Baie McLauren - WARNING - Hunters 'o plenty!!!

Post by **cprince** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 10:52 am

Got to the bay this morning (Sunday) at about 5AM. Water is like glass the big dipper and the moon is shinning bright! We dump the boat in and make for the little part of the bay to the east that you need to go through a channel to get to. Gorgeous cabbage and water still like glass. Far off in the distance, a gun fight can be heard... not sure exactly where it was coming from, but it sounded far away.

Start working the edge of the weeks with my favorite buzz bait and start getting swirls around it and some serious attacks. As we are fishing, we are drifting down the weed line.... my buzz hits something that is floating on my retrieve... cant quite tell what it was.... then I realize that there are a bunch of things floating all around us... the light was just enough for us to realize, with sickening horror, that they were about 10 or 15 duck decoys all around us.

Now I have to tell you... I have a unique sneeze that I developed when I was a kid... I hate to block sneezes as they hurt my brain and cause my eyes to pop out. I also hate to let loose as it creates a toxic cloud and spittle all over the place... so I sort of half let loose and half block it. This causes a very odd noise that sounds a lot like Donal Duck getting rapped with an egg beater.

At this point I sneeze and almost simultaneously crap my pants. All I could think about is these hunters saying; "Well officer, he quacked like a duck..."

We both start laughing our asses off and start swearing with a lot of "WTFs??!!". Then, from the rushes, comes "We thought you knew we were here".

My friend pulled the cord for the Johnson and we were out of there!

It put a damper on the morning... but I still made out with a nice 5.6Lb pike and a 2.6Lb bucket mouth, all on a black buzz bait. My friend got a couple of smallies (1.6 and 1.10) on Carolina. Pulled the boat out at about 10:30am and warned a couple of fishers going in to be ware of the hunters on the other side.

BE CAREFUL GUYS!!

Post by **joco** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 11:14 am

good to no..i almost went there this morning in the yak.

good to see you still got some action and no holes in your boat..

i am sher those hunter must be happy to see fisherman..

joco

Post by **TheFishstick** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 12:30 pm

Weird how they did it this year. The Quebec side opened a week earlier then the Ontario side. Duck doesn't open until the 27th on the On side.

Post by **cprince** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 12:36 pm

I seem to remember always knowing when there were hunters around because they would have little signs indicating that they were there and how many of them there were.

There were no indications that these guys were there. Really scary situation. Especially there... always a lot of fishing going on around there.

But I suppose the decoys could have been their calling card...

Post by **Big Bass 444** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 5:29 pm

Access to the Ottawa River from Mc Laurin Bay or the way around.....would be suicide!!!

A few years back one hunter fire a shot no more than 50 feet above my head......hummmmm.....you really need to stay away from the chanel at all time when duck hunting is on.....seriously!!!!! Even avoiding Mc Laurin Bay is a wise decision!

444

Post by **Rico24** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 5:46 pm

Me and Seabass decided to hit mclaurin bay today... from the ottawa river...

That was at about 1pm. I think we just heard 1 gun fire.

Dint see any duck decoys, so i guess we were good.

Post by **DropShotr** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 6:47 pm

cprince wrote:I seem to remember always knowing when there were hunters around because they would have little signs indicating that they were there and how many of them there were.

Where do you live?

Ladies and Gents I have spent a lot of time in duck blinds in the fall. I have seen some fisherman I'd a liked to have gone out and grabbed by the "stacking swivel" and had an eyeball to eyeball conversation with.

Take a pair of binoculars along with you. Look for the decoys and give the duck hunters area a break. There is a lot of work involved with duck hunting. There is nothing more frustrating than watching ducks flair away from your decoys because someone is fishing too close to the decoys.

DropShot'r

Post by **TheFishstick** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 6:57 pm

Amen to what Dropshot'r just said! I've had it happen a few times as well. Really puts a damper on things.

Post by **cprince** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 5:43 am

Live in Quebec.

Not sure what the a fisherman can do here... you plan all week to go fishing in a certain spot where it is basically a playground for fishermen... and all of a sudden people are shooting guns off around you without any warning at all?

Kind of odd if you ask me. A few signs around the boat launch indicating where they are, or even the fact that they are there would be prudent.

It's not like the ducks can read.

On another note.... wouldn't it make more sense to go somewhere that wasn't akin to a playground to shoot off their guns? I dunno... somewhere outside city limits? If I am hunting partridge or rabbit, I make sure I don't do it where there are people around. Private land, or deserted crown. Not say.... Camp Fortune.

Post by **Bass Addict** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 5:52 am

First off .........

I think its ilegal to discharge a firearm in the citylimits of Gatineau ,

Secondly anybody duck hunting in McLaurin Bay has no class whatsoever
especially knowing its a real hotspot for bass

Post by **Wallyboss** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 6:34 am

Sounded we were in the middle of WW2 on Saturday. First went into Clement Bay then spotted a couple of duck blinds just as we entered. We got out of there and headed to McLaurin and as we were going in we saw a duck boat coming out. I had heard that duck hunters are usually off there spot by 9:00am and come back mid afternoon. But the guys said that they are usually in there blind for most of the day. I didn't see anybody in the first McLaurin bay so that is where we fished. But every 10-15 min. we would here the gunshots.

Post by **Tip-up** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 6:38 am

If you guys are so worried about hunters why not make other plans to fish elsewhere....Lots of water. The hunters have been waiting long enough.

Post by **cprince** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:03 am

Tip-up wrote:If you guys are so worried about hunters why not make other plans to fish elsewhere....Lots of water. The hunters have been waiting long enough.

Its not hunters that worry me, it's people that shoot guns at ducks where there are always people around that worry me.

If I am a hunter, I do not go to popular fishing grounds for ducks just like I don't hunt deer on soccer fields, even though I have seen a lot on them there.

Post by **DropShotr** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:05 am

cprince wrote: Not sure what the a fisherman can do here... you plan all week to go fishing in a certain spot where it is basically a playground for fishermen... and all of a sudden people are shooting guns off around you without any warning at all?

Kind of odd if you ask me. A few signs around the boat launch indicating where they are, or even the fact that they are there would be prudent.

Hope you don't mind seeing the other side of the coin here:

cprince wrote: Not sure what the a hunter can do here... you plan all week to go hunting in a certain spot where it is basically a playground for hunters... and all of a sudden people are fishing around you without any warning at all?

Kind of odd if you ask me. A few signs around the boat launch indicating where they are, or even the fact that they are there would be prudent.

To the hunters the opening day of duck and goose season is just as sacred of a day as the opening of bass is to fisherman.

I was on the Rideau River on Friday. Herd some shooting here and there, just glassed the shorelines and duck blinds before I moved in. No big deal....to me.

Sharing is the word for today.

cprince wrote:
It's not like the ducks can read.

No, but you can.

Hope this helps:

http://www.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/publications ... /index.asp

http://www.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/english/publ ... /index.asp

DropShot'r

Post by **Scum Frog** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:09 am

Lads, the anglers have had the water all summer....it's huntin' time now. If you see dekes....stay away!