Livewell

Although the big waters in Sunset Country, like Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake, are far from being ready for anglers to hit the ice, many of the smaller, inland waters have been frozen for a couple of weeks and I’ve been hearing reports of good fishing for walleyes, crappies, and stocked trout.
Now that hunting season has begun to wind down, it’s time to start preparing for the upcoming ice-fishing season.

Kenora’s Julia Beveridge had the opportunity of a lifetime last summer when she got the chance to head up to the Yukon on a contract as a fisheries biologist for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Central and Arctic Division) based out of the Freshwater Institute at the University of Manitoba.
Now away at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay studying medicine to become a doctor just like her dad, Julia recently gave me a report on her three-month visit to the Yukon and it sounds like she had a great time in the north—and found plenty of fish to play with.

By Jeff Gustafson
Now that winter is bearing down, temperatures around Sunset Country are beginning to fall off and snow is upon us.
Fortunately for hunters, the cold weather makes animals move around a little bit more while snow allows us to see fresh sign of the game we pursue.
With plenty of time left in the season for hunters to hit the woods, there are a few tricks I’ve learned that will help keep you warm while you are out there.

Much like underwater cameras when they became available to the public about 10 years ago, trail (or game) cameras were slow to become popular with the everyday sportsman.
When underwater cameras first came out, they were expensive and only the most avid anglers had them. But over the years, cheaper—and better—versions came along and now they are common in the boats of tournament and weekend anglers alike.

In recent years, as whitetail deer populations continue to grow across Northwestern Ontario, various methods of hunting have become popular.
Sitting in tree stands or ground blinds, overlooking high percentage travel areas, is likely the best way to take a big buck—the goal of many hunters.
Add to this method of sitting and being patient some sounds to emulate deer, especially bucks fighting, and you could bag the biggest deer of your life this season.

I love to fish and over the years, along with my friends and family, have spent many days on the water chasing bass, crappies, and walleyes around right up until freeze-up.
I’ve wrecked plenty of my dad’s equipment pushing the limits—breaking ice just to get that one last fish in of the year.
But over the last few years, fishing has taken a back seat after September as I’ve become addicted to deer hunting and spend seven or eight weeks each season in the woods pursuing whitetails.

The past few weeks, along with my friend, Davis Viehbeck from Thunder Bay, we have been working on a story for a new bass fishing publication coming out of Toronto called “Bassman.”
The story is a recap of the top five finishers from the region’s two premier bass tournaments, the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship and the Kenora Bass International.
This was a fun story to work on. We came up with a group of questions we asked each team and what we found out was very interesting. Some answers had distinct similarities while others were vastly different.

I look forward to fall every year because now that the bass tournament season is over, I get to spend some time chasing other species around.
We’re blessed here in Sunset Country to have a world-class fishery for walleyes, crappies, pike, musky, lake trout, and, of course bass, not to mention some of the other less popular fish that inhabit our lakes.
October may provide some of the finest crappie fishing of the year and anglers can take advantage of high activity levels to put a few fish on the table.

Ted Stewner was up to his old tricks as he and wife, Louise, took home first place in the LaBelle’s Fall Classic on Rainy Lake this past weekend.
This is the fourth time Stewner has won the final bass event of the season and he did it with authority this time around—earning the biggest fish award on the second and final day Sunday with a 5.10-pound monster to go along with the only catch on Day 2 that topped 19 pounds.

Forty teams took part in the Shoal Lake “Last Chance” bass tournament over the weekend, with anglers enjoying some excellent fall weather during both days of the event.
It is amazing more folks don’t fish this tournament as it is some of the best fishing of the entire year on one of the best bass fisheries in the world.
Weights were solid over the weekend, with Sioux Narrows anglers Joe Pritchett and Hiram Archibald taking home first place with a two-day total topping 40 pounds.