MANITOBA
The decent weather continues to hold and the fish continue to bite! By all accounts it has been a great fall in this part of the world. With the forecast looking good for next week it might be that time to head north for some giant lake trout.
There are plenty of outstanding lake trout fisheries in this province, especially in the northwest section. These include Clearwater, Athapapuskow, Kississing, Reed, and the Cranberry chain of lakes.
WESTERN MANITOBA
The stocked trout action in the Parklands remains strong. Patterson Lake has been kicking out some monster brown trout. Check out this great fish that Scott Connolly caught recently.
EASTERN MANITOBA – MATT GELLEY
Matt, like many hardcore anglers I know love to head out in October for smallmouth bass. In the last 30 years I have spent hundreds of days fishing for them, mostly on Lake of the Woods. That being said, there are plenty of great smallmouth destinations in this province. Lac Du Bonnet and all sections of the Winnipeg River are well known for both size and numbers of these great gamefish. Matt recently released a video on his bass exploits in this part of the world.
The walleye and crappie are also starting to school up on deep weedlines and shoreline inside turns at this time of the year. It is not uncommon for them to be close together. I like working the weedlines trolling a # 8 Flicker Shad to cover area. Once I find a good school of fish, it’s time to spotlock on them.
Here is a nice Big Whiteshell walleye that committed to the crankbait.
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO – GLENN MCDONALD
The mid part of October, and Thanksgiving weekend brings to an end to fishing for most anglers in Northwestern Ontario. Unseasonably warm temps have kept lake temps above 60 degrees week into this month. A cooling trend as we had into next week’s full moon period could signal the true start of fall weather. Fishing conditions have been fantastic all throughout sunset country. Walleye are being caught at various depths as they look to head to their winter locations. The smallmouth bass bite has been good, you only have to follow all the local bass tournaments to know huge bags are caught every weekend.
For my friends, family and I, October is about one thing, muskies! Anyone reading the fishing report on a regular basis knows how hardcore we are into muskies. It’s definitely a passion of ours.
The musky bite throughout the region has remained steady. Warm temps have brought fish into the shallows as they prepare to wait for the whitefish and cisco spawn. Bite windows have become narrow and you have to be on the water at the key times. Understanding the solunar calendar is super important this time of year, as many times the minor or major periods could be your only shot of the day.
Over the past couple weeks two giants have been caught on Wabigoon. Andrew Boileau caught a 54” while trolling and Dustin StAubin caught a 55.5” behemoth of a musky, also while trolling! Wabigoon Lake flies under the radar of popular musky lakes, mostly due to the dirty water, but this lake deserves more credit!
EAGLE LAKE STILL PRODUCING
I fished Eagle Lake over the first weekend of October and while we boated a few, one fish stood out in particular. Fishing with a brand new bait on the market, the Topline baits, Ripper, I hooked into a super fat mid 40” fish. Casting into shallow weeds, the fish hit way out from the boat. She stayed down all the way to the boat and made for a memorable fish on a new bait.
The Ripper is shaped like a conventional rubber tube bait, but made out of wood. Making it super versatile and durable. Check them out at the link below.
https://www.instagram.com/topline_baits/?hl=en
Check out the video we posted of the Ripper in the attached video link below.
Go underwater with the TopLine Baits “RIPPER” musky bait! Featuring a heavy Eagle Lake musky!
Over the Thanksgiving weekend my family, as well as my wife’s extended family spent the holiday at Long Legged Lake resort. Going back to where my passion for musky started was a great feeling. We wasted little time getting on the fish. We were fortunate to bag 6 fish over a couple days.
I hooked into two mid 40” class fish, both on Chaos Tackle Medusa. One came on a weed to gravel transition area and the other off the edge of a main lake reef system. I dropped a couple others at the boat and missed some chances boat side.
My brother in law, Richard Madussi bagged two, on back to back casts on the Bondy Royal Orba. The Royal Orba has remained one of our favourite baits. Both were beautiful, clean fish.
PATIENCE CAN BE A VIRTUE!
My wife’s brother, Ryan Sawchuk, who I consider to be one of the best outdoorsmen and anglers I know, was able to get a fish to eat in the figure 8. Ryan displays the kind of patience with these fish that I hope to achieve one day. On more than one occasion Ryan pulled his lure away from sub 40” fish. Conservation of the highest level. Fishing with anglers like Ryan only makes you improve your game. He rarely looks for glory or accolades, but deserves to be mentioned in high regard.
My wife, Kyla finished the weekend off in style. After dropping a four footer at the boat, she did not give up. She got her redemption a day later. Fighting strong winds and waves she coaxed a fish to eat her Nuch Baits, jointed crank bait at the side of the boat. Watching her get her musky mojo back was awesome. She displays the same patience as her brother.
What an amazing weekend with all our family!
LIVE SUCKERS NEXT ON THE AGENDA
With temps cooling down most musky anglers are looking for the live sucker bite to start to pick up. Honestly, that is my favourite bite of the year. We have a couple big weekends planned in the near future and we are hoping for big things this fall.
Remember to plan ahead and stay safe on the water this late into the season. Cold water, cold weather and lack of other boaters make for dangerous conditions. Good luck out there to all the anglers that fish right to ice up. Follow us on youtube at
https://www.youtube.com/c/54orbust
SASKATCHEWAN
The great weather across the prairies continues to provide terrific angling opportunities. If you like to catch big pike, your options in this province are without boundaries. One of my all time favourite pike fisheries is Tobin Lake. What is crazy is that the walleye get most of the attention. This is one of the best pike fisheries in the world, and it is a drive-to destination.
WORLD CLASS PIKE FISHING
This is only one of hundreds of outstanding destinations in central and northern Saskatchewan to catch huge pike. One of the best sleeper drive-to lakes in the province is Amisk Lake on the eastern edge of the province, near Flin Flon. I filmed an episode of The Complete Angler t.v. show there many years ago and was totally impressed with the fishery. Clayton Schick was up there recently, staying at TD Amisk Camp, on the east shore of this large body of water. Clayton was totally blown away by the quality of the pike fishing. Check out this video and you will see why.
ALBERTA – WES DAVID
THE JOYS OF FISHING
As soon as October rolls around, fishing in Alberta seems to take a back burner to make way for the hunting season. Local trout ponds and many other waterbodies scattered across the province of Alberta are now abandoned. However, hardcore anglers or those that may not hunt, have most of Alberta’s waterbodies to themselves and as we all know, the fall fishing season can be some of the best fishing for both quantity and quality of fish during the fall fishing season. That also includes locally stocked waterbodies.
TAKE A KID FISHING
The weather held off long enough this October for me to have the chance to take the neighbor kids fishing for rainbow trout. All summer long they see my boat parked in front of my house whenever I’m gearing up to leave for a fishing trip or just returning home. When I’m outside, like clockwork, the two brothers will be over visiting with me in my garage or on the front lawn talking everything fishing. At some point, the conversation always turns to the question. When can you take us fishing? It breaks my heart each time I have to say maybe next time I get home.
Well, last week when they came running over and the conversation turned to “when can you take us fishing”. I said how about right now? Their faces light up. I had made earlier arrangements with their mom and she was already walking over with a backpack full of snacks when they turned to run home and ask their mom for permission.
We went to a local trout pond and set up a simple slip-bobber system baited with Power-bait and enjoyed snacks until the bobber went under. Within a few hours, each youngster caught and released four rainbow trout and even took two trout home for supper. It was an amazing experience for me and the neighbor kids.
Something I need to do more often is just get back to the basics and fun of fishing. Too bad, I had to wait until October for the neighbour kids to remind me of that.