Author: Don Lamont

The pursuit of winter walleye on Lake Winnipeg and the Red River has become a huge tourism industry in this province. More and more anglers from all over North America (and overseas) are coming to Manitoba to experience ice fishing for the greenback walleye. Even my dentist, who has a place at Gimli and has never ice fished before, has caught the fever.This winter so far, ice conditions on the southwest basin of Lake Winnipeg are excellent with minimal snow and relatively smooth driving conditions.As for the Red River, ice conditions are still variable and caution is required. Some anglers…

Lots of walleye this size means lake is healthyIt was my first ice fishing trip of the new season and what a way to start off. I was with friend Jim Price and we were out on the southwest corner of Lake Winnipeg this past Wednesday. Jim had been out five days previous with some other friends with good results. So I was pumped when he pulled up to the spot near the Chalet Beach road. Permanent shacks were scattered over the frozen surface of Lake Winnipeg, a mini colony out in front of Matlock and another near where we…

It is the dawn of another ice fishing season. Soon our small lakes and rivers will be frozen over followed by Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba. I have to say this year I am looking forward to catching perch more than any other species. Don’t get me wrong, I will be chasing a wide variety of species but last year got into some really nice big perch, quite a few in the 13 to 15 inch range. Catching those fish is fun, and somewhat of an art form in itself. Matching your ice fishing equipment to the size of the…

Sun finally comes out on Day 4! You roll the dice with the weather the last week in October in northern Saskatchewan. This year the weather and the fishing came up snake eyes. In four days of fishing Tobin Lake the temperature in this part of the world never got above minus three Celsius. Combine that with a brisk north wind all four days and you had wind chills in the minus 12 range. How cold was it? So cold that the front troll motor froze in place on more than one occasion! We were basically ice fishing out of a…

It had been a week since my last trip to the mighty Red. But a forecast of 10 Celsius along with some sunshine, not to mention the chance to catch some more trophy walleye was all the encouragement I needed. This time along were friends Jim Price and Phil Brake. Over the period of a week, a lot had changed. Water quality was not quite as good but current flow was still decent. There was quite a bit of debris in the water as water is released through the gates at Lockport. Notice water quality, down from a week agoWe hit…

GO BIG GREEN!The Delavau brothers hold some Red River green!A southeast was blowing some warmer air into southern Manitoba on Monday. Despite rain in the forecast I had convinced friends Jeff and Randy Delavau to partake in the greenback walleye run on the mighty Red River. Randy had not fished since he was a youngster and Jeff not for a couple of years. As I dressed them in two floater coats to protect against the weather we headed up river from Selkirk to the “Miracle Mile”. Use the double stackAnchoring the boat in 12 feet of water along the main river…

After a spectacular day on the Red River last week, it wasn’t too difficult to convince fishing partner Jim Price to head out this past Thanksgiving Sunday for round two. This time when we arrived at Selkirk Park at 7:30 there were already twenty rigs parked in the lot. I guess the word was out that there was some green in the river. As we headed up river, we had decided to start with a trolling run back on the Miracle Mile in order to cover some water. A lot can be determined by this method, especially with good electronics. One thing…

The Red River is still one of the best places in the world to get a trophy walleye!A fierce south wind was whipping up small whitecaps on sections of the Red River this past Tuesday. Luckily for friend Bryan Gray and I we were fishing a fairly protected section of the river called Doc Reids. We had arrived at Selkirk Park at eight in the morning, surprised to see only a handful of boat trailers in the parking lot. I would have to say this is the fewest number of rigs I have ever seen parked here the thirty years…

Beautiful fall weather has anglers in Manitoba heading to their favourite lake or river in droves to enjoy some great fall fishing. One of the more popular locations has been Traverse Bay on Lake Winnipeg with the legendary fall greenback walleye run underway. Out in Traverse Bay walleye movement is dictated by wind generated current. A big north wind for a few days can move some fish out of the bay and up into the Winnipeg River. Conversely a switch in wind direction to the south will empty water out of the river back into the bay, creating increased current…

Cross Bay Day Two: As we rolled out of bed the next morning, we could hear the waves crashing along the shoreline below our cabin.  Walking the short distance to the boat launch at Moak Lake Lodge did not change anything. It was going to be a walleye fishing day at Grand Rapids. As we loaded the boats and headed back down the gravel road to launch in town, we wondered how big the waves would be on the Saskatchewan River. As it turns out the west wind that was blowing had increased the current flow in the river…