Author: Don Lamont

A DRIVE TO FISHING MECCA! While I have been to many lakes and reservoirs in southern Saskatchewan there are still some on my bucket list. One of those is Kenosee Lake, located right next Moose Mountain Provincial Park.   I actually just found out it recently when friend and t.v. host Wes David stopped to film a show this June. While the lake is not large, it has a good population of nice sized walleye. Wes says they weren’t hard to find. He just headed to Pickeral Point and dragged some bouncers and the PK Sure Death rig with a crawler…

Editor’s Note:  Wildfires across the west continue to be the story especially in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. This has made travel to the central and northern parts of the province a difficult decision.  Having said that you are best to check with either the park people or a lodge you might  be heading to. Rain and cooler temperatures have helped a lot and the majority of the lodges remain open and are welcoming guests. Visit their websites for more details.  MANITOBA Most of our lakes, rivers and reservoirs in the south have been fishing extremely well. Out west, Lake of the…

MANITOBA A week of wind and below normal temperatures made time on the water pretty miserable for most.  As always the hardcore got out there. It was a good time to be a shore fisherman. For example a week ago the surface water temperature in the Whitemud River was 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Yesterday it was down to 48 degrees and the bite was nonexistent.  Before all this happened there were some walleye being caught but mostly big freshwater drum. Matt Gelly – Red River Cats! ‘Twas a much different May long weekend with the recent wildfire evacuations in the eastern…

MANITOBA Shore anglers have been enjoying some good success on some of the open water spots available in the south.  Shore anglers have been doing well landing Master Angler caliber freshwater drum on the Whitemud River. The big news in this province is the walleye season opens in southern Manitoba on Saturday. There are exceptions to this, one being a closure on Lake Winnipeg until May 17th. This regulation was put in place to protect spawning fish in the big lake. The Red River is open on Saturday though. The Whitemud will be a busy place this weekend.  You can check…

GETTING READY FOR THE SEASON EDITION As we transition from the ice to open water season it’s time to get the boat out of storage and get the tackle organized if you haven’t done so already. I have been doing the same ritual for over 40 years. Let’s start with the boat. In early November I added stabilizer to my gas in the boat for over the winter. I then add a bit in spring to get ready for the first trip of the year. I have plugged in my onboard battery charger and charged my two trolling motor batteries…

INCREASING YOUR ODDS CATCHING SPRING PIKE Pike are the first fish to spawn in the spring, moving to shallow bays to lake their eggs as soon as there is open water. The big females don’t stay long, heading out of the bays to suspend or scatter along shoreline points or some other kind of structure. This all happens when the water temperatures are from 40 to 50 Fahrenheit or 2 to 10 Celsius. Basically, these big females are in full recovery mode from the stress of the spawn. They don’t move much and they like the deeper water for temperature…

MANITOBA With the walleye season in the south closing last week, many of the hard core anglers switch over to either stocked trout or head north were seasons remain open longer. Then there is the access issue with warmer temperatures this past week, ice conditions start to get iffy in our southern lakes and rivers.  April can be a beautiful time to explore all the things that northern Manitoba has to offer. In the last week there have been some great stocked trout catches including this 23.5 inch bruiser caught by Curtis Funk on Bower Lake! This edged out the…

MANITOBA Mid Term Break is upon us but we still have some time to chase those big greenback walleye on Lake Winnipeg and other lakes and rivers in the southern region. Here are the dates for the southern closure and the opening date. Walleye/Sauger  Closes April 7, 2025 to and including May 9, 2025 It opens again May 10, 2025 to and including April 5, 2026.  The 2025 Anglers Guide is available on line at https://www.gov.mb.ca/nrnd/fish-wildlife/pubs/fish_wildlife/fish/angling-guide.pdf LAKE WINNIPEG – ROGER GERES Made the trip again to lake Winnipeg  and the weather was incredible! We caught some nice fish with Matt…

MANITOBA If you like ice fishing this is the time of the year you should take your holidays! Some amazing catches of fish over the last couple of weeks. Pick your favourite species and you should be good. LAKE OF THE PRAIRIES – ROGER GERES Big pike are slowly showing themselves again on LOP with lots of reports of Master Angler fish coming out. We took our friend Emily again as part of another Fish Donkey tournament.  She didn’t catch a pike big enough to lead yet but we have a few days yet so hopefully can get out with…

MANITOBA We are almost into March, the favourite month for most hardcore ice anglers. The sun can be hot and sunburns occur and the fish are usually more active and hungry. It all adds up to some fun times on the ice. One of the hottest lakes in the province right now is West Shoal Lake. There are numerous perch 13 inches and over being caught and registered in the Master Angler program. I have spent many days on this body of water and March is a great time to head there. West Shoal is fairly shallow so you have…