Fish-Hawk.Net

So, Who wants to catch some 4th of July Bass?

What better way to celebrate Independence Day then letting loose with some top-water action tomorrow?

I'm launching from the Kars Community Centre on Steven's Creek, plan is to be there around 9 a.m. and on the water shortly thereafter....

This is an open invite to whomever may want to show up. Bring a yak or canoe, yer boat, or get the waders out and fish from shore. Fishing is awesome no matter which way you get down...

Weather is supposed to be beautiful and with the weather finally warming up after a cool start to the week, I expect the top-water bite to be ON FIRE.

Sizzle Sizzle...



~OAO~

Went out of Taylor Park today and the bite was terrible. Even the pike were uncooperative. Water is stained and has been since the spring. Only luck had was fishing deep weed edges using a grub.

If I wasn't fishing Madawaska tomorrow, I would have joined you. Seems like a lot of OVSB members will be prefishing it tomorrow.

As for the bite, we landed quite a few on Tuesday night. I even fished waters I don't normally fish and we still caught them. They were pretty shallow.

Birdee and I were there yesterday, and frankly it was terrible. We had hopes of wailing on some dock Largies. We put together an average sack of fish but it wasn't easy by any means.

RJ

May see you out there later, if you see a float tube bet and fly rod around Gideon Adams c'est moi. Fishing last night was slow, last week managed half a dozen in an hour... Very shallow.

Rideau River near Kars was extremely tough on Saturday. Blazing hot sun, a huge amount of boat traffic, lack of water clarity.

None of that put me off, should have been able to slam a few and I don't make excuses ever, but there just wasn't anything big biting. Never mind I had bass jumping around me, and a GIANT musky leapt out of the water not 5 feet from where my boat was at one point - I couldn't get any of the big guys to hit anything I was throwing. I was trying to focus on structure in the shallows and hitting matted weed clumps, then tried boat docks, then went to flipping the deeper edges...

After 5.5 hours it was a total bust. Very disappointed, next trip will be on the Ottawa, hopefully it is starting to heat up there. At least on the Ottawa I have my spots where I know I can coax a few bites - the Rideau is just so darn hit and miss that I am almost sick of even trying to succeed on it at this point. The heavy boat traffic was annoying as well but that is to be expected on a Saturday...

I have had 1 bad day on the Rideau so far and that was the Monday after opener. The water was stained and the weed beds had not started yet.

Last week, I found some new growth and most of the stain had dissipated. I think your main issue was probably related to boat traffic as it seems the larger boats never slow down and their wake can muddy up the shoreline pretty good. I would recommend you launch at Reeve Craig (if you can) and hit the waters between the 416 and 43 bridges. The river is wider there and the boat traffic doesn't seem to muddy up the water as much.

As for size, I am doing much better this year than I did last.

Now, Saturday was tough with blue bird skies and a pretty favourable forecasts for the weekend boaters/tubers. This is why I prefer to fish the Rideau on weeknights. You get the place almost all to yourself and it is a little cooler than during the day.

I managed to get out on the Rideau Friday night for an hour or so and Sunday morning. I was fishing shallow (3-4') most of the time occasionally a bit deeper of off Gideon Adams park. Friday I managed 1 fish and 3 misses but then I had ski boats dropping skiers 20' away and jet skis roaring through weed beds. Sunday I managed 6 bass in 90 minutes all on surface poppers, 5 were shallow and 1 deeper. No major size but tons of fun on a light fly rod,

Weird, I fish kars alot since it's close and home to some pigs! I spend a lot of time on the Rideau and even on its worst days it produces some big bites! Although usually the first hour or two tells you what your in for aha! If the frog is off its a flipping bite and vise versa! Flats off of channel swings seem to hold fish regardless and the flats seem to replenish themselves often

Spent 5 hours on the Rideau yesterday off Ecolands park. Went up and down in the yak, covering a fair amount of water. Tried all types of presentation and not a single bite. Tried up Reeve Craig a few weeks ago and got a couple of bites but frankly, compared to some of the action I got on Miss lake and in the Gatineau park, I'm not going to waste another fishing day on the Rideau this year. Maybe that river is for better fishermen than me...

It's funny how everybody's got different fishing experiences everywhere... been reading threw all the replies & its funny its almost a 1:1 for good and bad lol & its my first year on the Rideau (Kars areas as well) & I am having a blast! Always catching 6 to 15 bass within a reasonable amount of time. On the other hand! Having lotsa trouble in Cornwall & Long Sault on the St-Lawrence this year again... Ratio is still horrible. I cant wait to get the hang of it for this body of water!

I spend a lot of time on the Rideau so it is hard to see people say they struggle with it. I have had bad days on it but have not been skunked there is a while. Lately, I have been trying to spend more time trying new waters so I have more spots available if I am having a slow day.

Trying out new techniques has also given me more diversity and chances to catch fish.

No matter how you look at it, spending time on the water and learning where fish are is the only way to guarantee fish. The more time you spend anywhere, the better your chances are.