Blog - Page 8 of 10 - Fly Fishing Manitoba

September 27, 2015

Once More to my Favorite Place in Manitoba

DCIM100GOPRO

Don’t ask because I will not tell.

Fly Fishing Manitoba

Manitoba

trout

September 05, 2015

MacArthur Falls One Pike and One Small Mouth Bass

Kinda my favorite quick stop warm water fishing spot. On this day I caught one bass (pictures) and one Pike (film) on the spey fly fishing rod.

It is big water.

Fly Fishing Manitoba

bass

Manitoba

pike

August 08, 2015

Fly Fishing MacArthur Falls, Winnipeg River Manitoba

MacArthur falls is a multi-species location I like because of the low angler pressure and the big water I can fish with my spey and switch type fly rods. Bass pike Walleye and moon eye

Fly Fishing Manitoba

August 05, 2015

Alberta Canada Fly Fishing Trip

Well we went to the Waterford Lakes area of Alberta for more than fishing but…

Fly Fishing Manitoba

Alberta

trout

June 23, 2015

Sturgeon Creek Manitoba Fly Fishing

Sturgeon Creek is right here in town

good for when a mid week fishing trip is needed

Fly Fishing Manitoba

Manitoba

pike

June 12, 2015

Fly Fishing Sturgeon Creek Winnipeg

Right in Winnipeg here there are numerous creeks that feed the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Sturgeon Creek is one I frequent.

It has mostly small pike and med carp. On this day I took my 5wt cane rod for a little in town action.

Fly Fishing Manitoba

carp

pike

winnipeg

May 03, 2015

Secret Brook Trout Creek

Don’t Ask, because I won’t tell you.

5

Fly Fishing Manitoba

May 03, 2015

Max Catch 2wt Combo Direct from China Review

There’s a little stream I fish.

The stream has mostly small fish.
I love fishing it with a 2wt.

So far all my 2wt fishing has been with a home built 2wt. From whichI learned 2 things:

How cheap the components are
I don’t enjoy rod building

We have an upcoming trip to Newfoundland and the place is teaming with brook trout streams. Unfortunately my 2wt is 2 piece and as a traveling fly rodder musician and photographer I need to get everything compact.

So I went about my search for a 2wt combo that won’t break the bank. My logic being that I put my last outfit together for $150 ($60 kit, Martin reel and some decent Cortland line).

Now once you get to the 2wt end of fly rodding your selection greatly decreases. As well ‘they’ know that if you are looking for a 6′ 2wt, the addiction is strong in you.

SO I started with my Guide deal at TFO, combed the internet, sought advice on forums and the rod alone was going to cost more than my whole present outfit. Combine that with wanting to get one each for myself and my wife…this was going to cost me $800!!

So, once again, I find myself scoping around eBay. On a lark I searched for 2wts. At first I was getting results that were similar to my previous searches but once I narrowed the parameters to 2wt combos under $200 I found gold.

Maximum Catch eBay Store Photo

The store and manufacturer is Max Catch. I have a sling made by them and it is OK.

Anyways I pulled the trigger.

My logic?

Everything is made in China and renamed for various high end brands
At $72 USD per outfit, how bad would it have to be to be a complete bust?
Even if only the rod was any good I would still be ahead of the game!
I will be using it to fish small streams for small fish…it doesn’t have to be that good

So, rod, reel, line, tube, and sock x 2 delivered to my front door for $144 USD (free shipping too)

So I un-boxed it and I have to say cosmetically it was a mind blower. $72? Should have got 4.

Put it all together and did a little backyard casting. Everything looked and worked beautifully.

Took it fishing. Cast well into the wind played and landed fish well.

I loved it!!

To be fair one shouldn’t be stressing a 2wt with big fish and hero casts. I am not sure how good the reel or the line will be in the long run and I have no idea what upper weight rods would be like but they claim it’s IM 10 graphite.

Here are some pictures.

Fly Fishing Manitoba

Gear Review

Gear Reviews

Manitoba

April 27, 2015

A Bad Day Fishing is Better Than a Good Day a Work…SAYS WHO?

So the weather was fine, the ice was off most of the lakes and I wanted to go fishing. I had to play in the morning and I had to/honoured to/get to teach a casting seminar at Cabela’s till 3pm. So my options were a little short. Stocked trout is the only option this time of year so I decided to hit a place called Reynolds Ponds. The ponds are a series of large reclaimed gravel/limestone pits that have been filled in by the aquifer. Being spring feed and deep they winter most of their fish but they are also stocked yearly. There is great shore access and back casting room. The ponds are both small enough to let you cover a lot of water from shore they are also big enough to accommodate, canoes, kayaks, float tubes, pontoons, and row boats. It is well back of the highway, so quite secluded.

Visually it is only a few docks, benches and manicured landscaping away from the facilities at any high priced private fly fishing facility that I have been at or read about in North America or Europe

Sounds like heaven?
But instead of looking like this…

…it looks like this

Not even close.

I could have spent the day shooting pics of piles of crap people could manage to bring there but not manage to bring out. Most of it with bullet holes in it.

Now it is not a private for fee fishing area so I would be out of my mind to expect it to be anything like one, but with a little effort this resource just out side of the city could be a real gem for locals and visitors.

The local fly fishing association has spent a decent amount of time and public money to develop a province wide trout map and, more relevantly, spent good money on a few failed attempts to have fish in a pond in Birds Hill Provincial park.

Birds Hill 34 minutes from Winnipeg, Reynolds Ponds are 45 minutes.

On this particular day I also had the misfortune of having squatter/campers on the side one of the ponds. They had been there a while and, as of 7pm Sunday night, show no signs of leaving.

They played their music loud making relaxing a challenge and dropped the f bomb with the full force of their lungs and frequently enough that the lone family with kids left.

I did manage a fish. It happen while the squatters where playing Bryan Adam’s “Summer of 69”

On top of that I had two different dogs off leash bark growl charge me one from the squatters and one from other people with no sense about public spaces
A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work?? I wish I was at work

Now some carefully shot/cropped photos of this place and you get what I may be imagining for the place.