Author: Don Lamont

The arrival of Fall brings mixed feelings for me.  While I love, and look forward to the cool, crisp days of fall, the changing leaves, and the arrival of hunting seasons, this year I find myself torn, and slightly saddened to see summer starting to fade away.  Our little girl is a serious outdoor loving toddler, and we spend a great deal of time outside.  With fall showing, it’s a reminder that winter isn’t far behind, and our days playing outside all day in the sun may be drawing to a close, or at least changing.  It’s the first year…

FALL IS PRIME BASS TIME It was a beautiful, sunny October day when Hooked Published Kevin Stobbe and I met up with angling professional Jeff Gustafson.  It was the fall of 2019 and Jeff had just finished a successful Bassmaster Elite season, qualifying in his first season for the Super Bowl of bass fishing, the Bassmaster Classic. On this day we were looking forward to hearing about his adventures, catching some fish along the way. Our first stop was for black crappie but after two hours and just one fish, it was time to change gears. Switching over to largemouth,…

MANITOBA As things start to cool down and with rain in the forecast, hardcore walleye anglers are hoping the fall greenback run will start. There have been a few good catches reported but some increased water flow would go a long way to trigger a fall run. Many are still venturing out into Lake Winnipeg with some big fish being caught. The walleye have moved a bit shallower with the cooling water temperatures. They were in the 23 foot range but now lots of fish are being found in 12-14 feet. John Klassen caught this beauty last week. Out in…

MANITOBA It has been a wild two weeks of weather with heavy rain, thunderstorms, insect hatches and wind all playing factors in angling success. For me it started off with a three day trip to Lake of the Prairies with a couple of long time friends. On the way out it rained the whole time, then overnight a wild thunderstorm hit. On Monday  morning the fish were a bit wonky but we managed to figure them out as the day went along. Jigs and leeches were the ticket the first day, then cranks and shiver minnows the second. Along the…

Anglers in this part of the world eagerly await the fall walleye run into some of the major river systems. There are a lot of key variables in triggering these fish to move to these tributaries. Understanding those will help determine when to go and where to find the fish. CURRENT FLOW A KEY While we had a lot of rain in August in this part of the world, it still hasn’t improved the flow on the Red River and other areas. With a low flow you won’t get a large number of baitfish moving in which will affect the…

MANITOBA WHITESHELL WALLEYE – SHU MON MOK Walleye in many popular Whiteshell lakes tend to get harder to catch in the heat of summer. With the right techniques though good sized walleye are still catchable. The structure that seems to be most productive at this time of the year are either mid lake humps or points with access to deep water. Hop a jig tipped with a worm or salted minnow on bottom while slowly moving around the structure. Keep moving around and vary your depths along the structure until a pattern is established. In addition to walleye, expect the…

HOT WEATHER CAN MAKE THE BITE TOUGH With extended periods of hot weather, walleye and other species have to adjust location and feeding windows. On a recent trip to Northwestern Ontario, we found the fish much more active early and late in the day as you would expect. One thing I have learned over the years of fishing deeper, clearer lakes in this part of the world is let the fish tell you what they want. I checked out all the classic structure including main lake points, sunken islands and extended flats with some scattered boulder piles. We caught a…

Muskie Baits and the Figure Eight The big fish appeared on the back side of a rock outcropping as my buck tail passed overtop.  It seemed to just appear out of nowhere, effortlessly lifting from the depths on the back side of a rocky reef. I could clearly see this freshwater giant in the gin clear water, watching it propel itself forward with such fluid motion, almost as if not trying. I had cast my bucktail over a rocky protruding point off a small island and had barely started cranking the reel when this creature appeared.  It paced my bait…

MANITOBA Many new anglers in the province are finding the joy the fishing for bullhead in the Netley Marsh area of the province. These fish are willing biters in the hot weather. Carp are also on the bite right now in the Assiniboine and Red Rivers. In the Whiteshell, crappies have been starting to school up a bit. The smallmouth bass have moved out to main lake points and humps in water 10 to 20 feet. The walleye are still biting on Lake of the Prairies and it has been one of the best years on record for numbers of…

BORDER REOPENING DOESN’T MEAN A RETURN TO NORMAL For many tourism operators in this province, the announcement that the border was reopening on August 9th was BIG news. In these pandemic times, though, there will be a learning curve for both lodges and guests. In addition to receiving a full series of a vaccine authorized by the Government of Canada, fully vaccinated travellers must also: provide COVID-19-related information electronically through ArriveCAN (app or web portal) including proof of vaccination prior to arrival in Canada; meet the pre-entry testing requirements; be asymptomatic upon arrival; and have a paper or digital copy…