Author: Don Lamont

It was a relatively balmy morning when we hit the ice at Chalet Beach last week. It was the first ice fishing trip of the year on Lake Winnipeg and we were following Lee Nolden, a guy that spends almost every day on this lake in the winter. Lee took us along the shore towards the mouth of the river, some five kilometers. We had to dodge a few small pressure ridges but overall the drive was one of the best I can remember on this lake. Still you need four wheel drive, snow tires and another vehicle along with…

If you asked most anglers what their favourite lure would be, a jig would be the answer most of the time. When you are dealing with frozen water that answer changes substantially. Jigging spoons, chunks of metal that are hammered into different thicknesses and weights, start to make huge inroads as far as the go to bait. The nice thing about ice fishing is that you get to use two rods, which means you can use a jig on your dead stick line while working a jigging spoon in another hole to either bring fish in or trigger aggressive bites.At…

The incredible string of great fall weather up until last week extended the open water fishing season for many anglers. With a change in the weather this week though, it’s almost time to think about ice fishing but not quite. A couple friends and I took advantage of the great weather in mid November to head out to Pine Falls and Traverse Bay. A southeast wind was blowing at about 15 knots but with comfortable temperatures it was a special day to be on the water. As we headed out to the first small island in the bay itself I…

There was no frost on the boats when we got up at seven the next morning. All of us were hoping another monster walleye would be caught by the group on our last day. The weather continued just to get better and a high of plus 13 celsius was forecast. Don’t forget this was the second day of November and we were a long way up the eastern side of Saskatchewan. As Boyd cruised into the mouth of the river, we noticed a ton of walleye showing up on his sonar. Quickly motoring back to check these fish out we…

THE FISH OF A LIFETIME! AGAIN!!As dawn broke on Day Three, the thermometer on Dales Cabin showed a balmy minus one Celsius. Everyone had gone to bed early the night before even though it had been Halloween and it was a very excited crew that hit the water that morning. Conditions were prime and three days of stable weather would only improve the bite. Since it was a Monday, Saskatchewan Power was running a bit more water through the dam at Nipawin. That is a good thing, because current on this system triggers an intense walleye bite.We were also pretty…

As the weather had cleared overnight, there was a considerable frost in the morning on all of our boats. The thermometer had dropped to minus eleven celsius but there was not a breath of wind.Our Captain had decided that we should head out to the big lake, some fourteen miles from the resort to check out the walleyes. A couple weeks previous, they had caught a number of nice fish using bottom bouncers and spinners in twenty two feet of water. We waited until about 10 a.m to make the long drive, the sun driving up the temperature quickly, making…

Wet snow was falling from the heavens I loaded up my vehicle with fishing equipment for my annual fall trek to Tobin Lake, Saskatchewan at the end of October. Stopping in Portage la Prairie to pick up friend Jim Price, we headed up the Yellowhead Highway during the night, slowing down to sixty kilometers at times as we navigated slippery, snow covered road conditions.Located near Nipawin, Tobin Lake has been producing trophy walleye for years. I first fished it in 1979 when working in Prince Albert and since that time I rank it as one of my top three favourite…

As I stood on shore in the darkness of a cool and windy October evening on the shores of Lac Du Bonnet I was mesmerized by the object that’s was moving towards me through the darkness all ablaze. Thinking about in afterwards it reminded me of the flame throwing monster in Dr.No, that kept all the unwanted riffraff off the tropical island. Of course, for those of you who are James Bond fans, it turned out to be an armored vehicle painted like a dragon. In this case the boat that was emerging out the darkness, lit by a brilliant…

Smallmouth bass have been a fall fascination of mine for years. Great sport on the end of the line, cold October days see these aggressive predators schooled up on deepwater structure chasing down anything that moves. One key point to consider when looking for areas that are holding fish at this time of year is that all spots are not created equal. On a medium sized lake like Falcon you might have most of the large bass in the lake in three small areas. This can make finding them somewhat of a chore but when you do, look out! One…

It was a beautiful fall day, the leaves a blazing orange in the distance on the shores of mighty Lake Winnipeg. Unseasonably warm after one of the wettest summers on record, we were on Traverse Bay in the southeast quadrant of this massive body of water. Water levels were up at least two feet in the lake and the Winnipeg River, just a half kilometer away, was ripping massive amounts of water into the lake. Water quality in the river was good, meaning decent visibility in the bay itself, a fact that is critical when trying to catch these sight…