Lake Winnipeg Walleye Action
Since I'm a Winnipeg boy originally, I was visiting family over the holidays. My brother-in-law and nephew are keen fishermen, and took me walleye fishing on Lake Winnipeg, about a 1 1/4 hour drive north of Winnipeg.
Specifically we drove onto the lake via Chalet Beach Road which is on the southwest corner of Lake Winnipeg. With our gps we drove about 1 km northwest of the mouth of the Red River and started drilling holes. The ice was very solid, 18", and very good quality due to an unusually cold December. The water was 11 ft. deep under the ice, and the bottom basically flat and featureless, mainly a sand bottom. We jigged with rattle plugs, chrome with a silver back seemed to be the best.
Basically with the Marcum flashers, when we saw a fish, we slowly raised the lures off the bottom while jigging, and often a walleye would strike at about 5 ft. off the bottom. Apparently they startle perch off the bottom, which suspend about 4 or 5 ft. off the bottom when startled, then the walleye rise and grab breakfast.
After catching several nice walleye from 4 to almost 10 lbs, we moved to an area about 1 km straight off the mouth of the Red River. Here the fishing was just as good, and the water about 12 ft. deep. We caught several more in the 5-8 lb range. According to my nephew who has caught literally dozens of "Manitoba Master Angler Walleye" (needs to be 28 inches or longer) and many more dozens of "master angler channel catfish" (he doesn't bother anymore to record them due to the numbers he has caught), Lake Winnipeg itself is superior for ice fishing over the Red River. Many folks ice fish for large walleye from Lockport downstream to the mouth of the river where it enters Lake Winnipeg. While you will certainly catch a few large 8-10 lb plus walleye in the Red River, you will catch more and larger walleye in Lake Winnipeg proper.
Lake Winnipeg must be about the best ice fishing walleye lake in the world. Large groups of dozens of tents were scattered about the southern part of the lake, and most folks were catching good numbers of LARGE walleye. How large? The largest verified walleye my nephew's friend has caught this year is 15 lbs 9 ounces. There are rumors of fish a bit over 18 lbs that were released. Nowadays most walleye are released, a big change from when I was a kid fishing in the 70s...
This Lake Winnipeg walleye fishing is a relatively new thing it appears. It really only started in any size in the last 6 or 7 years. Its amazing a world class walleye fishery like this went undiscovered by the masses until just a few years ago. Up until then, only the very odd cottage owner would ever go ice fishing on Lake Winnipeg, and they weren't talking. Now its a virtual city of lights most days in the evenings.
Its a great trip, and by all means go if you are in the Winnipeg area this winter. A tent with a heater is recommended as the winds really whip around on the lake and the temperatures can be pretty brutal as well.
The first photo is me with a 9 lb 4 oz. walleye, the second my nephew Scott with "only" a 8 lb walleye. Except for a very brief photo, all fish were released unharmed except for the two smallest we caught all day, about 4 lbs each, which we kept for dinner.
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