Author: Don Lamont

It’s been six years since I first heard about the fantastic fishing for jumbo perch on these series of shallow prairie lakes. My first trip out there was in March of 2012, one that I won’t soon forget as the first perch I caught on East Shoal measured 38.10 centimetres or 15 inches. Wow, what an introduction. I had never seen a perch this big before, never mind landed one. I knew right away that this was a special lake and since that time the fishing has gone down a bit as more and more anglers make the trip. The…

Paul Turenne with a diminishing year class walleyeThe past three weeks have been close to the busiest and most interesting of my professional career and none of it involved the physical act of fishing. As editor of Hooked Magazine, I was trying to put the finishing touches on some editorial content submitted by some of the most committed anglers and conservationists in this part of the world. This while I was trying to get ready for another ice fishing season. Other issues were demanding my attention, none bigger than the future of Lake Winnipeg. Like many Manitobans, large lakes in…

New Year’s always holds a special place for me here in Northwestern Ontario; but not for fireworks, champagne, Auld Lang Syne and New Year’s festivities. Usually instead of counting down until midnight, I’m eagerly awaiting 5 a.m. when I get up and load the truck and hit the road. Jan 1st is opening day of lake trout fishing in a zone West of Thunder Bay. Most years I venture a couple hours west, towards Atikokan, to chase lake trout through the ice, with the season in this zone opening a month earlier than around Thunder Bay. In my mind, come…

And yes, it was cold!I don’t usually put my boat away until the end of October. I’m not sure when that’s going to happen this year. Today I headed out on the mighty Red River with a couple of teachers from Kelvin High School. Jon Romu has been the head football coach at Kelvin for a lot of years, running an extremely successful program. His close friend Corey Brown joined the staff at Kelvin last year and has been helping with the program the last couple of years. Corey also knows a bit about basketball and is helping me coach…

Big walleyes continue to roll! Ken Barr with a Tobin Lake monster!As water temperature continue to plummet, big fish are moving into current areas as part of a real late fall run. The Saskatchewan River at Nipawin is finally turning on big time. Friend Boyd Holmen was out Saturday and his friend caught a beast that measured 89 centimetres which means just over 35 inches. WOW! Now that is a pretty special fish. It was caught on a Clackin Rap, (not a jig and minnow as previously reported) near the mouth as the river empties into the reservoir. I managed to…

This fish knew how to eat!It’s almost a week 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…

Jim starts the day off with a 32 inch fishDAY THREE: With a forecast for heavy winds from the north, we knew we would be in tough on the main lake. So we decided to fish some protected areas.As it turns out it was a great day with some real nice walleye caught, Jim and friend Jered landed two walleye that measure 32 inches. My largest was 29.5 inches, all caught on jigs tipped with both nightcrawlers and leeches.It was a satisfying way to end another open water season on Tobin Lake.Here are some shots from the day. Dale catches a…

Jimmy bumps up the size later in the dayDAY TWO: The forecast was for light winds and sunshine on the second day of our trip. As we headed out in the morning, the wind was actually fairly brisk from the northeast, not the best wind on this reservoir. It certainly seemed to also affect fish activity levels. By noon we had not caught a walleye, though I put a huge Super Shad Rap off the back of my bottom bouncer in order to see if I could catch something large. We were trolling along in about 30 feet of water…

Hard to imagine a nicer fall than the one we have enjoyed in western Canada this year! Every fall in late October friend Jim Price and I head up to fish Tobin Lake in northern Saskatchewan. This past year we moved the date to the middle of the month. A few years back we didn’t make it until the first week of November and that was a disaster. The warmest day on the water that year was minus three Celsius. We all agreed that we would do everything in our power to make it a way more enjoyable. So when…

Lake Winnipeg Walleye at RiskHow much trouble is Lake Winnipeg really in? I don’t know about you but I have been pretty concerned lately on a number of fronts. First it was provincial fisheries officials telling us that the walleye population is in trouble. Then it was recent reports on the explosion of Zebra Mussels. A slim walleye caught at the mouth of the Saskatchewan River and Lake WinnipegLet me back up a bit though to last weekend while fishing up at Grand Rapids in the Saskatchewan River as it empties into Lake Winnipeg. What concerned me here was not the…