Fishing weedy RIce lake Help

[bassfighter]

Rice lake Fishing help!

We fish from 7:30am – 6pm

Water temp = 80 degrees

Weather : 5km-10km sunny in the morning, then 10-15km, cloudy and rained in the afternoon. A perfect day to fish in my opinion.

Fished at Rice lake Roseaneth- white Island, Hickory Island, East Grape Island, Upper foley.

 

Area was quite swampy, reminds me of Bewdley or lake scugog. Weeds visible floating on the surface as far as the eyes can see. Very few open fishable hole.The deepest part was behind hickory Island showing 20 feet, but fish finder shows soft mud reading.

 

We tried :

1. Drop shotting inside weed holes that was between 4-8 foot deep.

2. Tried casting Floating frog top water technique on dense floating weeds

3. When there were available open hole beside weedbed roughly 10-12 feet deep, we fish with spoon, jigheads, spinners . Unfortunately, very limited area like this, this type of open space was where we caught our few limited fish.

 

Landed –a 2lb catfish, a 2lb bass, 5 bass under a lb, 10 other fish compose of perch , blue gills, sunfish.

 

I have to clean weeds every 5-10 minutes off the trolling motor or off the main engine. I was disappointed to witness the area had change to become so swampy. The last time I was there was 5 years ago. 8 years ago, it used to be great fishing, We landed and release 4-5 lb walleye and lots of bass then, lots of good Bass weeds around. I could not find these Bass weeds anymore. Water gotten shallower.

 

No other boat parked at the boat launch except us. Couple of boat renter were fishing landing sunfish, we also witness couple of 18 footer bass boater zoomed pass the area and went somewhere else,they never fished the area, not to my surprise . Very disappointing to witness the area had changed to become swampy, I do not know how cottager will be able to comfortably ski as well.

 

Unless there were some other applicable fishing technique that I have not applied, I would appreciate some advice on fishing swampy area of rice lake, Bewdley is probably similarly weedy as I recall, lake scugog is also similar, or should I avoid swampy area at all cost?

Edited July 12, 2012 by bassfighter

[Beans]

Add Grasshopper, Whrack and Margeurite Islands and you would be in our old stomping grounds until Sandercock's trailer camp closed down...

 

Sorry to hear the area has become so swampy...we caught many fish there over the years...

 

My best bass fishing day was along the north shore of Whites island using 2 1/2 inch Phenix smoke colored salted tubes for the first time...4x5 pounders and 1x4 pounder...

Edited July 11, 2012 by Beans

[Stoty]

Your best bet on Rice is to locate weedlines and flip/pitch to the edges with jigs, bucktails, and senkos.

Also casting cranks along the edges usually picks off the more aggressive fish.

Topwater frogs fished over the mats/pads also produces a lot of my biggest fish.

 

If you have any other questions about Rice and locations, shoot me a PM and I'll try and help you out!

[Christopheraaron]

I PMd you last night...

[misfish]

Your best bet on Rice is to locate weedlines and flip/pitch to the edges with jigs,

 

 

Also to add,top water buzz baits.

[esoxansteel]

The seasonal pond weed has died off, which is usually the 11 to 12 foot weed lines you mentioned, most of the weedlines are now prevalent in the 8 to 9 foot range, with some showing emerging weeds in the deeper water just off bottom, there is lots off weed mat, that you mentioned, off the Indian and Bewdeley and some other areas, but heavy weights to penetrate the slop, and just drifting over and pitchin the holes should produce both largemouth and some walleyes as well, although this past weekend, some walleyes have shifted to deeper secondary breaks with the 78 degree water temps. Rice is still an amazing lake, and probably still produces more fish then most other lakes, its hard to fish a lake like you mentioned 8 years ago and get a bunch of fish, and come back years later expecting to do the same, as you mentioned there have been environmental changes, ie increased weed growth etc.

[bassfighter]

I have been fishing many Kawarthas lake for almost 20 years, It used to have tons of Cabbage weeds, then open water, now the area I just went through only has pencil like weeds all over. Good during spawning season I guess, but larger bass will have to work harder going through too dense of an area. They normally like to stay at the edge of weedlines and then ambush their prey.

 

3-4 years ago, MNR or Kawarthas locals were trying to control over weed growth on quite a few Kawarthas lake, unfortunately, Cabbage weeds were also irradicated. Rice lake is not one of these MNR working on , since these over growth weeds would have been killed as well.

 

I was trying to locate cabbage weeds, so far no luck, here is the image of the weeds or some american angler call it Bass weed http://www.centurylodge.com/2009%20pictures/excellentmuskieweed.JPG.

 

Another image of the cabbage weeds I am trying to locate but less healthy looking http://www.jasonhalfenoutdoors.com/cabbage.jpg.

 

There were also very small section with Lily pads, I would have landed a couple if there were enough vast lily pads to work on.

 

I probobly just went to the tougher fishing area of rice lake. Fishing should not be that difficult if one can find the right vegetation.

 

All the fish I have landed in 20 years were mostly not too far off cabbage weeds, if I can find this type of weeds, I can find the fish, It does not mean there were no fish on other type of weed vegetation, such as Lily pads or pencil weeds, I did land fish on all type of weeds, just easier for fish to hide from sunlight on thicker cabbage weeds, and if there are some deeper drop off, fish can also hide when there are drastic barometric pressure change. Bass over 2+ lber are more finicky than bass in the 1 lb range. Balsam and strugeon still has the cabbage weeds, sill some decent fishing, fishing numbers have dwindeld down in years as well.

 

I also try to avoid unhealthy weeds, if they are covered with moss or algae and the colours are not healthy, I will avoid the area. Water needs to flow to create healthy vegetation. Healthy vegetation creates oxygen, which plunkton and bait fish needs, eventually attracting larger fish. River fishing generally better conditions these days due to constant moving water.

 

8 years ago, There were tons of boat trailer parked at dunnet landing, Enter through Roseneath, it used to have lots of people on the campground. It was so quiet on monday, hardly much activity going on. Hardly any boat trailer around means fishing is not good either. The grass where we parked our boat used to be maintained. It grew so long and I was not sure if it was for public boat trailer parking anymore. Being aka Sherlock Holmes, all these tail tell sign tells a person how good of a fishig area it should be.

 

Lake Erie is my next target!

Edited July 12, 2012 by bassfighter

[misfish]

Great write up.

[Ron]

Think of all the weeds you see in Rice Lake like trees in a forest. It may have lots of crown on top but underneath the foliage is merely just stems like trunks on a tree with all the leaves on top. Sure it may look dense but be rest assured, a fish can travel under cover of the tops just like hiking trails in a forest. That's what makes Rice Lake such a good lake for fish. Once you figure out how to fish it, you will be impressed on well one can do on this lake.

[misfish]

Think of all the weeds you see in Rice Lake like trees in a forest. It may have lots of crown on top but underneath the foliage is merely just stems like trunks on a tree with all the leaves on top. Sure it may look dense but be rest assured, a fish can travel under cover of the tops just like hiking trails in a forest. That's what makes Rice Lake such a good lake for fish. Once you figure out how to fish it, you will be impressed on well one can do on this lake.

 

Ron,I fish a small lake north of here,and theres a spot thats called the UMBRELLA TREES. Pretty much what you are saying. Looks thick,but lots of opening under the tree. Nothing a jig and pig would break through.