?” The last two people on earth I wanted to…

Knowledge is power, and data is the key to sustainability Lake Sturgeon are present in several locations across Manitoba. They have been hammered by humans for hundreds of years, almost to the point of extirpation. I would like to convey in this article how fisheries research, when done thoroughly and timely, can lead to potential positive change. I will talk about the Manitoba section of the Winnipeg River, since it shows this ‘concept’ rather nicely and is also the area that I have the most hands on experience in. In 2006 the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in…

I could come up with an excuse to pretty much go and target any fish I can think of, I’m not prejudiced and if it bites on hook and line I want to catch it. My wife often laughs at my justifications: “We’re going to need some for tomorrow’s catfish trip,” or “It’s been five days since I’ve fished,” to “This is the first nice day in weeks,” or “Remember that 18 inch goldeye you caught that night? I still have to beat it!” All valid reasons to go fishing, right? Some refer to goldeye as “mini tarpon” as they…

If you like to dress like a fool, clear a place in your heart and build a closet in your garage. The fashion police are not welcome on or near the water, and so the fishing outfit has evolved beyond the pocketed vest. Less about self-expression and more about survival, I have experienced shore lunches that could cause the average waistband to fail. I believe that function comes first, but also that the senses of an angler are so refined that they can’t help but make a fashion statement. Neil Young sings about a time when “people wore what they…

It was two winters ago down at the St Paul Ice Fishing Show, when I really started to pay attention to the Jigging Rapala as an open water lure. I mentioned to some of the top pros down there about watching friend Al Lindner catching all kinds of fish on this lure during the summer months on his television program, “The Angling Edge”. Jeff Gustafson mentioned that the top pros had been using this lure on the walleye circuit for years when nothing else would catch fish. Since that time lots of videos and articles have been written on the…

As we walked the shoreline of this tiny Northwestern Ontario lake, we had visions of the last trip here; although the last time we were on this lake we were standing atop two feet of ice, and had one of the most epic days of ice stocked trout fishing I’ve ever experienced. We got to the edge of the picture perfect brook trout lake; gin clear water with fallen trees littering the shoreline, begging for a jig or spoon to be pitched at them. We slipped into our waders, and stepped into the lake, slowly walking along and casting from…

“Check this out guys!’ yelled friend Don Delorme. Quickly moving to the side of the boat to see what all the excitement was about, an amazing scene was being played out in the water below us. Don had hooked a Lake of the Prairie walleye and was in the process of bringing it up the water column, when the afternoon sun illuminated the water to a depth of around two metres. Wow! A school of big walleye could be seen slashing and swirling at the fish that Don was fighting. Tim Reid, who was in the front of the…

Illustration by Sara Wilde The stories that are told at deer camp are works-in-progress that we edit and expand as time and memories see fit. Our character’s involvement may be downplayed or embellished, but as a whole these stories are about the kind of hunter we try to be. One of our camp’s perennial favourites is the opposite. It originates from our first season in the woods near Prawda, Manitoba, about ten years ago now. Truth is, it’s a shameful, heartbreaking story that invites ridicule, but we offer it up. Lessons in life will be repeated until learned, and the…

As summer starts to wind down fishing usually tends to slow a bit. That doesn’t seem to be the case this year in a number of our lakes, rivers and reservoirs. High water in many parts of our province, including the Whiteshell Provincial Park, has kept many of our freshwater game species in shallower water than usual. In high water years there are some key spots to find species like walleye, smallmouth bass and pike. One of my favourite fishing locations involves two key elements, weed edges and current. When you combine those two, fish will congregate in large numbers.…