May Fly Fishing Manitoba and Ontario
My true opener
I did go to Ontario for the Victoria Day Weekend but the fishing areas and opportunities were poor
Back home to fish the Lac Du Bonnet Ponds
Robert Burton
info@flyfishingmanitoba.com
204-770-0846 (Texting only)
Big Creek Manitoba
I need to make better notes on these trips if I am going to wait so long to post them.
I remember thinking it was a bonus trip as we no longer have a closed season but no one told the fish
I am guessing it was too early and too cold.
Robert Burton
info@flyfishingmanitoba.com
204-770-0846 (Texting only)
March 2024 Fly Fishing
I went one place, froze and got skunked…great day
Robert Burton
info@flyfishingmanitoba.com
204-770-0846 (Texting only)
Stonfo Razor Blade holder
It is not news that trimming and shaping materials like spun deer hair and sculpin wool, is best don with a razor blade. But, as a professional musician and educator, I can’t take a chance of slicing my fingers for the sake of a fly.
I have just trimmed with scissors and accepted the results.
Enter the Razor Stonfo tool. The grip spins to allow trimming with the razor flat or a semi circle. For me, who’s been tying for years, it is a game changer. Ya my scissor trimmed muddlers still caught fish, but now I can show them in public.
Overall, I tie to ‘throw not to show’ so I am not looking to win an tying contest but, this tool makes trimming spun deer hair fun and fast.
Here’s a short video.
Spindler Popper Body Tool
Popper bodies for exciting top water action is nothing new. The variety of shapes, sizes and colours is truly great today but, if we are going to tie our own flies, let’s make our own foam shapes!
make your Own Popper Bodies
Mike Corrigan, from the Manitoba Fly Fishers Association, turned us onto a tool for turning out popper bodies for fly fishing with a Dremel tool. Called the Spindler, it is a take on an old way I used to spin popper bodies. I burned out my old Dremel making them.
We’d take an industrial sewing needle (because they where thick enough to put in the Dremel’s chuck and also some bite to the foam. I used to make foam cylinders sharpening a bit of copper tube and hammering it into beach sandals. They were called “beach sandal poppers. Then stick them on the needle and run the rotary toll on high and apply an emery board to shape and smooth.
Introducing “The Spindler”
I bought mine from The Caddis Fly Shop but they seem to readily available online and in some stores.
Now the next stage is I got some “Hollow Punch” drill bits to create some raw popper shapes
Here’s a video of successes and failures
January 2024 Fly Fishing Florida
Fishing the last few days of our annual Florida Christmas Trip.
Last day in the Destin area
Then 2 days later I fishing the pond in the parking lot of Coronado Springs in Disney
I only Got one bass and that was while trying to avoid a small gator
No More fishy until March at the earliest
Robert Burton
info@flyfishingmanitoba.com
204-770-0846 (Texting only)
Fly Fishing Reports for 2023
To save time and to have pleasant, fly fishing stuff to do in the winter, I have just made one large report.
As I didn’t go to Florida and it was a long winter, My first report is not until May.
1. May 14th Secret trout creek
If I am going to wait this long to fish, better make it a good one! Lots of walking and small trout to get the cob webs out.
2. Manigotagan River May 22nd
A couple hours north, in the middle of nowhere for bass, pike and red fin suckers.
3. Manigotagan River May 28th
Go to the same place twice in a row? Well give the sucker runs and presence of big female bass is temporary, get will the getting’s good!
4. Secret Creek June 18th
Pretty much Father’s day fly fishing
5. Pine River Manitoba June 30th
1st day on a 9 day trip. First stop is the lower crossing of the Pine river. No fish really but beautiful shots from my drone.
6. Pine River Manitoba July 1st
Canada Day Fly Fishing For Native Brook trout!
7. Goose River Manitoba July 2nd
Near Cranberry Portage. Took a while to get a feel for the place. Managed a sucker and to crash my drone. It was retrieved and flew fine!
8. Goose River July 3rd
We explored the lower Goose River searching for the Brook Trout.
Then headed back up closer to the canyon.
When you’re the trip photographer, getting pictures of your own fish can be a challenge.
Not much chance to get a night sky photo on this trip
9. Goose River July 4th
Repeat
Stu Trying for a resting pike in the shallows.
When we say it’s a one fly situation, it means the fly lasts one fish.
10. Barbe Lake July 5th
Is it pronounced Barb or Barbie?
Stocked Trout Brookies and Rainbows
I took only a couple of photos of landed fish as I was counting on my GoPro Footage to cover the rest but the GoPro 11 defaults to HVEC format and that is a whole layer of processing. Suffice it to say I caught quite a few big trout both Brookies and Bows
11. Barbe Lake July 6th
The rest of the group did a day trip into Amphipod Lake I returned to Barbe.
Again, I counted on the video to capture my success but I manage a few more pictures.
We finished the day at Goose River.
12, 13. July 8th and 9th Pine River
On the drive back we revisited the Pine.
Kinda a repeat of last time, lots of nice fish and scenery
14-15. More Brook Trout
I will never tire of brook trout. Our little secret was in high water mode (with the help of a beaver family)
16. August 14 Downstream of the private access brook trout section
Nothing but chubs. But they take a fly well (especially drys), fight hard, grow big and there are large numbers! Hardly picture worthy though.
17. August 22nd Fly Casting Class
I joined fellow club members in teaching a fly casting and fishing class. I am not a fan of this approach (large numbers varying levels of interest) but people learn to cast a bit and saw fish landed.
18. Aug 26 Brook trout Stream
Never disappoints
19. Trip to Ontario for Labour Day
My sister rented a cottage in Tamworth. The dock fishing was amazing but also a nearby stream to wade for smallies!
20. Dock at Tamworth
Actually the dock. As mentioned the fishing off the dock was spectacular!
21, 22, 23, Sept 29, 30 Oct 1st. Failed Pine River Trip
Thought a fall trip to the Pine would be awe some. Turns out the fish disappear at this time. We tried the lower mid and headwater sections and got zero fish. The scenery was spectacular but we needed to go to an old standby to actually get fish.
25. Oct 15th Lyon’s Lake
I remember when the bulk of my reports would be out of the Whiteshell area with the River and this lake making the majority of trips. Still a beautiful easy access place to fish.
26. LDP Trout Pond
As the light fades it’s nice to have a couple of trips that don’t entail driving back in the dark with every other car having headlamps with X-Ray strength.
27. Fairford River
When the weather changes here, it changes hard. Now we have ice flows and snow on the ground. Walleyes on a fly rod!
28-35 Florida Dec 23rd-31st
Every year we go to Florida to celebrate Christmas. What’s Florida without fishing bass ponds and what’s Christmas without flyfishing?
A mix of Largies, Shell Crackers, and Pumpkin Seeds…some of which got photos
That’s it folks. 35 fishing days. Some all day some just a few hours. This is a number I strive to beat each year. This was a low year for me so next year should be easier.
Fly Fishing Manitoba
info@flyfishingmanitoba
Winnipeg,
Manitoba
Canada
R3N 1P5
(Texting only) 204-770-0846
Yes, you can fish in Newfoundland without a guide.
I was going to have a whole video rich post of fly fishing in my favourite province from my new GoPro 10 I did but the default settings were incompatible with any normal persons computer. (HVEC) So, while I could convert them eventually, I could not do it at the end of the day. So I ended up with too many hours of footage. A year later I have dealt with less than a ¼ of it. So I’ll just tell you.
You can do a lot of fishing in Newfoundland without a guide.
Yes. Now the rules change yearly so you do have to be aware but one thing to never do is ask a local. They don’t need a guide they don’t need a trout license so they don’t know more than what affects them directly. Even many CO are not clear on the rules for CFA (Come From Away)
Trout, Trout and Trout
First off, there is a tonne of salmon free trout water all over the province. In the town of St. John’s there are 3-4 viable trout streams. All around the province there is plenty of trout water. You do have to be careful that a random stream is not a tributary of a scheduled salmon river.
Salt
Another worry free option is the salt. All rivers are open to anyone at the mouth. Sea trout are in many if not most. As in all things fishing, some places are better than others. There is also the option of fishing the salt from shore. On year I was in Bonne Bay and caught mackerel on a fly from the dock.
Salmon!!
That is the main attraction for many. A guide is a great idea and gets you on desirable water. In my investigations, I have found that guides are either attached to lodges or just not that internet savvy. That may have change but looking up guides, in a jurisdiction that requires guides, provides shockingly few results.
Within sight of a highway bridge.
The actual rule is 800 meters of a provincial highway. That usually means a bridge but can mean a highway parallel to a river. That gives you over a kilometer and a half of river. Maybe not the best water, but the locals don’t fish it so you might have it to yourself and you don’t need a guide. These areas are not marked so you have to know how far you are.
Gros Morne National Park
You need a Gros Morne salmon license as well as a provincial salmon license but you can fish 100% of the salmon rivers in the park without a guide (not Terra Nova National Park for some reason) Lomond is awe some but a bit of a hike but Deer Arm is right by the road.
Some Things To Consider
Non residents need a trout license and to cover your @$$ (even if you do not target salmon) you should get a Non resident salmon license.
I am only fly fishing so I didn’t have to figure if it was fly only or spin allowed water. barbless is a habit with me so that wasn’t an issue either.
And Some pictures.
NFL is missing out on a great tourism idea
I really feel the wide variety of trout rivers and stream are a missed opportunity for Newfoundland tourism. They could still guard the salmon stocks (or guard them harder) while promoting the trout fishing for tourists not wanting a guide. Imagine catching brown trout on the fly inside the city limits! Locals could rent gear or even low cost guiding.
Manigotagan River Manitoba May 22nd 2023
Time for our semi annual trip the Wood Falls Section of the Manigotagan River 200km north east of Winnipeg Manitoba.
Each year we go open minded and so far it has given something different each time.
Once known as White Bass hot spot the last few times we have been there has been Smallmouth Bass Northern Pike and Shorthead Redhorse Suckers.
This trip we were into bass, lots of bass and good size. They were females fresh from leaving the males on the beds protecting fry. So they were hungry!
A few bite off and one pike landed.
I was using a 6wt Switch rod and my partner was using a 7wt. Fly of the day was the Black over white Clouser. Other flies worked but not as well.
Also included is this video I shot between fish. A mix of drone footage, hand held and still photos.
The End of the Fairford River Freeze Off
With the new regs in place, giving us year round fishing (except for the Holy Walleye), the need to scream 2½ hours north to the only fly rod friendly water in the province, before seasons end, is gone.
It was a great run. 20 years of getting some fishing in before the 6 week closure.
We had good years, brutal years and everything in between. The thought of going another 6 weeks after a long winter propelled us northward willing to brave brutal winds bone chilling temps a icy waters and frozen line guides.
Now, if you want to scratch that itch, we can go any mild day of the year.
In some ways I’ll miss it.
It really was thing to look forward to.
It really attracted new comers to the sport
It highlighted the hardcore fly rodders.
But 20 years is a good run for a tradition that helped build fly fishing in the province.