With my good friend Christine down in Ottawa for a few days - before packing her MP gear and shuttling off to New Brunswick - a plan was hatched to get out for a day of heavy cover largemouth fishing. Having hit this section of the Rideau River the day before solo (and scouting out some great areas that were producing consistent catches) we decided this would be the place to execute a full-on attack against the green bass.
Launched the boat at 9:30am to hot and humid conditions. Decided to toss frogs for half an hour around the slop mats and pads that are adjacent to the ramp. Yours truly put three "average" size fish in the boat fairly quickly - and of course, the usual trash talking began...
On the truck ride down to the river we each came up with a goal for the day. Mine was 25 largies - Christine's guess was 28. As for big fish of the outing, mine was a conservative 3lb 2oz, while my partner opted to raise the stakes to 3lb 10oz's.....
After working a large flat with an average depth of 4 feet with nothing else to show other than the three earlier fish, we cruised out to a deeper weedline that ran nine to twelve feet deep. Christine began tossing a Strkie King crank while I chucked a YUM Money Minnow. Three puny pike quickly fell prey to our offerings, although we did see a chunk of a large following the crank to the boat.
Beginning to sweat a little (not only from the heat but also the lack of fish) I decided to make the run down to the area I had discovered the day before. Although similar in composition to other areas on the river, for some reason, this spot seemed to hold a good population of fish. Basically slop mats and a smattering of pads in two to four feet of water - on a secondary spot away from the shoreline.
Christine began pitching a Double Wide Beaver (creature bait) rigged weedless on a worm weight. I stuck with my bread and butter - a Booyah or Strike King flipping jig partnered up with a YUM Chunk, Craw or Paca Craw.
Pitching to the edge of the floating mats or slightly in saw the fish scoot out and clobber our offerings. It didn't take long for the action to get fast and furious...
The first decent fish to be swung in the boat:
Although my jig was off to a strong start and was accounting for more fish, it didn't take long for Christine's creature bait to run away with the show. After mulling it over last night, I'd say the larger profile and slower fall were the key triggering aspects....
Scooting over the other side of the river, we found a similar area to the first, but with deeper water underneath the cover. This produced some great fish.
The first "photo-worthy" largie for Christine - you can see the slop line we were targeting in the background:
We were missing quite a few fish - many short striking, or rushing up to the bait at the last second then changing their mind. Fairly frustrating, but awesome to see in the crystal clear water.
With our fifteenth fish having been swung in the boat by 12:30pm, we decided to break for lunch and prepare to hit the other end of the river and try to dig up some new spots.
Stopped at a few spots that we quickly turned our nose up at - especially those that were in calm areas. It seemed that the wind blown slop - especially those mid-lake - were coughing up more fish, so the scouting mission continued.
Finally came across a large expanse of slop that had a very defined edge. This spot has coughed up some great fish for me in previous years, but I had not had a chance to work it over this season.
Before I could get a pitch in at this new spot, Christine was bringing the first fish in the boat. Interestingly, it came from a small patch of isolated pads/slop, away from the expanse of cover. Spying a similar isolated patch, a quick pitch in with the jig had me setting the hooks into a decent fish - sadly the hook pulled out. At this point we felt we might be on to the spot we were looking for.
Began working the edge of the slop with our chosen baits. It didn't take long.
Lastly, the fish that made the trip - a 4lb 2oz largie:
Definitely a five-pound fish once that belly of hers fattens up!
With the winds beginning to gust and with word of a storm blowing through, we decided to head back to the launch at 4pm and retire to the local pub in town - and relax with a cold beer and a hot pizza. Perfect end to the day.
At the end of it we put 27 largies in the boat. And, like all good fishing trips, we shared some great laughs and fun times.
Until next time Lt. Christine...
Good Fishing,
Justin
