Fog and fishing enjoy the day with Lake Winnipeg's winter walleye paradise – Grand Forks Herald

LAKE WINNIPEG, Manitoba – We had barely gotten started, and I didn't even have a line in the water, when Jim Stinson joined the kind of fish that draws anglers in droves to Lake Winnipeg every winter.

That's right—a beautiful 26½-inch Lake Winnipeg “green” walleye, a ball of fins known for its pinkish-blue-green backs unique to the big Manitoba lake where the Red River flows. Travel north to Hudson Bay.

After a few quick photos, Stinson returned the walleye to the depths.

Now this is how a day of fishing begins.

It was Saturday morning, February 3rd, and I made the trip north to join Stinson for a day on the ice on Lake Winnipeg. A retired RCMP officer from East Selkirk, Stinson, Manitoba, has been visiting the big lake twice a week since mid-January.

Fishing was good.

We've known each other for over two decades, and Stinson and I have fished together many times over the years, including a trip to Prairie Lake in western Manitoba last season that was the best walleye fishing I've ever had. all summer.

Most winters, Stinson uses a snowmobile to get to his favorite fishing spots on Lake Winnipeg, but this year's mild winter and lack of snow allowed him to drive around the ice.

Since there were no ice roads on Lake Winnipeg—not where we fished, anyway—Stinson left the shore and followed well-trodden paths to a location north of Balsam Bay on the southeast shore of the great lake. GPS tracks from previous trips to the fishing grounds allowed him to navigate rough, jagged ice and several pressure ridges.

With five straight holes drilled, we set up at Stinson's and fished 26 inches of ice in 19 feet of water until 8:30 am.

Stinson said the early start was critical this winter because there was a “biting window” in the morning, followed by a lull in the afternoon, then another flurry in the afternoon.

This day passed in the same way.

Like many anglers today, Stinson jumped on the forward sonar bandwagon last summer with the purchase of a Humminbird Mega Live. A wonderful piece of electronics allows him to see the underwater world, which many years ago would have been difficult to understand.

The section clearly showed all four of our lines, and even the barrel swivels that Stinson tied a foot above two of his lines to prevent the line from twisting were clearly visible. Even the insides could be seen to the bottom as the fish passed by. At other times, schools of large fish swimming under the ice light up the top of the screen.

In the morning I started using the Humminbird Helix 5 – an efficient but relatively simple piece of electronics – but spent more time looking at my lines on the Stinson's Mega Live screen. Soon I turned off my electronics and pulled the transducer out of the water.

For whatever reason, most of the walleyes swimming along the bottom of the lake moved from right to left on Stinson's screen. This gave him his first shot at Wally and he made the most of the opportunity.

At least that's my excuse for fishing and I'm sticking to it.

Lake Winnipeg has a well-deserved reputation for producing trophy walleyes – the province's popular Master Angler program database shows nearly 7,400 walleyes that meet the 28-inch minimum requirement have come from Lake Winnipeg over the years, but we landed most of the fish during this time. The morning rush was of the “good eater” variety.

Manitoba regulations that take effect in April 2023 require anglers to release all walleyes 55 centimeters, about 21.6 inches, and larger. In the past, anglers could catch a single walleye in Lake Winnipeg no longer than 70 centimeters, or 27.5 inches, per year.

That rule was hard to come by for 10-year-old Kane Furstenau of Cavalier, North Dakota, who landed a 31-inch, 18.6-inch behemoth walleye in Lake Winnipeg on Sunday, Feb. 4. Using the walleye weight estimation formula – length x girth x girth / 750 – the big fish at Furstenau weighed about 14.3 pounds.

“He had a hard time accepting the new release rule for this 31-inch fish,” said Cain's grandfather, Roger Furstenau of Cavalier, who shared a photo of his grandson's Lake Winnipeg giant.

After a fast morning start, the afternoon lull was on schedule and the occasional moving fish on Stinson's Mega Live showed little interest in biting. The action picked up again in the afternoon when we collected the lines and called it shortly after 5pm, landing our limit of four fish walleye and releasing a few others that were too big to keep.

Stinson's favorite was a small, pink and white Northland Buckshot Rattle spoon, and I had good luck with a 3/16-ounce silver “Evening Call” spoon, which also had a head.

A 26½-inch walleye Stinson caught to start the day was the biggest of the excursion, but he also landed a 25-incher. We caught a total of 15 walleyes and lost or missed a few more.

It was overcast and hazy in the morning, good visibility as we hit the ice, but by the end of the day there was heavy fog. By the time we loaded Stinson's truck for the 3.7 mile drive back to shore, visibility was no more than a few feet.

There were some difficult moments trying to find our way around the extensive ice, but Stinson's GPS soon got us on our way and we made it to shore without incident before dark.

How this winter went is a sign of a successful trip.

Wow.

The original plan was to fish on Sunday as well, but sensibly we heeded the heavy fog warnings and decided to enjoy a morning of coffee and conversation before heading back to Grand Forks.

In hindsight, it still seems like the right choice.