Author: Don Lamont

Boyd with his first nice walleye After two poor fall fishing trips in a row, we were a little apprehensive as we headed north to Tobin Lake this past week. While we were about three days earlier than the previous year, we hoped the weather would cooperate. Last year we fished every day with wind chill in the minus 12 Celsius range, a bone chilling experience that would have been almost bearable if the fishing had been good. After a smooth trip up to the Tobin Lake resort, the weather forecast gave us hope for at least three days of…

Inspired by the great fishing we had on the Thanksgiving Monday, I headed back out Thursday on the Red River. I was a little apprehensive on the conditions though, since the drawdown of the river in the city had begun and this usually slowed the fishing for a few days until conditions stabilize. After trying the Miracle Mile and Doc Reeds plus a couple of hours with boat in gear on some extended trolling runs, I only saw two walleye caught and neither were in our boat. Many a wily old river veteran will tell you that is the time…

Cold nights and some north winds have triggered walleye to move into the Red River in numbers from Lake Winnipeg. Friend Pete Hiebert and I headed out to Selkirk Park Thanksgiving Monday to check things out. After boating down to the Miracle Mile and dropping anchor in 12 feet of water, we started catching fish all right but unfortunately they were all saugers. Meantime three anglers in a small 12 foot boat 500 feet away were landing walleye after walleye. While frustrating for us, it was nice to see the smiles on their faces and confirm the fact that there…

What is the bite like on the Red river this fall? Since there’s nothing like firsthand experience two friends and I headed out Thursday to find out.Fishing between Selkirk and Lockport, we fished hard for eight hours. We ended up catching seven nice walleye, none bigger than two kilograms though. Jim with first green of the fallFour of them were caught trolling crankbaits along the main river channel in three metres of water and the others came on a jig tipped with a salted shiner minnow. Other anglers were catching walleye this way from an anchored position. We did do some…

Moak Lodge SummaryOver the last six years I have made the journey four times this area, all with great results. While on this trip we did not catch as many trophy pike as we had in past years, part of it could be attributed to water temperature. Dan and the boys in a downpour! Surface water temperature was around 70 degrees Fahrenheit and I believe a lot of those big pike were still deeper than 20 feet of water and fairly scattered.Still there was a 52 inch pike caught there this year and that would get anyone’s attention!The walleye meantime, were still…

Moak Lodge Day Four: The captain keys in on the big fish   Given the wide variety of angling opportunities out of this resort, it was no wonder that all three boats decided to try different species on the last day of our trip. Pete, Phil and I decided to head out for rainbows on Footprint Lake. Jim and his crew were to try walleyes in the river, and then switch over to rainbows later in the day. Meantime Boyd and the Carrot River crew Perry had his big fish stroke on decided to try and pattern the big walleye…

Moak Lodge Day Three:   Pete with a nice one! With the rain behind us, and another east wind blowing at medium strength we decided to head out on Cross Bay and check out some new water. As it turns out, it was a real fun day with a lot of nice pike caught and released. Pete unfortunately lost the fish of a life time. While trolling on the edge of main lake basin in the north end, a huge pike (we assume) grabbed his Live Target lipless crankbait and headed south. Line was just smoking off his reel so…

Moak Lodge Day Two:a healthy Grand Rapids walleye! As we rolled out of bed on the Friday we were greeted by overcast skies with a stiff east wind blowing through the treetops. We had all decided we were going to the fish the Saskatchewan River in Grand Rapids, so the big wind did not faze us. Still when we launched our boats that morning, four foot swells met us as we motored out to the mouth were it emptied into Lake Winnipeg. With a current that was screaming down river, combined with the massive waves rolling in from the lake, it…

Moak Lodge 2013Jim with a Cross Bay beautyDay One, Thursday: It was the last week in August and the warm weather that had been holding southern Manitoba in its grip all month followed us as we headed up north the four and half hours to Grand Rapids. An uneventful drive for the most part we arrived at Moak Lodge just after the lunch hour. Lodge owner Chris McCuddon had reserved Cabin Ten for us…a beautiful new building that held nine anglers, the number of keen fisherman coming along on this trip. Friends Russ, Boyd and Perry were to arrive on…

Cooler nights for the last couple of weeks have moved many of the deeper fish shallow for certain parts of the day. One great option is to look for cabbage beds that grow in lakes and river with good water quality. Cabbage weeds can start growing in four metres of water and reach the surface or just below. These weeds tend to hold huge schools of minnows which means big walleye, bass and pike are moving back into these types of areas.One of my favorite presentations when these fish are holding tight to this type of cover is to a…