Post by Gary on Jul 6, 2006 10:18:41 GMT -5
Hi All!
Well, was in the Ottawa area over the long weekend, from Friday evening until Wednesday morning, and did lots of fishing. Did I ever mention that fishing rocks??? ;D
Anyhow, on Saturday I hit the Rideau - or as our American friends call it, the Ree-due - and had a good day. Lots of bass, a few pike, and a couple of real nice smallmouth up close to Manotick. Everything we caught was on senkos, specifically the Kiname Flash, in various green-like colours. It seems everywhere I go lately, the fish have been sluggish and aren't in the mood to chase things like spinnerbaits. I was fishing the 5 inch version, Texas-rigged on a 3/0 wide gap hook on light spinning tackle. One spot in particular that produced well was on the first major arm off the main river, on the right hand side about half a click towards the 416 from Manotick. If you go into that arm, and start at the mouth on the right side of it, there's some good smallmouth and largemouth action happening there. Just cast a senko up on the bank and let it do it's thing. It seems to produce everytime I vist the Rideau. I also toured all the way down to Burrit's Rapids, but all that was biting there were 8 inch smallies.
Sunday I hit, of course, White Lake. Can't come to town without a visit to the ol' home lake. Fishing was great! There's a bass to be had on nearly every cast on that lake...but there is a definite strong class of 2 pounders. I tried some different locations on the lake, hitting laydowns, logs, etc. and caught some nice fish 3-4 pounds, but I could get 2 pounders anywhere I went. I predominately fished specific targets on this day, flipping a Sweet Beaver to obvious structure, cover, docks, etc. I used a 3/8 ounce slip sinker, pegged, 3/0 wide gap Gammie, and various colours - Dirty Sanchez, Watermelon, and Hematoma. If you're going out on White Lake in the near future, the standard weed beds at Fish Creek, Stewart's Island (or Andrew's Island), The Narrow's, etc. aren't producing much. They are still last years weeds, with nothing fresh and green in them yet to produce enough oxygen to hold fish. If you want the big 'uns...go deep. 8-12 feet on newly growing weeds, or structure, seems to be the ticket. Locals tell me that night fishing on the lake is producing some big bass. Throw noisy, clackety things across points to get some of that action. Another thing to consider if you hit this lake - keep a few of those 2 pounders for a tasty meal. This lake needs a little bit of harvesting to help those big fish numbers increase.
Monday, we shopped. Hey, if I can fish four out of five days...and even have my girl fish with me, she deserves a day of shoppinig.
Tuesday, Lake Clear up near Eganville. The smallmouth have been hot here lately, hitting Pop R type lures, crankbaits, jerkbaits, etc. The ol' reliable senko didn't produce much for me though. I also caught Walleye on 2 inch Mister Twister type grubs - orange. If you're looking for some good smallmouth, this lake is worth a try. The walleye here are easy to locate and catch, but remember there is a 2 fish limit, and a length limit of 20 inches. There's not a lot in the way of launch facilities on this lake, but the Opeongo Resort has a decent gravel launch that handled my 20 foot boat with no problems. The owners there are also eager to give you a map of the lake and point out the hotspots as well. Nice folks.
Wednesday, headed back to PA with a stop at Lake Oneida first. I was hoping to have a ball hauling smallmouth after smallmouth in on this lake, as is usually the case, but we had a tough day there on Wednesday. They were tough to locate and slow to bite. What seemes to be working presently, is chartreuse/white spinnerbaits early, and then flipping weed pockets with tubes. Find the shoals with weeds mixed with gravel, and you'll usually find the smallmouth. I think another reason for the slow bite was that the Bassmaster Elite Series started a tournament there today, and the lads have been up there practicing for the week. They've been hitting it pretty good, but the season only opened there on June 17th, so the pressure shouldn't have been too bad. Maybe it was just me....nahhhhhh.
Well, that's about it for now. Sorry for the long post, but thought I'd share what's going on at a few of the lakes that are driving distance from Ottawa. Hope you all had a great long weekend, and hope to see you on the water soon. My next stops are Lake Cayuga for a BFL tournament on July 15th, and then straight from there to Cleveland, OH for 3 days of practice and 4 days of tournament (Hopefully...if I make the cut.) on Lake Erie.
Cheers!
PS: Pete, what about having a section on this board strictly for fishing reports? It would be a great place for all to share information on current conditions at area lakes. Just a thought...
Well, was in the Ottawa area over the long weekend, from Friday evening until Wednesday morning, and did lots of fishing. Did I ever mention that fishing rocks??? ;D
Anyhow, on Saturday I hit the Rideau - or as our American friends call it, the Ree-due - and had a good day. Lots of bass, a few pike, and a couple of real nice smallmouth up close to Manotick. Everything we caught was on senkos, specifically the Kiname Flash, in various green-like colours. It seems everywhere I go lately, the fish have been sluggish and aren't in the mood to chase things like spinnerbaits. I was fishing the 5 inch version, Texas-rigged on a 3/0 wide gap hook on light spinning tackle. One spot in particular that produced well was on the first major arm off the main river, on the right hand side about half a click towards the 416 from Manotick. If you go into that arm, and start at the mouth on the right side of it, there's some good smallmouth and largemouth action happening there. Just cast a senko up on the bank and let it do it's thing. It seems to produce everytime I vist the Rideau. I also toured all the way down to Burrit's Rapids, but all that was biting there were 8 inch smallies.
Sunday I hit, of course, White Lake. Can't come to town without a visit to the ol' home lake. Fishing was great! There's a bass to be had on nearly every cast on that lake...but there is a definite strong class of 2 pounders. I tried some different locations on the lake, hitting laydowns, logs, etc. and caught some nice fish 3-4 pounds, but I could get 2 pounders anywhere I went. I predominately fished specific targets on this day, flipping a Sweet Beaver to obvious structure, cover, docks, etc. I used a 3/8 ounce slip sinker, pegged, 3/0 wide gap Gammie, and various colours - Dirty Sanchez, Watermelon, and Hematoma. If you're going out on White Lake in the near future, the standard weed beds at Fish Creek, Stewart's Island (or Andrew's Island), The Narrow's, etc. aren't producing much. They are still last years weeds, with nothing fresh and green in them yet to produce enough oxygen to hold fish. If you want the big 'uns...go deep. 8-12 feet on newly growing weeds, or structure, seems to be the ticket. Locals tell me that night fishing on the lake is producing some big bass. Throw noisy, clackety things across points to get some of that action. Another thing to consider if you hit this lake - keep a few of those 2 pounders for a tasty meal. This lake needs a little bit of harvesting to help those big fish numbers increase.
Monday, we shopped. Hey, if I can fish four out of five days...and even have my girl fish with me, she deserves a day of shoppinig.
Tuesday, Lake Clear up near Eganville. The smallmouth have been hot here lately, hitting Pop R type lures, crankbaits, jerkbaits, etc. The ol' reliable senko didn't produce much for me though. I also caught Walleye on 2 inch Mister Twister type grubs - orange. If you're looking for some good smallmouth, this lake is worth a try. The walleye here are easy to locate and catch, but remember there is a 2 fish limit, and a length limit of 20 inches. There's not a lot in the way of launch facilities on this lake, but the Opeongo Resort has a decent gravel launch that handled my 20 foot boat with no problems. The owners there are also eager to give you a map of the lake and point out the hotspots as well. Nice folks.
Wednesday, headed back to PA with a stop at Lake Oneida first. I was hoping to have a ball hauling smallmouth after smallmouth in on this lake, as is usually the case, but we had a tough day there on Wednesday. They were tough to locate and slow to bite. What seemes to be working presently, is chartreuse/white spinnerbaits early, and then flipping weed pockets with tubes. Find the shoals with weeds mixed with gravel, and you'll usually find the smallmouth. I think another reason for the slow bite was that the Bassmaster Elite Series started a tournament there today, and the lads have been up there practicing for the week. They've been hitting it pretty good, but the season only opened there on June 17th, so the pressure shouldn't have been too bad. Maybe it was just me....nahhhhhh.
Well, that's about it for now. Sorry for the long post, but thought I'd share what's going on at a few of the lakes that are driving distance from Ottawa. Hope you all had a great long weekend, and hope to see you on the water soon. My next stops are Lake Cayuga for a BFL tournament on July 15th, and then straight from there to Cleveland, OH for 3 days of practice and 4 days of tournament (Hopefully...if I make the cut.) on Lake Erie.
Cheers!
PS: Pete, what about having a section on this board strictly for fishing reports? It would be a great place for all to share information on current conditions at area lakes. Just a thought...