The most exciting announcement to come out for us at the 2019 Winnipeg Ice Fishing Show, was that Humminbird was set to release their ChartSelect map of Lake Winnipeg. If you take the time to think about just how big Lake Winnipeg is, and how big the south basin that is now surveyed in 1 foot contours is, it is amazing that this map is available for just $39.59. Not to mention that it includes the Red River south to Lockport and the Winnipeg river to pine falls, and the rest of Lake Winnipeg is included in standard definition.
I was lucky enough to be out on Lake Winnipeg with Darrin Bohonis of Johnson outdoors the day the map went live on the ChartSelect website. We were able to download it to the Humminbird FishSmart app on his iPad mid way through the day, and start to explore the subtle and not so subtle features Lake Winnipeg has to offer. Although we didn’t track down any big greenbacks on that day, the map lead me to some new fishing spots that have proven to be some of the best fishing I have had on Lake Winnipeg, both for size and numbers.
To put things into perspective, we now have the ability to narrow in on a location we think the fish will be before we drill our first hole, adjust accordingly throughout the day and ultimately spend more time fishing and less time drilling holes.