For the new body of water I chose the Rideau River. With that choice made I decided to pick one section of river and fish that section exclusively for the year.
Little did I know at the time how much thirteen km of river would come to affect and consume me this year.
As the Rideau River twists and turns from it's start from the Lower Rideau Lake it is a patchwork of bays and shallow flats filled with grass, cattail, lily pads & wood. The river is home to otters, mink, beavers, ospreys, loons and a cornucopia of waterfowl and birds. It is a giant living organism, constantly and quietly changing throughout the year, offering up it's bass only if one pays attention to the lessons of each trip.
The full beauty of the Rideau River can not be described, it must be experienced.
The Rideau River can be navigated in it's entire length, but the locks throughout the system break the river up into numerous sections. To me some lengths of the river could be considered as a series of small lakes between the locks. Distances, the amount of civilization and fishing pressure between locks vary considerably throughout the river's length. Access to each section is varied from numerous advertised ramps to no advertised ramps. l utilize a ramp advertised in the "Ottawa Boat Launch" link in Fish-Hawk: http://www.geocities.com/ottawaboatramps/ .
Through circumstance I didn't start fishing the Rideau until the beginning of August. Being a smallmouth lover, largemouth were most times incidental catches in a relentless pursuit of quality smallmouth. The Rideau River changed all of that this year.
My first excursion to the Rideau was quite interesting. launching my boat into waters I've never been on, without charts and in some of the thickest fog I'd ever seen. The fog was slow to lift but dissipated quickly, revealing a body of water that meant one thing to me...Largemouth Bass.
Sure, there's other fish in the Rideau, but the largemouth IS the guest of honor here.
With the heavy AM fog on my first visit I only navigated about half of the overall area between the locks. There is so much structure for the bass to utilize, almost everywhere looks good. I would suggest running the entire distance between locks to take stock of all structure available for you.
As the proliferation of depthfinders that have Navionics & GPS capability become the norm, paper charts are becoming redundant. For those of us that haven't updated our depthfinders yet, $23 dollars CDN will get you chart set 1512 - Ottawa to Smiths Falls. Most lock stations sell the chart sets. I keep each chart sheet in XL Zip-Loc bags to help protect them from handling as well as the elements.
All of my prior slop/pad fishing revolved around chucking Bass Rats hither and yon, with no real idea of how to approach fishing slop. This year I decided to do things differently. First and foremost I pay attention to what I'm doing. I approach each piece of structure and methodically check shallow, deep and in-between until I could hopefully determine some sort of a pattern.
After my first trip to the river I knew it was time to bring my old rat collection into the 21st century as well as bolster my slop rod arsenal. Obviously a road trip to Paddletales and Baitcasters to pick up a few Spro Bronzeye frogs and look for the new rod was required. I had two very worthy contenders to choose from, e21 and Kistler. Although it was a very difficult decision to make, the Kistler won out in the end. On my first trip with the new rod I discovered that although the bass might be in the slop, it does not mean they will always hit a rat, or anything else on top for that matter. Even though the Kistler was planned as the new rat rod, I soon discovered that I was far more accurate throwing rats with the ol' Cabalas flipping stick and the Magnesium 7'8" All day Flippin' & Pitchin' Stick with an Ambassadeur 4600C5 is a well balanced, lightweight dream at pitchin'.......go figure!....duh!!
I had never attempted any pitchin' before this year. Even though I'm not sure it's being done properly, I'm learning to get the bait where I'm aiming, for the most part.
As the season progressed the painfully long wait for the jig bite some days taught me the lesson of patience. I found out the Title SHot jig was my friend, and this "whole jig thing" required a lot more research. As the season progressed the grass mats became more and more difficult to penetrate, at a point in early September of rivaling Class I body armor. Easily stopping 3/4oz.Title SHot jigs on numerous occasions. The thick fall grass mats were an area that never really was overcome with the success I wanted. I have a few ideas to try for next year.
I learned the importance of not being a "one method Pete"all day long. I was reminded on how important it is to let the fish tell you what they want.
As daunting as the huge pad beds and grass mats are, there are key areas in each, and fishing the rest is just exercise.
In the summer the Rideau River is a popular spot with all manor and size of pleasure craft, this can make for some interesting fishing in the narrow areas of the river. Assume the big boat with the tsunami-like wake doesn't give a damn about you and chart a course accordingly. With the end of summer the boat traffic is way down and bass fishing is picking up.
Through it all, I managed to be successful in the thick weeds and the slop with a surprising modicum of tackle.
Basically I relied on two lure styles. For the top-water element it was frogs, Spro Bronzeye specifically. To "root 'em out I relied on several Title SHot jigs in 3/8, 1/2 & 3/4oz. married up with Bass Magnet Flappin' Weasels. I found the Flappin' Weasel a durable and well designed bait. The top and bottom of the bait have a narrow grove running the length of the body, allowing the bait to be rigged tex-posed and still be perfectly weedless.
I relied on two spinnerbaits: White with white double willow blades & black with a single black Colorado blade. I also experimented with a Bass Magnet Eye Catcher hollow bodied swim bait.
A senko or tube was on deck as a back-up if a spinnerbait got bumped or a miss at a topwater. Depending on the structure I was fishing the senko was rigged wacky, Texas, or Tex-posed. For hooks I use 3/0 & 4/0 Gamakatsu Wide Gap Finesse hooks for wacky style and Gamakatsu Wide Gap Offset Shank Hooks from 3/0 to 5/0 Superline hooks.
My tubes are rigged in-line most times. BPS tube weights and hooks from Owners massive 7/0 Wide Gap I use on Bass Magnet's Tubzilla. Then its back to Gamakatsu Wide Gap Of-Set Shank Worm Hooks from 2/0 for 3 1/2in tubes up to 3/0, 4/0 or some times 5/0 hooks on the 3 3/4 to 4 1/2 in tubes in my arsenal.
There is good amount of free floating grass in the river, enough at times to make fishing traditional crankbaits and topwaters to all but the most patient, an exercise in futility. There were days, or at least a window of opportunity to throw topwater lures. My favorites are still Super Pop-r's, and spooks, but I have other lures that I use.
I am going to introduce my grandson Nathan to the Rideau River next year. Nathan has shown a keen interest in fishing this year and has really become my new fishing buddy. He's very bright and picks up on things quickly. I can't wait to see the look on his face when a bass jumps all over a Spro Bronzeye Jr. in the pads.
To me it's been an incredibly enjoyable experience to fish a body of water that seems almost out of place as it winds it's way through a busy eastern Ontario.
I never caught any "monsters" but I did learn catch fish on every trip. With a year of exploring and learning this little piece of paradise under my belt, I'm really looking forward to the possibilities of next year's "monster hunt"!
Experiencing the Rideau River for yourself starts as simply as finding the boat ramp closest to your home. Living just outside of Brockville getting to a piece of the Rideau River was as simple as going north. One of the true beauties of this river is it's really a great body of water for the small to medium sized fishing boat.
Where to go on the opening day of bass season for me has always been the classic confrontation and last minute decision between The Big Rideau and Charleston Lake. The decision has already been made on where to go for the 2009 bass opener. There is a new player in the game now, and a new first time winner.
DropShot'r
....Thanks DropShot'r for spending the time to put that together....simply outstanding.....although I stopped fishing for Bass 20 some years ago, switched to trout and most recently Muskie, I just may have to take it up again next season 
