MANITOBA
With some major snowfall and a general closure in the southern section of the province, most action has been limited to the northern half of the province which remains open.
For those in the south, some open water stocked trout lakes provided some hot action before the snow hit. Check out this beautiful brown trout caught from Williams Lake by Noah Messner. It measured 22.25 inches. Congrats Noah!
Dustin Lindall headed out to the Whiteshell to try his luck at Lyons Lake from shore. He managed this 23 inch beauty brown!
Nobody knows the Parkland region as well as retired fisheries biologist Ken Kansas. He filed a story for Hooked in 2018 that outlined the fishing opportunities in the region. While some of the information is outdated it should give anglers a good idea of the potential of this fishery.
There was still some fishable ice up in the Duck Mountains and a number of anglers caught some Master Angler rainbows from Beautiful Lake including this bruiser from Melissa Lindsay that measured out at 23.90 inches.
EQUIPMENT UPGRADES WITH MATT GELLEY
Some equipment upgrades has been a focus as anglers wait for the open water season May 15th. Check out Matt Gelley and his tips on line maintenance.
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
GLENN MCDONALD
Hard water season is finally over in most parts of Northwestern Ontario. As of this writing, April 14, Eagle Lake is open and most other lakes are open or close to open. This brings ice fishing to an early end, prior to the closing of walleye on April 15.
The past three weeks have been crazy throughout our area. Unseasonably warm weather in late March led to a big melt, with lakes opening up around the shoreline. The trout lakes were the exception, as they usually hold ice later in the season. A few anglers were out chasing lakers right to the end.
My brother-in-law, Ryan Sawchuk, no stranger to trophy lakers, spent the last couple trips chasing giants. He was successful in landing a couple 20+ pound lake trout, using the ever popular white tube jig. The highlight of his season was having his son, and my nephew, Dawson help him on the fishing trips. Dawson loves anything to do with fishing, and to see his reaction holding a huge lake trout is priceless. Just as Ryan is a great angler and outdoorsmen, I have no doubt in the future Dawson will follow his dad’s footprints.
My buddy, Robert Monty spent a number of days after late season lake trout as well. While he reports some days were a struggle, he did have some very successful days. Robert took his nephew, Travis Lang along and Travis got into a couple very nice fish indeed! I appreciate the photos and reports Robert gives me and look forward to his open water reports throughout the summer.
With the early ice out in some areas, some anglers were able to target walleye from a boat in April. One such angler was my friend, Harley Read. The Bear Narrows area of Eagle Lake is a very popular walleye area, but one with dangerous currents. The current opens the area up much earlier than the main lake. Harley took advantage to be one of the first anglers to launch a boat in 2021. Harley had success using rattle eye jigs and minnows. Harley finished the ice season on the open water and I’m sure we will hear more for him this season.
I will finish up my last hard water report with a cautionary tale. I spent the final couple weekends on the lake helping my brother-in-law with some cabin repairs. We were bringing materials across the ice using quads. While pulling a steel beam one of the quads broke through the surface ice and fell through to the solid ice underneath. This area was an ice ridge from the winter, it looked frozen over.
No damage or injuries occurred. The reason I brought this up, less than a week later this was open water 20’ feet wide. The ice conditions can change rapidly late in the season. We learned a valuable lesson that day. We should have taken the time to check conditions before assuming it was frozen solid. Time for me to prep the boat for some early season pike and bass fishing. Hope to have some great reports in the coming weeks.
As the border situation continues to be an issue, I anticipate no American anglers until mid summer at the earliest. If anyone from Manitoba or Northwestern Ontario has ever wanted to try musky fishing, this could be a great chance. I will have a limited number of guide days open for Canadian anglers. I would love to put some anglers on their first musky.
Check out my Youtube channel – “54 or Bust” for all kinds of musky information. For info on guide rates and info email gmac91@sympatico.ca
SASKATCHEWAN
The Fishing Geeks posed a recent video on their search for huge burbot in Saskatchewan. Those are some seriously big pout!
ALBERTA
WES DAVID
April can be a very tough month for avid Alberta anglers. The 2020 season is closed and the 2021 season doesn’t open until May. (Opening dates will vary across the province so be sure to check the 2021 Alberta Sportfishing Regulations before you head out). However, many stocked trout ponds remain open to fishing year-round including during the month of April. Stocked trout ponds can provide hours of fishing entertainment and with a little planning and research, Alberta anglers can take part in a spring cast and blast.
With the mild spring weather in Alberta, snow geese are starting to arrive from their wintering grounds in the south. Southern and central Alberta will obviously see the snow geese first and southern and central Alberta have an abundance of stocked trout ponds. With a little research, planning, and sense of adventure, anglers, and hunters can plan a morning spring snow goose shoot with an afternoon of trout fishing, and for those that are really energetic, return to the snow goose blinds in the late afternoon for an evening snow goose shoot.
April is the perfect month for an Alberta spring Cast & Blast!
BRITISH COLUMBIA
DAVE SHMYR
Dave is out working on Victoria Island in British Columbia and is finding time to catch the smallmouth and largemouth that exist in this area.
“The water temperatures have been varying depending on lakes on the island from 55 to 62F this week. The large mouth bass are starting to get to their bed and paired up with males. We have been flipping jigs and creature baits for them with success. The smallies have been taking spinner baits and creature baits. Hoping to get out this weekend after largies the bite is a very short lived one on these lakes because of the massive amount of pressure they get during this time of year. “