Fishing Spots in or near Ottawa

[Mariner]

Hi folks - I'm new to Fish-Hawk.net but it seems to be a pretty good place to get and share fishing info, stories, etc. Reason I'm posting is to ask if anyone might be kind enough to share some fishing spots with me. I'm fairly new to Ottawa and to freshwater fishing in general - I come from Halifax, and have done lots of saltwater fishing in my lifetime.

I live near Strathcona park, and often do some wading in the Rideau River for bass, walleye, perch, and I even got a pike once - all on my spinning gear. I typically take my bike and put my gear in my backpack, pedaling around to find new spots. Needless to say, I don't have a boat. I've gone to the Ottawa River near Parliament and caught ONE walleye, once, at the bottom of the locks, and have traveled up and down the Rideau in search of spots. I have yet to find anything that yields a lot of fish, though.

I do have access to a car now, and am going to try Lake Constance in Kanata this summer. I understand you can rent boats there, and that this lake holds pike and bass primarily. But I was wondering if anyone might know of any other fairly close spots that I could try out (or if anyone has tips for Constance that would be great too). I understand people being hesitant to give away their spots, but any info would be greatly appreciated.

Best of luck to everyone this coming season - and hopefully everyone can get out and enjoy the great weather that seems to be coming our way this weekend. I for one will likely be enjoying a nice cold brew with some friends on a patio somewhere.

Cheers

[Mike M]

Hello Mariner,

As a fellow transplanted Bluenoser, let me be the first to welcome you to the site. I can't offer much advice on places to fish from shore as I do my flailing from a boat, however, from what I've seen on this site, folks are extremely helpful and I'm sure you'll get plenty of good suggestions.
Once again, welcome.

[Mr. T.]

Hello!

Here's a good link on shore fishing in the Ottawa area.

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/Le ... 65641.html

[Carmine]

im in the same boat as you, NO BOAT!!!! so im looking fo rhte same thing but here are a few spots i know, dows lake by the marina is oretty good ive caught some good size bass out of there. at constance look for weeds if you see weeds sticking out of the water in the middle of the water fish them!

[Andy_L]

welcome to Fish-Hawk

If you're going to Constance lake because of the ability to rent a boat there, might i suggest you check out Oziles at Petrie Island. They also rent boats and that would give you access to an excellent part of the Ottawa River for must species

Have fun

[colossalboom]

Hi Mariner,

Welcome to the Ottawa area. The fishing opportunities in this area are endless. If you have access to a vehicle then that opens up a lot of area within an hour of the city. For example, Mississippi Lake in Carleton Place has several campgrounds/resorts that rent boats and the lake is excellent for smallmouth, largemouth, pike, and walleye. White Lake near Arnprior is a great largemouth and pike lake, you can rent boats there at Bayview Lodge or Cedar Cove Resort. As Andy_L suggested, the Petrie Island area offers plenty of opportunity for some good fishing, and the whole Rideau Lakes system around Smiths Falls, not far from Ottawa, offers great fishing as well. Also, the Rideau River offers plenty of shore fishing opportunities almost within Ottawa. Do a little searching on the Internet, you'll find all kinds of places that rent boats and lots of other related information.

Cheers!

[Bear]

check out the rideau river under the bronson bridge near Carleton U

[saskie]

Navy? This is my second stint here in Ottawa. Great town, you'll love it.
Constance is pretty much a bowl lake with decent fishing given its proximity to town.

[Lunker Larry]

Easily accessible is the Rideau from Dows lake all the way down to the old city hall is a good fishery. Shallow areas you can wade in between deeper pools or fish from the shore. An area often overlooked is the canal at the end of 5th st. A good weedbed develops there as the summer progresses and I've seen small mouth, large mouth, big pan fish and even a 4 ft eel come out of there. Pretty spot on a summers day.

[Jimmy_1]

Howdy,

There was an article in Ontario Out of Doors a few years back called "the Urban Fisherman" it showed shore fishing spots in Ottawa, the species and even the OC Transpo bus routes to get there......

I still have the magazine but I am curious to see if it can be looked up on-line.

[Doeun_k]

Give me a PM ill take you to local spots

[gerrymackenzie]

Hi Mariner, welcome to Ottawa and to Fish-Hawk. I too am a transplanted Maritimer (originally from Cape Breton) and have lived in Ottawa for almost 20 years. I also fish exclusively from the shore. The rivers here are easily accessible and most have a great variety of fishing locales. You can fish in the Ottawa, the Rideau, the Mississippi, the Jock, the Madawaska, etc, etc and will almost always catch something from Pike to small mouth to large mouth to numerous varieties of pan fish (perch, pumpkinseed, crappy, etc) depending on your tackle and patience. Let me know if you want to get out sometime over the summer and we can get together early some Sunday morning and go exploring.

Gerry

[Mariner]

Thanks everyone for the friendly welcome. I just got about 10 times more info from you all in one night than I've been able to find surfing the net or exploring on my bike in the past year - and the info is likely to be a lot more reliable, too! Always nice to catch wind of some tried and tested locations. Looking forward to continued correspondence with you all.

saskie - Not in the Navy. Came to Ottawa to do a one year M.A. program at U of O. Been here for one summer, and looking forward to this one coming!

Cheers