MANITOBA
“FLY BITES” reports from members of the Manitoba Fly Fishers Association (MFFA)
The MFFA will add to the weekly fish reports available through Hooked as members are out and about this summer. Please note this part the fishing report will only refer to fly-caught fish only! We typically target the smaller lakes early season and follow temperature trends as most of us transition from Trout and Char to post spawn Pike/Bass/Musky. You will also find members targeting the world class Channel Cat fishery at Lockport.
Small Lake Musky
The backcountry Musky lakes continue to produce. The fish seem to be a little larger and a little more wary, but aggressively stripped flies without pausing has produced some quality fish. Even as the water starts to cool down, the fish continue to hold in very shallow water.
West Watjask Lake (Revisited)
I had another opportunity to give West Watjask a shot, and it certainly didn’t disappoint! The launch, with the lower water in September is more conducive to inflatables or canoe/kayaks. The Musky were both plentiful and the most aggressive fish I have seen in all my Musky trips this summer. I landed 6 fish that were from the 2019 stocking plus their spawn; the largest was 35”. I did jump a fish that would have been from the 2017 class.
Just as soon as the fly hit the water the fish were on it; with very few fish doing the typical “Musky follow” thing. All told I saw and jumped, or caught, close to 20 fish over the 2 days. Surface temperatures were a cool 13C. Poppers and smaller “Diablos” were the ticket and orange was the preference.
Twin Lake
While in Roblin, I spent one day on Twin and the Tigers were rising to backswimmers and sedges. I did managed a few on a small foam mouse as well. As typical for this time of year the lake was busy, but everyone seemed to be catching.
Tight lines! Mike Corrigan
LAKE OF THE PRAIRIES – ROGER GERES
We were actually out yesterday Water temp’s changing slowly and fish are transitioning. When you find active fish you are busy, when they move on keep searching for a new pod!
EASTERN MANITOBA
The channel catfish are biting on the mighty Red. There are a few greenback walleye being caught in the river as well. In the Whiteshell , the crappies are staying to move to deeper water as the water cools. Look for them to organize in large schools in the next couple of weeks, my favourite time of the year to catch a bunch.
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
Jamie Bruce continues his quest to qualify for the Bassmaster Elite Series for next year. In the mentime he is putting out some mean content on his YouTube channel. In the latest release he talks about using his side scan at hi speed to find structure and avoid hitting rocks on new water. Check it out!
Meantime Gussy is hitting the tournament trail near his home in Northwestern Ontario.
Was a fun weekend at Bassin’ for Bucks…we did better each day and eventually ended up in 2nd place. We ended up weighing seven largemouths and eight smallmouths over the weekend. A few shallow, a few deep…just covered a lot of water each day. Gussy
SASKATCHEWAN – WES DAVID
Nordic Lodge
Nordic Lodge Saskatchewan is on the south end of Reindeer Lake and is a fully guided drive-to lake with everything you would expect and experience at a fly-out fishing lodge. Although northern pike and lake trout are Nordic Lodge’s specialty, they also have great walleye and land-locked Arctic grayling fishing.
We were at Nordic Lodge, August 27-31 to shoot an episode of Fishing the Wild West TV and to meet the winners of the Hooked Magazine 15th anniversary Nordic Lodge and Hooked Magazine giveaway. The winner was a retired tradesman from Swan River Manitoba who took the opportunity to fish for three full days with his two sons. Throughout our stay, we had the chance to visit with the family trio and learned the amazing father and son memories began well before they reached Nordic Lodge.
Nordic Lodge Northern Pike
Northern pike were not only abundant at Nordic Lodge but there was also consistent quality . The pike were where they were supposed to be at this time of year for the north country, holding in six to 10 feet of water anywhere with aquatic vegetation. However, the largest northern pike was consistently found in these depths where the thickest weed growth (cabbage) was present.
Weeds hanging up on your lure was an issue. However, I removed the treble hook from a Northern King lure and replaced it with a single hook. This allowed the lure to be cast and retrieved with very little to no hang-ups. I would retrieve the lure just fast enough that it swam just above the weed growth enticing the big pike to come out of their underwater jungle to hit the bait.
Fall was in the air in the Saskatchewan north and the pike were feeding aggressively to bulk up for the tougher and cooler living conditions just ahead. Countless pike in the mid-30-inch to the low-40-inch range were caught and released. Casting and retrieving a Northern King overtop of vegetation will be the first technique I try this fall for northern pike in the central and southern water bodies of western Canada.
- Once again, congratulations to Hooked Magazine on 15 years of bringing informative information to anglers across Canada, and the winners of the Hooked Magazine and Nordic Lodge fishing trip giveaway!
EDITORS NOTE: Special thanks to Wes for making this happen with Nordic Lodge. We really appreciate your support of Hooked Media!
Upper Foster Lake, Saskatchewan
From Nordic Lodge, we drove 2 ½ back down to Missinipe, Saskatchewan, to Thompson Camps. We had a day off before boarding a floatplane to fly us 45 minutes northeast into Upper Foster Lake. Upper Foster Lake is one of Adventure Destinations, remote self-guided outpost camps. A rustic but modern cabin on one of the many islands, complete with generator power, boats, motors, and most of the comforts of home within the cabin awaits.
We landed, got our gear squared away in the cabin and started the generator to get the fridge and freezer running to keep our food cold. Then we turned our attention to getting the boat and our fishing gear ready for three full days on the water to do battle with northern pike and lake trout.
Again, the northern pike were where they were supposed to be. In the shallow thick vegetation aggressively hitting a Northern King Lure. However, we quickly learned that the lake trout were scattered.
SCATTERED FISH
It was September 2nd, and the lake trout were in a pre-spawn transition from deep water to shallow water. They were scattered throughout the water column, and we found them by three-way rigging and trolling an 8 oz Cattail Sinker Weight from Thundermist Lure Company and three feet of 20lbs Sunline Fluorocarbon fluttering a Northern King Lure behind the weight. We picked up lake trout of all sizes from 50 to 25 feet of water. Gold, silver, and white, colours were hit the most and produced the larger lake trout.
Adventure Destinations has a variety of different remote self-guided fly-out fishing adventures, day fly-outs, and the all-inclusive Twin Falls Lodge. All of them are an amazing fishing adventure for avid anglers.
I’m not sure what to do next. Go fishing or go waterfowl hunting? Good luck to everyone this September fishing and hunting season!
Wes David Host & Producer of Fishing the Wild West TV
RAFFERTY RESERVOIR – RALPH SMART, PRAIRIE PRO OUTFITTERS
Cooler mornings have dropped our water temperature by 6 degrees and some windy days have lead-to a big scattering of our bigger fish from 8 to 28 ft A very good minnow bite on the lightest jigs possible with silver or pink being the preferred colours. Exciting time now as the larger pike have followed evident as some of our eater walleyes have recent damage from pike attacks. Use big baits for trophy pike!