Ice Fishing
As this is a carryover of the 2003 fishing season, Derek was still an ice fishing newbie. In late February, a gathering was organized at Lac du Bonnet through one of the fishing forums Derek watches. It was a lot of fun with meeting a few more of the board members and there were even a few fish caught. Derek did manage to get on the board with a small sauger, which was better than some of the others who didn't manage to catch anything.
The last weekend of the regular season at the end of March saw Derek get together with a forum member known as Scuba. It was a wild day weather wise. Scuba and a couple of other guys got set up on the Red River near the End of Main. They fished through a thunderstorm and hail! All this while driving vehicles onto the ice. The others had moved further downstream by the time I showed up, but Scuba waited for Derek. A spot was picked further north. The action wasn't fast and furious, but the company was good and a few fish were caught. Derek managed a couple of saugers and had what was probably a really nice greenback walleye on, but lost it while trying to tighten the drag. That's when he learned Scuba's rule number 83 of fishing - never mess with the drag while there was a fish on. Anyway, Scuba got this nice walleye in addition to some saugers.
Open Water Fishing
This year would be an interesting one, with many firsts. At the Mid-Canada Boat Show in the spring, a deal was struck on a Legend V-151 All Sport. While it isn't the perfect boat, it was affordable and a good starter boat for the family while having some of the creature comforts for Suzanne and the kids.
Opening weekend in mid-May was a bit tough. Suzanne was on call, so the family had to stay in the city. Shore fishing in the city turned out semi-productive. First of all, Luke caught his first fish, a stonecat.
Since the spring was wet and cool (there had been a dump of snow just a few days earlier), Suzanne found out that some colder water fish were still around and she caught her first burbot.
The same location in mid-June saw Suzanne catch her first freshwater drum (also known as silver bass or sheepshead).
It was Joseph's turn to take part in the Learn to Fish program. In hindsight, he didn't have enough of an attention span nor interest at age 4. There were fish caught while the program was on, but not by Joseph. At any rate, he enjoyed himself and received a certificate.
About 10 days later, Scuba was going to let Derek in on a lot of fun - black crappies. Everything was set, Derek was to pick Scuba up and they would take Scuba's boat with Derek's truck. Derek was a bit foolish with getting up early and ground up dried hot pepers into his eggs that morning...by hand...before he put in his contact lenses...after some colourful language and a lot of tears, Derek had his glasses back on and some laughs were had over the incident. At any rate, Derek caught his first crappie that morning, Scuba caught a nice one and then had a good fight on for ultralight tackle...it turned out to be a sucker. A while later, Derek hooked into his first Manitoba master angler qualifying fish - a nice crappie that was just over 13".
Through the angling forums, Derek also discovered a new place to fish - the gates of the Red River floodway, which protects the city of Winnipeg from excessive flooding. Before taking the family out, he went out with a friend and co-worker to check the place out. Rob wound up with a nice carp and Derek caught his first freshwater drum. While it wasn't the channel cat he was hoping for, it was a nice fish that put up a decent fight.
About a week later, the family ventured back out to the floodway gates. We met other friends out there who had hosted us for a weekend at their cottage on Beresford Lake. Suzanne caught her first carp there, as did our friend Chris.
A few days later found the family back out there. Fishing picked up when we decided to target goldeye with floating rigs. Suzanne cast for Joseph and gave him the rod. Almost immediately the bobber went down and he was fighting his first fish. He was so excited. It was especially nice when his first fish turned out to be a Master Angler goldeye.
There were other successes that evening. Luke caught a goldeye and Joseph wound up with a small channel cat
Needless to say, this became one of our favourite fishing spots despite frequent snags.
Unfortunately, goldeye are fragile fish and tend not to revive well. It turns out that is OK, since they work very well for catfish bait. Joseph's MA goldeye was used the next day when Derek took Luke and met up with another forum member, Sirtman, for some channel cat fishing. The MA goldeye kept a bit of a streak going, as it helped Derek to get a master angler 35.5 inch long channel catfish.
A couple days later, the family went back to the floodway gates and pretty much everyone got in on the action.
Don Lamont wrote an article about the crappies in Caddy Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park, so we had to check it out. Our first time out there wasn't very productive. Our second trip still found the crappie elusive for us, but we had more success overall with the fishing. Teresa and Luke each caught small pike. Luke's was especially exciting since he enjoys casting. Derek doesn't like losing lures, so Luke had a topwater frog on and caught a pike with it. Teresa's was caught on a leech on a spinner behind a bottom bouncer.
The next highlight was back where Scuba introduced Derek to crappies. It turned out to be a slow day. The only fish caught was while the family was drifting back toward the launch to pack up. It turned out to be Teresa's first MA.
There is something to be said about taking kids fishing. For one they get fresh air and more exercise than if they were in front of the TV or a computer game. They get a chance to learn more about nature than if they never get out into nature as well. Plus, you get shots like this late September dusk on the Red River in Winnipeg.
A gathering was planned for one of the fishing forums Derek belongs to. The family went and was well fed. The fishing was so-so, which allowed a lot more visiting time anyway. Suzanne had a line in for a bit and caught the biggest sauger of the day.
Canadian Thanksgiving in October was a beautiful day and the family headed back out to their favourite crappie lake. It was an interesting day. Teresa caught the first fish. Derek later propped his rod between his legs while helping Joseph with his lure. When he returned to his rod, there was some weight on it. It turned out to be a master crappie, his second of the year. Teresa then caught a pike and finished off with her second MA crappie. Suzanne didn't want to get skunked, so she kept the family out there quite a bit later than they normally would have stayed.
The first weekend of November saw Derek on the water again with Scuba. The fishing wasn't spectacular, but a number of crappie were caught. Derek wound up with his third MA for the season.
Ice Fishing
After opening November with Scuba on open water, Derek spent the last weekend of November again with Scuba, but this time on first ice. This time we went to a series of small trout ponds east of Winnipeg. We had fun as the weather was nice, the fishing was OK, and Derek caught his first brook and rainbow trout ever. The fish were on the small side with the largest caught being about 13", but it was still a lot of fun.
Unfortunately, there were no more photos taken for the ice season. The following weekend, the weather was a bit cooler and Derek went out with another forum member to the same location, but they were skunked. See the 2005 fishing page below for the rest of the ice fishing season.
Email us at: derek.thille@ieee.nospam.org and remove .nospam