For avid Bass enthusiasts, that forth Saturday in June can’t come fast enough!
Hey, and if you don’t think there’s anything special about Micropterus – be they salmoides or dolomieu – just ask one of the local bass fishing organizations.
Ottawa is slowly becoming a largemouth & smallmouth fishing Mecca, thanks to groups like Renegade Bass, Bass Anglers of Ottawa and Petawawa Bassmasters.
Speaking of bass fishing, where is your favourite bass water? Without giving away all your tricks, I invite all the bass nuts out there to tell us where you like to catch old bucket mouth!
As a converted bass guy myself (the 7-pound behemoth I landed two years ago helped) I am slowly being ‘lured’ away from trout and muskie, and towards the elusive bass.
Drop me a line with your bass plans or send me a tip, I’m not picky.
Outdoorsguy
Heard that Bass fishing season on Quinn Lake north-east of Maniwaki, QC had opened already.
Quite suprised, since I opnly saw the mid-June date.
Do you anything about early season in the Outaouais, that I might not be aware of?
LG, there is no reason for the bass season to EVER open before June..never heard of that in my life, but let me look into it.
Could be some sort of Urban/Rural legend
Outdoorsguy
Can’t come soon enough ! Love fishing for that old lunker hiding in the lilly pads or under a fallen oak branch. Nothing like the excitment of the tough fight of a largemouth or the anony of the loss as he jumps in the air and spits out the texas rig. Love every second of it. Here’s to another great fishing season, good luck jeff. And no I’m not giving up my favorite fishing hole location !
Jeff, found this.
Lac Quinn is definitely in Zone 10.
Therefore, bass season is open as stated for the ZONE 10, and there are no exceptions (restrictions) for bass on Lac Quinn.
Confirmed.
Open due to bass being seen as an invasive species that reduce the native trout population.
We are telling every one so the all the bass guys make their way up to do their part to rid this lake of the invading bass. We did not keep any bass… but we did pull them off their nests and released them on the other end of the lake.
wow LeGrand..that must be a first! To sacrifice one game fish for the sake of another. Granted, those spiny-rayed bass shouldn’t be in trout lake like that, but I’m surprised the government has taken such measures as to clear them out.
Sadly though..short of reclaiming the entire lake with Rotenone, and starting over..I doubt they’ll ever clear all the bass out.
Outdoorsguy
not much of a Bass fisherman, but our lake is full of smallmouths, a buddy that is a pro bass fisherman comes up once or twice a year to fish our lake just for the fun of it. Very little interest from me, if I don’t eat it, I seldom hunt it, and fishing to me is a different way to hunt.
Did the 10k in 62 minutes, and paid dearly for it yesterday, and doing the Terry Fox 10K in September and I WILL break 60 minutes
Great job Iggs, that’s a very respectable time….now, get out there and catch some of those bass..hehe
I’m sort of like you when it comes to hunting/fishing..I keep trout for eating and bass/pike I catch for fun. I do enjoy fishing for them, though, they are good fighters and a challenge to catch sometimes.
Outdoorsguy
Not much better fighting fish than SM Bass. Bob’s Lake has a good population of both SM and LM bass, and when the SM are schooled up you can catch a pile of them in a short time. I seldom eat the bass unless I absolutely can’t catch walleye or a decent pike.
Hey Johan, you fish Bob’s lake..ever notice anything weird with large predatory fish with other (slightly smaller) fish lodged in their mouth?
Not sure if you read the article I wrote about Bob’s lake last summer? Seems to be some pretty agressive fish in there..I wouldn’t swim in it if I were you..hehe
Outdoorsguy
Unfortunately, our lake (Centennial Lake) seems to have more bass than pickerel now. That was not always the case. Thirty years ago, there were plenty of pickerel and we always had some in the freezer. I will say that bass are fun to catch — particularly the larger ones. I am not keen on the taste though.
We caught a bunch of cold water Bass on a moose hunt once, and Walleye and Pike. Ronny the guy who caught the Spek in the Ottawa Prepared them and wouldn’t tell us which was which, surprisingly the Bass won, but these were out of October cold water.
Fun to catch too but I’d still rather fish for something I love to eat and that’s Walleye and Speks
Yeah Iggy..we had a similar challenge once out of Lake Mistassini in Northern QC(story featured in Canadian Wild Fish Cookbook btw)
That night we served-up whitefish, laker, brookie, pike and walleye..in a sort of head-to-head taste challenge.
Results were unanimous…and quite surprising!
Any guesses as to which fish came out on top, as far as overall taste goes?
Outdoorsguy
Ever tried White Lake? Best bass fishing in Eastern Ontario.
Outdoors Guy:
I would think that the walleye or the trout would come out on top, but I have a feeling that it didn’t. Surely it wasn’t the pike?
Huntingmom, we all wagered a guess before the challenge started and brook and walleye is what we ‘thought’ would come out on top.
But YES, beleive it or not..old slimy joe pike was the best tasting fish of the lot….of course, this was early June in northern QC and the water
was still in low 50’s probably.
Man….I can still taste it now!
Outdoorsguy
Jeff, my guess is pike!
I didn’t catch that choking article, but yes I am aware of the choking phenomana, and the pictures that some intelligent handsome, young(?) sportsman sent to the author. And I never swimat the lake without fish repellant!
hahaha…Johan..oh man, that’s the thing about screen names you never know who you’re talking to..hehe..my real name is Frank actually
Outdoorsguy
Well jeff as far as i’m concerned any fish, not caught in the middle of summer,prepared properly and fried in a cast iron frying pan over an open fire is pretty damn tasty. Just like with hunting i’m not a catch and release kind of guy, so there is an awfull lot of cook’in going on when fishing season comes along. When the pan is on the fire it attracts a lot of neighbours at the trailer looking for a taste.
Hey Paul, I would agree that any fish deep-fried properly should turn out well…these fish in our taste-test, I should have mentioned, were cooked only in a bit of butter and some seasoning..no batter was used, so you get the full taste of the fish.
Man, I should stop-by your trailer sometime. People only come to my trailer for S’mores…hehe
Outdoorsguy
We catch Walleye in the middle of summer on The Dumoine and they taste great, but it’s a big body of water and stays cooler that some of the more shallow smaller lakes, but this year we are going in July and not to the Dumoine, fishing smaller lakes, so we’ll see, can’t wait to go.
Hey Iggs, was just chatting with a fellow the other day who used to fish the “Dumoine Blues”…seems they are still pretty famous.
I wonder if your new lakes up there will have any blue walleye in them??
Outdoorsguy
I am staarting to wonder if the “blue Walleyes / Pickeral” are a myth just like big foot ;o). We were told that they were pentiful on the Ottawa River ( upper Ottawa river) by a guided tour last year (Muskie / and Blue Pickeral guided trip) and when we didn’t get any Blue Pickerel, the guide just shrugged his shoulders and said I guess they aren’t around today!
jeff did you see this anouncement by MR.Harper yesterday?
PM announces new Hunting and Angling Advisory Panel
http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=1&featureId=6&pageId=26&id=4830
In Ontario we will have the federation of Anglers and Hunters on the panel to represent us.
hey I posted a message and it disappeared???
OOPS never mind there it is!
Sorry Alain, it’s just the way these are moderated..that happens anytime there’s an Internet link included in a comment..I’m usually there to dig it out right away.
Outdoorsguy
Blue walleye
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_walleye
Alain D, I believe the fabled blue walleye of the Great Lakes, which are now felt to be extinct, are a different fish from those caught in Lac Dumoine. From what I’ve heard, the water colour or a mineral in the lake is what gives those fish their bluish tinge.
Either way, its still pretty neat!!
Outdoorsguy
HEY Alain .. having the ofah means more money going to them instead of hunting and fishing.. between the two governments we already give them more than 1.5 million a year(and we could use that on wardens ) and it is probably allot higher. heck even there own lottery they have they loose money on it , they give away 300000 in prizes and sell 770 000 worth of tickets but it cost the ofah over 780 000 to run it ???? having the ofah involved in this is a joke. its like putting a poacher in-charge of a food plot.. they just keep on filling there bellies with money that could be better spent in ontario on our fish and wildlife . I have applied to the revenue canada to see the last 5 years of the ofah books to see if the lottery looses money every year and if it does why bother to have it…
Chessy,
I have not supported the OFAH in many years. as a younger man I had my yearly payments to them but about 10 years ago I stopped it based on what you are stating…
I hope you do get your access to info from CRA…. it would be interesting to know.
funny how people who have never been skilled enough or lucky enough to catch a blue Walleye don’t believe
Well Jeff, for over 20 years now I’ve been going to the Dumoine, and my son’s been coming with me for over 15 years, and every year we catch anywhere from 100 to 300 walleye in a three or four day weekend, and trust me, they may not be the same species as the blue walleye of Lake Ontario, they are still blue walleye. They are almost black, and there have been studies on them and it is some kind of pigment in the slime on their bodies. We also catch some yellow walleye up there and the difference is very obvious.
They also taste and look, other than colour exactly the same.
Not sure if this other place we are going has blues or not, not really sure what to expect.
We’ll find out soon enough
Well..they are obviously a very special fish..and though I passed very close to the lake this spring, I still have not fished there.
As Trapper would say…”Catching Blue Walleye is on bucket list”.
Speaking of the lad, where the heck is he anyway..trapping season is over isnt it?
Outdoorsguy
Never did I say I didn’t believe… No need to insult another member to say they do not know enough to catch blue walleye… I never had to opportunity to fish the Dumoine or another body of water that has any. therefore can not confirm. I was only stating that it seems that they are a myth. We did book a specific trip on the Upper Ottawa for Muskie and Blue Wallleye and the guide had promised that they are there. in the end we didn’t get any hence stating that.
I have caught more walleye than I can count and have not needed to go very far from home. The St-Laurence has soo much of it … here is another article on the Blue walleye.
that being said :p
http://www.ontariooutofdoors.com/fishing/walleye/?ID=86&a=read
Here’s a weird bear story out of BC:
http://blogs.canoe.ca/outdoorsguy/uncategorized/convicted-killer-eaten-by-bear-in-bc/
Outdoorsguy
i have very many fond memories of bass fishing with my grandfather. he used to take me too a special spot on the carp river, had to get there before sunrise so that meant leaving about 4 am. grandma used to pack us food and we would spend our time casting lures at first then we would float some frogs and sit in the shade waiting for the bobber to disapear. my grandfather used to take his family on picknics in this spot when my mom was a child and i was fortunate to return the favor and pick him up to take him when he was up in age. you could catch all kinds of fish in those honey holes, pike , the odd pickrel, carp, mudpout, catfish, bass and the odd eel when mudpout fishing. never did like the taste of bass though,so catch and release
Thanks mcdan, that’s awesome!
Obviously there are sentimental feelings when it comes to fishing. I too did a lot of fishing with my Grampa when I was a lad..up until 1974 when he passed away.
Some things you just never forget!
Outdoorsguy