Downsizing for giant Lake Winnipeg greenback

Pretty well everyone you talk to has the same topic of interest....the damn winter weather. Its getting downright cold! Wind from all directions, fronts, vortices and cold. Any chance of the fish getting into a pattern? Not even close. This winter has even Lake Winnipeg walleye acting like, well, walleye. The arm wrenching strikes on targets have been missing the last few weeks. The fish are still in the area but a lot of lookers are showing up on the Vexilars. Time to downsize. And again. Finally we found what the fish are interested in eating. 1/8oz Clam Blade Spoons in pink/gold with a tailhooked live minnow.

When setting up the shack (because lets be honest there's not a pile of run and gun fishing in -40C) I drill 3 holes and use the center one for ripping a load rattle bait. The fish will still come in on this but want something more snack sized to chew.

Travel is tracks only now and extensions are the norm. 

Ice Team @ Tolen's Pelican Landing Resort on Lake of the Woods

I was lucky enough to be asked to help represent Ice Team at a contest giveaway from the St Paul Ice Show. 1 lucky winner was picked out of thousands of entries to head up to Tolens Pelican Landing on Lake or the Woods in Morson Ontario, with fellow Ice Team pro Jeff Andersen. Joining us were Clam Outdoors president Steve Geertsen, his son and contest winner Dustin and his father Bryce.

Like much of the ice belt, temperatures were brutally cold the previous couple of weeks, however luck was on our side as the weekend warmed up to near 0C. Perfect to run and gun to get after the myriad of species in this untapped area on Lake of the Woods, which in itself is the best multispecies freshwater fishery in the world.

Tolen's is the perfect base for mobile ice anglers running snowmobiles and portables. New cabins, a comfortable main lodge and access to great fishing. Robert and his family run an first rate camp. We made a amazing scenic run to chase lakers, walleye were found on any main lake point with a deep hole off it. Most surprising of all was the crappie bite. Slabs! we caught big numbers of fish in the 14-15" range. Actually we caught 11 species on the weekend and all on the 1/8oz pink Clam Blade spoon. Pink has long been my go to colour on the northern part of LOTW and it sure transferred here.

Bottom line, great fishing, company, and resort.