Ice Fishing
2005 started off strong for Derek. Early in January, Derek got out with Ryan, another forum member. Ryan picked a spot on the Red River and after a bit of grief associated with having to run back to the truck, we were fishing. It was off to a bit of a slow start, but with some advice from Ryan, Derek wound up having a decent day with 4 nice walleyes caught. These are locally referred to as greenbacks due to their colouration. Derek hasn't heard a definitive explanation, but reasonable explanations include food and the environment of the lake bottom / shore. The fish that day for Derek measured 30", 23", 26", and 31". As 28" is required for a Master Angler, Derek got his third species for master's that day. Here are the 30 and 31.
The family returned to Fort Whyte on a nice day with an Aqua Vu camera, a new sled for hauling ice gear, and a hopeful attitude. Suzanne was playing with the camera after setting up and saw a pike cruising around. Derek then dropped a jig down and shortly had his first northern pike (about 25 inches) through the ice. Unfortunately, that was the only fish that day, but the family had fun on the ice and the day ended with the kids enjoying the big sled run there.
In late February, the family first ventured to the Delta area on Lake Manitoba. Out of shape, Derek tired easily so couldn't pull the sled out too far. At this location, the farther out you get, the deeper the water, and the bigger the perch as a general rule. Again, we were using the Aqua Vu Scout and having fun with it. Luke was the first of the children to ever catch a fish through the ice that day. Derek also had a first by catching a tullibee, a local name for cisco.
At this period, it seemed like every other weekend was decent fishing. Included in this stretch was the first annual Brian LeClair Memorial 24 hour Fishathon for Cancer Care Manitoba. The family participated in this event and over $13,000 was raised for this local charity. There was also a trip to Lake Dauphin (very tasty walleyes), Derek made a trip to High Lake to try for lake trout without success. On the final weekend of the regular season, plans were made to get together with a few folks at Delta. It was tough to find everyone, but we hooked up with Grump and had a nice time on the ice (except for the wheezing while pulling everything through slushy snow). About 20 perch were caught altogether. Suzanne and Teresa both got in on the action. Suzanne also had a huge burbot on. She did very well with some coaching from Grump to bring it to the hole. Unfortunately after getting its head out of the water, Derek wasn't able to grab it and it broke off...Derek went up to the elbows to try to get it, but they are a very slippery fish...so swam away Suzanne's first real shot at a master angler. That evening, Suzanne learned how to fillet fish from a rookie. Those perch sure tasted good.
So ended the 2004 regular season. Stocked trout waters are generally open year round in Manitoba, but despite attempts, nobody ever got out for them.
Open Water Fishing
Opening weekend saw the family try out the boat at a nearby impoundment - Lake Stephenfield. It is a small body of water, which makes it easier to check the boat out after winter storage to ensure that everything is working properly. Fishing was tough, but one pike was managed. It was a bit small, but had taken the crankbait deep and was bleeding quite a bit from the gills. It was quite tasty.
The next outing was on the Assiniboine River behind the Manitoba Legislature grounds. There is very nice shore access there. Fishing was a bit slow, but Suzanne managed a sauger and a fellow fishing there approached Derek and invited him to share a goldeye he had caught for catfish bait. Pat managed to get a nice channel cat out of it.
The next adventure involved trying out the La Salle River just south of Winnipeg. It isn't tough to cast across, but in the spring it can be some very good fishing. We went out there at the prompting of forum member Hitthewater. Teresa was at a birthday party and the boys decided to play, so Suzanne and Derek got some fishing in. There were a couple of saugers around, but it was to be a rock bass day. It was the first time either one had caught this species and it was to be the day Suzanne finally got her first Master Angler fish.
Derek took the kids back the following weekend while Suzanne was at the hospital doing rounds. Everyone caught fish. Joseph had a fish on before Derek was finished rigging his own rod. All the kids got their first rock bass. Luke also caught a small bullhead. Derek managed a pretty sauger.
There has been a lot of rain this year in the rivers' watersheds, so shore fishing has been tough as many of the places the family is used to being able to access are currently underwater. One attempt (June 17) turned out to be just ducky.
The last weekend in June saw another planned fishing forum get together. In the end, attendance was sparse. It was a fun day on the Red River with good weather, good company, and some slow, but good fishing. Derek managed his second MA channel cat, this one measuring in at 37.5 inches. Teresa also had a nice channel on, but at 33", it missed the MA record books by an inch. At any rate, she was a real trooper and had a lot of fun. Toward the end of the fight, she just needed a bit of help to keep the rod up. Those big cats can do a number on your arms.
July 1 saw the family eager to spend Canada Day on the water. Unfortunately, two launches that were attempted north of Winnipeg were both closed due to high water conditions...so here we are with excellent conditions for many types of fish and we couldn't even get on the water. It was extremely frustrating.
July 2 dawned with hopes of decent weather and a chance at shore fishing. After packing a picnic lunch, the family headed to the floodway gates - the structure which diverts water into the Red River Floodway which helps protect the city of Winnipeg from flood damage - where they had some memorable fishing in 2004. The extremely high water created a pool where there was normally a path to access additional shore fishing spots. Carp could be seen in this pool. So, jigs were brought out with the carp bait on hand - kernel corn, bread, and raw shrimp. There were a few hits on corn, which was tried first, but no hookups. Derek tried adding some bread and that was the ticket. He shortly had his first Manitoba carp on. It came in around 25.5".
Suzanne then started using bread and getting nibbles. It was extremely frustrating not being able to hook up. Derek wound up with another fish on, but a poor hook set and it swimming toward the fishers led to it getting off. Derek then tried putting on a prawn. There were plenty of nibbles. Tearing about half the prawn off seemed to do the trick. Derek wound up with a good fish on that took a good run before getting off. Then Derek managed to hook another before it was time to pack up. After a good fight, it was landed. This fish was a bit bigger at about 26.5". Derek was curious about weights, but didn't recognize that his scale was even in the truck.
We went back the next day and bumped into a friend and his wife there. They were catching carp and channel cats. It took a while, but eventually Derek got a carp that was about 20". Shortly after, Derek got into a big fish. While he was battling the channel cat, Suzanne hollered that she had a fish on. The channel cat was landed, and then Suzanne's carp. The cat was about 34.5" and the carp was 31.5", both master's. How often do you see a double header like that?
We went back about 10 days later and had some more fun. Joseph and Luke each caught MA catfish and Suzanne caught another MA carp. By this point, the water on the Red was starting to recede and the fishing was starting to slow down a bit. It was a good bit of fun as everyone caught fish that day.
Here's Luke with a big cat - not his master - that photo didn't turn out very well. This one was only about 32.5 inches long. His master was 34.5 inches - it was to be his first master angler fish.
Later in July, we went camping at Falcon Lake, which included a trip to the Whiteshell hatchery and a bit of fishing. We weren't skunked, but we didn't do all that well. On the August long weekend, we tried Caddy, which is a nice little lake, but that day we did get skunked. We did get back to the floodway gates one day for some goldeye - we didn't catch anything of size, but we had fun and caught quite a number of fish. We kept a couple that were badly hooked or injured, intending them to be cat bait, but Suzanne decided to fillet them and try eating them - there wasn't a whole lot of meat, so it didn't work out that well. We also went back to the La Salle River. We didn't have much success, but below the dam were good numbers of young of the year carp around 3-4 inches long. Suzanne and the kids had fun netting them.
Email us at: derek.thille@ieee.nospam.org and remove .nospam