MANITOBA
With snowfall on much of the prairies and Northwestern Ontario, access to has become an issue for those anglers still wanting to fish for available species.
The ice conditions on the medium and small sized lakes in the southern half of the province are starting to get iffy. Roger and Sue Geres were out this past week fishing for a variety of species. They had some great luck on Lake of the Prairies catching jumbo perch. This reservoir has really become a perch hotspot in the last three years.
After that they headed north.
Roger Geres
We packed up and headed to the Ducks for a day, managed a couple master
splake and a master rainbow. The trout love the morning and we saw several cruise by. In the afternoon the bite slowed down for us. We tried different tubes, hair jigs, tinsel jigs, and even just a bare hook and were able to ice some trout. The ice is quickly deteriorating out there though so be careful!
NORTHERN MANITOBA
There is still action to be had on our northern lakes like Clearwater, Athapap and Reed. Wekusko can also supply some hot April fishing.
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
It’s transition time in this part of the world as lakes are starting get iffy ice. It also doesn’t help safety with a new blanket of snow making seeing bad ice an issue. So with that in mind you might want to work on your tackle and boat. While Gussy is down south chasing bass, he shares some secrets about fishing plastic for early season walleye.
THE KEY IS PRESENTATION-JEFF GUSTAFSON
The deal with plastic is it catches fish just fine, but you need to fish it differently than you do with bait. Most anglers probably don’t give it a fair crack, especially if they have used live minnows their whole life, so my advice on when to start using plastic is when you’re fishing an area that has biting fish. Once you get a few bites on plastic and catch a few fish, your confidence will sky-rocket and you’ll have a new deal to add to your repertoire.
SWIM BAIT MAGIC
I typically use a couple of different plastic types of baits when I’m looking for walleye. A small swimbait that I can cast and cover water with, like the 3″ Z-Man SwimmerZ, rigged up on a 1/4 oz jig. If I’m fishing some shoreline or shallower coves earlier in the season and I’m casting, this is the bait I’m going to use. Literally caught hundreds of walleyes on this bait last year.
FINESSE BAITS
Second, I’m a big fan of smaller, straight tailed minnow imitating baits for dropping down to fish I see on my electronics or for snap-jigging around green weeds. I fish these baits with short, quick hops, typically moving the bait one to two feet at a time. The big difference with using plastic versus using live bait is that you need to fish the bait slightly more aggressively to avoid letting walleyes “inspect” the bait, so keep it moving and that will trigger fish to strike. Finally, plenty of walleyes stay shallow throughout the spring and summer on many of our lakes in central Canada and the key is finding green cabbage and coontail.
Plastic is much better than live bait for fishing around this stuff because you can “snap” the bait off the weeds and not get your bait all clogged up. This also will trigger strikes from fish. Give these baits a try this season.
SASKATCHEWAN
Heavy snowfall during the last few days has shut down most of the ice fishing in this province. The general season closure is currently in place. The southern part of the province opens May 5th but there might be still ice on the medium and larger sized lakes and reservoirs. Fishing rivers is always a good option. One of my favourite lakes to fish early season is Last Mountain, especially the north end. This natural lake stretches more than 70 miles and is also known as Long Lake for this reason. It is the largest naturally occurring body of water in southern Saskatchewan, although Lake Diefenbaker (created by damming) is larger. The lake was named for a Plains Cree legend about the Great Spirit shoveling dirt from the valley the lake now occupies and forming Last Mountain Hills east of Duval. It was early June when I made the trek there a few years back, heading north from Regina past Craven on Highway 20 past Bulyea, Strasburg and finally Govan.
Between these two communities is the highest point of land in the area for which the lake got its name. While I have fished the southern and central part of the lake this was my first visit to the far north end. For years friends of mine from Regina have been fishing this section for the first three weeks of the open water angling season. This year I was invited along for the ride and deluxe accommodation at Last Mountain Regional Park in a borrowed trailer. Last Mountain Regional Park is a very functional park located on the shores of the north end. It has an outdoor swimming pool and plenty of spots to camp. It even has a nine hole golf course with sand greens. For us, there was no golf time because the walleye were biting.
We started by checking out all the back of the bays, then worked our way out to find the larger schools of fish. By the end of the two and half days on the water, we had them fine tuned and our last evening produced non stop action along with some of the bigger fish of the trip. Presentation was simple, just a spinner rig tipped with night crawlers and weighted with split shot. The deepest we caught fish was six feet so a couple of shots was all that was needed. There was a bit of emerging weed growth but nothing to worry about. It is a spot a highly recommend.
ALBERTA- WES DAVID-FISHING THE WILD WEST
The 2023 Alberta fair-weather fishing season opening day is right around the corner. The new season will open at different times throughout the month of May across Alberta so check the 2023 Alberta Sport Fishing Regulations before you head out. However, there is a lot to do before the season opener.
Now is a great time to pull your boat out of storage and get it ready for the new season. Ice fishing gear can be cleaned up and put away, rods and reels can be re-spooled, and I go through my tackle boxes to be sure I have everything I need and that everything is in its place. I add in all the new lures and fishing gear I purchased over the winter months.
If your boat needs any repairs, add-ons, or upgrades, now is the time to book it into your local marine shop, and if your boat needs a new prop or has any skag damage, better book it into Prop Master’s now. And here’s a tip from everyone who has spun a prop on the lake. Purchase a spare prop now and the tooling needed to replace a prop on the shoreline. This will save you from being stranded on the water and prevent a lost day or weekend of boating and fishing. https://prop-masters.com
NEW BOAT IS THE DRIVEWAY!
I will be fishing out of a new Tracker Targa V-19 this year and I’ve had it in my driveway for the last 10 days going through it and I installed a new RockGARD.
My 2019 Tracker Targa V-19 had over 40,000 kilometres on it and was towed down a wide variety of road conditions including gravel roads and some treacherous backroads. However, due to the RockGARD, my boat’s paint and the wrap were like new, and I know without a doubt, the great condition my old boat was in was 100% due to the protection of my RockGARD mudflap and the RockGARD itself. https://www.rockgard.com
I also take it one step further and protect my boat at a variety of boat docks with CDN Dock Shoxs. CDN Dock Shoxs, quickly, safely, and easily secures your boat to any dock and, when not in use, Dock Shoxs take up very little to no storage space. CDN Dock Shoxs makes docking your boat quick and easy and protects your boat from those nasty dock scratches. https://www.cdndockshoxs.com
Both RockGARD and CDN Dock Shoxs are Canadian-made and work above and beyond to protect your boat on the roads and at the docks.
Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Spring Fishing Classic are underway. This is a great time to get those last-minute wants and needs for your fishing gear or for your boat and they also have great deals on hunting and camping equipment. You can also take in some great fishing seminars. I will be doing Tank Demos on a variety of lures for northern pike and walleye (Spring Lures, Presentations, and Locations for Spring Northern Pike and Walleye) at the Calgary Bass Pro Saturday, April 22, and Saturday, April 29 at 1:00 pm. Stop in and say hi and let’s talk fishing!