MANITOBA
Okay, we give up, enough already! As we head to March, the knee that old man winter has on our throat has made most of us concede he wins.
As I try and collect fishing reports from across the west, Jamie Bruce from Kenora summed it up the best when he said it hasn’t been about fishing but survival. All his time has been spent battling the elements, not fish.
For those with the proper equipment, which means tracked vehicle for the most part, there has been some angling success. For those still fishing the Red River there are a few trophy walleye being caught along with a mixture of sauger and even some goldeye. The big lakes are more of a survival game, with people hunkered down in areas they can get to, with moving around at a minimum. This is the case all across Northwestern Ontario to Alberta.
In the Interlake, the Shoal Lakes have been producing some decent perch fishing as has Lake Manitoba. Jay Siemens recently hooked up with Keevin Erickson, the Hunt/Fish consultant for Travel Manitoba to try a couple perch trips near his home town of Lundar. On their first adventure, they caught some perch on Lake Manitoba. Friend Jim Price has also been cruising the south basin of Lake Manitoba in his tracked vehicle but deep snow and heavy drifting have limited access.
On their second adventure Jay and Keevin fished one of the Shoals Lakes in the Interlake region. They had a spectacular day and along with some great underwater footage.
WESTERN MANITOBA
Lake of the Prairies has slowed a lot. There are some walleye being caught but it is considerably slower than it has been. Big pike are still biting in many sections of the province including this 42 inch beauty caught by Hooked Contributor Robyn Grant.
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
KENORA AND AREA-JAMIE BRUCE
Mother Nature continues to press hard in the Lake of the Woods area. Travel conditions are certainly something that cannot be ignored right now. Seemingly endless amounts of snow and slush plague Lake of the Woods and surrounding lakes.TOUGH ACCESS TO BACK COUNTRY
VERMILLION BAY AND AREA-GLENN MCDONALD
The weather has been a challenge this past month but some still manage to get out. Personally I haven’t been out as much as I would like. My brother-in-law, Richard Madussi has had my nephew out and they were on the bite! Young Lynden loves fishing and I hope these early years will build to a lifelong passion.
Once again this week I hit up my buddies over at Temple Bay Lodge for a current report. Henry was more than willing to help out.
Walleye are going deep
His report started by saying “Walleyes are hitting but are lethargic in this cold weather. We fish for walleyes at deep areas that vary between 28’ to 35’ sometimes deeper. We take time to bring all walleyes up slowly when we are fishing deeper water. It lessens the chance of barotrauma to the fish. Some days give good numbers, while some days we definitely work for them.”
Lakers are loving the cold weather
Henry adds “Trout fishing has been consistent! The lakers are loving the white tube with the red nose. I also use a blue tube jig that is working great. Blue is definitely a colour that fish can not see. But I tip my hook with big minnows letting them swim to attract the trout while the tube jig gets action from the minnows.”
Find structure find fish
“Currently we are fishing for trout off structure anywhere between 25’ to 70’ deep.. Rock piles are key, the burbot love these areas so do the trout, as they eat burbot.
Crappies are still holding in 20’ to 25’, with plenty of suspended crappies chasing bait. One day we averaged 14 inch crappies with some real slabs in between 15 inches and 15 ¾, just incredible!”
Dryden and Wabigoon Area
The guys behind ‘Wabigoon chain of Lakes’ clothing are no strangers to big trout and both Cody and Dustin hooked into giants last week. Braving cold weather and nasty wind Cody upped his personal best Laker to 38.5”! Congrats Cody!!!
With a change in the weather on the horizon, things should start to warm up. I hope everyone can finally get out and enjoy some ice fishing. Please be cautious on northwestern Ontario lakes, most lakes are very slushy.
Be safe and good luck! Check out the https://www.youtube.com/c/54orbust
SASKATCHEWAN
SOUTH- THE QU’APPELLE CHAIN- ROGER AND SUE GERES
It has been a huge struggle with the cold and work but have been able to get out to the Qu’Appelle Valley chain of lakes. We have been fishing dead bait for pike in seven to 15 feet. Changing species we moved out deeper to target the perch, in the 25 foot range. It has been a tough bite for them. We are constantly switching colours and bait. This includes mealworms and minnows or sometimes just a piece of minnow.
TRUCK TRAVEL DIFFICULT
Some lakes you can travel a bit with truck, but it is mostly snowmobile. Seeing as it was so cold this week we been limited to staying still. At times we get lucky and other times not so much.
Being patient, and changing tackle when marking fish helps. We are even trying different tackle to attract fish if nothing is showing up. This includes lures with rattles and a more aggressive jigging approach. Sometimes we will move those lures up in the water column to attract fish from a greater distance.
CENTRAL SASKATCHEWAN
Clayton Schick is still chasing walleye on his snow machine and portable popup. While the bite has slowed down in the last couple of weeks, he is still scratching out enough fish for a shore lunch.
TOBIN LAKE-RAY LAMY-TWIN MARINE
Fishing on most parts of Tobin is fair to good for both walleye and pike. The biggest thing to watch out for right now is major slush due to the tremendous amount of snow this year. The slush is not visible as there is so much snow on top which insulates the water from freezing so you don’t know where it is until its to late. Extreme caution is recommended.
Raymond Lamy, Owner/Operator Twin Marine 306-862-2628 (BOAT)
ALBERTA-WES DAVID-FISHING THE WILD WEST
During the last two weeks, ice anglers have been dealing with severe winds in central and southern Alberta. In southern Alberta, wind from 40 to 60 mph has been normal during mid-afternoon with wind gusts as high as 90 mph. These winds have made it very difficult for ice anglers in portable pop-up ice fishing shacks. It has also cleared the ice of any snow creating very slippery conditions.
SOUTHERN RESERVOIRS PRODUCING NICE PIKE
The ice anglers that have ventured out have been doing well on southern Alberta reservoirs. They are finding northern pike holding in the shallow back bays. Not all of these shallow back bays are created equal. Those holding northern pike have an abundance of small gamefish or baitfish. Anglers are using six to eight-inch herring in four to 10 feet of water under tip-ups.
I’ve caught northern pike of all sizes in the shallows near structure, on the flats, near the shoreline, or off the shoreline. The most consistent areas are in five to six feet of water adjacent to drop-offs into 10 or 12-feet of water.
THE UNDERWATER SHOW!
I have been observing the pike on my Aqua-VU camera. It has been intriguing to watch the different behavior. Many would bump the bait with their nose but not take the bait. Others wouldn’t touch the bait but would stay close to it as if they were guarding the bait from other pike.
Most of the bites are subtle and time must be given for the pike to fully put the bait in the mouth before setting the hook. We found if we set the hook as soon as the pike took it, we missed most fish. Allowing the pike to run with the bait for 15 or 20 feet, we had hundred-percent hook-ups.
At the time of this writing, I’m also being told, in central Alberta, the whitefish bite is starting to heat up. The toughest decision Alberta anglers may be faced with in the coming weeks is where and what species to fish.