Angler’s First Ever Visit to Manitoba Will definitely Not Be the Last

Congratulations to David Lutze! His Master Angler channel catfish action photo was selected as the winner of the June edition of the 12 Months of Master Angler photo contest.

He has won a $1000 gift card to Cabela’s along with a pile of awesome HuntFishMB gear.

For many angling and outdoors enthusiasts, the allure of exploring different places and fishing new waters is enough to draw them from familiar surroundings to seek out new adventures. For avid angler David Lutze, the vast and varied fishing opportunities in Manitoba that he had long admired from afar was something that he finally had to come experience for himself.

The Newton, Wisconsin resident made a recent visit to Manitoba almost entirely on a whim after befriending Manitoba angler Darren Peters through their shared passion for the outdoors and creating YouTube videos. “I was already in Ontario so I made the drive over to Manitoba to take up Darren on hitting the water together. I ended up staying ten more days travelling across the province and catching all kinds of fish!”

Darren took him out on a cross-province tour hitting signature experiences in several different regions. “We went up to Clearwater Lake to target the famous lake trout up there. Made our way to gorgeous Paint Lake where we caught walleye and northern pike. Then we fished at Grand Rapids which was unbelievable for walleye numbers.” In addition to catching several Master Angler qualifying channel catfish on the Red River, David also hooked into an incidental trophy white bass at Grand Rapids.

David works as a 3^rd grade teacher during the majority of the year and is a charter captain on Lake Michigan during the summer. “I guide mainly for Koho and King Salmon as well as all kinds of trout species. My recent foray into making YouTube fishing videos is aptly titled School’s Out Fishing,” he laughed. “I decided to take a break from taking charters this summer to travel and explore new places.”

The Master Angler channel catfish in the winning photo was caught on a slip sinker rig with fresh goldeye cut-bait. “We caught so many catfish over 30 inches it was incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it. To be honest though I was actually even more fascinated by catching the goldeye we used for bait,” David admitted. “We don’t have that species here at home. And being able to catch your bait, which was a blast in itself, then use them to catch giant catfish was just amazing.”

David is already working on plans for a return visit to the province, this time to try our world-class ice fishing first-hand. “I’m going to pick up an underwater camera with my Cabela’s gift card. It’ll surely come in handy on my next visit when I plan to come up and catch some big fish through the ice.” Special acknowledgement also to Darren who is just another example of why we are called ‘Friendly Manitoba’. Check out his videos about fishing and hunting in Manitoba at ‘Darren’s Northern Life’.