MANITOBA
With cold temperatures and heavy snowfall in January, travel on the ice in most regions has been difficult. Most is restricted to snowmobile or SnoBear travel. Some hardcore ice anglers have been travelling in truck convoys in order to help the others get unstuck. It really is not the safest time out there.
Jay Siemens recently headed out by snow machine from Gimli and had a successful day on the water thanks to help from Mat Hobson of Icebound Excursions
NORTHERN MANITOBA
Meantime Clayton Shick continues his tour of northern Manitoba. His latest adventure is on Lake Athapapuskow fishing for giant lake trout. He headquarters out of Bakers Narrows Lodge.
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
At Hooked we would like to welcome hardcore angler Jamie Bruce to the editorial team. You can find Jamie and his entertaining YouTube Channel, Bruce’s Canadian Angling at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsDinktjSkaLSR0cEWWK9dw
LAKE OF THE WOODS AND AREA-JAMIE BRUCE
VERMILLION BAY AND AREA-GLENN MCDONALD
January has brought wicked cold weather to most of Northwestern Ontario. Despite the cold, some hardy anglers braved the cool conditions to get out. A few days of mild weather has allowed families to get out fishing as well. Let’s hope February is going to bring more favourable fishing conditions.
Lake Trout anglers are a different breed
The past few weeks have been below minus 20 for the most part and some weekend morning temperatures have been close to minus 40. Not only do you have to be brave to head out for a morning of trout fishing, you have to trust your equipment as well. Thankfully the new snowmobiles, pop up ice shelters and buddy heaters can make for a pleasant experience.
Colin Barton headed out with friends recently in search of some monster lakers. He reported an amazing day on the hard water. The lakers were hitting 7” fluke style baits, and added they trout were hitting that bait over regular white tubes. Congratulations on a couple great fish!
My brother in law, Richard Madussi and I were fishing south west of Eagle Lake, close to the Experimental Lakes Area, in search of some new waters to fish. Despite brutal cold and strong winds we were able to land a few small lakers. Unremarkable size wise, but the almost black colouring makes these small lakers so unique. I will never complain about catching some pan fry size lake trout. We found the best presentation to be a jig, in this case a DropTine Tackle ⅜ oz jig tipped with a large minnow and left dead stick style. We did not get many bites but were able to capitalize on a few nice ones.
Walleye, perch and pike = family fun!
Craig Larson, his wife Julie and their boys were out for a fun day of fishing during a warmer break in the weather. Their twins, Reegan and Deegan, both love fishing. I’ve seen the boys cast off the dock in the summer for hours!
Set up inside the pop up hut the boys put on a little clinic for their parents. Catching perch and pike, with big smiles the whole time. As Craig was starting to pack up the walleye bite hit and they added some ‘eyes to the dinner table as well.
I always love seeing families get out together, and seeing the smiles on their faces. Who doesn’t love to take a kid fishing?
The weather finally looks like it will take a turn for the better, with warmer temperatures forecast for the weekend. I plan to get out after some big lakers and possibly an afternoon of walleye action.
One word of caution for anyone looking to fish in the Northwestern Ontario area, reports are coming in of heavy slush across most of the region. I hear LOTW is very bad, as are the lakes to the east of Hwy 71. The Vermilion Bay/Eagle Lake area is also reporting slush on many of the lakes. Please be cautious when travelling on lakes, especially those you may not be familiar with.
Enjoy some warmer weather, get out fishing with family and friends and I will report back in a few weeks time. Good luck out there anglers!
Glenn McDonald –Follow me on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/54orbust
SASKATCHEWAN
LAKE DIEFENBAKER-DARYL GILBERT
The wacky weather and extreme high winds the last few weeks on the lake has made it difficult for many to get out fishing, especially without a permanent hut.
One plus side with the varying temperatures, it has actually made access to many spots on the lake easier. The snow has melted down and the once large drifts are pretty much non-existent. If you do encounter one now it is easy to maneuver around it or pass over top as they have frozen solid with the warm weather.
The Walleye have been active in the morning hours and extremely active in the evenings from 3:30-7:30. Be sure not to leave the lake too early or you may miss the hottest bite. 14-18 feet of water on the structure has been a key depth for me the last few weeks. A 1/8 ounce VMC Neon Moon eye jig head with a frozen minnow has been the bait of choice for the majority of the walleyes caught.
Burbot are starting to move up into and cruising their spawning grounds. While targeting walleye over the last few weeks the burbot have started to appear in the locations where they were not before. Sand and mud bottom flats in the evening hours have been producing burbot and will only increase throughout February. Large frozen minnows tipped on hair jigs, or bare jig heads pounding the sand have been producing numbers of burbot.
TROPHY PIKE TACTICS AND RELEASE TIPS
Northern pike are also starting to heat up on the lake in the shallow bays and coulees. Tip up rigs baited with smaller sized ciscoes or smelts have been productive in shallow water from 4-9 ft over larger baits. In the shallow water the pike have been very conscious of noise. Be mindful to set your rigs and back off the ice if possible to a location where you can sit and observe your tip ups within legal range. Footsteps, augers, and vehicle traffic have been keeping pike from striking or pushing them away from your baits.
TOBIN LAKE
ALBERTA-WES DAVID
The ice fishing in Alberta is picking up. Walleye and northern pike are being caught and released on lakes and reservoirs right across the province. Dedicated whitefish anglers are doing well and on occasion, burbot are being caught while jigging or still fishing for walleye. However, Cold Lake and the lake trout beneath the thick layer of ice has been good for both quality and quantity.
COLD LAKE A TOP WINTER DESTINATION
Throughout the season many Alberta and Saskatchewan anglers head to Cold Lake to do battle with the lake trout that swim within its depths. There is nothing like doing battle with a lake trout at any time of the year but bringing them from deep water and through the ice is something very special.
My friend Renee drives up to Cold Lake from Edmonton every chance she gets. She parks at the Frenchman’s Bay boat launch, loads her ice fishing gear in slays and heads out. Renee says the best bite is after 10:00am and slows drastically after 2:30pm. The bulk of her bites come from ripping a 3/4oz jig with a 4” white tube tied on a 10-foot fluorocarbon leader in 60 to 90 feet of water. However, she is also seeing big marks on her electronics in 115 feet of water.
Renee’s, efforts and dedication paid off with dividends on January 16, around 10:00am when she was ripping her tube up from 90-feet of water to 60-feet of water and she set the hook on her personal best lake trout in approximately 70-feet of water. Anyone who has fished with Renee knows how giddy she can get when she has a fish on the end of her line. However, I would have liked to have been there and seen her celebration dance after catching and releasing her personal best lake trout.
The city of Cold Lake has several hotels and restaurants that look forward to anglers visiting their city and is very accommodating to anglers throughout the year. There are multiple locations to easily access the ice so you can spend more time fishing.