MANITOBA
A WILD WEST GET TOGETHER!
I just spent three days fishing on Lake of the Prairies with a variety of industry representatives. Wes David organized it as part of the first annual Fishing the Wild West TV Industry Outdoor Gathering, including Hunt Fish MB, and Fish and Hunt Saskatchewan. And the wind followed us to Lake of the Prairies. https://www.kilmanresort.ca
During our stay we had four captains on the water and what was so interesting was the variety of ways we caught fish during our stay. I had Keevin Erickson from Travel Manitoba in my boat the first morning and we caught a bunch of nice walleye drifting a jig and leech in 6 to 12 feet of water.
Meantime, Wes David, who was filming the event, fished with Darrin Bohonis. Wes says the walleye were where they were supposed to be, off points, stick-outs, and on the sand flats. They were throwing soft plastic swim baits shallow onto the sand flats and slowly retrieving back to the boat.
Slow was key. The bait had to maintain bottom contact to trigger a bite. Some bites came as shallow as four feet of water, however, six to 12 feet of water was where the bulk of our bites were triggered. This was the same pattern that Keevin and I had on the first day. Things were more fishable for Wes on the second day when the wind died down. The pattern didn’t change though, casting onto the sand flats.
SHALLOW FISH BONANZA
On the second day Darrin Bohonis decided to go explore on this own. His plan was to start out in the deeper breaks and flats using a Clam Tikka Minno and then work his way into the shallow zone. The Tikka Minno connected with the first fish off an 18 foot flat, before it dropped into deeper water. A few more hook ups followed.
He then moved way up, switching over to a swimbait and positioned the boat in 10 feet of water to cast up shallower. He immediately connected with numerous fish, using Humminbird MEGA Live Imaging, He could precisely target casts to individual fish and schools alike. Darrin was surprised to see the number of fish that were positioned even shallower. Eventually he found himself in 6 feet of water, targeting fish he saw with MEGA Live. Once located, he would deploy his Minn Kota Talons, which allowed him to cast to these targets, while still using the Ultrex trolling motor to pan the MEGA Live Transducer to see fish to target.
CURT REEF JOINS HE PARTY!
PK Lures Owner and hardcore angler Curt Reef had also been invited. He was coming off destination fishing trips from Mobridge SD, Lake Erie OH, and Devils Lake ND. He expected Lake of the Prairies to be a similar tougher bite with cooler waters temperatures and the spring warm up about 2 weeks late this season.
Curt uses Garmin electronics for the mapping in US and Canada waters along with its forward-facing sonar to catch and locate fish. While the mapping was ok it was nothing like the detail on the Hummingbird that was in Wes’s boat. He quickly found areas to avoid or be on alert.
On Day One he shared the boat with Daryl Demoskoff from Tourism Saskatchewan, and they traveled to the south basin along some structure that looked good on the map. Curt instantly found a huge pod of fish and set Daryl up with the 3/4” Reeff Rig in Pink color tipped with a leech and Curt used a White PK Dakota Disc tipped with a full crawler which is his go to confidence lure in any body of water. After one drift though the target area he could see my spinner going through the pod of fish. Unfortunately, they were not responding, and he knew he had to make some adjustments. The 2nd pass he threw out the drift sock to slow the drift to one mph and switched to a 3/4” Silver Metallic Reeff Rig tipped with a 3” crawler and the fish lit up. They ended up catching over 40 fish by noon.
HEADING NORTH
Day 2 the wind had calmed down and Curt made a solo trip up north past Pyotts boat landing and found a weed line on the north shore that transitioned into deeper water. The fish were stacked out front of this weed line where he pulled the Pink Hologram PK Wobbler tipped with a full crawler. This pod was a bigger class of fish and very aggressive compared to Day 1. He ran out of crawlers by noon and a storm was coming in but with over 30 fish caught and most being from 18-23” I was satisfied and confident that PK Spinners work great on this body of water.
IN SUMMARY
All in all, despite the changing weather we discovered a variety of ways to catch walleye on this productive reservoir. I think it is a testament to the sharing of knowledge and information with a group of skilled communicators. There is a lot to be learned when it comes to fishing and the more people share the better experience for everyone.
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
The big news is that musky season opened last weekend. Of course Musky Guide and Hooked Contributor Glenn McDonald was on the water.
Finally fishing our first spot, on opening day, cameras are rolling. Fish on! Twenty minutes into our season I am hooked up. After a short battle and into the bag fish number one of 2024 went. On the board! The best part of catching a musky is the feeling of success, knowing you made the right calls on bait selection, location, and timing. Remember, muskies do not come easy.
SASKATCHEWAN
While I have been to many lakes and reservoirs in southern Saskatchewan there are still some on my bucket list. One of those is Kenosee Lake, located right next Moose Mountain Provincial Park.
I actually just found out it recently when friend and TV host Wes David stopped to film a show this June. While the lake is not large, it has a good population of nice sized walleye. Wes says they weren’t hard to find. He just headed to Pickeral Point and dragged some bouncers and the PK Sure Death rig with a crawler in eight to 13 feet of water.
This resort lake has plenty for the family to do with all kinds of hiking trails and an excellent golf course. Wes was booked into the the Kenosee Inn & Cabins and spent two days targeting walleye. The Kenosee Lake boat launch is only minutes away from Kenosee Inn & Cabins was in great shape, well-maintained, and somewhat protected from the wind. It is a scenic part of the world and gets overlooked by most.
Just minutes south is another decent walleye lake called White Bear.
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES – MIKE CORRIGAN
I had a chance to join some fellow Alberta fly fishers on their annual trip to Hearne Lake Lodge, a short float plane ride SE of Yellowknife. The lake is a haven to large post spawn Pike as well as shallow Lake Trout, just after ice out. The bonus fish are Grayling and big Lake Whitefish which both sip small nymphs. The group has been doing this trip for a number of years and a late cancellation opened up a spot for me. Hearne Lake affords a large variety of sight fishing for aggressive Pike and casting to Whitefish taking nymphs just below the surface; a fly fishers dream. (I forgot how strong Whitefish are when hooked!)
The large Pike were “stacked up” in shallow bays and were aggressively feeding on anything that resembled a minnow. The lack of surface activity (small birds and Frogs) made poppers less desirable. A short boat ride to a river at the north end of the lake contains small, but plentiful, Grayling as well as spawning Suckers. The bonus for the day was a Wolverine sighting that was curious about our presence.
Icing on the cake for the trip were hungry Lake Trout that afforded an evening fish after dinner, with the long daylight hours. Most fish were 4-8 lbs and any white minnow pattern worked well. When hooked, these fish typically head for deeper water and can be a challenge on an 8 wt rod.
Hearne Lake Lodge is a comfortable and affordable destination for anyone wanting to experience solitude in the NWT. Edie did a fantastic job of keeping us well fed, and Ken a masterful job of making sure the boats were ready in the morning. They are the perfect hosts and reside in the lodge 12 months a year with dogs Griffin & Hunter who are equally excited to greet you at the dock and hear the tales at the end of the day.