shirley's bay

[Duper]

I was out on Sunday. 15+ shacks out there. Went out and to the right of the launch kind of in the middle of all the shacks out there near the 'Ice Rink' someone had set up (which was awesome to see). Good 12"+ of ice. Drove the SUV all the way out and saw a full sized truck out a 100 or so yards farther. Fished from 3-6:30pm. Managed 2 sauger and a perch on a minnow tipped Buckshot. Also had my flag go up twice on the tip-up but got robbed of my minnow both times. Talked to a couple guys there who said they had been getting fish but mostly small stuff.

[tbone1088]

Anybody catch any larger fish yet? Whats the biggest you have heard about so far?

[CCLad]

Got 6 my first outing - 2 around 14". 1 perch on my second go.... Moving my hut today as its not in the best of locations. Fishing over all for the past couple seasons seems to be declining.

[CyrusG]

Anybody catch any larger fish yet? Whats the biggest you have heard about so far?

The other day my bro had a good fish on that was head shaking like a nice eye but it got off, right as the sun was hitting the trees. It wasn't fighting like a pike, it could have been a burbot but we'll never know. I talked to another fella out there who showed me a pic of a 7 pound eye he caught in the bay a few years ago, you don't hear of many big ones but they're in there.

[CCLad]

For sure there are good fish in the bay. The Ottawa is a BIG river! One thing I always keep in mind particularly when the fishing is slow, is that at any point a big fish could hit. There's always a chance, but hey I digress.... That's fishing Anyone venture way out past the end of the cause way?
Ice report????

[RyanW]

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[CyrusG]

The action was insane today!! From 4:30-5:30 i caught over 20 walleye/sauger ranging from 10-15 inches, lost a nice one at the hole. After that the bite slowed down but i still managed to catch a few before i left at 6:00.

I drilled a bunch of holes until i found one that had a huge school of perch. I caught close to 10 but once 4:30 hit they left and the walleye/sauger came through.

I fished 10 feet of water

[smitty55]

The action was insane today!! From 4:30-5:30 i caught over 20 walleye/sauger ranging from 10-15 inches, lost a nice one at the hole. After that the bite slowed down but i still managed to catch a few before i left at 6:00.

I drilled a bunch of holes until i found one that had a huge school of perch. I caught close to 10 but once 4:30 hit they left and the walleye/sauger came through.

I fished 10 feet of water

Way to go LC. Must have been fun. I hope you got a gps reading hehe.There's usually a reason for a hot area. Friends of mine would always put their shacks over a certain piece of structure every year and they were particular about it. 8-9 feet in front of the shack and 12-13 behind it.

Too bad they were all smaller but it does say good things about the health of the fishery. I've found out there in the past that sometimes depending on structure, getting into deeper water, like say 15ft, the better year classes are caught. If you have deeper water close you may want to try a line or two out there. Just a thought. Good luck.

Cheers

[smitty55]

Just wondering if anyone is fishing in current out there, and if so, how thick is the ice? If there's 18" inside the bay my guess would be a good foot of ice in the current along the mouth of the bay. Can anyone concur? How far are trucks driving out now? I haven't been in to the city for quite a while now or I would have checked.
Tks

[RyanW]

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[smitty55]

Tks Choke. We haven't had much snow since the thaw so I wouldn't have figured the drifts would be high enough to get a truck stuck. Maybe it was a 2wd. Although I was told that Ottawa got more snow than we did out here.

Cheers

[Jholder]

There was trucks out by haycock island. And sleds ripping it up out towards Aylmer island. But no is venturing out to far in vehicles with the thick crusty drifts. It makes for a tough drive. I seen a 4wheeler and a truck get stuck in the drifts today.

Any luck out there choke? thinking of bringing my shack down this week, is there a road at all or should i plan on bringing 2 trucks Will likely do a reccy before hand, was just curious.

Tight lines.

[scarkner]

Tks Choke. We haven't had much snow since the thaw so I wouldn't have figured the drifts would be high enough to get a truck stuck. Maybe it was a 2wd. Although I was told that Ottawa got more snow than we did out here.

Cheers

I got stuck too, 4x4. The drifts were quite deep in places and the ice crusts are thick enough to lift a truck. You have to really "slam through them" when you are anywhere that hasn't been driven yet. I also found that some of the drifts have slush under them, so you pound into the drift and then sink a bit.

I got stuck because I had my kids in the truck and they were finding the ride too rough so I slowed down and took the next drift a little lighter... plop... done. Got out my shovel and had the wheels off the ice there was so much crust under the truck. I am fairly inexperienced with 4x4, but not much I could do with that particular drift!

I am not sure who plowed the road in, but it is very easy for cars and 2WD to access much of the fishing area, and there are now lots of paths. So in the "normal" areas its fine, but out far is really touch and go.

[smitty55]

I got stuck because I had my kids in the truck and they were finding the ride too rough so I slowed down and took the next drift a little lighter... plop... done. Got out my shovel and had the wheels off the ice there was so much crust under the truck. I am fairly inexperienced with 4x4, but not much I could do with that particular drift!
I am not sure who plowed the road in, but it is very easy for cars and 2WD to access much of the fishing area, and there are now lots of paths. So in the "normal" areas its fine, but out far is really touch and go.

Thanks for the info. Yea, I got my 3/4 ton 4x4 stuck one year out there on heavily compacted snow. It wasn't just a drift lol. Frame totally hung up. Good thing I had a long handled shovel with me, and it still took and hour and a half of digging. Sometimes it's better to stay on the road well traveled.

Things sure have changed from when I was a regular out there. Used to be 60+ shacks out there all the time. 80 one year. Quite a few guys with plows. For years there was this guy named Gord with a black Bronco that would plow a road all the way to the point in real bad winters, as there used to be 2 or 3 shacks out there most years. Some years you could drive out with a car. But its been a long time since I saw one out that far. Even used to see the odd small shack way out in the main river. There is some wicked structure between Innes Point and Aylmer island. I always wanted to try and find the Pickerel in their daytime haunts but didn't really put enough into it. That would be an interesting challenge...

Cheers

[RyanW]

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