Hi Dan – I’m going to northern Manitoba the first week in June. It will be my first attempt fishing for walleye. For this trip what would you tell a beginner to have in their tackle box? What about live bait?

Since you will be going in June, the weather can be unpredictable, so you should be prepared for sunny days, late sun days, cloudy days, rainy days, windy days and night fishing. Your tackle will include something for each of these conditions. Night fishing: You can fish yellow and white flies. Windy days: You will be fishing areas that are shielded from the winds so you should have green, blue, brown and black flies. Rainy days: You will use some heavier flies in colors of chartreuse and green. Cloudy days: You will use black, white and red combos, green brown and black are also good colors on these days. Late Sunny days: You want to use fluorescent colors. Sunny days: You want to use bright colored flies such as chartreuse and pinks or yellow. You will be able to wade in for walleye fishing depending on where you go or use a boat to move to other areas of the waters. The best days for fishing walleye are rainy days. This is when the trophy fish have been caught. If you keep these flies in your tackle box, you will have what you need. For live bait, you can buy from the bait shops around the waters you will fish. Most are using minnows and night crawlers. All I can say is have a great time. Canada walleye fishing is something that I think every angler should experience at least once in his or her fishing adventures. It can be thrilling.