I've lived in southern Manitoba all my life, fished most of my adult life. And yet again I have experienced directly, heard first-hand from others, and read numerouis social media reports about how poor the 'fishing' has been lately.
Well this really is nothing new IMHO. It actually seems to be the rule rather than exception that compared to any first-ice early season action and late-season pre-spawn feeding frenzy, whether or not either of those actually occur, that the middle of our winter 'typically' has less productive periods for decent catches of fish ... be it numbers, size, desired species, etc. Not saying there aren't any great catches, because there certainly can be some.
Is a mid-season turn down just a perception or is it reality?
If a perception ... why?
If a reality ... also why?
(P.S. Primarily targeting walleye.)