Manitoba man reels in giant catch

Colin LeGrand with the Northern Pike he caught in Sandy Bar Beach, Man. (Rick Gergatz)

A Manitoba man has reeled in a big catch on Lake Winnipeg.

On Jan. 5, Colin LeGrand was out ice fishing with his friend, Rick Gergatz, at Sandy Bar Beach near Riverton, Man.

The retired friends were out in about nine feet of water and had caught a few walleyes that day. But things were about to change for the pair when LeGrand felt a strong bite.

“When you get a big fish on, you can tell right away, and it pulls out. It almost bailed me,” LeGrand said.

On the third try, something unexpected happened with Gergatz.

“The fish came up, and he had his locator down the hole, and it ended up wrapping around his cable from his fish locator. And all of a sudden, his fish locator was going in a hole,” LeGrand said.

“So, he ended up saying, “Whoa, Whoa, hang on!” and he ended up grabbing his locator and pulling the line up. I was laying a line on my rod, and boom, the fish came out his hole,” LeGrand said. “It’s certainly an odd thing. Normally, if you catch a fish, you bring it up the same hole.”

When the pair began looking at the fish, they realized it was a Northern pike, also known as a Jackfish. They were also immediately surprised by its size.

“This fish was a little over 45 inches long, and we’re fishing out of an eight-inch hole… Believe it or not, this fish’s head could barely make it in the hole," LeGrand said, noting it’s the biggest fish the pair had ever caught.

“It’s certainly a good-sized fish for that area. That fish is probably 25-years-old, maybe closer to 30-years-old,” said LeGrand.

“Manitoba as a province has what we call a Master Angler Awards, so they want a picture of the actual fish on a measuring board. We ended up measuring it and sending it… It’s probably the biggest this year so far. You know, even though the year is young.”

LeGrand said the reaction from the community to his catch has been very positive.

“I actually received a lot of emails and texts more or less congratulating me… on catching a big fish. Heck, the fish is bigger than my granddaughter!”

As for the fate of the fish, LeGrand revealed he’s back in open waters.

“We let it go, obviously, and it’s still swimming around so someone else can catch it.”