Can it be done?????!!!!!!!

[Big Bass 444]

O.k. folks I want to know your opinion on this one because it makes me go mad from time to time.

Most of you all know that I am a fanatic LMB angler with high hopes for the Ottawa River.

I also like to dream about the biggest lunkers from Ottawa to Montebello.

A few questions....I want serious answer....Jim I would like your input on this please.

1- Can we broke the Canadian LMB record around here????
2- If not what could be the biggest LMB we could get out of the Ottawa River.
3- Is it possible that a monster LMB ....a mistake of nature swim the Ottawa River???

My personnel guess would be this one......No we can't break the Canadian Record around here. The biggest LMB I think we could get out of the Ottawa River would be between 23 and 23 1/2 long and would be just under 8 pounds 1/2.

Yan.

[almontefisher]

Yan: Why are you asking us these questions...You are the one that gets the bigguns all the time. I can tell you about the 2lbser around here You seem to be the guy these days who keeps smackin the heck out of the big babies...At the rate you are going I would expect you to pull a 9+lbr out of the Clyde River

[Fishing 24/7]

what i have to say is that the bays on the ottowa are moster bass spawners!!! i know that from my experience! but beating the record is a NO! Because of all your monster bass youv caught , I now have a new goal! catching a 6+ LMB and holding it like you do!!! MOUAHAHAH
But seriously ! keep up the good work and youl defenetly catch your 8+!
and when you do smack it on the WALL!!!! and ill go see it LIVE!!!

KEEP IT REEL

[Lancer]

Biggest I caught near plaisance is 6 lbs LMB.
I caught a few 4lbs and many 3 lbs. All in the same day with the same top water lure LOL
I missed one that was most likely around 8 lbs, the biggest I have ever seen in this region. Haven't seen anything bigger around here but I'm sure there are some between 8-10 lbs.
The record is around 9lbs isn't it ?

[RJ]

The Ontario record (maybe CDN record as well) is 10.43 pounds...

I think with our slower growing fish in our area we'd be hard pressed to top 8 pounds....

What has impressed me in the past year or so is the amount of legit 5 pounders being caught...maybe global warming is a good thing....

RJ

[Big Bass 444]

Lancer,

There is no secret with the fact that I have spend lots of time inside Mc laurin Bay in the past few years looking for ''the'' LMB. God knows I have
fish the Bay like no other. I guess I have polish my ways in there and I am thankfull to have had such a place to practice my skills regarding LMB angling.

In 4 years of fishing @ Mc laurin only once I came close to realize a dream....once. Saying this after taking hundreds of LMB in my lifetime
I can tell you with 100% accuracy that this LMB was the biggest I had ever encounter.It was early July 2007. The water was as clear as cristal and she only followed the lure for 10 feets at about 15 feet from the boat

Be advise that I have caught LMB that where over 6 pounds on 4 occasions and I know what it looks like in the water.....Th July 2007 LMB at Mc Laurin was bigger and longer.....I can't give you a weight or lenght but I can tell you this....I didn't sleep that night and I think about it every day! I sware to God If I would have set the hook on that bass and miss it I would have cry like a baby. 4 years and 1 LMB.....for 1000 of casts and hundreds of hour of fishing.

Now,I take a look at Tourney stats all the time....this year's biggest bass was caught at Champlain Lake....6.79 pounds....here is a pic...




I will say this again..the biggest LMB that I know about for all to see is at Fern sport in Masson-Anger and is a real 23 incher over 7 pounds just under 8......was caught 9 years a go in Lochaber Bay. When I will get a LMB like the one at Fern or a little bigger(If God loves me) I will cry and won't be a shame of it. I devote so much time on and out of the water to get to that goal that it consume most of my life. Saying this I will succeed
one day. Every year I believe I get better. I get more and more lunkers so it is a mather of time before I come face to face with my dream LMB.

Another point. I had this conversation with Fern about 3 weeks a go. He was telling me that people come inside his store all the time saying that they caught 8 pounds bass just like the one he has on the wall.

Now I don't know what's wrong with people but I have stoped getting upset at them....like the time of the Mc Laurin bay story of the 25 inch 9 pound California Bass! It doesn't mather to me anymore. I am a serious LMB angler and you all saw my pictures....none of those LMB where more
than 6.4 pounds. When people come around with digits and lenght that hold serious angler attentions the better back it up with solid credentials or they will just get laugh at them seriously!!!

Yan

[joco]

i dont fish bass that often(mabe a doz time a year)...but there some lakes around here that hold some very large bass...and there not fish at all.for there bass population.

i am sher there must be a 8pound bass somewhere in that river....or even bigger(a fluck of nature.) saw that 15 pound plus walleye caught in petrie 2 or 3 years ago..this is very huge eyes for ottawa river so why not a huge bass..

there some huge.musky/gar/walleye/sturgeons/carp/etc why not a bass...?




i hope you do get your dream BB444...... .



joco

[Big Bass 444]

I would have to aggree with RJ on the fact that global warming may have a direct effect on LMB around here. I remember 15 years a go the amount of snow we had and how cold it was durring the winter months...the past few years we have notice some very mild winters.

I would like to had Something to this post. The Ottawa River is what it is meaning a River. You dont see much Smallmouth Bass in Bays as a mather a fact I never got one inside Mc Laurin. Yet you are better off starting your research for LMB in bays connected to the Ottawa River if you want to be successfull.

Now if I take Mc Laurin Bay for exemple, I believe that all LMB in the Bay are born and stay in that bay.They don't move out to reach the main of the Ottawa River...I don't believe they do this migration. The stay in there all year.
The only concern I have and it is one big puzzle I deal with every year is the migration the do inside the Bay. For the most part I will get 95 % of my Lunkers in that bay staring mid August till end of September...It's been like this for the past 4-5 years...and I keep a log of all Basses I caught there over 4 pounds.

Now from November till march(Bass season still open on Quebec side)they seam to vanish into deeper water....but how deep??? Susspending???
It's hard to say because the colder temperature and dying vegetation are pulling the bite OFF! In Mc Laurin Bay you can find 24-25 feet of water in a small portion of the BAy. But it seams that there is no bottom structure(maybe a few ice shack) in the midle of the Bay.
Every year I go ice fishing at Mc Laurin. I fish for pikes mostly but I also use micro jigs for perch. I never got a LMB on micro @ Mc laurin all the basses I caught where caught on minnows in less than 10 feet of water.
All winter basses where less than 3 pounds. But where are my Summer Lunkers!!!!!

[DonD2]

While I was fishing a BAOO tourney on Muskrat Lake 5-6 yrs ago, there was an 8lb LMB caught prior to the tournament, the guy was prefishing for the tournament...apparently there were pictures and measurements
taken at the time...Now i wouldn't swear on a stack of bibles if it was true or not, but I can say several people had seen pics of it....Can anybody verify this on here, or knows who it was.

[RJ]

I remember a well respected fella telling me about that bay a few years back....he told me he watched a school of giant largies push a large school of bait back into the bay...he followed them on his trolling motor all the way back to McLaurin...

Don't be so sure they don't leave...

[Trophymuskie]

Many moons ago I once was a bass fisherman and every year I would get at least one 5+lb and never over 5.5 Lbs. Until one day in Lockaber(sp) bay I nailed a 22 x 15 inch bass that weight 6 lb 10 oz. That fish was enormous as compared to other 5 pounders I had seen.

Well many years later while I was fishing for muskies near Hawkesbury I hooked into what I thought was a hammer handle to come and find out when the fish came over deep water it tried to jump and that fish made my 6lb 10 oz look small. But in no way was it close to 10 lb but my guess would be high 7's maybe low 8's.

Now I've yet to actually see or hear of pr oven fish ever caught that were over 7lb from the O.

So I say no way hose there might be an 8 pound fish or two but nothing bigger. Sure are a lot of 4-5 pound fish though.

[beachburger]

I would not be at all surprised if Muskrat held a few 8 lb'ers. There is lots of yummy stuff like smelts and trout for them to eat. The top finishers in tournaments at Muskrat usually have 20+ lb 5 fish bags and it usually takes something approaching a 6 to walk away with big fish money.

As far as the Ottawa goes, working the shallow weedy bays can produce some heavy fish but I would look for the true giants in deeper water. If you read about the giants caught in Castaic and Casitas, they are often caught in depths over 20'.

[RJ]

7.2 caught during a tournament I believe by Nigel Toughey...

[Big Bass 444]

It's kind of hard for me right now to point out where to to fish for giants if I go with what I've been hearing lately.

If I go with Fern Labrie from Fern Sport in Masson he caught his 23 incher in less than 2 feet of water in deep cover
Bob Izumi would almost sware that the thicker the cover the better your chance for huge Buckets
Now we are talking about deeper water on the Ottawa main stream.

I find the deeper water for giant facts really impressive and thanks for the insight Richard. I would apply this in the case of Smallmouth on the main stream ottawa River... but largemouth bass over 7-8 pounds in open water fishing for muskys (I assume it would be durring the fall season that you had your experience) got me real curious about why the would hang out there.If this is the case I would need to add deeper water in my studies on the Ottawa River.

[Bass Addict]

Hey dude, just like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the pics you have posted of monster LMB.

2.My fishing partner [ 24/7 ] and i have fished baie McLaurin a couple of times this year , and hooked into some nice 4lb plus.

3.Three years ago i went from a 20 year speckled trout fisherman to a mostly bass fisherman. It took me 3 years and hundreds of hours to catch my first bass over 5 lbs [ posted in the gallery ]

4.I have witnessed a couple of semi-pro and pro bass tournaments this year, not too many over the 5lb mark,, the two biggest were 5.9 and 5.12


5.Have you ever fished Lac Ste Marie ??


6.I believe that there is potential for an 8lb plus from the ottawa, but having said that ,I also believe that baie noire, baie lochabar, baie McLaurin are fished to often for a monster to be sun tanning there.


7.Hope to meet you on the water before season is over, might hit McLauriin saturday afternoon .............rain or shine.