HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYONE!
I hope everyone is enjoying this Canada Day weekend with family and friends. It has been such a slow start to summer let’s hope the next two months bring us some great weather and fishing! I would also like to thank all of the anglers who have taken time out of there day to contribute to this fishing report. It is by far the most comprehensive we have ever done. From all of the reports, the fishing has been absolutely on fire with high water in most locals putting the fish in a frenzy. It is time to hit the water!
MANITOBA
LAKE WINNIPEG
It was a fun to get up to Hecla Island for three days last week. We got rained out one day but managed to make it out fishing Monday evening and Wednesday morning.
We had great fishing on the Monday, with no wind to speak of and perfect temperatures. The water clarity was good, and the current was minimal, just enough to trigger a hot walleye bite. We caught the fish in 12 to 18 feet of water with 17 being the most consistent. A jig tipped with a shiner was all that was needed. Tuesday was a rain day with a northwest wind whipping the lake in a muddy mess.
I was a bit concerned about that when we hit the lake Wednesday morning. Sure enough, water clarity was greatly diminished and so was the fishing. We did manage a few beautiful greenback walleye but nowhere near as good as Monday.
All in all it was another fun trip and our Thermacells kept the mosquitoes at bay.
NORTHERN MANITOBA
Fishing has been good in almost all areas of the province. My daughter’s boyfriend, Brodie Green got into some hot walleye action on Tramping Lake. Noted for its trophy walleye, June is the best time to be on this northern lake. It is situated just across from Wekusko Lake south of Snow Lake.
LAKE TROUT SLAM FEST – PETRO HRYNDA
Every spring, the trip I look forward to most is to Clearwater Lake near The Pas with my good friends Nolan Plew and Morgan Bell. The lake offers world class lake trout fishing as a drive-to destination and well worth the near 7-hour drive from Winnipeg. As we closely watched the weather knowing the lake is well known not only for the fishing, but the dangerous conditions that can rapidly develop, we saw an opportunity to make a one-and-a-half-day trip up there for the weekend.
The first day made for difficult fishing as the winds swept across the lake making it hard to stay in position without draining the trolling motor. Even with our best efforts, we could not manage to land a one of these mysterious giants. However, the second day brought bird blue skies and calm conditions which can be a treat in northern Manitoba. With no time to spare we got up early at 4:30am and out on the water.
We began marking fish and we knew were in a good spot. Within a few hours and a little bit of patience I had hooked the first lake trout. There is no feeling quite like the power of a laker having your heavy rod bent right across and pinned down as the tensioned line peels rapidly. After several good runs and head shakes, we were quite surprised to see it was 41” lake trout with a sucker still down its throat.
With that fish, it had seemed the feeding frenzy had begun as everyone started to hooked up. Morgan hooked up with another giant but after fighting it for several minutes, it managed to get off as their hard mouth makes it difficult to keep them pinned. As we looked over boat side, we watched in awe while the same fish swam around his lure and tried to eat it yet again.
However, the fish kept giving us opportunities and we were sure to capitalize on them. Nolan was able to hook up and quickly shouted under the pressure of a line peeling rod, “It’s big!”. We knew we were in for several minutes of entertainment as the fish swam back to the depths. Finally, we netted his personal best lake trout, and a unique one at that. With just a quick glimpse, you could tell this was an old fish.
Proper Handling
The most important part of targeting these giants is handling these fish with care. Having a proper large, deep net for big game is critical in putting minimal pressure on these fish. You want to avoid having the fish out of the water as little as possible. Keeping the fish in the net over the side of the boat will ensure they stay healthy while you get the hook out or prepare the camera gear. Once everything is ready, you can handle these old lakers by grabbing them around, or underneath the tail with one hand and supporting the head with the other while maintaining the fish positioned horizontally. Finally, keep the photoshoot of the trophy short, and ensure the fish is put back in the water as it regains its energy and kicks off back to the depths of Clearwater Lake.
Tackle Choice
The tackle of choice is surprisingly simple. A classic white tube has done wonders for us up there and it continues to put fish in the boat. Fishing a 5” tube and a 1-2oz jig head tipped with a piece of sucker has been a very effective technique. The depth in which you target these fish varies as you can find them as shallow as 5ft in May and in July, a more typical 90-100ft.
LAKE OF THE PRAIRIES – ROGER GERES
Lake of the Prairies continues to produce outstanding fishing for pike, perch and walleye. If you have some vacation time, it is well worth the trip. Doesn’t seem to matter where you go or what you do! Lake of the Prairies is absolutely amazing the numbers you can get , jigging or trolling, bait preference doesn’t matter as they are biting so well!
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
VERMLLION BAY AND AREA – GLENN MCDONALD
Two weeks into the northwestern Ontario musky season and things are rolling right along. After two years of Covid, and reduced angling pressure, things are looking very familiar on the water. Boats are jockeying for the best spots, big fish are being caught and hearts are being broken by the one that got away.
Around the Vermilion Bay area water levels have finally settled down to near normal levels. Lake temperatures vary between 64 and 72 degrees. Muskies are in post spawn patterns, with males up shallow and big females out over open water. The next few weeks will see fish move into traditional summer spots. Of note, as we enter July the mayfly’s have started the annual hatch, and will affect fishing for a few weeks.
Through the first two weeks of the musky season, reports have been of favorable fishing across the area. With increased anglers comes increased catches. At this point of the season muskies are being caught on every major body of water.
TIGER MUSKY
I spent the first couple weekends chasing muskies on some less pressured waters. As a result I was rewarded with a great tiger musky on opening day. Part of a four fish day, the tiger was a highlight of our first day on the water. We picked up two fish in the weeds, one on a hard bodied bucktail from Big Guy Baits, and my tiger on a Dipstick jerk bait from Top Line Baits. The other two fish were sitting in the current, over deep water and were caught on Lake X Toad’s.
A few days later, Dave and I were back out and Dave backed my tiger up with another gorgeous tiger musky. Fishing a similar weed area, Dave picked his tiger up on a Drop Tine Tackle Growler spinner bait.
I made a trip to Cedar and Perrault Lake with friends from Minnesota. While the casting bite was tough, we were able to locate fish on the Garmin Live Scope and cast to them. My buddy, Matt was able to get one to hit a Musky Mayhem Grenade bucktail. Anyone not familiar with this style of sharp shooting for muskies, would be in for a surprise. The fish of 10000 casts can be sought with electronics and only one or two casts can be thrown at them, with a high level of success.
Hunter Macdonald, from Temple Bay Lodge on Eagle Lake has been busy. Not only putting guests on fish, he has been out catching muskies himself. He reports seeing some great fish, and has put some solid fish in the bag. A mix of rubber baits, such as Bulldawgs and tubes, and smaller bucktails have been producing.
With this week’s new moon fish should become more active, leading up to the next full moon period. Early July should settle into predictable summer patterns, and some of the best fishing of the summer.
Follow our summer at
https://www.youtube.com/c/54orbust
LAKE OF THE WOODS AND AREA – JAMIE BRUCE
JEFF GUSTAFSON
Manitoba Fly Fishing President Mike Corrigan is one of the better fly anglers in this part of the world. Mike, who has a cottage in Northwest Ontario has caught the muskie bug over the last three years.
With the season opening a couple of weeks ago Mike was on the prowl for big fish hungry for his Megadeath popper
With higher water and some cooler weather Mike says the weeds are just starting to appear. He says that hasn’t slowed the bite with two muskies hitting the net the first day. He says the fishing will only get better as the water warms.
SASKATCHEWAN
RAFFERY RESERVOIR-PRAIRIE PRO OUTFITTERS – RALPH SMART
The water on the reservoir is up four feet and the walleye fishing is hot! Fish are in the shallows feeding on the bait. Our guests are catching fish on jigs all day long.
LAST MOUNTAIN LAKE- ROB SCHULZ
THE NORTH – WES DAVID-FISHING THE WILD WEST TELEVISION
Nordic Lodge, an angler’s drive-to paradise!
I just returned home from Nordic Lodge on the south end of Reindeer Lake in northern Saskatchewan and Northern Saskatchewan is fishing amazing as usual.
Reindeer Lake has only been completely ice-free for about three weeks before I arrived. Reindeer Lake is a deep lake over 120 miles long and 13 miles wide at its widest point and is in the heart of the Canadian Rock Shields. Loaded with rock structures, bays, and weed beds, this lake is also loaded with walleye, northern pike, lake trout, and even land-locked Arctic grayling. However, because it’s in the Canadian Rock Shields, it can be very dangerous to anglers/boaters that are unfamiliar with the lake. We booked a cabin, guide, and boat for four days with Nordic Lodge so we could focus on fishing the malty species lake and not worry about the dangers below and I highly recommend hiring a Nordic Lodge guide and boat.
LAKE TROUT
Lake trout were scattered as they were starting their transition from shallow water into deeper water. I caught lake trout casting to rock structures for walleye in only three feet of water and I caught them on Buzz Bomb lures in 45 feet of water. I even caught them in the back bays casting for northern pike. Truthfully, they were everywhere.
WALLEYE
Walleye were caught on Big Sky Jigs and a 4-inch swimming minnow from Big Bite Baits at the entrances to large bays coming off rock structures and weed beds in the early stages of growth. Soft plastics were key as once walleye were found, it was hard to keep them off your hook and an angler could catch 15 or 20 walleye on one soft plastic as opposed to one frozen minnow for every one walleye. It would be easy to burn up a tub of frozen minnows in less than an hour.
NORTHERN PIKE
Northern Pike was my main focus as Reindeer Lake and Nordic Lodge are well known for producing large northern pike. Because the water was still very cold, pike were in the back bays where they were supposed to be but holding extremely shallow and tight to the shoreline. Most of the northern pike I caught were in two feet of water or less. There were times they were holding so tight to the shoreline you could see their backs breaking the surface of the water. It was the greatest sight fishing for northern pike I have ever experienced. With the pike holding in such shallow water, a #2 Len Thompson Lure would fall too fast and often snag or scare the pike. The key to landing these big resting pike was a 5/8oz Northern King Lure. This lure from Len Thompson Lures fell slowly in the water column with a lot of flash and ran about four to six inches below the surface with a very slow retrieve which allowed the pike time to turn and attack the lure.
We ended up running out of time to try our luck at the Arctic grayling but that is a good thing. It means I have to return to Nordic Lodge!
ALBERTA – WES DAVID
There is nothing like walking and wading the river systems and all their tributaries fly casting for trout. As of mid-June, the bulk of Alberta’s rivers and their tributaries along the Alberta Easter slopes are open to fishing. Many of these rivers and tributaries are a fly-fishing mecca. A variety of trout species and Rocky Mountain whitefish are caught and released on imitation flies with rainbow trout and cutthroat trout being the most popular. Now I’ve never claimed to be a fly fisherman, but I do enjoy the challenge of catching scrappy trout in moving water surrounded by breathtaking scenery along the edge of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains.
Talking with a few of my avid fly-fishing friends, the reports are a positive trout bite, with the trout rising to a variety of imitation insects. However, trout are aggressively hitting imitation mosquitoes which is a good thing for me as I have very little knowledge of insects and unless I see an insect, it’s hard for me to “Match the Hatch” as they say. Another fly that is also doing well is a fly with some red colouration mixed into the fly pattern.