MANITOBA
A cold blast of air is set to send temperatures plummeting across the prairies over the next couple of weeks. This will slow down the walleye bite, which has already slowed down considerably.
Friends Roger and Sue Geres have been enjoying the last couple of weeks to chase perch and walleye on Lake of the Prairies. While it has been a bit of grind, they have gotten on some big fish! Here is their latest report.
LAKE OF THE PRAIRIES – ROGER AND SUE GERES
Fish are still active if you can find them, lots of work with all the snow and slush but if you move and keep trying it can pay off. We were rewarded with some big fish the last couple times out. We fished from
from eight to 21 feet. Those have been the best depths for us.
PRESENTATION
We like to jig aggressively to attract some fish in, then watch how they react on the sonar to figure out what they want. In the last couple of weeks rattle spoons and frozen and live minnows and jigs have been key. As always get away from crowds and try new spots!
NORTHERN MANITOBA
The crew from Hunt/Fish Manitoba have been on the road non-stop collecting content for all the social media channels. They recently headed up to Bakers Narrows Lodge to meet up with Clayton Schick. Big lakers were on the agenda.
SOUTHERN MANITOBA
With the warmer weather of the last couple of weeks, the ice angling has still been decent. West Shoal Lake in the Manitoba Interlake has been a hotspot for some big perch. Friend Dan Thibeault was out recently and landed this MA beauty.
THE MIGHTY RED
This has been one of the better winters of late for trophy walleye on the Red River north of Lockport. There have been a number of Master Angler fish recorded in the last couple of months. Here is a beauty from Cassandra Jorgenson.
One of the reasons the walleye fishing might be so good is the number of goldeye that are in the Red this winter. Many anglers are catching MA goldeye on small jigs and spoons. Donna-Lee Bean has been zeroed in.
LAKE WINNIPEG
It has not been forgotten in this report. Anglers are pretty much driving in truck convoys on most of the southern basin. For the latest ice conditions on Big Windy visit the Lake Winnipeg Report Facebook page.
Here is the link https://www.facebook.com/groups/1902402216638000
Rick Gergatz does a great job of updating the site on pretty much a daily basis. He does not recommend travel on the lake Friday because of blowing snow caused by high winds. Meantime earlier this week Jay Siemens and his cameraman Brandon stopped to fish Lake Winnipeg on their way up north.
Don’t forget about our stocked trout lakes that are pretty much everywhere in Manitoba. Barbe Lake near north of The Pas remains one of the very best in the province. Check out this beauty brookie caught by Daemon Titterton.
SASKATCHEWAN
SOUTHERN SASKATCHEWAN
RYLAN PARROT – GUIDE AND HARDCORE ANGLER
While most people often consider January to be one of the slower months of the hardwater season, there is still tremendous fishing to be had. Weather can be all over the place, which can throw the fishes moods in every possible direction. Downsizing your bait profile can be all in takes in certain situations.
A lot of my winter fishing is spent targeting pike and I notice fish behaving to my bait differently each and every day, sometimes even hour to hour. However sometimes dropping down to a 5 Inch smelt from a normal 8-9 inch bait can normally seal the deal.
TIME TO BAIT UP!
FIND THE SPOT ON THE SPOT
Ralph Smart, from Prairie Pro Outfitters says lot of snow on Rafferty Reservoir is making travel a little difficult but if you are willing to work active fish are being found for the adventurous. Numerous big perch on the camera are picking tiny red worms off the bottom in deeper water but I urge people not to fish over 25 ft. It’s that time of year when the menu is fresh deer sausage then being ready for the sometimes brief walleye bite in the evening.
ALBERTA – WES DAVID-FISHING THE WILD WEST TV
Well, the weekend of January 21-22, was the perfect weekend to be on the hard water. The weather was amazing in central and southern Alberta, with mid-day temperatures reaching 7 degrees Celsius. My cell phone was blowing up with text messages from friends sending me pictures of the walleye, northern pike, perch, and burbot they were catching through the ice. However, I was at the Bass Pro Shops Calgary location giving fishing seminars during the Bass Pro Shops Ice Fishing Event. There’s nothing like being inside talking about ice fishing when all your friends are outside ice fishing. Ha ha!
All kidding aside, it was amazing to see so many people stop in and take part in the ice fishing seminars and the event itself. However, what was even more rewarding was seeing so many of our youth taking part in the event and gathering as much information as possible to make their next ice-fishing adventure more successful. Our youth are the future of hunting and fishing throughout Canada and hats off to the parents, guardians, and grandparents who took the time to bring their kids to the Bass Pro Ice Fishing event. I truly wish each one of you the best of luck the next time you’re on the ice.
I did get a chance to get out for a half-day and do a little rainbow trout fishing. I was taken by surprise at how aggressively the rainbow trout were feeding. They were sitting on or near the bottom in 16-21 feet of water and competing to feed on a small piece of Power-Bait and a 1/4oz Big Sky Jig. Every now and then they would chase the bait midway up through the water column but would retreat to the bottom without hitting the bait. I caught and released five good rainbow trout and two small rainbow trout before calling it a day.
OUTDOOR SHOW SEASON IS HERE!
The Outdoor Sports Shows are right around the corner and the Alberta Sports Shows are back in full swing with the Calgary Boat & Outdoor Show February 10-12, Red Deer Sports & Outdoor Show March 3-5, and the largest Alberta Sports Show, the Edmonton Boat & Sportsman’s Show March 16-19.
At this year’s Calgary Boat & Outdoor Show February 10-12, held at the BMO Center on the Stamped grounds, The Calgary Boat and Outdoor Show have teamed up with BC Sportfishing Group and Harrison Resort & Spa for a grand prize giveaway. The prize pack includes for 2 people.
- A full day of guided Sturgeon fishing on the Fraser River (with breakfast & lunch on the boat).
- 2 roundtrip flights (from Calgary, AB to Abbotsford BC with transportation to and from Harrison Resort & Spa) and 2 nights of double occupancy at the Harrison Resort & Spa.
Everyone who comes to the Calgary Boat and Outdoor Show can scan the QR code on their ticket(s) to enter to win this trip of a lifetime or you can stop at the BC Sportfishing Group booth and enter to win!
I hope to see you at the Outdoor Shows or on the ice. Wes David Host and producer of Fishing the Wild West TV
WEST COAST REPORT-DAVE SHYMR – KOOBIE KRANKERS GUIDE SERVICE
We’ve had very unstable low barometric systems coming through the island constantly causing some very negative fishing conditions . Slowing our presentation down to 1/16 1/8 ounce hair jigs as well as small plastics on drop shots worked very slowly have been productive. I’ve been working them super slowly in 18/25 ft of water on a rock shoal that drops steep to deep water with a shallow weedy feeding flat adjacent to it. The small feeding window is coming during mid day and especially good when the suns out . With water temps averaging in the high 30s that little bit of sun seems to be all the difference in the world. It has been a bit cold on the feet in my float boat but I ended catching a couple monster smallmouth recently, both over 5 pounds in a fifteen minute window. I caught them on a drop shot rigged with a silver swimbait pictured below.
Ocean wise we have been dragging the bottom with our downriggers in 100-140 feet of water pulling green flashers and green spoons/ hoochies catching winter chinooks. Still a very productive bite for the winter chinooks which will remain in the area tell mid to end of March . Lots of orcas have been spotted while fishing as well making for a full experience while your out.