Cross-Canada III: Prairies

 With limited options due to the covid pandemic, Alex and I set our eyes to the west once again. This time, we focused more on backroads and catching some of the few realistic fish targets I had left.As usual, the trip started with a crazy run to get us across Ontario and into the prairies where the fun could begin.

The first, albeit short, stop was at a small river in Manitoba where I had seen sampling reports of Bigmouth Shiner, one of the few remaining fish I had yet to catch from the prairie provinces. The stop proved successful and I quickly located a school of the Bigmouths mixed in with Common Shiners and Creek Chub. We had been driving for about 30 hours straight at this point and still had a few hours left to go, so I quickly took some photos, released the fish, and we were back on our way.

Bigmouth Shiner

Having caught the shiner, we continued on to the Saskatchewan border and made camp for the night. Over the next couple days, we blazed across the rest of the prairies and enjoyed some scenic backroads with incredible scenery and cool wildlife. We visited towns with crazy names like Manyberries, Vulcan and Climax, and checked out interesting protected areas throughout.

Red Rock Coulee

Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park

Pronghorn (Antelope)

Unfortunately, there weren't many more fishing stops before we hit the mountains. That being said, we did take the time to go back to Lethbridge to try for a stocked population of sterile Grass Carp. They are considered an invasive species in most of the rest of Canada, but are actually stocked in some ponds there for weed control. Last year, I fished the same spot and actually found some fish, but couldn't convince any to actually bite. This year, they were still shy and spooky, but I finally made something work after a couple hours of chasing fish around, resulting in this beautiful specimen. It was one of the harder fighting fish I've come across and probably pulled me halfway across the lake!

Grass Carp

I'm gonna skip over our travels through the Rockies for now, and keep all the prairie adventures together. We didn't visit too many more scenic areas on the way back, but I was able to take some time to go fishing in the Assiniboine River in Manitoba. I maintain that Manitoba has some of the best roughfishing in Canada, and this session was no different.

Bites came quick and I was soon experiencing the best Shorthead Redhorse fishing I ever had. Size was nothing crazy, but the shear numbers was awesome. There were other species mixed in too, such as Goldeye and Channel Catfish.

Goldeye

Shorthead Redhorse

The roughfishing was great, but I will admit I was really here for a shot at two new lifers: the Flathead Chub and the Silver Chub. I was using small hooks and I was given some local intel that both species should be present. I was getting lots of small bites and eventually I managed to make one stick, my lifer Silver chub!

Silver Chub

I never was able to catch a Flathead Chub, making it the third trip across Canada without success for this species, but there's always next time! I'm not sure when I'll have time, but I'll get some blog posts up from the AB/BC portion of our journey soon.

Pebble Beach, Marathon

Lake Whitefish Spawn

 I've spent a good amount of time reading up on the fishing regulations for my home province of Quebec, and I've always been drawn to a couple of "exceptions" written into the rules for a few select fisheries. In the past, I've taken advantage of the spring dipnetting season for Rainbow Smelt, but I've always wanted to see a Whitefish run. Now when I say Whitefish, I mean the salmonid, not Fallfish or any other random silver fish folks call "whitefish".

Well, this fall, I was finally prepared to make it happen. I kept tab on water temperatures and made my way to the nearest legal netting river when the time was right, which just so happened to be Halloween night. The nearest run happens on the St-Francois river in the town of Disraeli, only about an hour and a half away. It was rainy and the water was a bit dirty, but I hoped I'd still have a shot at a couple fish.

We waited for night to fall, and before long, I was donning my headlamp and waders and headed into the current. The dirty water made it hard to see much of anything, so I focused on the shallows for a while and ended up accidentally catching this Mottled Sculpin which was kinda cool.

Mottled Sculpin

Unfortunately, the Whitefish clearly weren't hanging out in the shallows. So, I made my way into deeper water and found a slack area just upstream of a riffle where I could just see to the bottom in about 2' of water. After a good while of searching, I finally saw the shape of a larger fish lazily making its way up river. I scooped it into the net and had my first ever netted Lake Whitefish!

Lake Whitefish

I only ended up catching one more, but I had accomplished what I had come for and felt like I had a pretty good idea of what this unique fishery was about. It wasn't a spectacular run with the river absolutely filled with fish like I expected, but still very cool!

How to Catch Carp

Common Carp are arguably the top gamefish in Quebec, but remain very underappreciated. They fight hard, require a lot of skill to catch consistently, and are pretty photogenic. However, many anglers seem to turn their noses up to them, perhaps because they are too difficult to catch or maybe because they don't make great table-fare. Admittedly, they don't taste very good (in my opinion). In an attempt to solve the first problem and make them a bit more accessible, here's a beginner's guide to catching carp.

Common Carp

The Spot:

We'll keep it simple for this part. Like many other fish, Carp move around depending on the season and can relate to many different structures and parts of a water body. However, I've found one of the most consistent places to catch them is in a bay of a medium to large river. Look for a bay that is wide enough to provide shelter from the current, but not so wide that it becomes shallow and choked with weeds.

This is just a random spot I found on Google Maps, I have no idea if it's productive or even accessible.

I like to position myself on the upstream point of the bay, where I can most easily present my bait on the current seam. This seam is where many fish stay so they can conserve energy out of the main current while food is pushed right to them. In this case, it also has the advantage of moving the scent of your bait into the bay so it can bring out hungry fish.

Finally, there is no need to cast far. In fact, it is more important to cast accurately to ensure your rig and bait is being placed into the same spot, slowly drawing more and more fish to the area. If the spot allows, I only cast 30-40 yards, just enough to get to deep enough water and past any weed lines.

The Bait:

The next helpful step is to pre-bait, or chum, your spot for several days to get the Carp used to feeding in your chosen area. This isn't necessary and can be skipped if you don't have the time, resources, or dedication to do so, but can really increase your odds of having a productive day. If I do choose to pre-bait, I will typically chum with 1-2 cans of sweet corn every day for 1-2 weeks. Hardcore carp anglers will generally use feed corn and use a lot more bait, but I've never felt the need to go through that process.

Using the rig I will describe below, you will also need to make some pack-bait used to bring fish to your hook-bait. My preferred pack bait recipe is listed below, and I also like to use it as chum the day I'll be fishing. I generally chum 1-2 handfuls every 15 minutes for the first hour of fishing, then once every hour afterwards.

• 1 can of sweet corn
• 1 packet of strawberry Jell-O powder
• 1 box of panko bread crumbs
• Enough water so the mixture can be squeezed and formed into a ball

Pack-bait

The Rig:

This part is important! You'll want a specific rig designed for carp fishing, called the "hair rig". I would explain it here, but there's no way I'll do a better job than the video linked below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjact22m6Bo

You can ignore the boilie hook-bait used in the video, save these for when you have a bit more experience with carp fishing and are looking to experiment. For North American waters, 2-3 sweet corn kernels will work most of the time and give you the opportunity to catch other species as well! The only specialty gear I use is a piece of fake Styrofoam corn used to float the bait just off the bottom. It gets threaded onto the hair same as any other hook-bait.

Hair Rig

I also prefer to use a method feeder sinker, which allows me to pack my pack-bait directly onto my rig for an accurate presentation to bring in fish. These work exactly the same as a sliding sinker and slip right onto your mainline.

Method Feeder

The Gear:

Finally, here's a list of the more specialized equipment that can be useful, but not necessary, for carp fishing:

• Baiting needle (or straightened out hook)
• Bait stop (or piece of tiny plastic)
• Pop-up fake corn (or small piece of foam)
• Method feeder
• Chumming catapult
• Bucket for mixing chum
• Rod pod
• Bite alarm
• Landing net
• Landing mat
• Pliers for hook removal
• Comfortable chair/cot

Just remember, it only really takes minimal gear and just a little bit of knowledge to catch one of the strongest fish in QC, so get out there and give it a try!