12 replies to this topic

[dano]

We did our annual Canada trip during the last week of June. Back to our routine location on the Ottawa River in Ontario. Same crew as usual. It was great to be back "home" after taking a different trip last year (the unsuccessful trophy musky hunt). Long story short, the fishing was great, but not as "world class" as it often is for us up there. Our biggest enemy was wind, plus low river conditions. While we had a couple days of calm weather, it mostly blew all week, 4 days of sustained 20 mph, and also made for a choppy river. The Ottawa River is a massive river. Regardless, we fished through it, and tried to get out of the wind as much as possible, although there was really no escaping it completely. We made some lake trips too, which got us out of the wind a little bit. We did a canoe trip on a lake in Algonquin Park, and while the wind was forecast to die down that day, it didnt. We did alot of paddling and a little bit of fishing that day! It was interesting, still caught some nice bass though. I'd say Blaise was high hook for the week. He boated two 26" walleyes on xraps, plus some other quality eyes. And he caught his first musky. We had a great year on quality walleyes, and we caught them all they way we like to catch them... on plugs in shallow water. Civ caught a nice sturgeon of 40" give or take. Ryan showed some much improved skill working plugs in shallow water. a few evenings, he outfished everyone else 5:1 on bass, walleyes and pike. it was awesome, he was in his groove! although we didnt catch the rediculous numbers of massive smallmouth that we've been spoiled with in the past, we did our share of damage on quality smallies in the 4+ pound class. several evening melt-in-your-mouth walleye FEASTS at the campfire overlooking the river. overall, another great time. safe travel, and the mako ran great! cant ask for too much more than that! here's a few shots to give you a taste of the action.

Blaise with a 26 incher on a plug


Blaise with another 26" walleye caught on a plug


Blaise with his first musky


Ryan with a lake walleye caught on a spinner bait (he missed the fish the cast before, and went back and got it on the next cast!)


Ryan with a typical pike on a plug


Ryan with a typical Algonquin canoe trip bass during lunch break (he was crushing them during lunch!)

[matt]

Those kids are fishing BEASTS. Looks like an awesome trip, as usual. Wish I had an uncle Dano growing up!!!

[GC]

Well done Dano and family.

[Doc Watson]

Another excellent adventure, Uncle Dan !!!

[Tom]

Just awesome stuff there!!!

[springgardener]

great pictures, thanks for sharing. Man those kids must have had a blast!

[PhillyFisherman]

Nice as usual!

[The Don]

Great stuff!!!!!!!!

[CO]

Nice trip. Any smallies? That river is on my list to fish.

[Doc Watson]

Nice trip. Any smallies? That river is on my list to fish.

"although we didnt catch the rediculous numbers of massive smallmouth that we've been spoiled with in the past, we did our share of damage on quality smallies in the 4+ pound class."

[CO]

"although we didnt catch the rediculous numbers of massive smallmouth that we've been spoiled with in the past, we did our share of damage on quality smallies in the 4+ pound class."

Cut me some slack, I just got back from vacation and my brain is shut off

[Doc Watson]

Cut me some slack, I just got back from vacation and my brain is shut off

No slack.... you're a fisherman !!!

[dano]

Nice trip. Any smallies? That river is on my list to fish.

yeah we got lots of nice smallies, just not as many as we usually tend to get up there. i'd say that when we targetted smallies, we got somewhere around 30 to 40 per boat, averging 2 to 3 pounds, with some 4+ in the mix. on a normal year, we can expect 75 to 100 smallies or more, per boat (3 anglers), per day trip, averaging close to 4 pounds, with a couple maybe pushing 6 pounds. no joke, the Ottawa and its tributaries are WORLD CLASS for smallies. granted, we have our specific spots, and try to fish them at the right time, but the Ottawa River is generally loaded with huge smallies, and its not that difficult to figure out. we have learned, however, by way of a couple down years that river conditions can play a big role in the degree of our success (i.e., location of fish). we like to have normal to high water levels, with cooler water in the main river than whats coming from the tributaries. the tribs are obvious fish magnets when they are dumping warmer water (although not the only place to find concentrations of smallies). but in drought / low water conditions, the main river water temps might be higher than the tribs, which greatly affects the location of the bait and predators, and makes the playing field much much larger. if you can time your trip for mid June, you should have ideal conditions in the river. in the surrounding lakes, however, this stuff isnt realy an issue. you can pretty much go to any bass lake any time of the year and crush. so there is always a backup plan. but the fish in the river are generally much bigger on averege then what you find in the surrounding lakes. its hard for me to believe, but the first time i fished up on the ottawa river was 17 years ago! and we've been going back almost every year since. cant always have ideal conditions, and when we dont, thats when we seem to learn the most. i know the smallie fishing up there in the fall on the river can be incredible, but i have no personal experience with it. i am sure its a different dynamic, but easy enough to figure out.