Author: Don Lamont

I should know better, I really should! Blood was dripping down my wrist, making the butt of my level wind rod sticky and red. It wasn’t anybody else’s fault but my own, having forgotten to bring gloves along to handle the big stout Cross Bay pike we were catching one after another this last day of September. A gale force south wind was blowing, making boat control a challenge as we tried to find a concentration of fish in an inlet on the west side of this massive bay. After spending about half an hour drifting then back trolling we…

It was just another beautiful day in August, the sun once again blazing from the sky as we headed up to Pine Falls and the Winnipeg River. What was different about this trip was the time of year. Usually it occurs during the cold days of fall when the leaves have fallen off the trees. This is usually the prime time to catch the mighty Lake Winnipeg greenback walleye that have rolled into Traverse Bay, which is located where the Winnipeg River empties into Lake Winnipeg.Friend Jim Price has an addiction to this area, spending about fifteen days a year…

Great weather doesn’t always mean that the fishing will be the same. It does offer a stable environment for fish though, and you add some moving water and the fishing can be spectacular. Some our family weekends are spent at Gimli on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. This year the water clarity has been excellent, providing some good angling in many sections of the lake. Friend Jim Price and I decided to head out on the big lake a couple of weeks ago from the Winnipeg Beach Harbor. Unfortunately a couple of days of windy weather had resulted in a…

It had been a few years since I had hooked up the boat to try some summertime walleye on Lake of the Woods. If past experience could be counted on, I figured the chances were pretty good that the fishing would be good. As it turned out it would be hard to imagine that the fishing could get any better. Yes, it is summer time and the fish are hungry, ready to make up for a cool spring. Walleyes have moved out to main lake basin areas, and on this day we found them in a number of different locales…

After arriving home to Winnipeg from that memorable trip to Gunisao Lake, I got a call from friend Jim Price. He had made arrangements for us to get into Crowduck Lake on Sunday. I am not sure that my walleye jigging arm could handle any more fish but I was sure prepared to try.After leaving my house in Winnipeg for the two hour drive to the pickup point at Big Whiteshell Lake, memories of master angler walleye danced in my head. It was in 1995 that I filmed a show in Crowduck for “The Complete Angler” television series with Mitch…

I couldn’t imagine a week that could be any better for a hardcore walleye angler. First on the fishing agenda was a three day trip to Budd’s Gunisao Lake Lodge. Budd’s registers about a thousand master angler walleye each year. That was to be followed by a one day adventure to Crowduck Lake in the Whiteshell Provincial Park. Crowduck Lake has long been famous for its 100 to 200 walleye days per boat. Wow, are you ready to catch some fish! I had been dreaming for years to return to Gunisao Lake in east central Manitoba, world renowned as the…

It was the second time I got a chance to fish with Mike Asher, an angler Canadian television fishing show host Dave Mercer called the best muskie and pike guide in Canada. On both early spring trips we were faced with conditions anglers hate, cold fronts with drops in surface water temperatures that turn fish off. Surprise, both times we had days that most anglers would talk about for years. On this most recent trip a week and a half ago, we were fishing Lake of the Woods, the second week in May. Last year, it was on Shoal Lake,…

As a professional angler, one of the questions I get asked most often is what kind of filleting knife would I recommend. Well, I was lucky enough some fifteen years ago to get a Cutco filleting knife as a present. I had donated a day of my time to take a young angler with cancer fishing. His family was so grateful that they gave me the Fisherman’s Solution. With the extendable stainless steel blade; pivoting sheath that doubles as a gripper; built-in, notched line cutter and sharpening stone, this knife has been the answer to my filleting needs for a…

Five o’clock in the morning couldn’t come soon enough this past weekend. Three hours later the sun was burning down from a cloudless sky as we pulled up next to a large island on Shoal Lake, Ontario. In this particular area, two other groups of ice anglers had arrived before us, so we headed to area between the two groups. Darrin Bohonis quickly drilled a hole to find a depth with me right behind with the Humminbird Ice 55 to check depth. “We need forty five feet of water Darren!”. Lo and behold as the depthfinder powered up, 46.5 registered…

Huge chunks of ice littered the shoreline and dock at Balsam Harbour as we ventured down Road 100 on the east shore of Lake Winnipeg this past Thursday, March 24th.. As friend Pete Hiebert eased his truck on plowed road on the north side of the dock, water surged over the gunnels. This was big truck 4×4 territory and on this day only his huge Nokian studded snow tires were to save us from a fate a number of other anglers were to face this day; a truck buried in a snow drift with a foot of slush underneath. Twice…