As most walleye anglers know, especially river rats, everything revolves around the current.  Nothing pulls in the big fish faster in the fall and positions them more ideally than perfect current conditions.  

By the same token, nothing shuts down the bite quicker or keeps the fish out in the big waters more than too much current or not enough.  



That is what is happening right now on Manitoba's Red and Winnipeg rivers.  The two marquee waterways play host to the famous annual fall migrations of "greenback walleyes" that move out of giant Lake Winnipeg and into the river .... when the conditions set up properly.  "Each year, when the water cools in the fall," buddy Donovan Pearase was telling me the other day, "hoards of walleye anglers pack the local launches and crowd the river hot spots in search of their fish of a lifetime.  A 10-, 12-, even 15-pound greenback is a real possibility, and limits of "footballs", walleyes fat from stuffing themselves on baitfish, are easy to come by when the bite is on. The only thing that is not guaranteed from year to year is knowing which river you should be fishing.  As awesome as the Red and Winnipeg Rivers can be, they're unpredictable. It is not until the fish actually start moving in that you know how it is going to be."  

As an example, the last two years, walleye anglers have seen a ton of water flowing down the Winnipeg River and through the dam at Pine Falls.  



All that current and clean water produced an amazing "greenback" bite that started in mid-September, before the water even started to get cold, and lasted for much of the fall.  

Even inexperienced walleye anglers were boating ridiculous numbers of greenbacks (100 fish or more a day) and landing giant trophies with regularity.   The Red River, on the other hand, was dead by comparison.  The current in the Red was too fast, the water was generally dirty and the fishing was mediocre to say the least.  So the bottom line the past few years has been that Pine Falls was the place to be.

Oh, what a difference, a year has made.  

"Until a few months ago," Donovan says, "we were experiencing one of our worst years on the Red in terms of prolonged high water levels.  The fishing was difficult. Even the catfish bite, which is normally not affected by high water, was sub-par.   So we were expecting another poor fall run of greenbacks this fall.  Until almost overnight the Red River started dropping.  First, it was by inches and then by feet.  And the water cleared up considerably when they closed the curtain at the dam in Selkirk.  Within a month, not only were the cats on fire, well into the fall when they would normally shut down, but we started catching walleyes."  

"Pine Falls, by comparison, is slow beyond belief right now," says Donovan. "There is low water throughout the upstream system, from Lake of Woods, and the current is non-existent.  Oh, sure, there are still some fish in the system but they're just not the size nor the numbers we normally expect."  



Not surprisingly, Donovan, who runs Blackwater Cats guiding service (you can e-mail him at dcp1@mts.net) has been hitting the Red River hard this autumn and his guests have been scoring big time.  And he is doing it in a surprising way.  

 "I've incorporate my ice fishing electronics into my fall routine," he says. "I have my Marcum LX-5 Flasher units mounted on both the front and back of the boat, and boy, do they make a difference.  You just need enough weight right now to stay vertical and you can jig up 'eyes just like in the winter.  Walleye anglers get into such a habit of jigging on bottom they don't realize what they're missing. When you use an elite high power flasher like the LX-5 you can see how the walleyes are positioned and responding to your presentation.  And with a little finessing and adjusting, you can get them to bite. Without a flasher you don't even know they're there. "  

Donovan says he is also, "loving my new 6' 6" medium action Quantum Energy walleye rods this year, paired with size 5 Kinetic PT spinning reels.  The rod is a perfect balance of sensitivity and hook setting backbone and the smaller sized reel, with its ceramic drag and ti-mag bail makes for a perfectly balanced combination.  

"An insider’s secret," says Donovan, "is that red tail flasher jigs are always king on the Red for greenbacks.  This year, though, I have been using the new ones from Xtreme Tackle. They are similar to most other red tail flasher jigs with the notable improvement being super strong hooks.  So many of the name brand jigs on the market have very weak hooks that are prone to bending open when you hook a big walleye.  These ones are great.  Probably the best hooks I have ever seen in a jig.  I think they're available at both the Fishin' Hole and Pro-Am Tackle in Winnipeg for anyone coming up here to fish."  

If you're looking to catch the biggest walleye of your life, it sounds like the place to be is on the Red River below the dam at Selkirk.  And the time to be there is right now!