MANITOBA
If you like ice fishing this is the time of the year you should take your holidays! Some amazing catches of fish over the last couple of weeks. Pick your favourite species and you should be good.
LAKE OF THE PRAIRIES – ROGER GERES
Big pike are slowly showing themselves again on LOP with lots of reports of Master Angler fish coming out.
We took our friend Emily again as part of another Fish Donkey tournament. She didn’t catch a pike big enough to lead yet but we have a few days yet so hopefully can get out with her again.
Pike are anywhere from 4-15’ feet with herring, suckers, and smelt all working.
Travel is getting better snow settled lots , if you pick and choose your trail you’ll be ok.
Always definitely good to go with a tracked machine. Water levels are lower then normal for this time of year so things are setting up a bit different. It means check your map and drill deeper if your unsure and work your way in to the desired depth .
Stay safe, have fun, and take a kid fishing.
This gator came in angry—40.5 inches, just half an inch shy of a Master Angler! But the hunt is far from over in Manitoba. March Madness is here, and I’m just getting started! Last Sunday, the weather was absolutely beautiful t-shirt weather on the ice. I’m starting to pull high 30s out of the ice, just waiting for that 41 inches or more. Who knows, maybe I can even beat my 45.25 inches from last season! Only time and patience will tell.
Who else is chasing giants?
LAKE WINNIPEG IS ON FIRE!
Anglers are streaming to the mecca of big walleye and they are not being disappointed. It is tough to keep track of the posts and pictures of trophy greenback walleye. One of the keys this time of the year is be aggressive with your presentation. Lipless crankbaits are probably the first choice, depending on the activity level of the fish.
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
Jay Siemens continue to lead the life. His recent adventure to the walleye factory that is called Lac Des Mille Lacs, Ontario. He and some friends are doing an overnight ice fishing experience with Sugar Shack rentals. This lake is a huge favourite for walleye anglers that live in Thunder Bay and area.
Check out the video, a first class production as always.
SASKATCHEWAN
Get ready for some great pike and walleye action across the province. One of the sleeper lakes in the province is Kenosee in the southeastern part. Friend We David filmed a show there last May and I have it on my list to fish this year. The ice fishing right now should be good with lots of walleye and big perch in this lake.
Clayton Schick as always is out and about in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Not quite sure where he caught this pike but the 45.5 inch beast is a giant. Congrats on a unreal fish!
RAFFERTY RESERVOIR – PRAIRIE PRO OUTFITTERS
As our ice fishing season is rapidly coming to a close and we all look forward to getting back on open water we are taking advantage of the best ice fishing of the year right now. Our ice is the thickest we’ve had for a few years and should hold until the end of march and our season closure here in Saskatchewan. Tip ups with large dead baits are producing large pike the last few days. Reports of some great catches of walleyes taking place with some very large ones caught and released. Drill until you get on them by using your electronics or taking advantage of the anglers edge mapping available for the north end. Try the edge of the river and creek channel and the adjacent feeding flats .
Rafferty is the church of perch ! Huge numbers of roaming perch with a high percentage of jumbos over 13 inch are being targeted but the can be reluctant biters at times. They can be found in huge numbers in 35 plus feet of water but we never fish that deep. 15 to 22 ft has been our best depth with small jigging spoons with rattles to attract and then enticing them with meal worms or minnow heads or perch eyes. A14 1/4 inch perch was caught in our rental wheelhouse this last weekend along with many 13 plus inchers.
ALBERTA – WES DAVID, FISHING THE WILD WEST TV
Well, March Madness is underway and not only for the ice anglers. Due to the mild weather, many anglers are fishing the Bow River, and some are even floating areas of the Bow River with their drift boats. While some anglers are floating the Bow, and casting for rainbow and brown trout, I’m hearing of great northern pike and walleye fishing coming out of the southern Alberta Reservoirs. However, although reports of good thick ice on the southern Alberta Reservoirs, many anglers are still using extreme caution and not driving onto the ice.
Northern Alberta ice and fishing reports are good and right after the Edmonton Boat & Sportsmen’s Show, I will get the chance to fish for walleye in the north country. Speaking of Edmonton, the Edmonton Boat and Sportsmen’s Show held at the Edmonton Expo Center March 20-23, is western Canada’s largest outdoor show. Seven halls and 325,000 square feet of showroom will be filled with hunting, fishing, camping, and everything outdoors for outdoor enthusiasts. Not to mention the Kids Trout Pond, the Alberta Hunters Education Instructors Association, various Alberta Conservation groups and associations, and two hulls full of boats and off-road vehicles and accessories. Also included with your ticket, enjoy a variety of seminars on the Wild TV Outdoor Stage including gun dog training seminars and demos, cooking, and butchering seminars, and hear firsthand the amazing story of determination and survival of how one man hunting alone in the Alberta Rockies survived a grizzly bear attack and crawled 12 miles out of the mountains and woke up days later in the hospital.
While you are at the Edmonton, Boat and Sportsmen’s Show, fine-tune your fly-casting skills at the Casting Pond, learn to tie your own flies, stop and see the crew at the Westlock Powersports and Marine for prizes and giveaways, and Hooked Magazine will be at the EBSS so stop by and see Kevin and purchase or renew your 2025 Hooked Magazine subscription.
I hope to see you at the show!