Pigeon lake snow
 

Well i found out today i cant access my favorite spot on Pigeon anymore with a vehicle as I tried to trudge thru the deep snow today.I was the only one to venture out towards the middle of the lake from Mulhurst side and chickened out about 1/2 mile out.Turned back and fished out from the boat launch and set up in the area near the shacks.To my suprise seen alot of small walleyes but they wouldnt take any presentation we threw at em.Seen some people out at the point south of the launch and we hope they had better luck.

Was that with a truck?

Curious myself. I had written off the skidoo this year but looks like I might have to get it ready for some exploring. What a year...up, down, cold, warm, no snow, too much snow...
Think I might have to take up knitting as my hobby :lol:

Yeah. 4x4 duramax with brand new duratracs.

Guess those big snow drifts have gotten even worse then lol... brutal.

I was out on pigeon on Saturday and it was a tough trek for me as well. Drove on at the PP boat launch area and had to navigate around a lot of ice heaves. Got super sketchy and chickened out after getting stuck a few times and couldnt make it to where we wanted to as well and settled for a spot about 1 km out. Looked like we were the only ones on the south. To make things worse, got skunked as well.

I was out on mulhurst with my truck yesterday. Just out to the first camper. No problems at all up to there.

Fishing was slow. One small walleye and seen a massive White.

We were at the point south of the Mulhurst boat launch this weekend. Caught 2 small pike on Saturday, saw one walleye on the camera. Caught one more small pike on Sunday and had a few more bites. Pretty slow overall.

Snow was pretty deep but still manageable without chains. We camped in the shack overnight, temps went down to -28 Saturday night and our truck didn't start on Sunday. I thought that might happen so I had a spare battery in the shack and booster cables in the truck. We were toasty warm inside with the wood stove, actually had the door cracked open a bit a few times.

Has anyone driven on/around the mameo side? I won't be able to check that side until after this storm rolls through and hides any hazards.

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Buy chance is anybody catching any walleye off the south provincial campground by hwy 13 then head north to campground, I have few c tags this year

The northside of the lake has about a foot of snow as of today. Fishing for walleye was very slow this evening..

Any new updates for filling walleye c tags,

Caught a few yesterday so they are in there. My problem was lots of A but very few B's.

Thanks for the reply, where abouts were you fishing, if you want to pm me thats great, or tell everybody, cheers

Not to be crass but it does not really matter where you fish in that lake for walleye as there are many many walleye in there.

I will tell you how I fish for them which might be more important.


Before I get to a lake I look at bathymetry maps looking for likely structure to try. So before I get to the lake I will have a list of 6 or 8 structure spots that might give me a reasonable chance.


When I get to the lake I look for older grey haired local guys that are heading out, as these guys usually know the good spots and I make a note of where they are going.


I then start my search. I will go to one of my shortlist spots and start drilling holes from the top of the drop +1 hole to the bottom of the drop +1 hole taking depth readings at every hole. My goal here is to have the top of the drop and at least 2 mid depth holes and the bottom flat covered. I then move over 10 meters or so and drill a series of holes back a little off set from the first. That way I can cover more depths. So now I have between 10 and 20 holes drilled and probably don’t need to drill anymore that might disturb the fish.


I now start fishing. First I will set out the tip ups/jaw jackers (at various depths if there is more than just me).

Then I will get my 3 rods out. First rod will be a jig and a minnow as this is the gold standard for walleye. Next rod will have some kind of attractant lure such as a rattle bait. Third rod will have some small finesse bait on it or some other kind such as a jigging spoon.


I will then spend about 5, and usually never more than 10 min, trying the various holes. If I don’t see a fish in that time on the sonar I move to the next hole etc etc etc. That way I can find the depth the size of the fish I want are hanging out at. If I find them at a certain depth I might drill a couple of extra holes to refine my depth pattern.


If I am catching fish but the wrong size I will move slightly. I find the small/younger fish seem to get pushed to the edges of the areas, not to say that they won’t come into the prime spots from time to time but it’s just less likely. So If I am catching large fish but I want small I just expand the area I am in.


If I am not catching fish or seeing much action on the sonar I MOVE to a new location and start the process over again. I keep doing this until I find at least reasonable action on the sonar. If I am seeing lots of action on the sonar but not getting bit then I will start changing lure colors, types, baits, etc. until I find a pattern that seems to be working.


If the Bite slows down I will again start hole hopping my holes. If it stops for a prolonged time I will MOVE to a new area. I have sometimes need to move areas 6 or 8 times to find the type and size of the fish I am targeting and hence, I don’t use and electric auger and rarely setup the tent.

There of course are exceptions to every rule like it it's extremely cold and windy or you are unable to move because of ice/snow conditions. etc.



Hope this helps

Was able to get out and about on Pigeon with a half ton over this past weekend. Fair amount of snow but was able to go where I wanted. 4x4 and good tires a must.

Fishing wasn’t great as compared to what it was a month ago still manged a handful of Pike and a few Walters.

Thanks for the in-depth info, Ill update next week, Saturday is the day I have to fish

Even more snow from a few weeks ago on the lake. It was tough going with my truck and good tires today. We did manage to fill 5 walleye tags though. The bite was on/off all day.

Tough going but if you stay on main trails you should be ok. Hoping to get back out to pigeon in the next couple weeks I have one B class tag left to fill

Access to my spot is off Jonsonia Beach. Tough, tough go. Much more snow, and way less tracks than I was expecting. Laying on couch with bad back from shoveling. Thanks to the two separate fellas with SxS on tracks who helped us out. No fishing done. Best part of day is that I am not stuck on the ice:)

So would you say a snowmobile if you had access to one would be the way to go out to your spot?

Quit your whining. Adventures are adventures. You enjoyed it. Lol

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Yes

I was out at the shack again this weekend, I was ok but saw a few guys stuck and digging.

Looking at the weather forecast just now and it's not looking good for people wanting to access the lake with a truck next weekend.

Thursday 1-3 cm snow
Friday 10-15 cm snow
Saturday 5-10 cm snow
Sunday 1-3 cm snow

Hope the weather man is wrong!

was there on weekend. all of the above. if you do not have snow/winter tires and a high clearance vehicle do venture out. travel in pairs if you do go out so you have a rescue tow. if this forecast is right, fresh snow and drifting will stop all vehicles by end of next weekend. problem now is frozen truck tracks that are hard to stay on and cross, and not enough of them to pack down the snow.

Wondering if the snow settled a bit in the warm twmps. Looking to access from the north. Any floor water yet?. Have a standard height 4x4 pickup with new duratracs. Will bring a shovel.

Anyone been out in the last few days?

Bring two shovels.

It really comes down to, did the hard crust and blown in tracks soften or not. If it was warm enough and the crust softened enough you should have not to may problems. If the crust melted and froze and is still hard getting around could be very difficult off the paths.

That and 10-20 cms of snow forecasted Fri and into Sat. Good luck!

Looking to drive on tmrw morning. Will head to busier spots if access is a no go