MANITOBA
THE FAR NORTH – ROBERT KARPIAK
Although a true northern adventure might be a little late for this season. What we found last week just shy of the Nunavut boarder, is the lake trout fishing is about to get real serious at your drive-to destinations. Casting large flashy spoons into the shallow waters over boulder reefs was the ticket for our group as these fish are getting ready for the upcoming spawn.
If you can swing a fall trip for next September, Caribou Country Adventures has the waters to put you on some trophy class lake trout and arctic grayling. Be sure to pack in some pike tackle as there are some massive toothy slew sharks lurking around. https://www.cariboucountryadv.com
LAKE OF THE PRAIRIES – DON LAMONT
I love fishing reservoirs and natural lakes in the fall time. They can certainly be challenging but when you unlock the puzzle it seems so worthwhile. On a recent trip to Lake of the Prairies, all the local anglers told me you should have been here last week. It seems that the fishing had slowed considerably as we moved into colder temperatures. On the first two days of our adventure, the fishing was slow by LOP standards. On Day Three I had enough time on the south end of the reservoir to know were the better schools of fish were.
Fall walleye in lakes and reservoirs tend to school tightly together. These fish, in most cases, are aggressive. One of the keys though, is to stay right on them when they are congregated in a small area. I really like to spotlock on these fish and vertical jig them. Early in our trip we had to use bait to get extra bites but by the end plastic like Berkley Ripple Shads were working just fine. We found the fish on main lake points and saddles.
Now is a great time to catch some of the biggest fish of the year. Enjoy!
LAKE WINNIPEG AND TRAVERSE BAY
Southern Manitoba Walleye Tour – Jay Siemens Film
Some of the best walleye fishing in the province is found on Lake Winnipeg and it’s tributaries. During the fall walleye migration anglers can expect to catch both amazing quality and quantity of the legendary greenback walleye.
Check out this Jay Siemens film for part two of his Manitoba Walleye Tour, as he tackles the the mighty Winnipeg River into the South Basin of Lake Winnipeg, in search of the coveted greenback walleye.
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO – JEFF GUSTAFSON
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SASKATCHEWAN
LAST MOUNTAIN LAKE – ROB SCHULZ, G&S OUTFITTERS
Last Mountain Lake is feeling the bite of fall weather. The water temperatures are now ranging from 60 to 64 degrees. With the cooling temperatures the Walleye are starting to slip shallower to depths ranging now from 8’ to 28’. More fish seem to be in the shallows now like 10’ to 15’. The sand points are also holding some great fish. Trolling cranks, bottom bouncers and crawler harnesses, vertical jigging and jigging spoons and bait rigging are all working right now.ALBERTA – WES DAVID
Fair-weather perch on Forty-Mile Reservoir
Why are perch only targeted during the ice fishing season and rarely targeted during the fair-weather fishing season? It was a question I asked myself as I set the hook on another perch at Forty-Mile Reservoir, in southern Alberta a few days ago. And if you think about it, it’s true. Perch are targeted very heavily during the ice fishing season but often forgotten about during the fair-weather fishing season. So, I made it my mission this year to target perch during the open water.
Forty-Mile Reservoir in southern Alberta is well known for its abundance of walleye. Along with several year classes of walleye, it also holds some of Alberta’s largest walleye. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if the next provincial record walleye was caught here. There are many factors, but one of the reasons why the walleye within Forty-Mile Reservoir, grow so large, is the abundance of all age classes of perch that provide a healthy and consistent food source for the walleye.
I launched my boat at the Forty-Mile Park and boat launch. Within a few hundred meters from the boat launch, my fish finder was showing blankets of perch from 17-20 feet beneath the boat.
My fish finder was so thick with perch at times, that it was indicating a false bottom. I tied on a Tick-Tack jig head from Big Sky Jigs and tipped it with literally anything. Soft plastics, a leech, or a short piece of nightcrawler, anything worked. One perch after another instantly took the bait. Most of the perch hitting my presentation were small and truthfully, after about 45-minutes of consistently landing small perch, I was losing interest. However, I did notice if I made casts to the outside edges of the school, larger perch would have time to pick up my presentation.
I tied on a #6 Len Thompson Lure. It is a small spoon that is heavy enough to cast and sink through the water column, but still plenty small enough to entice the perch to feed. I cast the lure as far as I could to the outside edges of the schooling perch and let it sink about 18 feet before I began my retrieve. As my lure climbed through the water column towards the schooling perch, I felt the weight of a heavier perch smack my lure. Within an hour I had my limit of nice size perch that would make for some great table-fare.
Take time to fish the walleye’s little cousin this fall and try casting a larger presentation to the outside edges of the schooling perch. You may be surprised at what’s waiting for you on the outside edges.
Wes David Host & Producer of Fishing the Wild West TV