Author: Ken Kansas

It seems Manitoba Sustainable Development – Fisheries Branch, has been in the news a little more than usual this past couple of years. With the Lake Winnipeg South Basin commercial and recreational fisheries under scrutiny, to the short staffing at the Whiteshell Fish Hatchery, the branch is showing its’ weariness from an apparent, decades long, systematic dismantling by various elected governments.    There are many factors one can attribute to this deterioration. However, I am not drafting this to lay blame or to point fingers. I simply want to show the factual changes that have occurred, some of the reasons for said changes and possibly offer up some solutions. Just basically how things…

Hooked contributor Ken Kansas put together an article outlining the state of the trout fishery in the Parkland region of Manitoba. He collected data from a number of different sources. While it might be a bit late for the open water season, it allows anglers to choose future ice fishing destinations in the region SPRING 2017 SURVEY/ASSESSMENTS In 2016 FLIPPR, SVSFE, IMSFE and Manitoba Fisheries Branch combined together to form a single assessment entity in order to perform various surveys on numerous trout lakes throughout the Parkland. This type of attack plan is not new, however this past couple years…

A Short Look at Manitoba’s Muskie History SURPRISE SURPRISE       In the early 90’s I was tasked to look after fish populations in the Western Region of Manitoba. I realized that this part of Manitoba was in the ‘Stocked Trout Belt’ and had seen tens of thousands of trout stocked into area lakes, many without follow-up. Therefore, I asked the veteran biologist of the area to give me a list of all the lakes they had stocked with specific objectives for each waterbody. Things like; “we stocked 2000 fingerling Rainbow trout in X Lake and we’d like to know…

EDITORS NOTE:  In the 2018 Manitoba Anglers Guide the province came out with the following insertion in the regulations on page 10: “Winnipeg River between the Manitoba/Ontario border and the Pine Falls Generating Station – closed to lake sturgeon fishing all year.” This has many guides and anglers upset. Biologist Ken Kansas, who has done years of research on the sturgeon population in this section of the river, offers some solutions to the closure. Confusion corner on the water. Back in the early nineties, a Conservation Closure was implemented by the Manitoba Government to protect critically low populations of Winnipeg River lake sturgeon…

TALES FROM A CRAPPIE BIOLOGIST My first experience with Black Crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatis), a member of the Sunfish Family Centrarchidae, is one I can just barely recall. It was during one or more of our families’ summer trips from Winnipeg to my aunt and uncles’ island cabin getaway, in Clearwater Bay, Lake of the Woods. We would troll silver Canadian Wigglers for hours behind our 17’ homemade fiberglass canoe powered with a 1967, 3.5 hp. Johnson outboard motor, hunting mainly walleye. Okay, hunting only walleye. We’d often hook up with other species like Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike. But we…

To the new millennium and beyond, the Whiteshell Hatchery continues to produce and deliver hundreds of thousands of Trout and millions of Walleye fry to the various regions throughout Manitoba. All this under a steadily decreasing budget and ageing infrastructure. These challenges were severe, which included annual operating budget cuts that scraped to the bone. This resulted in smaller trout and distribution costs that had to be offset by other regions and user groups as well. But, they still produced, the old white distribution truck heading on down the highway. THE TROUT – THE SOURCE The Whiteshell Hatchery annually produces…

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two part history of the Whiteshell Fish Hatchery and the problems it faces in the years ahead. Written by biologist Ken Kansas, now retired from the provincial government, whose work has played a huge role in sustainable fisheries practices in Manitoba. We can take things for granted sometimes, like back in 1990 when I arrived in Manitoba’s Parkland district to start the regional management phase of my fisheries career. I was certainly aware of the Duck Mountain trout fisheries, but to be honest, I had really never paid much attention to them.…

Knowledge is power, and data is the key to sustainability Lake Sturgeon are present in several locations across Manitoba. They have been hammered by humans for hundreds of years, almost to the point of extirpation. I would like to convey in this article how fisheries research, when done thoroughly and timely, can lead to potential positive change. I will talk about the Manitoba section of the Winnipeg River, since it shows this ‘concept’ rather nicely and is also the area that I have the most hands on experience in. In 2006 the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in…

In 2000, the Area A Slot Limit for Walleye was implemented. Area A defined by ‘the area south of Gammon-Bloodvein Rivers to the south and west shores of the Winnipeg River, including Lac du Bonnet, and the southern boundary of Whiteshell Provincial Park, and from Lake Winnipeg to the Ontario border (excluding the Winnipeg River from Pine Falls Dam to Lake Winnipeg)’. The slot limit initially was all walleye between 38 cm and 70 cm must be released. Notice the lower end is not 45 cm but 38 cm. This reflects the different growth rates for walleye located in lakes…

I first arrived in Roblin Manitoba during the spring of 1990. I had just finished a five year tour conducting fish research on the Lower Nelson River. Previous to that, I spent another five years doing the similar work all across the Province. This ‘new’ Fisheries job was more involved in the day to day management of fish and where they live. I hadn’t seriously angled for 10 years, due to my dedication to work, music and a passion for wilderness adventures. I’d heard of Lake of the Prairies (LOTP) and how ‘you could catch pickerel all day for years…