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.
Getting the Province’s Longest Running Fishing Forum Going Again!
As you may all be aware, the forum has been tapering off as each person decides social media (Facebook in particular) is their better option.
I get it, a one stop to have your own page and visit all your hobbies in one fell swoop.
I even tried to start a FB version of the forum but I didn’t want it to become like all the previous MB fishing forums and current FB groups (ruining spots with over sharing and spam) so I made it private with admission restricted to members there, only 17 have joined.
Since we have so much excellent info archived there and many are becoming disenfranchised with (or never liked) FB I am taking a shot at bringing the longest standing fishing forum in the province off of life support.
The first step is with you.
You need to participate.
An easy step to remind yourself to go there is to change your email notifications settings.
If you go to Profile -> Edit Profile -> Notifications (tab), you can set forum and/or email notifications there. The checkboxes are for on-forum notifications while the dropdowns are for email notifications.
You can also email or PM if you have thoughts or questions
Tight Lines!
Robert
Whiteshell Manitoba Sept 2022
I will do a round up of our fishing year later but I thought I’d generate a report about a recent trip to the Whiteshell Provincial Park
What makes this different is using my DIJI MIni 2 Drone and my GoPro 10 to document the fun.
I used both previously but have not posted yet. One problem is the GoPro produces files that are not compatible with most editing software. As well, with the larger card I can produce 20 hours of video and that’s a lot to edit. The drone is great for scenery but fishing with it is problematic.
First, here’s some drone footage of two of the 3 spots we hit. The 3rd place is more popular and populated so I didn’t bother.
The first stop was the Dorothy Lake Trout Pond.
Not a Sniff. No jumps rises hits. Now they kept stocking it even though years of drought reduced it to a puddle and they didn’t stock it (or report it at least) this year. But as you will see from the video, it is at peak levels between the rain and the snow melt and the spring at its bottom. The fish might have died in the low water. Hopefully the water levels remain the same and the stocking continues. As far as ponds in the province go, this is a very quiet and pleasant place to fish.
We spent the next bit on the Whiteshell River near Pine Point. Some bass and pike were caught. It was real nice to see the river at a good strong flow. Last year is was shockingly low!
We finished up at the popular Rainbow falls (were I did not fly the drone) and caught small bass and pike.
We had visions of hitting one more spot but, a stop at the Night Hawk Cafe for a burger and the earlier sunset, made that a no go!
Here’s the GoPro 10 footage. My two complaints about this camera is 1) the already stated incompatibility of the files (I have to run them all through conversion software to work in any editing program) and 2) it shuts off if ‘it’ gets too hot. It shut off a few times (and missed capturing a couple of fish). It was only 23 but I am guess it runs hot and the direct sunlight exacerbates that. I think I need a bigger hat!
2021 Round Up
For what ever reason I didn’t do one fishing report or blog update. So I’ll do a slam on the whole season
Drought Drought Drought
As you can imagine the 5-7 year decrease in rain and snow had an awful effect on water levels and the fishing. Places that were good went to being good only in the spring and eventually, not even then. So off my list was any local streams.
The Warm early in March Fairford Trip
A skunking no fish even seen.
Middle of March To the Whiteshell. Low but open water and little snow
Again no fish seen
Mid April Trouting
Not a lot of fish but a few chubs and small brookies
Early May Same Place
More and better fishing
Lyon’s Lake
A few Small ones
Back to the secret location
The next Weekend we were off to the Manigatogan Falls as they enter the Winnipeg River System. Lots of male smallies and a breed of sucker (Silver Red Horse) that were not only feeding but took flies!
Well that was so much fun I decided to go again the next week armed with my 4wt switch!
Then back for more brookies with the Tenkara (reel-less fly fishing).
Then back to Manigatogan the next two weekends
You Guessed it! What can I say I love the place.
Haven’t been to the Red in years and I picked the wrong year to try again…drought
Next two trips had us back chasing brookies.
Hit one of my favourite spots on the Whiteshell…again the drought has taken its toll.
And then my oasis in walleye lake fishing desert
Another of my Haunts is MacArthur Falls. Here we see Stephen with a fly reel he 3d printed (and a small bass. I caught a real nice pike on a switch rod that I am still waiting for a picture of.
Staying at a friends cottage in the Whiteshell had me looking at the river by the hatchery. I have real issues with how this place is run. They can stock little ponds down the road that summer kill fish but can’t put fish in the river RIGHT BESIDE the facility because the levels are too low. While this is a drought year the levels are always too low because they are constantly raising the dam on the river to placate cottage owners.
3 weeks in a row, small stream fishing.
To finish our year we end where we began. Fairford. The greenback run was on and the fishing was good. It was depressing because of the family/crowd on the bank there all day taking everything.
As I write this, we have had a very good snowy winter followed by a very wet April. This bodes well for the coming season!
The Rest of 2020
This year, I am trying to do something else as far as reporting goes. Rather than post my weekly trips and then fend off inquires as to ‘where is that’. I though I’d wait until those sorts were safely hovered over their ice-holes.
June 19th Whiteshell River Headwaters
This stretch of water has been the jewel of river trout fly fishing in Manitoba, for as long as I have lived here. The hatchery is “RIGHT THERE” and yet there were no fish. The water levels were great. I fished till sunset. No rises not pops no dimples…nothing. Sure they have fallen on hard financial times due to cut backs and mismanagement but they are still making fish RIGHT THERE. To stock this river would require zero effort or expenditures. The pothole farmer ponds with aerators are getting their fish out west but the creek beside the fishy factory, nope. Well a creek did get some fish. 4,000 fish they dumped into McKinnon Creek to die when the truck broke down heading to one of those aerated ponds.
Lyons Lake August 2nd
And then the Heat Wave
The blistering prairie heat from late July to mid August is why we go to the east coast every year. So my tying output went up.
Back at it Fall Fishing
Alright, fall feed bag! Last time I was here caught a bruiser!
September 30th Whiteshell
The fall colours, the cooler temps.
It’s a beautiful here in the North central Whiteshell, a rare chance to wade and fish in Manitoba. It is also a lovely walk and chance to see birds and other wildlife!
Lac Du Bonnet Trout Ponds
Too small to call a lake and bigger than your average pond. The only aerated pond east of Winnipeg. It is well stocked and, even when it winter kills, it gets a fresh load while other places languish. I usually use a 6wt on these types of trout ponds. The fish grow fast and large on the fecundity and living in warmer water. But the first fish was of salmon proportions in a brown trout. Probably a brood stocking, maybe it over wintered but, either way, it was a hell of a fish with lots of fight! I landed the fish and was able to catch a few more good fish be fore the stress THAT fish put on my rod caused it to break. One of the rare times I hit the water with just one rod so that was the end. But it was a good day!
Western Brook Trout Oct 4th
I won’t tell you where. You’ll have to do your own homework. The fishing can be spotty and they are not big but what the place doesn’t need is a lot of fishing traffic and the accompanying litter Styrofoam, sunflower seed packs, Michelob cans. Also we have permission as this runs through private land.
The rest of the year
So I went went out a few more times and places nearby but mostly to sort out my 6wt switch rod. As well, I wanted to check out some spots to see if they iced up at all. Given that my 2 weeks of Christmas Fishing in Florida was cancelled due to the restrictions, I figure some open water might be a good salve on a mild day.
So I bought a new line for the switch and it works fantastic as well ordered a 4wt switch. As it stands right now I have booked a week on and near the St. Mary’s River in the Kootenays for August and sorting out the gear needs for that and the coming season.
Till next year
Last Chance
Busy weekend Fly Fishing wise. Friday I went fishing, Saturday I taught a casting lesson. A guy from outta town. Live near some good fishing and wants to do it with a fly rod.
Remember the super keen guy who want me to guide him? Well with my info he went and caught his first fish. But he still wanted to go fishing so I took him on my Whiteshell tour. The aforementioned snow and sudden melt made the conditions horrible for my Friday fishing and we got skunked at multiple location on this day too.
I did show him some great spots that he revisited the next week and still got skunked.
Guess we’ll have to wait till spring!
Lac Du Bonnet Manitoba October 18th
I would have hoped the water would be prime this time of year. We all know about the fall feed bag that fish put on this time as we head to cold cold weather.
Well a little something happened this month. We got a record snow fall early on. I mean more snow than we’d get in an entire winter. If that wasn’t enough, it all melted in a week!
So the water temperatures dropped while the water levels rose…significantly!
I don’t know if this merely put the fishing down or out right killed them in this tiny water body.
But I got skunked!
The fishing reports from before the snow were good.
It was also very cold and windy.
But if it was always easy, it wouldn’t be interesting
September 15th Casting Lesson
So this guy is really hyper to have me take him fishing. As he was local, I really didn’t want to take advantage of him. I could tell him some places to fish with out him paying for a day of my time. So I offered the one hour casting class as an alternative. If his casting was tight, I could spend the time giving him fly fishing options. If it wasn’t, we could get it there.
Turns out it was a little of both. His basic casting stroke was good but his setup was a little off and he definitely benefited from some tips about what flies to use, different kinds of retrieves, how to play a fish, etc.
Whiteshell Lakes Skunking
The lakes of the eastern part of Manitoba used to be jewels. While they are still beautiful they are low on fish. A long time ago, they used a poison to kill off native fish in these lakes to create a ‘clean slate’. The, then, infant stocking program began to load these lakes with hatchery raised fish.
For years they were raising way more fish than they had places for. The number of lakes increases but these lakes still got a good balance of fish. We had 3 good lakes plus some ponds and inaccessible lakes in the heavily populated east and 2 lakes in the less dense south western part and a few more in the the Duck Mountain region.
It was a good balance of streams, small ponds, small, medium and large lakes. Something for the wading angle the float tube angle and the boat angler.
Over the last few years the focus became on the new western lakes. We already had a few aerated lakes in William and Bower but a group really got crazy at finding naturally killed off lakes (winter summer kill) putting aerators in them and then getting them stocked.
Now we have a situation where the demand is greater than the supply.
You may ask a few questions?
- Why does a province as under populated and wild as Manitoba need a stocking program?
- Why would you need to stock a non-native and non- reproducing species?
- Why would you depend on aerators and and remote infrastructure to keep these fish alive?
- Why would you allow any retention of these fish?
- Why would you allow bait fishing of these lakes?
- Why would you allow ice fishing on these lakes
What started off as novelty has turned into something else.
the something else is hard to define but put simply; a lake that is aerated and maintained by a local government gets fish put in by a level of provincial government in the hopes of getting tourist dollars. The concept is that if 2 lakes can generate income more lakes would too?
That’s not how it works.
Anyhow the bottom line is the eastern lakes went a few years without any stocking (don’t believe the stocking reports) and every new lake got fish.
This put a strain on the hatchery budget and we now buy eggs from the states where we used to rear them ourselves.
They now stock the eastern lakes with tiny fish only so they are easy prey for water fowl and other fish eaters.
This was the long way around to telling you I got skunked bad on a lake I have fished for 2 decades.
Not even the bait fisher introduced perch
Whiteshell Bass Bonanza
The Manitoba headwaters of the Whiteshell river is not the true head waters, that is somewhere in western Ontario. The Whiteshell Rivers winds through the Whiteshell park in eastern Manitoba. It is a series of river runs and lakes starting with West Hawk Lake and ending at Nutimik Lake (part of the Winnipeg River System.
We went to the headwaters in search of trout that are stocked there. The last time I was there it was a disaster. Not only where there no fish, but there was no signs of life. No bugs no hatches…not even a mosquito.
There was extensive work on a new bridge but there is no mention anywhere about a spill or anything related. The only thing up stream of the bridge is the lake so it is likely there was a spill of something related to the bridge construction.
If something happened, it was hushed up.
Combined with the lack of water over the years (due to hatchery employees raising the dam at the request of their lake home owner buddies) this once jewel of the east has fallen on hard times.
Cant fish with out food in our bellies so off the the Night Hawk Cafe (Vegans look away)
On to the fishing
This time, the water levels seemed better (and the make shift 6×6 was removed from the dam). While we didn’t get a lot of trout (1) the bass were up from Caddy Lake.
And the one trout, a recent stocking for sure!
Over all this bit of water is looking better than is has for quite a while (under the direction of a different person).
I for one am very happy to have a place to go to and is friendly to the MAJORITY of fishers who don’t have a boat!