MANITOBA
FINE TUNING FALL WALLEYE
I love fishing reservoirs and natural lakes in the fall time. They can certainly be challenging but when you unlock the puzzle it seems so worthwhile. Fall walleye in lakes and reservoirs tend to school tightly together. These fish, in most cases, are aggressive. One of the keys though, is to stay right on them when they are congregated in a small area. First though is you have to find them and that is not always easy. Certainly good mapping and good electronics will help. One thing that can help the search is the ability to look for the fish efficiently. While I don’t have forward facing sonar I have caught a lot of fish over the last 40 some years with out it. This is where side imaging comes in and having the ability to spot fish and put waypoints on the tight schools.
One of my favourite fall fisheries is Lake of the Prairies but it can be tough sometimes as well. When I plan a fall trip I like to give myself at least three days to account for weather and activity levels. On a trip a couple of years ago to Lake of the Prairies, all the local anglers told me you should have been here last week. It seems that the fishing had slowed considerably as we moved into colder temperatures. Over the first two days while we caught fish it was nothing like this reservoir is noted for.
We tried a variety of techniques, including bottom bouncers and spinners, crankbaits, reaction baits and jigs tipped with salted shiners or nightcrawlers. We caught one or two fish on each method, but no concrete pattern emerged. I did spend a lot of time searching and making notes of what areas were holding the most fish. I did have confidence that eventually the fish would have to get a bit more aggressive.
FINALLY!
On Day Three after trying a sand flat that had scattered fish, I decided to change tactics. I went looking for saddle areas between shallow shoreline humps. The depth between these saddles was in the 24-foot range. I started marking a lot of fish and by putting down a waypoint I decided to Spotlock with my MinnKota Terrova right on the fish.
BINGO
We soon were into fish, pretty much nonstop action for both jumbo perch and walleye. In fact, we landed several perch over 12 inches. We fished the whole morning on this one spot as fish kept moving through the saddle feeding aggressively. We also caught our biggest walleye of the trip here as well. Almost all were caught on a Ned jig rigged with a salted shiner. After a quick lunch I headed up the reservoir to a shoreline point on which I had marked a bunch of fish on the previous day.
SPOT LOCK WORKS AGAIN
As I scanned the point with my Helix 10, there was one small section that was holding most of the fish. Putting down the front troll motor I hit the anchor mode. Three hours later we had put a wide variety of fish in the boat including a Master Angler rock bass.
Now is a great time to catch some of the biggest fish of the year. Enjoy!
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
While Jeff Gustafson might not have had the season he hoped for on the Bassmaster Elite Series he is having some fun while back in Northwestern Ontario. He recently won back to back tournaments.
One of his favourite baits when the bite gets tough is a dropshot setup. Here is what he uses.
There is always a drop-shot rig tied on in my boat… here are three of the hooks I’m using most often in smallmouth country.
1 – @gamakatsu.usa #2 Bead Hook, @zmanfishingproducts Fuzzy NuggetZ (this hook is a beauty for the dice style baits.2 – Gamakatsu #4 Stinger Drop-Shot, Z-Man Fuzzy BugZ (great hook for baits you want to thread on to the hook.3 – Gamakatsu #1 Drop-Shot hook, Z-Man Trick ShotZ (great for nose-hooking thinner baits)
SASKATCHEWAN
Last Mountain Lake
Last Mountain has developed into one of the best trophy lakes in North America over the last 20 years. Wes David was there last week filming another episode of Fishing the Wild West TV. Rob Schulz and his family have been operating the Marina and Outfitting Service for an awfully long time. I have known Rob for most of that time and we did a number of television shows together for The Complete Angler TV series. Rob is a heck of an angler and he and his wife Donna run a first class operation.
Wes supplied the latest update for this weeks report.
During our first morning of fishing, the wind was blowing out of the North-West, and we found incredible amounts of baitfish being pushed up against the sunken structure and the shoreline of the windswept side of the lake. Walleye of all sizes moved in to feed on the struggling baitfish and were gorging themselves on the bait. We would spot lock the boat in 16 to 25 feet of water with the bow of the boat facing into the wind. One angler would use a Chubb’s jig baited with a leech and vertically jig the bait, picking up the walleye that were returning from feeding in the shallows. The second angler would cast a PK Lures Ridge Glider into the shallows and snap-jig Ridge Glider, working the bait down the structure. Walleye would hit both presentations with aggression. When the bite would slow at one location, we would simply move to another location and experience another aggressive walleye bite.
While most anglers come to Last Mountain to walleye fish, there is also top quality pike in the lake. Fall is a good time to target those fish because big northern’s are starting to move back shallow bays that have weed growth. A variety of traditional pike lures work but Wes David said the key was to slowly swim the presentation over the weed edges. His preferred spoon colour was either solid silver or brass #2 Len Thompsons.
You can find out more about Rob and Donna’s operation at gsmarina.com .
THE FORT QU’APPELLE CHAIN OF LAKES
Some of the most overlooked lakes in southern Saskatchewan are the chain of four lakes the Qu’Appelle Valley. Over the years I have fished them all but these lakes seem to just keeping getting better with large pike, walleye and perch. Roger Gere took the crew there last week for a day on Pasqua and Echo Lakes. The gang had a great day on the water.
Fishing was incredible with lots of big fish and big smiles with Patty-Jo and Emily , depths anywhere from 22-26’
And jigs and minnows were the answer, tried different colors until we found what they wanted and was game on.
Followed the bait and bumped along trying to stay with the fish kept action all day
ALBERTA
Wes David, Host and Producer of Fishing the Wild West TV
We are well into the month of September, and the fall feeding frenzy is kicking in. Many Alberta anglers are also avid hunters, so many of these individuals have abandoned the water to spend time in the field, which leaves more room for the avid anglers to take advantage of the fall feeding frenzy.
Last week, I had the good fortune of fishing Lac La Biche Lake. We were scheduled to do some video work and boat testing with the new Tracker and Ranger Boats. We were working with the team from Westlock Power Sports & Marine (WPM) and the Canadian representative for White River Marine Group. Although we spent very little time fishing due to the (fun) or work we had scheduled, both walleye and northern pike were willing to bite.
The walleye bite was very slow. We found walleye in depths ranging from 16 to 26 feet of water. We caught a few walleye using bottom-bouncing techniques; however, most walleye were caught and released with a ¼ oz Chubb’s jig tipped with a frozen minnow. Northern pike were caught and released in 12 to 16 feet of water on the same Chubbs jig and frozen minnow. Casting a #2 Len Thompson Lure into the shallows and swimming it just off the bottom into deeper water also produced quality pike. Northern pike were eager to take our offering at the few locations we fished them.
