Mooching for Canadian Lakers

Gods Lake in northern Manitoba is renowned as a world class Lake Trout fishery. The average Laker caught is 6 to 10 pounds, with larger fish up to 40 pounds in the mix every year. The largest “trophy” Lakers weigh in at over 50 pounds! At our lodge, we’ve fine-tuned an angling technique for Lakers using a bottom bouncer in tandem with a herring teaser and a dead smelt or herring.

We add one ounce egg sinkers and “squeeze” them on to a bottom bouncer to get our lure to the depth we want. Every one ounce egg sinker equals about 10 feet in depth. The lure is trolled along break lines and feeding flats. We often vary the weight and therefore the depth trolled, until we find the Lake Trout and the right depth for the day. Speed can play a factor as well. You want the lure moving fast enough to have a gentle spin as it travels through the water. In this type of fishing, the Trout hit hard and you need to be ready to set the hook and hold on, or risk breaking a rod.

We had one funny instance where my clients had been successfully hitting the Lakers pretty hard using this technique; they had hooked 6 in the 8-15 pound range during one 15 minute span. While continuing to troll a break line, one of the guys decided to relax and close his eyes for a second. The next thing he knew, the Laker had hit his lure hard, his rod was in two pieces, and line was flying off his reel! Luckily his brother quickly assessed the situation and like any quick-witted angler would do, picked up the broken rod end and tried to set the hook by holding it high. Unfortunately, everyone was laughing so hard the big Laker spit out the hook and left my client with yet another story about the big one that got away!

The reward of hooking and battling a big Laker this way has proven to be tons of fun for many of our clients, and I encourage you to give it a try and tell us how it works for you.

Ice heaves

Ice fishing Lake Winnipeg

Here are a few recent pictures from fishing on Lake Winnipeg

Lake Winnipeg Fishing

Thought I had things figured out on Monday afternoon. 2 of us caught 3 MA's and some eaters. Went out at first light and thought I would crush them. Only caught 2 saugers.

Fly Spinning Northern Pike

Fishing for walleye, lake trout or northern pike in early June has provided some challenges at our remote fly-in fishing lodge on Gods Lake in northern Manitoba, Canada. At ice-out, in early June, the pike congregate in shallow bays where the water first begins to warm up. You can see the Trophy Pike, but they won’t hit anything you throw at them.

The most effective way to catch these neutral to negative fish is usually by fly fishing. If you’re not a fly fisherman, then what do you do? You can still cash in by using spinning tackle with a fly such as a Dahlberg Diver or a Bunny Leach. To get a little weight for throwing, I add a clear bubble float with water in it to get the fly where you need it. You can sight cast into the shallows to pick out which northern pike will be your next target. The spinning tackle allows for an accurate cast and a slow retrieve. With the bubble float in place, your fly can be stopped and twitched to entice a strike. When nothing else works, and fly fishing isn’t an option, you can lure these lethargic predators into action and enjoy the results!

Great ice...but that's all for now...

The week before Christmas...
Been doing some fishing lately. There's 16" of ice on Lake Winnipeg, and a little less on the Red River. Neither one has produced any decent fishing. Catching a few walleyes and saugers, a couple pike - but overall pretty slow for everyone. Glad there's finally some people out there - I was pretty much by myself a few days ago when it was -40* with a wind chill.

Heard from Neal at the lodge. All is good - they only had about 6" of ice on Gods Lake. Saw a few caribou tracks, but not much happening at the moment. Still too early to go right across the ice because there's still a few weak spots. He's getting ready to take some more amazing photos this winter. He bought himself a really nice digital camera last year and taught himself how to use it over the winter. He got some pretty amazing wildlife shots. You can check them out at www.godslakelodge.com/photos We'll probably use some of them. I'll be out fishing again tomorrow - hope the local fishing picks up soon!

Manitoba Lodge and Outfitters meeting

Just returned from the annual AGM for lodge owners. Not a whole lot happening in the industry. Overall it looks like business was down about 10% Most guys are shortening their season by a week or two to cut expenses.

Lee
www.godslakelodge.com

ice finally

It has finally cooled off at home and we are getting ice on lake Winnipeg and the Red river. I should be fishing by next week.

bookings

Bookings are ahead of last year. A lot of people who haven't been able to come the last year or two are deciding they can't stay away any longer. It will be great to see some old friends again!