Reasonably successful 'rookies' on Lake Winnipeg

[Drift Dodger]

DH and I finally fished Lake Winnipeg for the first time in our lives ... and we're no 'spring chickens'!

Got on to the ice from CBR (Chalet Beach Road) about 7:30 am on a beautiful springtime Saturday morning ... there were already vehicles, trailers, quads, sleds and people galore spread out all over the road and lake. Just a few hundred yards out we crossed the pressure ridge that parallels the shoreline, and drove several kms (miles) east toward the outlet of the mighty 'Red River of the North'. The first place we drilled holes was roughly 1 km north of the west edge of the Red River outlet. We must have been on a sand bar, as there was only about 7 or 8 ft of water, while my son and friends just a couple hundred yards away were in much deeper water. Not much action at this spot, but at 8:15 am I did manage to latch onto this pretty little 9.5" walleye ... way too small, so back in the lake it went. For this I was using a jigging stick with 8# Fireline and a small jigging-spoon/treble with a large (Lake Winnipeg emerald shiner) 'salty' head.



So we moved ... headed further east and stopped roughly mid-way out from the middle of the Red River outlet, although a little further out again, and in at least 14 ft of water. My trusty measuring device showed the ice to be 45 inches thick, including a couple inches of half-melted refrozen snow on top. RC arrived shortly thereafter with his son and a friend. I missed something more substantial on the same outfit so changed to an ice rod/reel with 6# red mono and an "Eye-Dropper" jig and 'salty' head again ... it didn't even hit bottom, and I pulled out this nice 26.5" greenback ...



That was just after 9:00 am. I caught a 14" walleye a short while after that.

Then RC started putting on a show, hauling out a 24" ...



a 16" ...


a 15.5" ...



a 25.5" ...



... and eventually a couple more decent sized walleye that I didn't photograph or record sizes for. Those were all on his 'lucky' hawger jig and (plain, unsalted frozen) shiners. (P.S. The 'boys-being-boys' didn't catch anything ... except each other.)

Then I switched to a different ice rod/reel with 6# clear mono, large shiny jigging spoon/treble and complete large 'salty' ... while aggressively jigging made a big comeback with this ... WOW !!! 30.5" greenback hog!!! My second longest walleye ever (by a half inch) but definitely my personal-best heaviest as it was much thicker throughout!





The girth was 19" ... but in reality would be a bit less than that due to using a steel measuring tape. She dove back down the 10" Jiffy hole much quicker than she came out ... many thanks to my great assistant DH who guided the big greenbacks up on to the ice. Unfortunately it was 'too-slow-with-the-photo' as she's "gone-to-spawn" ...



I missed a nice eater size (at least 17 incher) came off my other outfit (jigging-stick / hawger jig) just partway up the hole, so I lunged with my arm well into the water; the walleye managed to get turned around quickly and swam back down while my hand gently groped at it's tail.

Then at 11:00 am I pulled out this 27 incher on the big spoon again ...



But that was the end of the run. Nothing else for an hour, so we packed up and started our trek home just after 12:00 Noon.

DH didn't do quite as well, catching one (approx.) 13" walleye. I brought back just the one 14" eater, but really enjoyed the whole experience.

[bmann]

Pretty good job for "rookies" Nice fish

[Drift Dodger]

Thanks, but actually just 'Lake Winnipeg rookies', to be correct.

[fshmanmb]

Congrats guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent report & nice pics too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[blue igloo]

Excellent report.....congrats  8)
Blue Igloo 

[firefighter]

Nice fish... looks as if the big girls were on the prowl

FF

[Drift Dodger]

Nice fish... looks as if the big girls were on the prowl

FF

Thanks, yes the big ones didn't fool around ... they seemed to be actively feeding.

Here is the 'weaponary' that worked for me ...



Unfortunately, I hadn't taken my measuring board 'extension' along (above; 24" to 41") ... it would have been useful.

Close up of my 'productive' hooks ...

[big walleye]

One great report. Thank-you so much for sharing. Not to many will actually show their lures. Awesome job bud.

[firefighter]

Like your choice of lures DD. Caught well on eyedroppers too. Next season try Northland Fire eye jigging spoons. They are also in Glow as the droppers.

FF

[HOS]

  EXCELLENT REPORT! Loved reading and looking enviously  at the pics! I hope to have a day like that one day! Hopefully next season!

HOS

[HOS]

oh ya! I forgot to add. I loved the boards! Gonna make me some! Thanks for the idea!

HOS

[juliusrucki]

It was a great day!!!nice pics and nice story,too.We were on cb as well and caught 14 in total with the biggest at 28.5",it wasa GREAT WAY to end the hard-water season for us,and my priviledge to meet fishmanmb,gillishammer,his gf,eee,and all the rest of the people we chatted with during the day.the best part of the whole season was spending it with my favorite fishing partner,my son,svengali(michael).My goal for next winter is to see my son get HIS MA on the hard-water!good-luck to all and may the summer season be as exciting for everyone as this winter was!

[gillishammer]

it was great to meet u too man.wish i was around when you pulled out that MA.congrats

[Wife says enough fishing]

Nice Fish!

My son (9) and I went out to CBR too on the same day, and got there around 10:30.  Never been and want to thank a few people who gave us directions and pointers- and drilled a few holes in the ice for us too.

I brought a manual auger- and was not expecting 4'6" ice, but seems like everyone has a power auger with an extension out there anyhow.  We ended up with four nice pics' between 3-5 lbs in that first 1/2 hour, then it died out completley.  I was told best fishing is before 10 am, or after 4 pm.  Seems to have held true. 

As for bait, we had some swearing by salted minnows with a bright jig head 2" off the bottom, not being touched.  Some saying a spoon constanly moving it, some with live minnows on a jig head.  Quite honestly, they all worked where we were, it was more a matter of the timing by the looks of it.

Sadly, the four fish are long gone now (tasted great!), but we will be back out again this weekend coming up to hopefully get a few more.

[Drift Dodger]

oh ya! I forgot to add. I loved the boards! Gonna make me some! Thanks for the idea!

HOS

Thanks. Yes, the board makes it much easier (than a tape measure) to measure fish of any length, and enables much quicker turn-around for the live releases.