Fall fishing means being prepared for the weather

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/10/2022 (1398 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While the late fall season for open water anglers can be intimidating it can also be extremely rewarding. For the hardcore musky angler this is probably the best time of the year to break the magical 50-inch mark. For years I headed down to Sioux Narrows to fish with friend Chris Bell in late October to the middle of November. There were many days that we went out in below zero temperatures.

It helped that we fished out of a boat that had an enclosed top and windshield. My tiller boat gets awfully cold at this time of the year especially when you must drive long distances in those kinds of temperatures. It also really helped that we had a heater in the boat that was used when we trolled.

If you want to give this a try, trolling is the way to go. Reels will freeze up if you try casting so putting the boat in gear and covering water is a must.

At this time of the year whitefish and ciscoes will be up on the shallow reefs getting ready to spawn. Combine those spawning sites with narrowed down sections of the lake where there is a bit of current and the musky won’t be far behind. Musky will also use sharp breaking shorelines close to these areas. They are ambush spots to target the ciscoes and tullibees that move along these edges.

What really helps is finding the whitefish and ciscoes on your depth finder. Not all spots will hold these fish but at this time of the year they really school up so when you find them your electronics will light up.

Our lures back in those days were big crankbaits with a large lip, in most cases the Bagley DB 08. Unfortunately, these lures took a beating on the rocks and many times we would crack a lip before even hooking a fish. One of the keys to success was short line trolling, just letting enough line out to hit the bottom in ten feet of water. This allowed precise control of your lures, preventing hang-ups, and allowing better hooksets.

If there were three anglers in the boat, we would get one line out to the sides of the boat, and one in the prop wash off the back. A lot of times, it was this rod that got the fish.

Glenn McDonald is a hardcore musky angler and guide who lives in Vermillion Bay. He grew up on the shores of one the best musky lakes in the world, massive Eagle Lake. While I have only fished it once, it can be an intimidating lake. It also holds massive musky, a fairly large percentage over the 50-inch mark, even some pushing the magical 54-inch threshold.

Glenn spends the last three weeks of the open water season trying to land one of these monsters and last year after a ton of hours under brutal conditions he landed an Eagle Lake giant. His musky measured out at just over 51 inches.

McDonald says if you plan on fishing at this time of the year be prepared for any kind of weather and take the precautions necessary to keep safe. This means cleaning out any snow in the boat that might cause slippery conditions. He also makes sure everything is stored as much as possible. Efficiency is the key in the late fall but by putting in the effort you might catch the fish of a lifetime.

Anglers Notes:

Did you know that we have one potentially viable muskie population in Manitoba? Thanks to the Swan Valley Sporting Fishing Enhancement Group we do. Research funded by the Fish and Wildlife Enhancement Fund (FWEF) was conducted by SVSFE in 2015-2016, which found West Watjask Lake to be a suitable candidate for muskie introductions.

Brock Koutecky, is a fisheries technician with SVSFE and has been involved with the project right from the beginning. He says the fish in the original stocking in 2016 are now between 35 and 39 inches. The 450 muskie stocked in 2019 are now between 25 and 29 inches. The good news says Brock that the fish are reproducing and there are a bunch of fish now in the 10 inch range, giving the lake three year classes.

West Watjiak is a backcountry lake in the Duck Mountains and is on a developed logging road off Highway # 83. Brock says SVSFE has put signage up on the entrance to the logging road so people can find the lake. There is a boat launch, but Brock says you wouldn’t want to bring a boat in bigger than 16 feet. You can find directions to the lake and a contour map on the SVSFE website. There have been close to 30 Master Angler fish caught so far this year, but Travel Manitoba is still working on recognizing the lake on the Master Angler app.

It is a catch and release fishery only, with the use of artificial lures and flies only with one hook. There is an angling closure on the lake from November 15 to June 15. Many believe those changes are critical to the long-term survival of the muskie in this smaller body of water.

There are still tickets left for the Manitoba Wildlife Federation annual banquet at the Victoria Inn on October 29th. Visit the MWF website to purchase tickets online.

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