Fish-Hawk.Net

I've fished Big Rideau three times in the past five days. Caught a single Laker on a J6 Rap at 60 feet in the wind and waves last Friday, a small one on a Williams Warbler at 30 feet on Saturday, and got completely skunked today. Tried all the weapons in my arsenal at depths ranging from 30 to 110 feet, mostly in the area between Trout and Long Islands where I've had success in the past. Was marking fish spread throughout the water column.

Anyone had any luck recently on Big Rideau, or are they just not turned on yet?

I haven't fished it yet this year but when I do I usually use a heavy Mr. Champs or White Tube and jig in about 100ft or so right to the bottom. I look for areas with a little structure on the sonar or steep rock shorlines into 60 to 80 ft.

I hope to get out soon and give it a whirl. Hopefully they'll turn on.

Cheers,

You are probably fishing too deep.
On opener weekend we fished our normal depths and got skunked, on the Sunday we flat lined in 25-30 FOW (with baits running about 10-15 ft down) and got 6 in couple of hrs.
The surface temp was still only 54. It likely hasn't warmed up much yet to drive them deeper.

Thanks for the tips, Bobber and Dartee.

Bobber, I haven't had too much luck with deep jigging in the past. so more or less gave up on it. I don't have a bow mount, so pretty much need light winds--something I've not found too often on Big Rideau-- to have any chance of keeping the jig on the bottom. I'll have to give it another go. I did notice one boat obviously jigging on Saturday, but didn't notice whether or not they were catching fish.

Dartee, surface water temp yday was 13.8C when I started, and up to 15C at 3:00 PM. I've only had luck flatlining before when the temp was around 10C, so never thought of giving it a try. Maybe Friday.

Thanks again