auscanman

It isn't complicated, but the good ole minnow under a bobber has worked wonders for me fishing from shore on Scugog for fall bass.

I'd go again if I could Lloyd, but am busy this weekend .

I took Fishhunter (Lloyd) up on the offer he posted last week for fishing on Bay of Quinte on Sunday. It was one of the best days of fishing I've ever had! Me with the catch of the day: a 27 inch walleye… my best yet: http://img128.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sany0006yv8.jpg The day's catch, 7 pickerel total with an average size of around 4-5 pounds, and 4 very happy fishermen: http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sany0010hu5.jpg Thanks a lot to Lloyd for the outing on his boat. It was a great day out. Thanks also for all the tips on fishing in the Ottawa area!

I 2nd what Fishon64 said! Had a blast with Lloyd on Sunday at BOQ. I'll post the pics from Sunday's trip tonight...

Doe Lake has to be one of the most overfished lakes in that area. It gets hammered in summer, but I'm curious as to how many people hit it in winter. Are there as many people fishing as in the summer?

Never fished Axe Lake, but I know it has excellent largemouth in it. I think it should be accessible without 4WD, as there's at least one cottage on it. A smaller, even more remote lake Meadow Lake is reputed to have insane bass fishing... again still on my list of places to hit.

Thanks Justin! Answers pretty much all of my questions

I'm a student (in Toronto during the academic year), working in Ottawa this summer, and should be moving here permanently from mid 2008 on. A big part of the reason I chose to work in Ottawa is how close the city is to a lot of fishing options. This weekend I managed to fit in a bit of fishing, and also scouted out some spots in Ottawa that looked promising. On Friday night I got about an hour of fishing in fishing from shore at the boat launch at Kars on the Rideau River. My trip was cut short when a thunderstorm rolled in, with only one rock bass to show! Got about 2 hours of fishing in on the Rideau today in Ottawa before my trip was again cut short by a thunderstorm. Now that I've done a bit of exploring and had a chance to wet a line I have a bunch of questions: Where can you get live minnows in Ottawa? I called 3 fishing stores and none had any, and none knew of where I could find any... Is there nowhere on the Ottawa River that rents out boats near Ottawa? I called the Port-of-Call Marina to ask about renting a boat and they said they don't rent them out, and when I asked if they knew anyone who rents boats near Ottawa on the Ottawa River they said that nobody does?!? I plan on renting a boat out to fish most of the time, and from what I hear the Ottawa River has great fishing (but you really need a boat), so it'll be a bummer if that's the case. Where are some decent shore fishing spots within 1.5 hours of Ottawa? I don't expect you to reveal your honey-hole, but anything that points me somewhere decent would be useful. Also, is the shore fishing on the Ottawa River right in Ottawa good? Are there walleye all along the Rideau River? From what I've seen a lot of the river looks very shallow, pretty clear and weedy, with the occasional rapids. I'm guessing that walleye are probably hard to catch in there during the day, and that you probably need to be in the right stretch of river to have much luck even at night. For the best fishing for pike, walleye, (and bass once they open) am I better heading west to Centennial/Black Donald/Norcan Lake, or south to the Rideau Lake area? The lakes west of here look pretty isolated, and from what I've read on the web, the fishing there sounds good, although I've also heard about how great the fishing on the Rideau Lakes is. Finally, if anyone in the Ottawa area is renting a boat on any weekend during the summer, looking for a fishing buddy, and someone to split the cost with I'd be happy to be that buddy, seeing as I don't yet know anyone who's into fishing in Ottawa. Whenever possible, I'll post a message when I know where I'm going fishing, and would welcome anyone who wants to join me. Thanks

Lake Vernon has some excellent pike fishing, with huge pike in shallow this time of year. About 10 years ago the odd walleye was caught (they had been stocked in Buck Lake and a few must have drifted down the river into Lake Vernon), but they didn't reproduce and as far as I know there haven't been any caught recently. I don't have much experience with lake trout there, other than marking a lot of what I assume were lake trout on a drop-off from 5' to 100' in the summer... couldn't get whatever they were to bite! I think the lake trout population is pretty low. For pike, try just off the weeds along the stretch where the mouth of the Big East River enters. It drops from 5' to 25' along there and there, and I've almost always had luck trolling along it. There's also a big weedy bay a little further west from the mouth of the Big East... usually there isn't much there during the summer, but you might have luck now. Another good spot to try would be any transition from weed to rock near the islands (or anywhere on the lake for that matter). One final spot I'd suggest is the weedy bay in the southwest corner of the lake, again this bay has disappointed in summer, but might be good this early. The pike in Lake Vernon eat a lot of rock bass, so if they're around chances are a pike will be too (this is also why weedy bays that look promising can produce surprisingly poor results on Vernon)! I've also noticed that the pike in Vernon are almost never concentrated in one area, so I suggest you don't hammer away at any one spot... move around and try different presentations. If there's one point to emphasize on Lake Vernon it's that weed/rock transitions produce well.

Was out there at the Islands today (Monday). Managed to get 2 pike... one was about 4 pounds, the other 2.5 pounds. Both fish were caught in weeds located on dropoffs to fairly deep water, also got 2 hits in the spot where I caught the 4 pounder. I tried a variety of presentations, with one pike coming on a gently retrieved husky jerk, and the other on a jig; slow presentations definitely worked best. Weeds, dropoffs and water that's cloudy enough that you can't quite see the bottom of the deeper section of the channel all seemed to be key. Not sure where all the big boys are?!?

I just finished university exams, and given the decent weather, am desperate to get in some very late open water fishing action. Is there any good shore fishing in the GTA this time of year? Are the pike in Toronto Harbour still on the bite? Is Scugog frozen? If not, is it worth giving it a go off the causeway this time of year? Any other ideas?