Author: Don Lamont

Jim Price fools a Lake Winnipeg fish on a spoonAt the start of every ice fishing season anglers are looking for information that will help them be more successful. The funny thing about all of this, is that in my years in the business, there are many things that have been tried and forgotten only to be reinvented. I can remember fishing for stocked trout on a small gravel pit with a light flutter spoon some 25 years ago. Here is that rainbow from the archives!The slow flutter and drop of this light spoon was a great trigger for these aggressive…

Targeting suspended lake trout under the ice By Tom Armstrong This day ended up being a trip for the books, although it started out as more of a relaxed outing with friends than a serious fishing expedition. We headed to a lake trout lake that’s not known for numbers of fish, but known to hold a serious beast of a lake trout or two. With fairly easy access, it was a great place to fish a few hours with friends who aren’t much into ice fishing, more for an excuse to get out than hopes of leaving with limits of…

Embarking on a long anticipated fly fishing trip to realize that you arrived ill prepared or without the right tools to effectively capitalize on an amazing angling opportunity is something we have all experienced a time or two. Parkland lakes offer the “grand slam” of stillwater trout fishing, rainbow, brown, tiger, splake, brook and lake trout are all attainable targets, but each lake and their available species require their own dedicated strategy to maximize success rates. So let’s elaborate on the pre planning and get you on the right track. Lake Research The pinnacle item to a successful stillwater fly…

Catching Lake Superior steelhead through the ice is one of the most challenging and exciting types of winter angling there is. These big, nickel plated rainbow trout are tough to pattern at the best of times, and under the ice they become even more unpredictable. Yet hook up with a winter steelhead and it’s likely to be a fight you will remember. These fish strike at full snort and make mind boggling power runs. More than a few winter anglers have been spooled when they connected with a steelhead and didn’t have adequate line to handle the runs. Powerful stuff…

The prize that these fishers were after were the fast growing and large rainbow trout stocked annually by myself and by the men and women who raised them at our Provincial Fish Hatchery near Westhawk Lake. Obviously I knew these fish were in there. What I did not realise, until I started meeting some of these fishers, was that they were not only from Manitoba but the United States. In fact, the majority came across the border from North and South Dakota, Montana and Utah. These folks had heard about our cluster of stocked nutrient rich stillwater trout lakes…

The temperatures have dropped and the landscape has changed, a season many dread is upon us and I can credit ice fishing for me not being one of those people. The crisp layer on top of the snow pack crunching beneath your feet, each breath exhaled clearly visible as you near your intended spot on the ice. The rare chance of a sun dog on those almost too cold to be outside kind of days. These are just a few of the things I like about ice fishing. With so many species to target and many more bodies of water…

Illustration by Sara Wilde Take it serious when you take on fishing with the kids or risk being reduced to the laughingstock of the family, and I know this from experience. Jackson was nine and Gloria was seven when their old man demonstrated such a lack of maturity and grace that I’ll admit I may have ruined them. We were shore fishing from that spot in St. Vital Park known for a mixed bag, reliable bite, and snag-free waters. I whistled the theme from Andy of Mayberry to annoy the kids as we scoured amongst the dogwoods for a stick…

Guide proven tactics for when the going gets tough. When it comes to winter walleye fishing it seems like the trend is either feast or famine. One day they’re smashing everything you put in front of them and the next they’re nothing more than marks on your flasher. Trying times on the ice get more common during the mid-winter timeframe, too. When walleyes aren’t co-operating try turning to finesse techniques to coax bites from inactive fish. WATCH FOR SIGNS There are no hard and fast rules saying when it’s time to start finesse fishing. On a day-to-day basis I let…

Pete with a nice one!When I saw the weather forecast for Thursday this week, I knew I had to get out to Traverse Bay for some greenback walleye. Word on the street had anglers heading up from as far away as South Dakota to get in on a late season bite. Friend Pete Hiebert and I arrived at the boat launch just after 8:30 in the morning and there were already a number of boats launched. As we had driven up that morning the wind was gusting from the northwest, the worst possible direction for Traverse Bay. Once on the…

Manitoba has a new record goldeye! Jim Tarsiuk with his monster goldeye!Jim Tarasiuk has been fishing with friend Terry Tooley on the Saskatchewan River for the last seven years. Terry held the Manitoba goldeye record for five years, from 2007 to 2012. So, it was only fitting that the two were fishing together at the time when this fish was caught. Jim wasn’t sure what kind of fish he had on the line when he set the hook given the variety of species that exist in that stretch of river near The Pas. In fact, given the pull on the end…