From our own Pickeral Boy…
Manitoba walleye hook U.S. anglers
Thu Oct 27 2005
EAST SELKIRK — The best greenback walleye fishing seen in years in this area is luring plenty of greenbacks — the American dollar version.
Yesterday under beautiful blue skies, warm temperatures and no wind, anglers on boats and on shore were reporting trophy size catches of walleye — Most Manitobans call them pickerel — just by dipping their lines in the water of the Red River for several kilometres on both sides of this community.
“The fishing here is just wonderful,” said American angler Larry Tish, who came all the way from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to drop a line in the water.
“It’s just great right now,” he said as he leaned back in his boat, waiting for the next nibble.
“The other day I got five walleye which were over 27 inches. It was probably my best day of fresh water fishing ever. One was probably 31 inches and weighed 14 pounds. “I told a friend of mine that day is something people dream about.”
From the last week of September to roughly the last week of October, the walleye which have spent the summer in Lake Winnipeg swim up the Red River following their food source.
Unlike walleye elsewhere, these fish, from living and eating in Lake Winnipeg, pick up a distinctive translucent green tinge on their backs seen nowhere else, giving them the nickname greenbacks.
Tish said he’s not the only American up on the Red River trying to land this year’s not-so-elusive trophy sized walleye. He has bumped into compatriates from Arizona, Montana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North and South Dakota.
“This is the best walleye fishing I’ve ever been at, bar none.”
To Stu McKay, owner of Cats on the Red at Lockport, those words are music — and dollars — to his ears and bank account.
“It’s a banner year and people are coming from far away, from as far away as Chicago and Omaha,” McKay said as he dropped a line off his aptly named ‘Cat-illac’ pontoon boat along with a couple of his fishing buddies, who included Free Press fishing columnist Don Lamont.
“No question it’s huge for the local economy. It benefits the restaurants, the accommodation, and tackle. It’s just everything.” The interview came to a sudden halt when the end of Lamont’s rod pointed straight down into the silty river water. A few seconds later, a walleye weighing about nine pounds was in a net and in the boat for a few quick photos before being dropped back into the river.
“That’s why people come from all over the place,” a grinning McKay said. “To land one that size, give your high fives, and then put it back in.”
It’s not just Americans from far away who go fishing in this area. Bob Wheeler and Dominic Celone, two Air Canada employees, lucked out and timed their week of holidays with the annual walleye run.
“We looked at this week being sunny and we were glad to have the week off,” Wheeler said. “I haven’t seen it this great in a long time.”
“This year is better than other years,” Celone said. “Even for ice fishing it will be good because there’s so many fish out here.”
Andre Desrosiers, a natural resources officer patrolling this stretch of the Red River, said the number of anglers in the area has matched the spectacle of the number of walleye.
“On Sunday of the long weekend there were 400 boats in the water here plus a couple of thousand anglers on the riverbank,” Desrosiers said.
“And probably 20 per cent of them are Americans. It’s the big walleye that bring them here.”
