Author: Don Lamont

April Northwestern Ontario PikeAn extremely early spring in southern Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario actually has some anglers out already in boats on open water. In fact in Manitoba some anglers have been trailering their boats to Pine Falls before the season closes March 31st. When that closure happens many will just change their destination to Northwestern Ontario or target trout, a species that knows no closure. In Northwestern Ontario, anglers can not only fish for trout but pretty much any other species except walleye at this time of the year. This discrepancy has rankled some tourism operators in southern Manitoba…

As I looked at the long range weather forecast for the middle of March I started to panic. It stated that we were going to get weather near plus 20 Celsius! Yes that’s right we live in southern Manitoba and we were going to be golfing the weekend of March 17th. So I got on the phone  and organized an ice fishing adventure to Shoal Lake Ontario for Sunday, March 12th, then a another trip the next day to Shoal Lake Manitoba for perch with friend Jim Price. I figured it was now or never and boy was the weatherman…

Hey folks, if you happen to be in central Saskatchewan towards the end of the month I will be the guest speaker at the Porcupine Wildlife Club Banquet on March 31.The banquet includes Wildlife Awards, a Wild Meat supper, Silent Auctions and raffles, dance and much more. Porcupine Plain,is located in North Eastern Saskatchewan just 15 minutes away from Greenwater Provincial Park. Don lands a shark in Cabo San LucasHere is organizer David DeVos- “This is our second banquet since re-establishing the club that had been inactive for 15 years. We have become the fastest growing club in Saskatchewan, topped…

It was a peaceful late February morning as we headed north through the community of Macdonald in south central Manitoba. Located at the start of the Yellowhead Highway this small town sits below mighty Lake Manitoba. Turning on to Centre Street we followed the bend in the road as it turned in Road 44 W. I was riding with Jim Price and another friend from Portage La Prairie. We were heading out to see if we could catch some of the yellow perch this lake was famous for. Road 44 W was to lead us to the lake, blending in…

Cold days and even colder nights with limited or no snow cover is making some awfully good ice. This bodes well for some great ice fishing in the province this year. I can remember in both 2007 and 2008 first ice walleye fishing on the Red River north of Selkirk was on fire. With great fall fishing this year on the Red many anglers are predicting a great ice season on the river. And guess what it is happening right now!My first trip in December 2008 was to a section of river north of Selkirk which had extended stretches of…

 First fish of the day, off to a good start Day Four started out warm and friendly. It was not to last though as a cold front arrived just after lunch bringing rain and sleet. Given our success the evening before trolling crankbaits, we decided to give it a hard go today just to cover water because of the lack of numbers of fish in the system. It could not have started out an better as I nailed yet another fish on my red and white Bomber Long A not five minutes into our first trolling run. This fish…

Traditionally Day Three on Tobin has been a big one, both for big fish and numbers. We have had by that time, time to figure out where the majority of the fish are holding in the river. Not so this year but we had only spent one day on the river though and figured we better to look around to see if we were missing anything. Captain Boyd headed upriver, past the White Rock to the stretch called Grassy. After a quick drift and no fish, we head up past the regional park at Nipawin to the old railway bridge. Here…

Day Two: Jimmy with a ten  No frost on the boat this morning with a brisk wind blowing out of the northwest. After a hearty breakfast we headed west to the mouth of Saskatchewan River as it emptied into Tobin Lake. Last fall on this stretch we had some of the best walleye fishing any of us had ever experienced. What was it to be like this year? First thing on order was to use the electronics to see if we could mark any major schools of walleye in the deeper water. This turned out to be a major…

Day one of our late fall adventure turned out to be just gorgeous, warm and calm. Friend Jim Price and I had arrived the day earlier from Winnipeg on our annual fall trek to Tobin Lake, Saskatchewan. On our trip last year, which you can read on this blog spot, we drove up all night on icy roads. Not this time, it was smooth sailing all the ways up to the Tobin Lake Resort were we met up with all our friends from Carrot River. Given the beautiful weather it was an easy decision to make the twenty two mile…

By most accounts fishing has been pretty good this fall on the Red River north of Lockport Manitoba. A variety of techniques have been working, including trolling crankbaits into the current. Veteran Red River walleye fisherman say if you have an option of when to come out to fish the Red, wait for days when the north wind is blowing. It’s been proven over the years that when Lake Winnipeg flushes water into the river and backs it up to Lockport that the walleye fishing is substantially better. Given the forecast of a huge north wind for today and tomorrow,…