Lack of lunkers in Lake Winnipeg alarming

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/10/2018 (2778 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This past weekend, I decided to head down to Selkirk Park to see how the walleye fishing was on the Red River. I was surprised to see very few boats lined up to launch, even though it was the Saturday of a long weekend. In my nearly 40 years of fishing the Red at this time of year, I couldn’t remember it being this quiet. As we motored down river past some of the more famous spots, this trend continued — a few boats scattered over the six-kilometre trip to the Miracle Mile near Lower Fort Garry.

Here, friend Jim Price dropped an anchor on the edge of the main river channel after marking some pods of fish. It turned out there were fish here, but not the greenback walleye we were after. Hungry saugers made the fishing interesting, aggressively attacking pretty much anything we offered. All were small, and certainly nothing approaching a Master Angler size. After six hours of trying various stretches of the river, we had one walleye to show for it, a fish the same size as the saugers, small.

This day was only one of a number, both open-water and hard, that confirmed to me what I have feared since 2015 — a massive downturn in the walleye population in Lake Winnipeg. At an upcoming rally to save Lake Winnipeg walleye at the Manitoba legislature at noon on Oct. 23, hard statistics will show that walleye populations have declined dramatically over recent years. In fact, medium-sized walleye now make up a small percentage of the commercial and sportfishing catch on the lake, with the vast majority of the harvest now being small walleye. While there are still some walleye from the 2001 class of trophy proportions, commercial fishers on the south basin have switched to using three-inch mesh nets in many cases. None of the small-sized walleye have even lived long enough to spawn. Of the remaining medium-sized walleye being harvested, more than 50 per cent of those caught have also not even spawned once, as well. Not allowing fish to spawn at least once before being harvested is a recipe for disaster, and one that is playing out in the south basin of Lake Winnipeg. This year is pretty much the last chance for the resource, a message that has been delivered with hard documentation and suggested steps for the recovery of the fishery to government. Should be interesting to see what happens next.

Fishing in other parts of the province remains strong, despite some poor conditions to fish in. Smallmouth are set up on their fall homes, deep points and rock piles at the mouth of bays near main lake basins. Musky are on the move, as water temperatures drop rapidly. This triggers whitefish to move to current areas in combination with rock points as they get ready to spawn. Many musky anglers will switch over to trolling at this time of year, but big musky can be caught suspended in these same areas by vertical jigging. Big tube jigs and swimbaits are good considerations.

This technique also works for big walleye and pike. By using the front troll motor or your kicker motor off the back, slow troll at about 0.8 km/h. Keep your bait just off the bottom to start, but if you see suspended fish, move your lure up slightly above the fish you are marking. This technique will produce some of the largest fish of the year. Remember, you are only limited by your imagination.

I lost the biggest walleye of my career at Tobin Lake with just such a presentation. We were fishing a deep, heavy current area with 1½-ounce jigs with big white paddletail swimbaits. We had already landed a number of fish more than 76 centimetres long, pretty much the best day of walleye fishing in my life. As the day wore on, we found one spot that seemed to be holding the majority of the fish. I suddenly felt a solid clunk on my heavy jig. As I went to set the hook, nothing moved so I figured I might have hooked a piece of sunken timber down on the bottom. Suddenly, my line moved a bit sideways. This monster fish hadn’t quite figured what was going on. I lifted hard on the rod to get a good hookset, then it was game on. More than 10 minutes later, the fish started to get close to the boat. My friend Boyd was ready with the big net. The fish slowly appeared below the surface, Boyd making a smooth move to net the fish. Unfortunately, the jig let go at the same time. This massive walleye suddenly realized it was free to go, evading the waiting net to swim back down to the deep. Why is it always the large fish that get away?

Oh well, I am heading back up to Tobin Lake next week on my annual fall trip for another shot at a monster. Walleye fishing by all accounts has been outstanding. Ditto for the massive pike this reservoir is equally famous for.

One of the best big pike reservoirs in this province might be big Lac du Bonnet. While it’s a large area, using these patterns I just talked about could catch you a trophy of a lifetime.

Anglers Notes: I hope to see all people concerned with Lake Winnipeg at the legislature on Oct. 23 at high noon.

dlamont46@gmail.com