oates

Hey guys, planning to hit the river today, how do you think fishing will be since this has to be the coldest day since May? will this help/hurt fishing for bass/pike? I'm hoping it makes them feed. It really feels like fall today.

visibility was no more than 1ft if that, but I knew there were fish around, maybe it was the smell, was using a white garlic salt worm. Crankbaits, I caughta pike on a japanese then lost the $13 lure on a snag later. But I was getting hits left/right for the worm, I'm getting addicted to dropshotting, keep losing the dropshot though, it snags on rocks I think.

Well, tried it out in the river, got more hits dragging a drop shot than crankbaits or tubes on this day. Nailed a 4LB Largemouth, not much of a warning, he slammed it, then ripped out some line, looked for weeds, relaxed then I beached him, couldn't believe the size of him for a river largemouth. Wading rivers which have a lot of 1-4 ft water seems to be electric if you dropshot, the water is murky too so I think they don't detect crankbaits so well. Lost a few too, I find you lose more than you nail when dropshotting, takes talent to know when/how to set the hook, I found the worm in a mess on the hook after some hits, perhaps the fish eat 1/2 and then tried to pull at the worm?

Im my limited time fishing, I have found that if bass arn't attacking topwater, try tubes to gain bottom contact and vice versa. Rarely get them to hit both at the same time. Caught bigger bass on tubes than any crankbait that's for sure

I've found the same on the Grand and maybe the Thames. Not catching many but when I do, they are 3lb+

Just curious, I have some I used on Wed. in a tackle box, can I still use this? Will they be effective or should you use a fresh tube each time you fish (Mizmo salt I use)?

I hooked a gar pike in the grand in 1-2ft of water on a gold rapala minnow, probably by accident, very ugly fish, not fun trying to take the lure back out of this aligator mouth.

Recently, I located a MAC laptop with DJ equiptment, est. $4000 - I checked the dudes email - called him and he came and got it. You hope that someone returns the favour one day for sure.

Hi all, I fished the river last year in the rain a few times, didn't do well at all (but I was new to fishing). I went to my local tackle shop and told them, they said 'ofcoure not, river fishing is dead in the rain'. I have seen plenty of reports here from the lakes, in the rain, even people favouring light rain. My question is, with showers forecast tommorow, is it worth the effort to -a- wade shallow rivers -b- rent a canoe in a conservation area (i.e. deeper water, rain less of an issue?) -c- give the entire idea a pass, won't catch jack Appreciate your expertise and opinions, I like the rain so it doesn't bother me (I'm from N. Ireland, you think you got rain this summer, we get at least 265 days in a year where it will rain at some point of the day, my earliest memorty fishing in Ireland is getting skunked with my grandfather, casting off a dock for a few hours, only to see scores of seals pop their heads up, it was pouring rain the whole time!)

Keep bass, I find them delicious battered and cooked in the oven. As for the tips on how to handle fish, what to do and how to do it, it is needed so new guys can understand things, I have benefited a lot from that. The problem is when you keep within your limit and get blasted for keeping them!

When I started fishing last year, I didn't know where to go so I looked up conservation areas for Southern Ontario, I was expecting good things, I have fished shade's mill, brant park convseration area, Conestoga Lake and a bunch of others many times - my experience? The fishing is pretty crappy (and I don't mean the fish), they hype it up in their booklets about the fishing but you will find that fishing is better elsewhere, sometimes following the road a few kms down from a conservation area is more productive than in the conservation area.

I usually bop it up and down slowly, sometimes just twitching, sometimes nothing. One thing I noticed in the French River (deep), I would get hits (probably from bass) upon the first drop down, seemed like the noise drew attention. I hope to do some shallow river fishing this weekend, I will try dropshotting and slowly dragging it towards me and see how it fairs vs. dragging tubes (targetting bass). Either way, I have found more success with jigging tubes/dropshotting worms than crankbaits this year, after being convinced crankbaits were the bees knees last year (when I started fishing).

Hi guys, Was enjoying some drop-shoting from a boat in the French river, found it to be great for deeper waters, especially with a strong scented worm. I wanted to know how realistic it is to drop shot when wading as it seems the drop shot should be relatively close to you (3-5ft in front of you), is this correct? Or can one drop shot when wading? Thanks

was on west side of Nippissing, all shallow there, too far to go south or east (gas).

Went to Lake Nippissing for a few days, it was a constant 30km wind with showers on/off - had no success, wife hooked in to a tiny perch just before leaving, we fished about 15hrs and I think the constant winds were a factor in this shallow lake. Feeling kinda bummed, we headed back home looking for some shore fishing (just seems like lakes and rivers everywhere up there), so we decided to wade around the French river, but after meeting one of their reps. at the information centre and the warnings about Massassagua rattle snakes, them being more aggressive in mating season (and they said 'by the way, it is mating season') and them telling us 3 people go bitten recently, you can die in 6hrs and North Bay is apparently short on anti-venom, ahh...the family wasn't feeling like walking through the forest to find spots to wade, so we rented a boat, was amazed that the river runs 150ft deep in places (and they told me that people actually drop a line down that far), beautiful area, no one really out there, it was so tranquil, around 21 degrees, light to no wind, sunny. We tried to look for some pools and shallow spots, we quickly realised that there arn't many, mostly sharp drops offs from shore, I mean like 20ft out in the the water, it goes from shore to 15ft deep in places, we looked for weedlines and those sharp drops offs which were everywhere, water was clear enough to see 5ft deep, where there wasn't weedlines there was a rock base. We are accustomed to fishing shallow rivers and using shallow crank baits so we wern't too hopeful, all in all it salvaged the trip a bit: Myself 1.5lb Bass 2lb Bass (dropshotting a garlic/salt white-clear lunkers 4" worm) Wife 15" Pike (first ever pike, dragging cotton candy 3" tube) 8yr old son 15" pike (first ever fish caught! no rock bass for him! caught on 7-16ft blue/green rapala large crankbait, he thought it was weeds, didn't fight till it hit the surface, naturally, he went nuts) 5yr old daughter 3lb bass (first ever fish caught! - she went nutz, jiging nuckle ball with a tail on her cinderella rod from walmart and it stayed on despite no tension adjustment on rod) So it ended off quite nice, I had several hits and bites, mostly when I first stopped the boat at a place, lost several fish, some monsters flipping out of the water, I then switched from a #1 offset to a #2, had an idea hook was too small? Continue to do ok on rivers, horrible on lakes. Well, that's are mini report, was supposed to be Nippissing, ended up being the French River. PS - We didn't catch any walleye, I'm assuming in Summer, they go in to deeper colder waters, come more shallow in autumn, is this correct, places on the Grand that I caught Walleye last Autumn (when I first starting fishing) have none now it seems, would that be a correct assumption, one most go deep for walleye in summer, shallower in autumn? Anyone know?

6lb test line 3" tube. Good to know, I felt like I had to wear him down, even if I reeled him back, he would pull out more line, if I increased the tension I think he would have broke off. Hmm...tough one.

Didn't get a single bite in 5hrs of fishing other than the 3lber and the 4lber we caught and they both died. As for 2mins being too long, I have had Walleye and Bass that I have kept show life 20 mins out of the water (my buddy went to get ice for his cooler), sometimes they won't die! I was hot, 29 degrees out if that means anything, pool was large but only 2-4 ft in depth with hot sun blasting on it.

Was at the Thames other day, wife landed 3lb bass, 5 mins of fighting then beached it, I unhooked it and it promptly died. Later on, I nailed a 15" 4LB guy on a tube, unhooked him, then he died too. Never seen anything like that before, both fish gave great fights, wern't bleeding (from what I could see) and died within 2 mins of being out of the water. Has anyone experienced that before? I'm very careful in handling fish, hate the idea of people being rough and ignorant in handling them - I just don't know how they went from being big, healthy, and taking my reel for a spin and then dying. Any ideas guys?

I didn't wear a jacket before, I remember the boat getting shaky (with two guys 250LB + moving around), almost falling in - never really cared, can't swim well, probably could survive floating and swimming but 50/50 - I should try it in shallow water (like 5ft) to see if could swim 300 yards or float for 10 mins at a time to rest. I now always wear it? Why you may ask? Because I got swept downstream whilst wading and ended up losing my rod and drowning fast before having to swim to shore in a current wearing waders which were filled with water down to the boots, I made it to shore - not a fun exp. it was so tiring it took me 10 mins to get my breath. So I learnt from that, don't underestimate the water, unless you can swim like a fish then no worries (but what if the water temp is like 12c? can you still swim 5km?) I like the idea like they do with bicycles, helmet is mandatory to a certain age, then optional - I think by doing this, kids will grow up with it and maybe 20-30% of them will keep doing it as adults, it will cut down some occurences and still leaves people the option, I don't think it should be treated like seatbelts because honestly, it is extremely rare unless alchohol is involved. My 2 cents.

going up there next week, will try to get it for you guys.

I hooked my first pike a month ago or so. It was only about 4lbs (river fish - Grand), I found them to be unusual, they don't fight like bass (do any fish fight like bass?), in fact, I got him on a 4-6ft diving traditional looking gold rapala, the bite felt like a walleye, a few innitial tugs, then the give up and it swam towards me - once almost reeled in, it decided to rip out 6 feet of line in 1 second of movement, then it relaxed and let me bring it to shore (wading) - anyway, back to the teeth issue, this guy was young and still had his junior set of teeth, I waited (like you) to get him to relax, each time he played dead, I got close and he flipped and flopped, eventually, I waited 2 mins and then went in to get my fav. crankbait out of his stomach, as I put my finger in there, he jumped and cut me in four places. I'm with you - they are a vengful fish! For revenge, decided not to let him go and battered him with some lemon on the side.

Wow I was thinking 'wheres the bass' then it clicked, no bass that far north. Simply beautiful. When one looks at a map of Northern Ontario, there are literally 100's of lakes, that's why the Americans rank Ontario fishing so high, I guess we are spoiled that way, imagine living in Nevada and wanting to go fishing. Makes the long cold winters worth it doesn't it, when you have trips like this to look forward to. Great report - like fishing 500 years ago.

Excellent, can't wait to get up there. Hope it doesn't rain or be windy, 30degrees 0km wind would be just fine (like there has been even one day like that this summer, is it just me or did we not used to get a solid 3 weeks of 30 degrees and sunny in Ontario each year?) Good job, big bass and nice pike not to mention, peace and calm.

Update: got skunked that day. Was using tubes (white/purple) rapala crankbaits (various) nada. Had some bites, even a bass leap out of 20ft of water (following my tube) wasn't meant to be.

Yea, I get skunked every time on Rice (when I take a boat out) but I'm a rookie. As for shoreline around sunset, I have caught bass with topwaters like a chug bug. I do well in rivers, horrible in Lakes - experience I guess. Lot of pressure on Rice, you have to know that.