View Full Version : Pine Falls
Hawgeye
10-16-2000, 07:34 AM
Just curious, what is the latest fishing report for the previous weekend? Has it continued to be good fishing? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Fish?...Well, just because
Hawgeye
I heard it was slower and some fish going in the river now.
manitobawalleye
10-16-2000, 07:16 PM
was up on saturday
3 in our boat caught 50-60 walleyes and sauger at the mouth of the lake... also had about 30 perch nice ones.... no big fish this trip... most of the tourney boys fished the lake ... a trollathon from what i saw... the fish were going crazy in the morning...we went thru 2.5 tubs of minnows.... we trolled for about 20 minutes and returned to jigging... did not fish the river no need..... when we left teddy stewner and partner from winnipeg were leading the tourney with about 54lbs and a 9lb lead ... top ten from first day were still coming to the scales... one couple wieghed a 11 and a 14 on sat along with slot fish and were sitting at 45lbs.... quite a few boats did poorly with less than 20lbs all in same area but cranks not in the right place at the right time... also noticed boats trolling across the channel... had to be pulling risto raps or deep reefrunners or snap weights as this is out of typical #9 depths.. total of 72 entries about 100-120 boats total.... going back this sat....
TEAM_ALTO
10-16-2000, 09:24 PM
I've been up at pine falls since Sunday and its slow, best luck has been trolling in the bay. Guys jiging the river are slow too but their smaller. Sunday with 3 people fishing we boated 25 largest 27.5", Monday we got 22 largest 27". The problem is a south wind, if we got a good north wind it would help and the water level is dropping. We will be up here until Saturday.
Bob
Last Thursday the fishing was extremely slow cranking at the mouth, this may have a lot to do with the closing of the dam for a couple of days which slowed the current down to a crawl. A lot of guys in the tourney did terrible as a result, although guys like Alex Keslar and Ted Stewner had a more than respectable showing.
Really need a good stretch of Westerly or Northerly winds for a couple of days along with some current to get it hopping again.
chrism
10-17-2000, 06:55 PM
Agree with the other posts - we caught a lot of small eyes and sauger at the mouth 'till we realized our minnow supply was dwindling. We did get over a school of 24" fish and caught about 10 of them, followed by a large school of 21" which we exhausted our minnows. They did not seem to like the powerbaits we had.
Trolling the zone was unproductive at best. In 5 hours each day (Sunday/Monday)our tally was about 12 fish, only two above 26". I noticed that jigs/minnows were taking over crankin as preffered method of catching fish. Lots of lite bites and lots of lips caught on stingers.
Ha ha - and we caught 3 carp trolling 1km north east of the rock island!
The Red was very productive today(tues) even though the locks were to be opened yesterday. There were lots of fish and only 7 boats in sight!!!!!!! Of course my fishing partner landed the bigger fish - two 27"s for him and one 26"for me, and a half dozen 22-23" all on live minnows and 1/4oz pink/char jigs. And more saugers than I care to mention.
If I were going out tommorrow it would be the Red, no hesitation!
I went out yesterday and tried trolling the flats for about 4 hours and two of us only came up with 8 fish of which only 4 were eaters. Went NW from the "rock pile" to jig and we managed to pick up about a dozen more good eating size walleye (18-20inch) with live minnows.
Biggest were a 5lber and a 6.4lber.
The spillway at Powerview was "dry" and hence the current is stil l less than ideal.
This is definately a lot slower than mid September. Might have to venture to the Red instead.
Steve W.
10-19-2000, 11:45 AM
Does the dam get opened and closed periodically for power generation? I'm driving to Pine Falls in a week and was looking forward to some good fishing. Maybe I'm a couple of weeks too late. Is there any hope of the good bite returning, or should I think about fishing the Red? Thanks, Steve W.
Manitoban Fisherman
10-19-2000, 03:07 PM
Steve , stick to Pinefalls current still flowing through powerhouse just spillway closed down due to controling water levels in Lake Of The Woods. Fishing good in river for 1-3 lbs Walleyes with some 4-7lbs added to the mix. ( Jig and Minnow bite) Trolling crank baits on lake is slow , but if they turn on look for Walleyes 8-15lbs. Reports from the Red River is hit and miss with several boats returning back with no fish.
I would never substitute Pine Falls for the Red in Oct/Nov, it will definitely pick up and should get even better than it was in late September. Like one of the other replies said...the Red is hit and miss whereas the Pine Falls bite continues to improve right up until freeze up.
I would think the Pine Falls "river" activity should be picking up soon. On Wednesday I saw about a dozen boats in the river...which is 11 more than were in the river on the tournament weekend.
This weekend we are scheduled to get another dose of strong south winds....I'm praying for a good stretch of NorthWest winds soon.
I'm heading out to Pine Falls tomorrow morning...will provide an update hopefully Saturday night.
Tom/ND
10-20-2000, 11:21 AM
We just got back from Pine Falls last night. For our boat, Wednesday was the best day, with 4 in the 9-10 lbs class, with quite a few 4-7 pound fish. Most came trolling cranks, with a few on jigs. Two others in our party did better on Thursday, using spinner- bottom bouncer and minnow combo to put a couple 9-10 pounders in the boat. The wind did switch to the North, so hopefully it stays there awhile.
Overall, it sounds like there are fewer big fish now than earlier, although I know of several 11's and a 13 on Wed- Thursday- mostly on spinners.
Steve W.
10-20-2000, 02:08 PM
Tom:
Thanks for the info. Can you give me anything on locations, cranks, spinnerblade & bead colors, etc.? Feel free to e-mail me if you don't want to post.
Thanks,
Steve W.
Ps: Only 6 days, 13 hours, and 32 minutes til I leave (not that I'm counting or anything!!).
Cranking on the flats....
#8 - Deep Shad Raps (preferably firetiger or clown colored)
Storm Deep Jr Thundersticks - Firetiger or Hot Firetiger
Jigging
1/4 oz. - Chautreuse Jigs and Live Chubs
Cranking on the flats....
#8 - Deep Shad Raps (preferably firetiger or clown colored)
Storm Deep Jr Thundersticks - Firetiger or Hot Firetiger
Jigging
1/4 oz. - Chautreuse Jigs and Live Chubs
Steve W.
10-23-2000, 06:52 AM
Thanks for the info.
Steve W.
Tom/ND
10-24-2000, 07:16 AM
I agree with Gerry's recommendations, and would add: Pay attention to where the fish are relative to the bottom when cranking, and adjust line length/depth accordingly. Most of our fish cranking came with a change in speed, some when the lure was completely stalled, some when it surged, so do a lot of s-turns. Best baits were #8 clown SR & Deep Jr T-stick in a kind of sparkly perch color. The same basic colors worked best with beads and blades, with the blade barely turning.
Hawgeye
10-24-2000, 12:14 PM
I was there from the 19th through the 21st. I would have been there on the 22nd but I blew up my motor on Saturday morning on the way out to the lake. Thursday by far was the best day and Friday sucked. Fished the lake and only caught a few before the wind drove me out of the lake. Saturday due to the blown motor I could only fish the access area and caught small ones. I know a lot of the local "pros" who did at the best "poor". With the wind out of the north, it should help. Time to get a new boat, 3 years in a row mechanical problems! $#!t! Best of luck to those of you heading back up or going for the first time of the year!
dogfish
10-24-2000, 04:20 PM
Totally agree with the lure speed in the turns,stalls and etc. Seemed like I caught the most fish when crank was about a foot of the bottom depending on the day. Try different depths on the edge of the channel in the bay. 11-15' area seemed to produce well especially over rock bottom areas. Was fairly impressed with new rapala #14 deep husky jerk. On the inside of the turns it would suspend then speed up coming out. Sometimes would have a fish on when slowing down to reel in a different rod. Colors that worked the best were clown,firetiger and pearl white during late afternoon. As mentioned before best lures were deep jr. thundersticks and #8 shad rap followed by deep husky's. Fishing really slowed down late in the week for us. Seemed like wally's would only take smaller baits this year trolling. Another thing that definitely helped was pumping your rod when not in the turns. Get worn out pretty quick doing this. but when fishing was slow it helped big time.
We were up there 15-21 and our best days were 15-16. Holy ##### was it rough out in the bay on Fri morning. Only caught four fish trolling then had to dry out clothes and recooperate the rest of the day. Haugeye I think we saw you at the landing with your boat. Did you have the Honda engine? Seemed like their were quite a few guys with engine problems.
One guy even had a muskrat chew threw his transducer cable when he had the boat sitting in the water all summer back home,ha!! It was a big white rat house. Make sure you get all the furry friends out of your boat before ya head nort. Rats in the states don't speak French.
dogfish
chrism
10-24-2000, 08:08 PM
Bummer about the rig! Actually, as busy as it gets sometimes, that area just a couple hundred yards NW (downstream) of the launch produces some real hogs at this time of the year - both sides of the river are good and there's a small 12' mid river hump just out from the launch which I'm sure you found. I caught some nice fish (fat 21-23"ers)Sunday in the river, and those I talked to who fished the lake said it was still spotty . And there were a few green faces looking for the gravol!
Further to dogfish's (how did you get your handle?)and your post about trolling, We found everything mentioned in your posts to be a factor as to whether we caught or not - Also, I noticed that if our cranks were hitting bottom and getting mud on the lips, our success dropped to almost zero as compared to paying attention to keeping the hook just off bottom and not tapping the mud/rocks. Guess they dont like the taste of Lake winnipeg muck!
I still have yet to clean a fish that has anything bigger than a 2-3" minnow in it's stomach - but they are sure getting chubby!
For those coming up this week, the weather is suposed to change to north winds and normal temps.
Harty
10-24-2000, 08:56 PM
My fishing partner has fished the Winnepeg river and Traverse bay for the last two days and the fishing is very slow. Nothing over 20' and barely enough of them to eat. They have tried both jigging and trolling raps. They have had better luck with jigging. The weather is going to have to change before the fishing turns on again. Nothing but sunnny days and warm south winds. Hoping things will changbefore Nov. 4th. Any change in the bite I would sure like to hear it
Harty
Backwater Eddy
10-27-2000, 05:19 AM
What's new guy's, Hot or Not?
Lockport produceing fish yet? Has the gate's opened and has the low flow effected the river much there?
Thank's!
BE.......><,,>
Was on the Red last Saturday (oct 21), there was at the most 30 boat trailers in the parking lot at Selkirk Park. I'm not sure what has scared everyone away as the fishing was quite good for the Red River, despite my obvious preference for Pine Falls. The River level has gone down a couple of feet and the current is very minimal.
My Partner and I caught 4 greenbacks over 7lbs and 2 between 5 and 6lbs. Caught a lot of "little" local river fish and saugers as well.
Fished 12-13 feet near the Steam Plant with 1/4 oz. Pink and Chauertruse Jigs and frozen salted minnows.
We fished there on Sunday the 22nd and killed'em. A 10-5, 7, 6 and lots in the 20-22" range. We fished from about 7am to 1:30. There were about 30 boats on the water inthe strech we were fishing. We started out trolling and got a few. I had a nice one on but didn't play him right and ended up with a pair of lips. We really got into em when we started to drag jigs drifting along with the current. Sometimes we would just reel em in so it was just off bottom.
Great work chad because sunday oct 22 was a tough day of fishing. I will be there tomorrow hope to see you . L.
Backwater Eddy
10-28-2000, 04:31 AM
Thank's guy's for the report!
May see ya there if your up there next weekend?
BE.......><,,>
Steve W.
10-31-2000, 08:34 AM
I just got back from Pine Falls last night. Fishing was tough, but we had a good time anyway. Friday we jigged in the river most of the day with only a couple of little ones caught. Late in the day we went out to the bay and trolled. We managed to get an 11 and a couple of eaters. Saturday was a bit windy but we went back to the bay and trolled with fair results, a 6 and a few smaller ones. Sunday was pleasant despite the rain; we trolled the east shore of the bay; we caught a 10 and several smaller ones.
The baits that produced best for us were #9 Shad Raps in clown, firetiger, and perch. Also several were caught on Storm Deep Jrs. in Firetiger glitter and the firetiger with the purple back (I don't know the exact name of the color).
One of the guys at our motel fished the Red at Selkirk on Sat. and came up with back to back 13 pounders. Was that anyone on the board?
I had a great time (with the exception of hitting a deer on the way home) and hope to be back again next year. Thank you to everyone on the board who helped out with information.
Steve W.