MARCH MADNESS!
MANITOBA
With beautiful March weather, more and more anglers are heading out to their favourite fishing hole. I love to target many species of fish at this time of the year but my favourite would have to be perch. There are a number of lakes and reservoirs in the province that hold good populations of this tasty sportfish but not all have extremely large perch.
THE SHOAL LAKES
In recent years, East and West Shoal lakes in the Manitoba Interlake region have become a popular perch destination. The interesting thing about these two bodies of water is that they are actually quite large and you can catch perch all over these lakes. This week Hooked Publisher Kevin Stobbe and I headed out in separate vehicles for an afternoon on West Shoal. It was an absolutely gorgeous day with the sun beating down and not a breath of wind. Kevin was even down to a t-shirt at one stage.
FIND THE RIGHT DEPTH THE KEY
I have fished these lakes many times over the years and they have never disappointed. March is the best time to go as these fish are bulking up, getting ready to spawn. I have learned that during March the fish like to be in five to six feet of water. Find that depth and you will find perch. When we first got their the deadlines were getting all the action. As the day wore on the perch wanted the bait jigged a bit. By making constant adjustments, we landed one perch after another, the largest 13.5 inches, caught by Kevin of course.
The best lure was a small tungsten jig, tipped with a salted minnow tail. It was a great day on the ice and the Cajun perch dinner I made was the highlight of a perfect day.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT COLOUR DEPENDING ON CONDITIONS!
ICE CONDITIONS CONSTANTLY CHANGING, CAUTION ADVISED
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
TOM ARMSTRONG-THUNDER BAY AND REGION
After a serious cold snap in February, things have gotten a little more pleasant out, and ice conditions have been pretty good. Over the last couple weeks, I slipped out a couple times, trying a few close to home spots. This week a couple friends and I met up for a day on Lake Superior looking for whitefish.LAKE OF THE WOODS AND AREA
Anglers have been taking advantage of the network of ice roads on Lake of the Woods to fish many areas of the lake. Jay Siemens has been putting the work in on lake trout. Check out this great video on Jay as he uses a one /two punch for putting big lakers on the ice.
VERMILLION BAY AND AREA
GLENN MCDONALD
Spring is in the air. You can hear the excitement in the fishermen’s voices. The last couple weeks have brought much nicer weather to Northwestern Ontario. The anglers have been out enjoying the best hard water fishing weather this season.
BIG BLUE SKIES, BIG LAKERS
On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, my father in law, Harry Sawchuk spent the day chasing lakers with Denis and Corey Grenier, along with Justin Werner. On the remote, yet majestically scenic Anishinabi Lake, they had no trouble getting into the big lakers.
Anishinabi Lake is accessed by snowmobile, or float/ski plane in the case of Clark’s Resorts. Clark’s Resorts operate Anishinabi Lodge, and are open to winter guests. Find them at http://clarksresorts.com
Back to Harry and crew, they had a great day catching lake trout. Using a mix of tube jigs and airplane jigs, tipped with dead shiners, they could catch lakers all throughout the water column. Modern fish electronics make a huge difference in fishing lakers in these deep bodies of water. Lakers can be found anywhere in the water column, and being able to pinpoint them can be the difference between a good and bad day.
CRAPPIE FISHING YIELDS HUGE PIKE
Lonnie and Carissa Lundmark were fishing for crappie on Wabigoon Lake when Carissa got more than she bargained for. Thinking it might be another big walleye ( similar to the fishing report a few weeks back ) Lonnie said they took their time. When they did get it up to the hole they were surprised to see a heavy set pike. No doubt it gave Carissa a good fight on light crappie gear. Congrats on a beauty of a Northern Pike!
Lonnie, not to be outdone, put some nice ‘eyes on the ice as well. Nice to see a couple enjoying some fishing time together.
Nice weather is forecast for this first weekend of March. I plan to take advantage and head out south of Eagle Lake on a trout fishing adventure. Good luck to all the anglers out there.
SASKATCHEWAN
Mountain Man Layne Maier puts it on the line for some big pike from Last Mountain Lake. Layne is fired up about the late ice season pike bite and shows us how it’s done!
TOBIN LAKE AND REGION
Speaking of large pike, Tobin Lake is really heating up for big pike and walleye. The pike are moving up on the mud flats on the east end of the reservoir. Tip-ups and big cisco are the ticket.
ALBERTA
March is my favourite time of the year to be on the hard water. The days are longer, the weather is a little more predictable and male walleye are strapping on the feedbag in anticipation of the spawn. In central and southern Alberta, male walleye begin to move into their spawning areas in mid-February and will stay in these areas until the last female has moved up into the spawning areas and released all her eggs.
Walleye prefer to spawn near current or windswept shorelines in rocks, especially, if those rocks are the size of softballs down to large gravel. Walleye don’t stick around to protect their eggs so the eggs fall into the crevasses of the rocks where they are protected from egg-eating predators. Male walleye, (which are your smaller walleye), are eagerly awaiting the spawn and are very territorial. As much as I love catching and releasing big walleye, (which are usually females) March is my favourite time of the year to target aggressive male walleye that are eager to bite my offering through the ice across central and southern Alberta and Saskatchewan.