MANITOBA
I spent two days over the last week on the Red River. Last Wednesday proved to be a very productive day on the water with close to sixty walleye landed plus non stop sauger action. Friend Jim Price and I didn’t land any monsters but the action was still great.
Two days ago I headed back out with a couple of biologists, Doug Watkinson and Derek Kroeker. It was an interesting day spent talking about fisheries management in the province. Doug works for Fisheries and Oceans. He has done a ton of tracking work on the many fish species in Lake Winnipeg. You can hear about it from the man himself on my podcast https://www.hookedmagazine.ca/podcast/the-complete-angler-podcast-episode-22-doug-watkinson/
Derek Kroeker landed the largest walleye of the day, an inch shy of Master Angler size. He caught it on a jigging spoon and that turned out to be the hot lure of the day. Derek and Doug landed three catfish between them as well, a bit of surprise this late in the season.
Derek is the Eastern Region Fisheries Manager for Manitoba and is also spearheading the Recreational Angling Strategy. To learn more about it he is also on my podcast at https://www.hookedmagazine.ca/podcast/the-complete-angler-podcast-episode-15-derek-kroeker-and-manitobas-recreational-angling-strategy/
LAKE OF THE PRAIRIES – ROGER GERES
I finally got back on the water this week. It seems the fish are fattening up for the winter so take lots of minnows. Presentation varied on the mood of the fish. Some walleye were
wanting a slower presentation with a jig almost dead stick or longer
pauses, while others wanted a bigger presentation and a reaction bite. I tried bigger heavier spoons, jigging raps or shiver minnows. Sue and I experimented with different colors.
If they wont take anything move on till you find active fish. The walleye are still scattered but you can find pods of fish and when you do they’re hungry, walleye were 12-20′ perch 25-28 feet.
LAKE WINNIPEG – HECLA ISLAND
Clayton Schick and a number of other anglers have had some great success for trophy walleye fishing up at Hecla. Clayton was having trouble catching fish on a jig and minnow so he started trolling deep diving crankbaits. He found just what the big hungry fish of Lake Winnipeg wanted!
MASSIVE FALL NORTHERN PIKE – PARKLAND REGION & NORTHERN REGION – HUNT FISH MB
PETRO HRYNDA
The prairie lakes of Manitoba’s Parkland Region not only produce world-class trout but regularly draw in anglers in the fall to chase massive northern pike as the bite heats up!
Lake of the Prairies and Clear Lake are popular destinations regularly producing pike in the 41”+ range throughout the open and hardwater seasons.
It would be a miss not to mention the spectacular fall pike fishing opportunities found across Manitoba’s Northern Region as well. Cedar Lake, Reed Lake, Lake Athapapuskow and so many more offer the chance at a pike of a lifetime with each cast this time of year!
Check out the full report on the Hunt Fish MB Drive-to Fishing for additional fall fishing opportunities and more!
Celebrate the greatness of fishing in Manitoba, Submit your next trophy catch to the Manitoba Master Angler Program.
NORTHWEST ONTARIO
VERMILLION BAY AND AREA – GLENN MCDONALD
As we enter November in Northwestern Ontario, winter is just around the corner. Unseasonably warm fall weather has allowed for an extended fishing season. We took full advantage of the nice days to chase some fall muskies.
Following a one week stretch where Kyla McDonald caught not only a 52.25” musky, but backed that up with a 53” bull moose harvest, we were back on the water. Fishing with Dave Chaval and Richard Madussi, we thought we would hit the whitefish spawn, however lake temperatures remained too warm. Throughout most of October, and into early November lake temperatures have been staying above 47 degree F. Whitefish typically spawn in water around 45-46 degrees. Although only a few degrees off the optimum temperature, day time sun kept water too warm for the whitefish spawn. The significance of the spawn to a musky angler?
During colder water periods muskies try to exert the least amount of energy while consuming the most calories. Schools of whitefish and cisco make easy meals for muskies. If we find the schools of bait fish staged up outside of spawning areas, we will find the muskies. There is a finite period that this occurs. A couple days too early, or too late and you miss the perfect feeding window.
Dave, Richard and I were on the water too early. We never did encounter huge pods of baits. We were able to put together a pattern with live suckers as bait. Two of us would run suckers close to the bottom and one would cast rubber baits, hoping to pull active fish in towards the boat. Our tactics paid off as we caught on live bait as well as on rubber. The most significant catch of the weekend may have been a deep water fish Richard caught while jigging a Bondy Royal Orba. The significance was he took it upon himself to tip one treble with a piece of sucker meat, a tactic from lake trout fishing. Whatever the case, it paid off.
One week later Dave and I were joined on our musky hunt by Kyla and Ange. What started as a slow day finished in dramatic fashion. Ange caught three muskies to complete the hat trick, capping the night off with a beautiful tiger musky. Not only a personal best for Ange, but a true trophy sized tiger musky at 45.5”! Earlier in the day Ange matched her personal best with a pure bred musky at 43”, caught during a tangled line, a suspected snag mess that you’ll have to watch to believe.
Watch Ange catch her tiger musky here
HUGE TIGER MUSKY ALERT!!! Ange gets a new PB during an epic FALL MUSKY HUNT!
In what may end up being our last full day on the water, Kyla, Dave and I hit a bite window that musky hunters wait all season for. Starting off in slow fashion, with muskies following, but not biting live suckers. We switched tactics to a trolling run, with no success I went back on a spot on a ‘hunch’. Resorting back to live sucker presentation on two rods, and myself casting a large rubber bait, in this case a Lake X Toad XL.
Within minutes Dave had the first fish in the bag, moments later I hooked, then lost a nice one on the Toad. A short move and I put one in the net on the rubber bait. A few casts later I raised one and it hit Kyla’s sucker, fish number three. After getting Kyla set up with a new sucker, she got hit again, only to have it release her sucker. Dave was ready with the net, his rod went off in the rod holder, I quickly grabbed it and just like that we had fish number four in the bag! This was already an epic fall musky hunt, but the fun just started.
LAKE OF THE WOODS AND AREA – JAMIE BRUCE
SASKATCHEWAN
LAST MOUNTAIN LAKE – ROB SCHULTZ, G&S MARINA OUTFITTERS
Last Mountain Lake is now in the pre winter patterns. The water temperatures are now in the 40s. If you have not winterized your boat yet there is still some great fishing to be caught. The walleye are still biting well throughout the main lake basin areas with good numbers and still some real Last Mountain Giants over 30” being caught and released. With the cooling water temperatures the Walleye are in the shallower depths ranging from 6’ to 17’. When the wind blows the sand points are holding some great fish. Bait rigging seems to be a go to method for catching these shallow Walleye but vertical jigging and jigging spoons are also great presentation right now.Tobin Lake is still producing some big fish. Most anglers have been fishing the river since conditions have been tough with high winds and snow. Most are using jigs and salted shiners to land walleye.
ALBERTA
ALBERTA FISHING REPORT – WES DAVID, FISHING THE WILD WEST TV
The November Hooked Magazine Fishing Reports are always a little bit harder to report on as most anglers in Alberta or even across the prairie provinces have put away or are in the middle of putting away their boats and fair-weather fishing gear and turning their attention to the November hunting season, including myself. However, I have seen a couple of social media posts from avid trout anglers still fishing the Bow River.
I just returned from picking my boat up at Tracker Marine out of Rocky View, near Calgary where the Tracker Marine team not only winterized my boat, they also covered it with fresh shrink-wrap to keep the snow and ice at bay and it appears to be perfect timing. As I sit and write this fishing report, it has turned cold, and it has started snowing. As a matter of fact, we are under a heavy snowfall warning at the time of this writing.
Each year along with winterizing my boat, I have Tracker Marine remove all my batteries and I store them in my garage. I have a charging station in my garage where I can keep my batteries for the winter and keep them fully charged with a 2amp trickle charge throughout the winter months. I run a 36V system for my trolling motor and electronics plus my cracking battery so not storing and maintaining my batteries properly over the winter can be very costly in the spring. From there my boat goes to Dandy Auto Marine and Storage where it awaits the 2023 fair-weather fishing season and I whine about it until spring.
For now, like so many others, I will turn my attention to the hunting season. As a matter of fact, I have already been in the field and had a successful antlerless mule deer hunt in southern Alberta. I was drawn for an antlerless mule deer in southern Alberta which opened on October 25th. About an hour into my hunt, I spotted a (dry) mule deer doe in a group of seven. The doe was standing on the other side of the creek only 85-yards away from my hidden location when I squeezed the trigger. I made a clean shot on the doe, and she must have known I was an angler and spend a lot of time on the water. She went about 10-yards and off the elevated creekbank and into the water below and I had to fish her out of the creek. I don’t know if it was the shot or the fall, but I have fresh venison in the freezer.
Safe hunting everyone. I hope everyone goes into December with meat in the freezer!