HAPPY LONG WEEKEND!
It has been a scorching couple of weeks across the Prairies and Northwestern Ontario and the fish have been feeling it. Changing your fishing times to early and late in the day can make it more comfortable but also result in better fishing.
MANITOBA
It is officially August and there are a wide variety of species to catch. I went on a recent trip searching for smallmouth bass. My fishing partner and I found them off rock points and weed edges, mostly in shallower water but not in bays, but shoreline related near the mouth of bays with deeper water access. We caught the bass on a variety of lures but the two most effective where the Ned Rig and the Slider Jig.
I am sure most of you have heard of the Ned Rig by now, a presentation that Gussy brought to this part of the world a few years ago. I had the chance to fish with Gussy on more than one occasion and it was about seven falls again when he showed me first hand how effective it truly was. We were on Lake of the Woods and we caught a pile of fish on it.
The slider jig was invented years ago by southern bass fishermen that had to dig fish out of heavy cover. I was first introduced to it by Steve Green from Kenora. Steve had been doing well on the Northwestern Ontario bass circuit so I asked him to be a guest on my television show in 1995. Here Steve showed me just how effective this doing nothing presentation was. His favourite style of slider was one with the eyelet on the front of a flat oval jig head that was specifically designed to slide through weed cover. It also allows the bait to fall horizontally in the water column. One thing that Steve told me that day has always stayed with me.
” If you don’t have rubber on in August to catch bass your missing the boat”
Since the Kenora Bass International was in August, I took the advice to heart and the use of a slider jig and other soft plastic imitations won me a lot of money. I would prefer to use a 3.8″ Berkley Bass worm in three different colours. They were in preference, grape, light brown and dark brown. Black was my fourth choice depending on what the fish were feeding on.
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
Friend Jeff Gustafson is on the road to New York for his last two events of the year on the Bassmaster Elite Circuit. I managed to track down Gussy and he filed this fishing report for us!
SASKATCHEWAN
LAST MOUNTAIN LAKE – Robert Schulz, G&S Marina Outfitters
Last Mountain Lake is continuing it’s awesome summer bite.The water temperatures have warmed to 72 degrees. The walleye are still biting well with lots over sized walleye up into the 30” range. The walleye are on the steep break lines and also moving onto the sand points ranging in depths from 18’ to 28’ in depth. You can catch them by dragging crawler harnesses, trolling Deep diving crank baits, jigging spoons, jigging and bait rigging.CARP ON FIRE!
RAFFERTY RESERVOIR – RALPH SMART, PRAIRIE PRO OUTFITTERS
Combines are rolling in the fields here already with all the hot July weather droughting out the crops,but speaking of hot our fishing has been top notch this year consistently ourwater levels are dropping because of evaporation but we’ve had super clear water with little to no algae till now and the weed line is easy to see and fish at the 15 foot level Bottom bouncers pulled within feet of the weed line or jigging adjacent to a point with weeds is a sure thing for consistent action.
Minnows and crawlers are a sure bet and we sell right both at The Dam Store at the marina. You’ll go through a lot of bait with the incredible action we are having Stop by the store and I’ll point you in the right direction on the anglers edge mapping app available for the north end of the lake Slide out to 20 to 22 ft recently as the day passes and you won’t be disappointed with size and numbers !
TACKLE TALK WITH WES DAVID – FISHING THE WILD WEST TV
ICAST 2024
EDITOR’S NOTE: Every year Hooked Publisher Kevin Stobbe and I would head down to ICAST to see the latest in tackle innovation. The last couple of years Wes David has covered that for Hooked and we are very appreciative. Here is the latest from Wes.
ICAST is labelled as the world’s largest sportfishing trade and distributors show and is one of the industry events I penciled on my calendar and schedule every year. ICAST held at the Orange County Convention Center, in Orlando, Florida, is not the easiest or most inexpensive location for a Western Canadian to get to!
Still, every July I travel to the Sunshine State for a variety of meetings, events, and to see firsthand the many new products that will make their debut the following season. There are a thousand new products to see and test. However, below are two new or improved products that caught my eye.
Sunline Almight Sinking Braided Line
When it was first introduced, there is no doubt that braided fishing lines took the fishing industry by storm. However, as the use of braided lines continues to grow, Sunline continues to develop new braided lines for increased efficiency. One of these new inventions includes a braided sinking line. The sinking braid helps reduce line drift and the bow in your line caused by wind and waves when casting and retrieving.
Sunlines Almight line allows it to sink quickly after a cast to reduce the bow in an angler’s line. This faster sink rate also helps lures fall faster in deep water presentations. Almight has a specific gravity that is 50% heavier than traditional braided lines. By reducing line drift and bow in the line, Almight provides an angler with better lure contact for enhanced bite detection. Almight is currently the only sinking braided line on the North American market. Almight has a specific gravity of 1.48 compared to water at 1.0 and traditional braided lines at 0.97. Almight is constructed with a four-plus-one fibre design that features four outside strands with a high specific gravity core in the center. Almight is available in a variety of test-poundage in 165-yard spools and a variety of colours for high visibility or stealthy presentations.
SINKING BRAID GETS DOWN TO THE FISH FASTER!
I had the chance to fish the new Almight line for walleye during the first three weeks of June when the winds reached 40 to 80 kilometres across the prairie provinces. Even in these severe wind conditions, the Almight line fell through the water column much faster, reducing the bow in the line as it fell, and it allowed me to maintain bottom contact and detect subtle biting walleye much easier than traditional braided lines.
GAMAKATSU
In the ever-evolving world of fishing tackle, Gamakatsu has once again raised the bar with its latest invention. Gamakatsu, one of the world’s leading manufacturers and inventors of fishing hooks and fishing tackle, was excited to release its new line of hooks with its new Nano Alpha Technology. Although the new hooks were released in March, ICAST was Nano Alpha Technology’s big debut. The Nano Alpha Technology hooks are designed in every size, in every design of hook that Gamakatsu makes, and for every species, including saltwater species. After years of hook manufacturers designing and making hooks, one could argue a hook is a hook. However, that’s just not true.
The Nano Alpha Technology is two times slicker than traditional hook finishes. How does the finish of a hook translate into your fishing?
SLICK IT UP!
The Nano Alpha Technology’s slicker finish allows for a quicker and more positive hookset, resulting in increased hook-up ratios and a more positive experience on the water. The Nano Alpha Technology is also four times more corrosion-resistant than traditional finishes and is something saltwater anglers are excited about. However, as any avid freshwater angler knows, hooks can also corrode after fishing freshwater and being placed wet in your tackle box and with some hooks, it doesn’t take long for corrosion to set in. Corrosion weekends and dulls hooks. The Nano Alpha hooks additional coating provides four times the corrosion resistance over standard hook plating. This additional coating not only prolongs the life of the hooks but also ensures the hooks maintain their peak performance in both freshwater and saltwater.