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 out all the specific regulations in the 2025 Manitoba Anglers guide by clicking here.
Given the lack of rain and hot temperatures it should be an interesting challenge to find those post spawn fish. Check out the article put together by Hunt/Fish Manitoba to give you a head start.
Here is the link to the story on the website.
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
Lake of the Woods has been open for a few days now and some anglers have been catching some great big smallmouth.
BEST TIMES
One of the best times to catch smallmouth is early open water, when those fish are still relatively deep, waiting for the shallow water to warm up. I remember an early May trip to Northwestern Ontario, on a combination lake trout/smallmouth lake, in which we found the smallmouth schooled up in their wintering spot. We were vertical jigging in about 20 feet of water and catching some real jumbos. The bass were just starting to move from the winter mud to hard bottom, then up to shallower water. A warmer spring day with some pretty good chop had got the fish up and active. Most of the smallmouth we caught that day were at least two feet up off the bottom, confined in a tight school on one corner of the reef. That’s were good electronics comes into play.
SECOND STAGE SPRING TRANSITION TO EARLY SUMMER
On bigger lakes, with scattered deep fish, don’t be afraid to troll to contact smallmouth. We are talking extended flats out from the shallow water spawning areas. In this case water temperature is still below 50 Fahrenheit or about eight Celsius. One of the best ways to cover water is to use a deep diving jerkbait like the Rapala X Rap in the # 8 size. Bright colours also seem to work best, either a bright pink or chartreuse. In fact, pink has really grown in popularity with anglers for all species of fish including muskie and pike. At this time of year, you will be fishing water depths of eight to 12 feet and by using this size of jerkbait you can keep the lure in the fish zone for extended periods by slow trolling. By this I mean you want to constantly shift the boat in and out of gear so your trolling speed doesn’t exceed more than one mile an hour on your GPS. You also want to move the bait forward, then let it pause in place for 10 seconds so the bait slows down and gradually rises a bit(deadly). This gives the fish time to react to the lure in its strike zone and usually results in a bite. Use 10 pound test Fireline to get the lure down near the bottom. The lure must be within a couple of feet of the bottom to trigger strikes. At this time of the year the fish will not move a long way to feed.
THIRD STAGE SPRING TRANSITION
Once the water temperature rises close to 60 Fahrenheit, or 15 Celsius, these fish will congregate in shallow water. Key locations include flush areas which have both current and developing weed growth. These attract a huge amount of forage and the smallmouth along with pike and walleye go on a feeding binge. This is some of the absolute best fishing of the year! At this time over the last couple of years I have had tremendous luck using hair jigs or small jigs tipped with small plastic. It really is only a matter of fan casting to cover area and fifty fish days are usually the norm, not the exception.
Look for smallmouth at this time of year just outside of their spawning areas as the move shallow from there deep water wintering areas. Here are some springtime tips from Gussy on what to look for.
SASKATCHEWAN
The open water angling season opened last weekend in Saskatchewan. Water levels are falling and surface water temperatures are rising with the hot weather. Walleye should be well into post spawn and moving out to shallow flats that have some weed growth or sparse cover. Look for the first major drop off then go shallower. They will roaming these flats looking for food after the spawn.
ALBERTA – WES DAVID, FISHING THE WILD WEST TV
Nymphs and red wireworms on the Bow River
The Bow River and its tributaries are well-known worldwide within fly-fishing circles. I have fished it several times throughout the year, but this was the first time I have fished the Bow River in early May.
On May 1st, I met my good friend Scott, the owner of Bow River Fly Fishing Company, at McKinnon Flats. Scott had a few days off before his next guided fishing trip on May 3rd, so he invited me along to float and fly fish the Bow a few days before his next guided fishing trip. It is a bit early for any runoff from the winter snow in the mountains, so we knew trout would be holding in deeper pockets of inside and outside corners, in deep current seams and deep current breaks.
We fished using a 5-weight fly rod with sinking line, a strike indicator, pheasant tail nymphs and red wireworm hooks with the barbs pinched. A short cast of 40 feet or less was all that was needed. The trick was correcting the line after making a cast so the current wouldn’t create a drag on the strike indicator. Keeping your indicator and the presentation moving at the same speed as the current was key. Any current drag on either bait or indicator meant an unnatural presentation and no hook-ups. Both rainbow and brown trout would take position in and around the deeper pockets of inside and outside corners, current seams, and current breaks. The bulk of bites came in the calmest water and even the still water in all these areas.
We floated the Bow River for nine hours, covering 16 kilometres, catching and releasing rainbow and brown trout the entire way. However, brown trout were the most aggressive species, with ¾ of the fish landed being browns. Scott mentioned that until the first spring insect hatch, nymphing with a strike indicator would most likely be the most effective presentation. After the first insect hatch, anglers will have to match the hatch.
If you have never fly fished the Bow River and it is on your bucket list, regardless of your experience level, I would highly recommend Scott and www.bowriverflyfishing.ca/contact-us