KEEP DRY!

Also, I don't know if it has affected the lakes in Manitoba, but the harsch winter severly rose the number of fish decimated due to winterkill in ND, and it could be a factor where you are headed.

Nate

Nate, after living in central Alaska for 4 years, I cannot over emphasize this issue for the location you’re going. Whatever you do, stay dry, once you are wet and cold and nothing to change into you can be in bigger trouble than you realize.

A pair of insulated hip waders you can wear heavy socks is your best bet. You will discover water and mud will find their way in places you never knew existed.

I couldn’t make out the upper material in the waders on this Cabela’s link, rubber transmits cold so the upper or leg portion material should resemble something like water proof canvas and avoid straight rubber.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_D...

For starting a fire, nothing beats a jar of Vaseline and a Magnesium Fire Stick. Tried the same kind of heat tabs for MRE’s but they don’t have the BTU volume needed to start a fire.

A couple of boxes of 22 and a accurate pistol or rifle for shooting Grouse along the trail is great for camp meat and yes you will be close enough for a head shots, stupid birds!

One more thing, don’t set your parking brake on your ATV overnight! It just might freeze and avoid water holes when possible.

Moisture is your #1 enemy!

One more thing, if you drink river or pond water, boil the hell out of it and don’t rely on water purification pills or you stand a chance to get Giardia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardia

Ice out is the only time of year that the lakers aren't DEEP. They will be hanging out in 20 feet of water or less. I've never done it, but this is about the only opportunity to catch a lake trout topwater or even on a fly. Probably not the most productive technique, but try it out. You'll be unique. I doubt there are many people that can say they caught a lake trout on the surface.

My best advice, though is use flatfish. Their slow, shallow, mega wobbly action will be great for these rare shallow lakers. Pike will crush them, too. Any crankbait in the right patter that dives to 10-15 feet will be great too. As always, spoons are good. Blue and white or silver for the lakers; red, white, orange, chartreuse for the northerns.

Also, their are two kinds of lakers. There's the ones that like to gobble fish all day and get huge, and there's the kind that like nothing but bugs and crustaceans and don't get so big. Figure out which ones you're dealing with, and fish accordingly.

Sorry, no tips, but I truly envy you. Can't wait for the story. Stay warm!

Oh I forgot it was ice-out. I will say "keep dry" instead.

Clay,
I find it humorous in the mst teasing kind of way that you would approve "Wikipedia" for a prestigious online editor to get tips from.

Nate

Nate,
My offer still stands to be the moderator of this sight in your absence but I haven't received a contract for the official Booth Babe interviewer/photographer since our last conversation months ago. Canoes tip over, bears get hungry. Get with it while offer lasts. Jim

That's wool socks. Cabela's also.

I have spent a couple of weeks fishing for trophy northern pike and guiding in the northern Manitoba area at ice out. You have a ton of nice stuff but I think that the most important for this time of year are:
1. I highly recommend all the large red and white Daredevels you can afford. This is territory for the largest spoon they make and nothing catches northerns up there like them. No cheap immitations... use the real thing! If you are catching too many, smash the barbs down to make it easier to release fish since you can only keep a few. Use the biggest spoons you can find... your little half ounce spoons are good for hammer handles but to nail the big guys, you need a spoon that the hammer handles won't hit first and that will cast a hundred yards down the shore line.
2. It sounds like you will be trecking a long distance from civilization... therefore you must be prepared for RAIN... I hope it doesn't happen to you but if it does, it is cold and can come down at about 4 inches per hour for three days straight in near freezing temperatures. I like to take a 50 square foot sheet of light plastic that you can hang in the trees. I put a twist in the center, tie it off and run it up in the trees and stake the corners out to make a giant big top at least 10 feet off the ground. You can store dry firewood and light a camp fire under this to dry your clothes if necessary and it is a place to eat outside the tent when it is raining. You must get your clothes dry if it rains hard and I have not seen a rain suit that will keep it out if it really rains. Hang your clothes on a line above the camp fire to dry them. I insist on at least three changes of clothes per person so you can can rotate to dry clothes if it keeps raining. Otherwise the only way to prevent hypothermia is to stay in the tent. If you are not ready to keep fishing and keep driving in this rain, it will ruin your trip. (Plus pray for sunshine a lot!)
3. Be ready for black flies. Again, they may not be thick in your area but you can't be certain so please be very prepared. You must be ready to hide your entire body for the duration of the trip. I see you have head nets; make sure they seal at the neck, also take gloves that will seal at the wrist. If the flies get too thick, you may have to move several miles to get out of them. They are hatching on the rapids in early June and can be too thick to cast through at times. I had one trip within two weeks of ice out where I never saw one, and I had another where I would have died had I not been prepared. I actually had to scrape the black fly splatter off my rod every half hour to keep it from getting too stiff and too heavy. You will probably survive the first 30-50 bites but after that it is iffy. If not prepared, you could get this many bites in the first five minutes. At times they seem attracted to Cutters and various other insect sprays so your best bet is to prevent them from reaching your skin in no uncertain terms.
4. This is an odd one I know, but I take one pair of big fluffy cotton socks. If a giant northern inhales your favorite lure and you need to get down deep to remove it, put a sock on each hand and in a praying posture, stick them down the mouth and throat of the culprit. Pull your hands out and have a buddy hold the socks apart. They stick in the teeth and hold the mouth open wide so you can reach down there without cutting your hands cut up on all those razor sharp teeth. To remove the socks, hold them together in one hand and jerk them out of the mouth. Be sure to not use a nylon sock or it won't come out. Remember, you will be releasing most fish you catch and once in a while you will have to dive for your favorite lure.

The fish will be along the shore lines and back in the bays in less than 15 feet of water. Work the shore line and nothing will cover the water like a Daredevel. They cast long, they retrieve quick and they are far and away the #1 lure for that country (for northerns). Fish the points and water falls for walleyes. For them use white grub jigs with pink tails on a 1/2 oz jig head. Cast out to 25-40 feet of water. Let it hit the bottom and slow retrieve or jig the bottom. The Johnson spoons will be great for northern and trout if the weeds clog the edges. However, at this time of year, heavy weed cover is pretty rare. The giants will be around structure and they will lay behind big rocks below water falls eating the stunned fish being washed over the falls. Let your Daredevel drop to the count of five behind these big rocks and then retrieve them. Be careful around the rapids though because they can be dangerous this time of year and if you fall in, they will take you for a ride. I have nearly lost my life in rapids chasing these big guys. The rocks are slipery. I like to troll musky plugs but don't cast them because I outcatch them by far with Daredevels. I have caught over a thousand northerns over 18 pounds in northern Manitoba during the first two weeks of June so they are my prime target during this time. By the end of June, they are dispersing and heading to the deep water for the Summer... get them while they are hot along the shores! Good luck guys... sure wish I could join you. PS... If I were you, I would ditch about 100 pounds of marginal stuff and take a light canoe. Most places up there the water is so clear, you can drift a bay and see them suspended down in the water. It is also much more productive for casting the shore and picking up walleys off the points. I don't know how to hold one on a four wheeler but I'd go to work on it. (I have figured out how to tie one to an airplane for that very reason).