Ottawa river help

[Ainsley]

I will be heading to my wife's family's cottage along the Ottawa river this weekend and need some fishing tips.

I think the cottage is located upstream of Ottawa and down stream of the dam.

I'm wondering what species are available, my understanding is walleye and Muskie. I'm primarily a bass fisherman so I'll need some technique tips for walleye.

What is the depth, water clarity/colour, and primary forage around the area?

I'm not asking for your honey hole (feel free to PM me any spots you would suggest) just general information.

Apparently there is a tinner up there I can use and I will be bringing my portable fish finder.

Thanks in advance.

[MuskieWannabe]

Can you be more specific as to where the camp is? Below Fitzroy dam or the one further up past Renfrew? I'll share what I can but the more specific you can be the more I may be able to point you in the right direction, from my experiences

[Ainsley]

The family's property is between Shirley's bay and Constance bay as far as I can tell. I only have three days up there so I need to make them count.

[muskymatt]

Walleye, Muskie, Bass, Gar, Perch, you name it. Lots of great shoals, edges, bays and weeds in both those areas, I have spent many hours on those waters. I can, and will definitely help you out. I will see if I can mark up a map, take a picture of it and send it to you. PM me your email address.

[Old Ironmaker]

We had a camp down river of Westmeath for years. That river can be a fishermans heaven. All the species mentioned by MuskyMat plus some. The Ottawa is really a series of small lakes connected by fast water. All your basic Bass techniques will work. Find Lillie pads and shallower weedlines and you'll find your largies, find rock outcrops, rock flats, and shield bolders and you'll find nice smallies, pike, musky, perch, shark. Hit the outflows of fast water and headwaters you should find Pickeral and Bass.

 

Good luck, I'm jealous. Haven't been for years, it's beautiful there. Many of the guys that came up there with us for the first time moved there after retiring, it's that beautiful. Winter,I'm not so sure.

[Joeytier]

Up on the northern Ottawa where I am we fish faster water sections and look for current breaks and eddies and vertical jig or short cast with minnows or paddletail type plastics. Any fair size river mouth will also bring in fish intermittently throughout the day. We typically catch them all day up here, never really focused on an evening bite

[Ainsley]

Awesome! Thanks for all the tips so far.

 

I plan on bringing five 3700 series trays in my tackle bag and maybe a few extras so I have enough stock when I find what seems to work.

I'm going to bring setups for deep/medium cranks, jerkbaits/topwaters, plastics/spinnerbaits, dropshot, and muskie casting. I am kinda pissed because I broke my fav. rod last weekend (dobyns DX744) and won't have a replacement in time.

 

Will I have enough luck casting or should I bring a trolling setup or two?

 

I generally fish the Niagara river or cottage country lakes and it sounds like the Ottawa should be fairly similar.

[porkpie]

I don't know anything about the Ottawa, but I always always throw a linecounter combo in my boat, particularly on new waters. It's the easiest way to search and still be fishing, until you can find and narrow down the structure!

[Spanky80]

I live on the Ottawa River in between Pembroke and Petawawa. Ironmaker was on the mark when he said to treat the river as a series of connected lakes.

 

There is limited opportunities in my stretch for largemouth bass, but the area that you are staying does, back bays with pads and weeds. Smallmouth will also be in areas where you'd find them in a Canadian Shield lake, rock points, timber, etc. Can't go wrong with a selection of cranks, Big-O's in a crawfish colour and Rapala DT6's for the deeper areas.

 

I have found that if the idiotic boat traffic allows (at least in my area) trolling is usually the most effective method to cover water and find feeding walleye. As Joey mentioned, look for outlets, edges/current breaks, and island points that border deeper water (typically 30 feet). I troll 0.9 to 1.2 mph with a 2 oz bottom bouncer and harness.

[Big Cliff]

Sorry, only experience I've had in that area was white water rafting a number of years ago. If the fishing is slow that might be a fun way to spend a day. I got into a bit of trouble though because everytime a cute young lady fell out of the raft I dove in to save her (apparently you are not suppose to give them mouth to mouth unless they have stopped breathing

[MuskieWannabe]

When you go from Shirley's Bay towards Constance Bay, right when you get to the bay it is good from the mouth along that shoreline for muskies, just follow the weed edge, but watch for the odd very shallow spot. Also, opposite side by the beach following the weedline into the bay, I would always just cover water, follow weed edges and even just dip into the middle of the bay. I always had luck with fudally's in there althoguh any large spinner will do.

[lew]

I always had luck with fudally's

 

Seems like Fudally's are a very popular musky bait on the Ottawa.

[Ainsley]

The property is right beside pinney's point apparently.

 

Good point on the trolling setup, I got a tekota 300LC late last year so I'll spool it up with some braid and throw it on a spare rod. Should I just be flat lining or try a 3-way or bottom bouncer? I'm assuming a dipsey is overkill?

 

I have a pretty good selection of muskie baits so I'll try tossing some around.

[muskymatt]

 

Seems like Fudally's are a very popular musky bait on the Ottawa.

My PB Muskie is on a fudally.

[captpierre]

catfish -lots

[lew]

My PB Muskie is on a fudally.

 

I can believe that Matt, their a popular bait in your area.

[Ainsley]

Any suggestions for bass lures or tactics?