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2018-2019 Year In Review (Best Of)

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Best of compilations are fun, right? With the 2018/19 general fishing season now closed I’ve sat down and reflected on the type of season it was and came up with quite a few highlights. While overall numbers of fish caught were down for me, the quality of fish was much better and some special fish were caught, well special to me at least. Here’s my personal top 5 fish from the past season. 5 – The Corstiphine Chunk. April 20 th was an epic day on the ice for me. It’s not very often one catches 5 master angler qualifying trout in two hours. Corstiphine lake is one of the fastest emerging trophy rainbow trout fisheries in the province, one that’s a mere 15 minutes away from my house. I had a blast last winter and spring exploring this new fishery. While the fishing was generally consistent, trophy sized trout were still only being landed at one or two per session. That was until this day. Right from the get go I was on the fish and didn’t stop catching until it was ...
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Pelican Lake On Blast (But for the right reasons)

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I’m pretty careful about putting a body of water on full social media blast, especially a lake without any tighter management regulations in place. My reasoning isn’t to protect anything for myself, but more out of respect for the local anglers who fish the lake every day and is a deep part of their lives. So this post is going to seem a bit off, but there’s a good reasoning that I’ll get to. During the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s Pelican lake was the go to destination for trophy perch in Manitoba and an amazing walleye fishery. Fishermen traveled far and wide for a chance to test her waters, it was nothing to see 200 to 300 trucks on the lake during late March. Fertile and shallow, the lake was full of forage for these fish, and those fish were plentiful and grew fast. But, the shallow fertile waters was a double edged sword. The same factor in the lakes high productions was also part of it’s cyclic downfall. Pelican lake would periodically suffer massive winterkills. Th...
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West Coast Dreaming Part 2 – The Drift. “Avoid being a one trick pony”. Consistent angling success is built off of this outlook, at least in my opinion. I was able to key on some amazing bites and fisheries for multiple species as I discovered independence in my early to mid twenties. That success however would often dry up as conditions changed and fisheries cycled. It was boom or bust, with very little in between. Over the years since I learned how to evolve, adapt and move beyond what I understood and knew. Pushing myself to new tactics, waters and species. This new foundation has led to consistent success and some of the most amazing experiences, such as catching my unicorn fish in Oregon. So, I quickly recognized that the spot I was fishing for steelhead on the Sandy River wasn’t going to hold fish the same as the river levels returned to normal. My experience after my initial success backed that up. Gone where the one fish every time I fished there, ...
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Markosky on my mind. EDIT!!!  Since publishing this story I've found out that the province doesn't stock Triploids, and Markosky's are in fact triploids.  Still a cool story, even if I was out in left field. It must be pretty clear by this point that I’m a trout addict. Always have been, since I was a little kid. Don’t take this the wrong way, there’s nothing wrong with those who fish for walleye regularly. I just don’t get the hype around a species that’s so plentiful, easy to target and fight like a dead log. Walleye eat well, and at least they’ve got that going for them ;-) All rainbow and brown trout are stocked in this province, as are most brook trout. It’s the reality of the waters found here. There simply isn’t the spawning habitat for wild fish to exist. Most other provincial jurisdictions maintain most of their stocked trout fisheries as catch and keep. Large fish in easily accessed lakes are the exception, not the rule. However, here in Mani...
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West Coast Dreaming Part 1 – Lighting The Steelhead Flame. I’m an inland Canadian prairie boy, through and though. Pretty much every aspect of my life up until 2016 revolved around what I learned about hunting and fishing while growing up here. This always served me well, I found success and satisfaction in my outdoor lifestyle here. Life as I knew it was good. Then I met a girl. Dawn lived near Portland. We did the online thing for a while, then decided to meet. She first came here and we hit it off. From there it was trips back and forth. I took her out fishing every time she came here, but I never wetted a line while in Oregon. That was until march 2017. My first fishing trip in Oregon was to Hagg lake, a wonderfully beautiful body of water found east of Portland. It was home to multiple species of fish, stocked trout, large and small mouth bass and pan fish. We hit the lake right after Oregon fish and game had stocked it with trout. However my...
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Finding Success During April Absurdity. It's the last Sunday in March here in Manitoba. Frozen lakes are dotted with anglers looking for one last pike or walleye before time is up. Then the clock strikes midnight, fishing season is over. Or is it? For a small group of rabid anglers March madness turns into April absurdity. While the general fishing season is closed, stocked trout waters within Manitoba are just hitting their prime and us trout nuts are just getting into the best fishing of the year. I'm writing this blog specifically to help anglers who are interested in, or are new to fishing Manitoba's stocked trout lakes. Social media posts on such pages as Ice Fishing Manitoba and Manitoba Monster Trout are littered with how and where questions any time someone shares an image. Most anglers who have taken the time to gather knowledge are hesitant to share info with some good reasons. Rainbow, brown, brook and tiger trout can be delicate fish that are s...
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