MANITOBA
A Crappie time in the East! Matt Gelley-MG Outdoors
Pan fishing in the eastern region of Manitoba has been pretty consistent the last few weeks. Water temps have been hovering around the 24C – 75F mark for a while now. The fishing has been good.
During the hot doldrums of summer, we found good schools of aggressive crappies as shallow as 8-9 feet; hugging shallow weed lines in the evening. Black crappies school hard in the heat and suspend mid-column during these times. Warmer days with stable weather is key. The other day, we watched an entire group of fish rise into a ball of minnows and feed on live sonar.
SCATTERED FISH ON COLD FRONT DAYS
On cold front days, crappies scatter and become tougher to catch. Overall school size and activity level drop. Forward facing sonar will point you in the right direction. MEGA Live has been a huge help locating and patterning these fish. It’s also important to practice selective harvest and release the big ones.
Light rods in the 6’6” to 7 foot range fit the bill for pitching 1/16-1/8 oz jigs. We use 8 pound braid mainline with a 6 pound fluorocarbon leader. White marabou hair jigs and small 2 inch plastics work well. I’ve been a huge fan of the Kalin’s 1 3/4” Crappie scrub for years.
You can also upsize the presentation and try moping like Gussy. I rigged up an 1/8oz smeltinator jig with a 4 inch jerk minnow and crushed a few suspended slabs that were up high. You can also try the drifting approach if you don’t have FFS; take advantage of the wind to cover water.
All of the lakes in the Whiteshell fish a little bit differently. We have shallow, mid-depth, and deep water crappie fisheries. Some fish will suspend exclusively in the basin, some will roam on mud flats, and some will hang around submerged structure like trees. Keep an opened mind while looking for fish. Have fun crappie hunting. Tight-lines and stay safe on the water!
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
One of the biggest angling events in Canada recently took place on Lake of the Woods. Hooked contributor Jamie Bruce and his partner Bryan Gustafson took home the first place prize is this prestigious three day event. Here is what Jamie had to say.
Winning the 2024 Kenora Bass International on Lake of the Woods with my tournament partner of 16 years, Bryan Gustafson, was a special moment for me. What made this win particularly meaningful, other than the hometown crowd, was that we didn’t rely on forward-facing sonar. Instead, we leaned on experience with traditional techniques like flippin’ a Crush City Cleanup Craw and fan casting a Mayor swimbait while understanding the lake’s subtle cues. It was a reminder of how valuable it can be to navigate without relying on the latest technology.
Congratulations to Jamie and Bryan on a great win. Jamie has also been ripping it up on the Bassmaster Open circuit. You can read all about his recent success in the fall issue of Hooked Magazine coming out in two weeks.
FLY BITES WITH MIKE CORRIGAN
I spent a day chasing Smallmouth & Largemouth Bass on poppers and although the numbers weren’t high, the size of the fish was impressive. Large poppers in orange or chartreuse were the ticket.
Musky are being Musky as per their usual August pattern. The fish are generally present in relatively high numbers, but as angling pressure increases the larger fish are more cautious; smaller fish (<40”) continue to be aggressive taking smaller fly patterns once it hits the water. Manoeuvring my inflatable boat into thicker weed lines has proven successful in the early day as fish are hiding in the pencil reeds awaiting unsuspecting small bait fish.
Water temperature and weeds appear to have peaked.
SASKATCHEWAN
LAST MOUNTAIN LAKE WITH ROGER AND SUE GERES
We went to last mountain for our Summer holiday camping again. Timing was perfect water was just starting to warm up and the walleye were still quite shallow and hungry, we would drive around searching with 2D SONAR and SIDE IMAGING and then spot lock jig and cast in areas, slowly bumping along with spot lock. When things would slow down move again.
One thing we’ve learned there is it’s a big body of water and you have to search for them , today where they are doesn’t mean they are tomorrow,
Always have a variety of bait, worms leeches and minnows, seems you never know what they want and the plastic’s can be just what they want also at times. Colours seemed to changed as the water warmed up and with the wind, but glows always are our favourites.
Boats attract boats on that lake, if you can find yourself some fish away from the crowds you might be able to have a lot of fun before the pod moves on. If you put the work and time in you can be rewarded with some giants on Last Mountain .
NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN – WES DAVID, FISHING THE WILD WEST TV
Northern Saskatchewan lake trout
I was booked to fish at Stockman’s Lodge on July 25-30. After a three-hour drive north on Highway 102, and a 20-minute floatplane flight into Stockman’s Lodge, it took very little time to get settled into our cabin which overlooked Cuelenaere Lake, in northern Saskatchewan.
We were fishing the tail-end of a cold front and found the most active feeding lake trout were in 75 to 90 feet of water but suspended within the water column at 55 to 65 feet. A small subtle presentation worked best. A 2oz long-shanked jig baited with a pearl Liquid Mayhem Jerk bait twitch jigged in front of the suspended lake trout produced bites. We found if you were too high above the fish or too low below the fish, they wouldn’t move for it. It had to be directly in front of them. The lake trout wanted to put in little to no effort into feeding.
Two days after the cold front passed, lake trout were becoming more active throughout the water column. I tied on a 1 ½ oz Holographic Spinnow from Buzzbomb Tackle and let it sit right on the bottom. I caught and released four lake trout ranging from four to eight pounds. However, big marks were showing on the Humminbird right on the bottom. When the big lakes decided it was time to feed, the bite came hard and fast.
I heard very similar stories from lake trout anglers in both northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba during the week of July 25-30. Slow subtle bites from suspended lake trout seemed to be the bite during and shortly after the cold front.
On the West Coast
Both quality and quantity of Chinook and Coho Salmon are being caught on the West Coast. Some anglers are trolling with mooching rods and reels with flashers and a variety of shrimp and needlefish baits and having success. However, running and gunning and finding schools of suspended baitfish and dropping a Buzz Bomb or Spinnow from BuzzBomb Tackle into the middle of the suspended baitfish and aggressively jigging your presentation is not only my favourite way to catch salmon, but it’s also producing non-stop salmon action.