Shirley's bay 2016

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RyanW
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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

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Last edited by RyanW on Mon Apr 25, 2016 3:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

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My sons and I hit the ice at Shirley's Bay on Saturday until dark and again late morning on Sunday.
On Saturday night we got skunked, but we did manage a few perch yesterday. There seemed to be quite a few around, but the wind, both times out, was nasty.
Still a lot of fun out there.
That was my first time actually fishing the Ottawa River in Ottawa. Normally I travel outside of the NCR to avoid the crowds, but decided to give Shirley's Bay a try this weekend, Nice area. Enjoyed both trips out on the ice.
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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

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Ragehunter wrote:My sons and I hit the ice at Shirley's Bay on Saturday until dark and again late morning on Sunday.
On Saturday night we got skunked, but we did manage a few perch yesterday. There seemed to be quite a few around, but the wind, both times out, was nasty.
Still a lot of fun out there.
That was my first time actually fishing the Ottawa River in Ottawa. Normally I travel outside of the NCR to avoid the crowds, but decided to give Shirley's Bay a try this weekend, Nice area. Enjoyed both trips out on the ice.
I was on the ice with my son over the same time period, stayed overnight.

I was surprised how little action there was at night. It was much darker this weekend, combination of clouds plus nearly new moon (only 5% light compared to 70% the previous weekend). I suspect that this was the biggest factor in the very weak overnight bite.

In total we landed over 25 fish in about 24 hours of fishing. Included a whopping 15 Sauger, 1 small walleye, 4 ling and 9 perch. All fish were small, even the ling.

Also got one double-sauger hookup. Two on one tip-up. REally got my hopes up thinking it was HUGE.

Fishing combination of live and dead minnows. The bite stopped at 8pm, and only got 2 bites all night, before bite picked up again around 6:30am.
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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

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scarkner wrote:
Ragehunter wrote:My sons and I hit the ice at Shirley's Bay on Saturday until dark and again late morning on Sunday.
On Saturday night we got skunked, but we did manage a few perch yesterday. There seemed to be quite a few around, but the wind, both times out, was nasty.
Still a lot of fun out there.
That was my first time actually fishing the Ottawa River in Ottawa. Normally I travel outside of the NCR to avoid the crowds, but decided to give Shirley's Bay a try this weekend, Nice area. Enjoyed both trips out on the ice.
I was on the ice with my son over the same time period, stayed overnight.

I was surprised how little action there was at night. It was much darker this weekend, combination of clouds plus nearly new moon (only 5% light compared to 70% the previous weekend). I suspect that this was the biggest factor in the very weak overnight bite.

In total we landed over 25 fish in about 24 hours of fishing. Included a whopping 15 Sauger, 1 small walleye, 4 ling and 9 perch. All fish were small, even the ling.

Also got one double-sauger hookup. Two on one tip-up. REally got my hopes up thinking it was HUGE.

Fishing combination of live and dead minnows. The bite stopped at 8pm, and only got 2 bites all night, before bite picked up again around 6:30am.
Moving your shack 5 feet didn't change anything? just kidding. I was the guy with the red ATV with tracks. When I seen you hooking the truck on, I didn't think it would get much traction.

I caught a bunch of perch through out the day, had a couple of red bars on the flasher, but just lookers and no takers.
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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

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MLR wrote: Moving your shack 5 feet didn't change anything? just kidding. I was the guy with the red ATV with tracks. When I seen you hooking the truck on, I didn't think it would get much traction.
LOL - I wasn't actually trying to move my shack very far. The holes I had drilled a week before had closed up about half-way so there was no way that I could open them up again!!! I literally had to move the shack just far enough to expose "clean" ice that was drillable. I have the shack sitting on three 2x4 feet, so by moving it only a short distance I was able to take the 2x4 from one side and just put it under the other side, shack was still balanced on the two remaining 2x4s. Easy as pie :-)

What I would really like to do is move the shack way out into 15 feet of water... but with the thin ice, that's not happening this year!!!

Ice is crazy slippery. I was out again today breifly and it is even MORE slippery as the high winds today has polished the ice to a shine. It actually looks wet (even though it is dry). Combined with the high wind, you can almost just stand still and let the wind push you along.
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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

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Last edited by RyanW on Mon Apr 25, 2016 3:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

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Not much hit until 5. Got 3 perch, two sauger and a pike. Biggest sauger I've caught so far.
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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

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Nice sauger!

Took my son out for his first night fish last night, but it was almost 6 by the time we made it out and got setup.

We were W of the main group of huts but not a single bite, and by 7:15 we were packing it down . . . maybe we arrived too late? I know that side towards the range is shallower, but did seem like most fisherman were to that side last night . . .

win some and lose some, but we haven't had much luck working for us so far this year . . .
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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

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Went out last night 2nd time on Shirley's and only had 1 bite.. It was 730 by the time we got our lines down after getting all set up.
Stayed until about 945. I would say we were in about 10-12 FOW. We used medium sized minnows. We were on the left side of most of the huts. We went out on Sunday for the first time and we managed 5 perch over 3 hours and they all came in a school in a span of 15-20 minutes. No walleye, that's what we're really after! But at this point anything will do haha. Lots of ice we drove the truck out and it was 12+ inches.
Better luck next time!

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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

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The Captain wrote:Took my son out for his first night fish last night, but it was almost 6 by the time we made it out and got setup.
Whiter88 wrote:It was 730 by the time we got our lines down after getting all set up.
If you're getting out there that late you're really limiting yourself for a chance at Walleye. You should be out there and set up by 4:30 or 5:00 at the latest for the run. Same for the morning. You really want to be set up at first light for the morning run.

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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

Post by The Captain »

Thanks for confirming my thoughts Smitty

timing just didn't work out on a weeknight for us leaving work/school/etc. but looks like Family Day the temps might moderate enough to give it a go . . . still got lots of minnows in the basement looking for a good home!
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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

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Painfully cold morning (Sunday) at -29C. Got to the hut around 5:30am. Managed to coax the heater into operation, drilled the holes and set some bait.

There was a rush of sauger and perch right at sunup, managed to get a couple above the ice. Very slow otherwise. Nothing big :-(

Still a pleasant but COLD way to spend the morning.

Headed home around 9am.

For those that know my hut - I moved it about 125 meters farther out, approximately West-North-West of the original location. Kinda dissapointed with Navionics maps as the original location was about 11 feet deep with Navionics saying 7 feet. The new location is about 11 feet deep with Navionics saying 11 feet. So I didn't really gain anything depth wise even though Navionics lead me to expect at least an extra 3-4 feet. Will be interesting to see if there is any significant change in the fishing action. So far I would say it's about the same.
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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

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Nothing like a strong cold front to turn the fishing off

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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

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This thread really makes me smile. Thanks for reporting here fellas. I know the guys who are fishing the same area like to keep up to date with how the fishing is and you are awesome for sharing.

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Re: Shirley's bay 2016

Post by Yakster »

She was pretty slow for me this afternoon and evening.....but with the woodstove cranking, music playing and meat on the grill the two Sauger were a bonus....
there's always tomorrow.
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