Lots of ice, a bit of snow, wide open spaces with walleye that are hungry. That is the consensus from some hard core ice anglers about Lake Winnipeg. Matt Cornell, (who guides ice anglers on Lake Winnipeg) Garther Cheung (AKA Big China) and Eric Labapua spent a couple days roaming the south basin recently. Their guest was none other than Brett McComas, who looks after Target Walleye. McComas journeys the upper Midwest and Canada to gather the latest fishing information. He spent six days in Manitoba before Christmas. His visit included Lake Dauphin, Lake of the Prairies, West Goose Lake and Twin Lakes for Tiger Trout. Brett’s first two days were spent searching for the famous greenback walleye of Lake Winnipeg.
https://youtu.be/M_AP7Ygiwn8
The group moved around the south basin looking for fish but most of the big ones were caught on the east side of the lake, south of Balsam Bay. Live Targets were once again the big fish slayer and a lot of the fish were suspended off the bottom. Brett likes to keep his lure at least two feet off bottom so the fish can it from a distance. Water quality is good and there is plenty of bait showing up on the electronics.
Good numbers of walleye are being caught on other parts of the lake. Those areas include Gimli, Winnipeg Beach as well as Riverton. Ice conditions overall are good with limited ice ridges and no major snow.
Target Walleye/ICE
Target Walleye/Ice recently surpassed 75,000 subscribers to their popular twice-a-week emails. After just three years, Target Walleye/Ice is now the No. 1 North American digital media property for these markets reaching more than 125,000 readers of each email. It’s also the No. 1 platform for walleyes and ice fishing on Facebook with 135,000 fans and Instagram with 43,000 followers. “All of us at Target Walleye/Ice believed the walleye and northern-tier market was underserved for a long time,” said co-owner Al Lindner. “But what we’ve experienced has proven that to be an understatement. We’re continuing to grow every day, and this year was our fastest growth yet. Look them up at www.targetwalleye.com.
The boys drove out from Balsam Bay on Day One and Chalet Beach road on Day Two. Nobody around to disturb them. It was also pretty easy getting around. Fishing was steady with 50 walleye days plus some big fish. Could be a good January!