Reg Watson Reservoir (Dunnet Regional Park)

[Windigo]

Hello

I have not fished the Reg Watson for quite a while,and never in the winter.

Last I heard,it was also stocked with Perch and Pike a few years ago.
when I was fishing there,I used to catch Walleye.

I  drove out there this summer and noticed it has changed quite a bit from the last time I was there.
Is the dock area the only access on?
Is it a safe to drive on?

thanks for any help.

[poorfisherman]

We Did really well for walleye 3 yeas ago in the winter.  The last couple of years winter fishing there has not been very good.  This last summer we camped there for 10 days and had a good walleye bite.  A fellow I work with lives down there he said they had a lot of snow and the ice formed poorly. That was a month ago.

[Windigo]

We Did really well for walleye 3 yeas ago in the winter.  The last couple of years winter fishing there has not been very good.  This last summer we camped there for 10 days and had a good walleye bite.  A fellow I work with lives down there he said they had a lot of snow and the ice formed poorly. That was a month ago.

Hi poorfisherman

Thanks for the info.

Cheers

[Layne]

We did very well at dunnet in the winter when we used to fish it. I havent fished it personally in about 2-3 years but we caught really good numbers of walleyes and the odd decent pike. Im guessing by now the pike are getting to be of decent size(15-20lbs) as we were getting them in the 10-14 range 3 years ago. The biggest eye I have personally seen come out of there was about 6 pounds but I have heard of a couple closer to 10 being caught. Perch are pretty scarce in there, we used to put in ALOT of time there and im sure you would catch 200+ walleyes for every perch you will catch.. the ones we did get were jumbos though. I havent been out there this winter so I cant comment on the ice but I did hear there was a fair bit of slush this year.

[Windigo]

Hi Layne

Thanks for the info.

Years ago,I used to camp at Dunnet for a week in August.Did really well from first light to 9:30 am.
Walleye for a breakfast every day.
Never caught any Perch or Pike back then.

Hope I can get out there this winter and check it out.

Cheers

[amatue]

Dunnet has alot of walleye. In the winter they will bite a bit at first ice but pretty much shut right off as you get into winter too far. Do not know where abouts the fish are now as far as biting. Would think they are slowing down fast.

[Layne]

Dunnet has alot of walleye. In the winter they will bite a bit at first ice but pretty much shut right off as you get into winter too far. Do not know where abouts the fish are now as far as biting. Would think they are slowing down fast.

Im not sure if they slow down so much or if they switch over to night time feeding. The last year we fished that lake we often didnt go out until 5pm and would stay out all the way until about 1am, its the only lake I've had any kind of real success night fishing on. I'd love to try it again now that I have a flasher and all the toys. We used to watch rod tips in the headlights of the truck and had crazy action after dark sometimes. Its been a few years though so lots could have changed.

[Mike.]

We have tried fishing out there in the winter and cant seem to get a bite or anything. Ive had my best luck there in early spring or late fall for walleye. Fished there this summer and fishing was fair, seems that we could only catch 1lb wallys. There are some big walleye in there we caught a 9 and 6lb last fall

[mattg]

I'm from Avonlea and I would recommend not wasting your time there this year.  The walleye bite was excellent 3 winters ago, but each winter following including this one the walleye bite has declined more and more.  Seems now all you can get there is the occasional hammer handle pike and if you are lucky a 10+ pike.  There are perch in there although I have not seen or heard of one coming out in a long time.  I have pulled out a few all around 1.5lb but they are always caught by accident.  If you do want to try the ice is fine to drive on. 

Layne,  I remember exactly what you were talking about a few years ago.  I used to be out there 7 days a week. From 3:30 until 11 on school nights and even later on the weekends. Sadly the days of that hot bite are over.  Maybe in a year or 2 they will bounce back, but until then I spend most of the time I get to ice fish on the qu'appelle lakes since now that I'm in University I get almost no time to fish. 

[Layne]

Sucks to hear. Your not the fella that drove the cavalier on the ice are you? If you do get out to try again let me know, I'd like to give it a whirl and I know of a spot that almost always produced fish when the rest of the lake was shut down.

[mattg]

I don't take cars on that lake anymore, been stuck way too many times.  I am the guy who has the huge blue shack at the top of the hill that hasnt seen the water since march 2009.  Hasnt been worth dragging on the ice.  When I do get out there anymore I just fish with friends in their shacks.  If you have a dependable spot its probably worth a try cause you never know.  I have 4 or 5 favourite winter spots, but none that produce consistently especially in the last couple years.  Maybe next time i'm home i'll take the flasher and drill a bunch of holes and cover water and see if i can find anything.  There are guys out there daily in a few different spots now though and they all have camera's and rarely see walleye.  If you hit your old honey hole I'd like to hear how that goes though, it would be nice to hear about walleye biting there again

[poorfisherman]

The last time 2-3 years ago we hit walleye hard at 5-7 at night in 6-3 feet of water.

[daustman]

Very old thread, but has anyone been fishing at Dunnet Regional Park (Watson Reservoir) this winter?