MANITOBA FISHING REPORT
Big China is back on the water and producing videos. He, like many others have been discovering the great fishing on Lake Winnipeg this year. Check out his latest adventure!
LAKE MANITOBA
A combination of predominant winds from the west and the south have allowed the water of this big lake to clear to about three feet. This has improved the fishing for walleye, perch and freshwater drum with some pike thrown in for good measure. Some big fish are being caught as well in eight to nine feet of water. Trolling with cranks is catching some fish but the best bite has been early and late for walleye with a jig and minnow.
WHERE IS THE BITE!
By Robyn Grant and Robert Karpiak
For the past couple of weekends, Robyn and I have been hitting the road for a quick getaway to Bissett, Manitoba where we have been able to take advantage of the fantastic small mouth bass fishing on Rice Lake.
In our experience, the people we have met in this small northern town are extremely friendly and welcome visitors with open arms. If you’re planning to stay overnight, Bisset is home to Cameron’s RV Park which hosts beautifully groomed lots which can accommodate both campers and tents. A big bonus, there is also a snack shack onsite offering delicious burgers, hot dogs, fries, ice cream and other assorted treats. If you didn’t plan to stay the night but couldn’t bare to leave without another day of bass fishing, think about calling the town’s bed and breakfast, Northern Wings Bed & Breakfast.
Rice Lake is a shallow Canadian Shield body of water which means caution should be used when exploring the lake for the first time as there are some hidden reefs.
We found finesse casting with a slow retrieve of a 1/16 – 1/8 oz Ned Rig or Wacky Worm setup seemed to be irresistible to the bass. Additionally, if you find yourself in “the cabbage” don’t leave! Toss your bait out close to your boat and let the lure float slowly to the bottom. We had many unexpected hits and continued to use this approach while deep in the weeds. If this is just not your style of bass fishing, there are enough rocky points and reefs around the lake for you to toss your crankbaits for a more aggressive technique.
Be sure to pack your bump board as you are certain to hook onto some master angler quality fish!
Go play outside!
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO FISHING REPORT
Sunset Country, like a lot of destinations in Canada have suffered from the closure of the border to the U.S. In this section of the country, the lodges and outfitters rely heavily on business from our friends south of the border. Jay Siemens and his wife Sam, now live in Kenora, exploring many of the incredible lodges that this area of the country has to offer. Jay and wife recently headed to experience the musky fishing opener on Lower Manitou Lake. Included in this experience is a 50 inch plus muskie caught on film!
SASKATCHEWAN FISHING REPORT
By Robert Schulz, G&S Marina Outfitters
The summer bite is heating up on Last Mountain lake. The water temperatures have warmed up to approximately 68°F. This has moved the Walleye into their regular summer locations and patterns. They have now moved onto the steep brake lines of Last Mountain’s main lake basin. There has been some big numbered daily catches and also many giant Walleye in the 28” to 32” class being caught and released. All the summer fishing techniques are working well right now. Bottom bouncer and crawler harnesses, crank baits, jigging spoons, jigging and live bait rigging.
The Carp are now finished their spawn. They are also starting to feed well with some good catchers of fish ranging from 15 pounds to 30 pounds. The secret to a good Carp fishing day is the work that goes into the pre-baiting of the area you plan to fish for Carp.
The Northern Pike have been the slowest of the three species. They also have moved into the deeper water. Trolling deep diving crank baits seems to be working well for the Northern’s as well as the Walleye.
Good luck fishing and remember to release those trophy fish!!
SOUTHEAST SASKATCHEWAN
By Brad Graham
The fishing in south east Saskatchewan has been great. Fished eight different lakes so far not one has disappointed. Alameda had great luck bottom bouncing with leach. Rafferty we pulled cranks did very well most walleyes between 15” and 21”with a few pike as well. Boundary the Bass fishing has been fair early morning and evening has been the best. Catching on a variety of different lures deep diving cranks top water frogs drop shots. The calling lakes has been excellent fishing on all four lakes. Katepwa,Mission,Echo and Pasqua have been very good lots of different sizes from 8” to 24” biggest we have managed so far. Using a variety of methods Jigs,bottom bouncing, Lindy rigging,shiver minnows and cranks all have been very productive. Overall fishing has been good to very good. Be safe everyone!
Enjoy the great fishing that the Saskatchewan has to offer and best of luck.
TOBIN LAKE
This reservoir continues to provide outstanding fishing to those who know the secret. What is that you might ask? Just like almost any other water body, it’s water quality. When the river and lake is muddy, tough to get a bite. When water clarity gets to 10 feet or more, watch out! Saskatchewan Power has been playing with water levels as a huge increase of current flow is happening from the west. At one point the reservoir was down four feet as all the gates were open on the outflow at E.B Campbell Dam. With the gates closed now, the water levels are normal. There is some colouration in the river and many anglers are heading to mid-reservoir in the search for cleaner water. Those who find it are enjoying some great fishing for walleye and pike. The walleye are on deeper breakline edges next to main lake basin, while pike are suspended chasing Cisco over mud flats.
When you find them, like Russ Heatherington and Boyd Holmen did last week, the results can be spectacular!
ALBERTA FISHING REPORT
By Wes David
Southern Alberta Reservoirs have been producing large walleye and large numbers of walleye despite southern Alberta’s crazy weather patterns. Alberta saw record-setting rainfall during the month of June and into the first 10 days of July and even a tornado on July 7th, east of Brooks Alberta. Evening and late-night thunder and lightning storms have also stirred up the walleye and made them very skittish and difficult to locate. However, Lindy-Rigging or slow bottom-bouncing until small schools of active feeding walleye are located is producing some walleye. However, once located, setting up and vertical jigging these walleye with soft plastics like 4” Disc Worms from Big Bite Baits or live leeches an inch off the bottom is producing quality and quantity walleye on southern Alberta reservoirs.
Due to the large amount of rainfall little water is being pulled from the reservoirs for agricultural use creating higher than normal reservoir levels and due to the reservoir water levels, walleye are being found in areas not commonly fished. Anglers need to keep moving and pay close attention to their fish-finders to keep finding active feeding walleye.