Ice fishing season just around the bend

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/11/2022 (1373 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Another hardwater season is knocking on the door. In fact, in some places of this great province, it has arrived!

Up in the Duck Mountains anglers have been venturing out on the stocked trout waters.

While caution is advised, most of the first ice anglers are wily old veterans who know to be smart. Never go alone, wear flotation gear, bring ice picks, and as one famous person said, walk slowly and carry a big stick. It really is not a time to consider anything other than walking out. That is why stocked trout fishing is so special at first ice. Access to many of our lakes is easy, and you only need to walk out a short distance to the first break line. The littoral zone is where those fish are actively fishing so start drilling holes from shallow to 10 feet and pay attention.

In many cases if you set up a portable tent, you can easily look down the hole and see if there are fish in the area. Twin Lakes in the Ducks is a very popular destination, and it has been on my early ice trip list many times.

It’s amazing how shallow these stocked trout can be, sometimes three feet. The problem is when you hook a bruiser at this depth, the chance of landing it is about 50/50. They love to crush it, then run into the reeds. Frustrating but sure gets the adrenaline rushing.

Let’s hope this ice-fishing season is a lot better than the last one. It was the season from hell, with mega snow and ultra cold weather. We deserve a break this winter hopefully.

There is a ton of new ice-fishing equipment out on the market. And it is now official, having an electric auger is the only way to go. No more worrying that they are not powerful enough or can’t handle all day on the ice. It is simply just the way to go.

On another topic, forward imaging on your sonar is a huge advantage to the ice angler. This allows those that have it to scan areas to find fish out away from the hole that the transducer is in. Is the technology too much? In the open water musky tournaments in the U.S, the organizers have banned forward imaging from their events this past season. Whether they allow it in 2023 is open for discussion. And no, I don’t have the technology for my Humminbird Helix 10. While I would like it, the cost is prohibitive. For example, the new Garmin ice-fishing bundle will run you $5,000.

This brings us to the question: if this technology allows us to be more successful as anglers, is it going to hurt the resource? Personally, I don’t think so. Stakeholder groups in this province have worked long and hard to have regulations in place that limit harvest to sustainable levels. In many cases in Manitoba, our fishery has improved dramatically.

I do know that in talking to both provincial and federal fisheries biologists, we need to know a whole lot more about the success of catch and release. In the last two years, there has been some groundbreaking information collected on this subject.

What it means is that it is up to the media, people like myself, to get that information out to the anglers so they can make informed decisions on how they fish.

I can remember in my many years in this industry, how we abused the resource. When I first started some of the tournaments were catch and kill. In fact, the section of the Winnipeg River from Lac Du Bonnet to Bird River never really recovered from those events in the early 1980s.

I also remember fishing a Professional Walleye Trail Event in 1990 on Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota when the temperature was 100 F on the water. None of the fish caught that day survived. These are some of the mistakes made along the way that have been addressed by resource managers and tournament organizers alike.

In this province, we are leading the way with initiatives like the Recreational Angling Strategy and Eco certification, to name just two of many. In fact, we were probably the first jurisdiction in North America that made barbless hooks mandatory. Tournaments now are very tightly regulated and mortality of fish is monitored.

Almost every angler I know cares about the resource and makes sure to practice selective harvest. We have come a long way in the 40 years I have worked in this industry. Still there is more to be done and we must be forever vigilant. Have a great ice-fishing season!

dlamont46@gmail.com