RJ wrote:Was talking about this with a couple guys recently. We can't figure out why guys still go there at all. Other than the proximity to the city the fishing is fair at best.
RJ
I know I'm repeating myself but, IMO that's because, like anywhere really, it's all about location and structure when it comes to success, but specially out in a large relatively flat bay like Shirley's it's even more critical. It's easy to plop a shack anywhere and hope to find wandering fish during the day. For Walleye it has always been critical to fish the evening run there. We could sit at my preferred area all day long and catch Perch and Pike, but come 4:30 it's a whole different show.Time to refresh minnows on tip ups and break out the jigs for a while with those old minnows. Also time to be quiet and attentive.
What I'm getting at is that by the time it's getting dark many folks are gone home for dinner, worst thing they could do, and maybe they weren't in a good spot in the first place so they figure fishing isn't very good at Shirley's. The thing that hasn't changed is that Shirley's is the biggest spawning ground in the Ottawa for a great distance and Innes point is the biggest piece of rocky structure anywhere on the river for a long ways.
So unless the fishing on all of the Ottawa river has declined over the years I see no reason why Shirleys in particular would have gotten so poor. Rob, I would be interested in knowing what those guys you were talking to are basing their comments on. How often did they fish there? Do they know where to fish on the bay? Do they stay till after dark? Do they use live bait? And last but certainly not least how close to bottom do they fish? If they're not within 6" of bottom it can make a big difference in number of hits. Also sensitivity and balance of tip ups is paramount. The Perch hit way harder than the Walleye, often the only thing to tell if there is a Pickerel biting is the line moving across the hole. At best my tip up might get to the flat, very seldom will it actually point down. So if the answer to some of those questions is no, then I could see how some folks might figure the fishing is lousy.
Again, I'm certainly not disputing what the OP, Steve and Tim have experienced. Then again Lenny finds it better, so who knows exactly what's going on? Tim has 20+ years out there, with more recent experience than I. I go back about 30, but not much in the last 10. There are just so many variables. I have an early ice location that I was shown way back. We would even line up with a shoreline feature and find that specific lip where it dropped from 5 to 7 ft. For whatever reason it worked and better size fish too, my largest there was just over 25". But that spot was only good for a week or two at most, once the ice got close to 8" then it faded. Go figure. Then it was out further to deeper water. Then once the bay ice hit 12"+ it was time to drive out a mile and a half to find some rock and current. Basic Walleye 101 anywhere, right? Again there were landmarks on the Ontario and QC side to line up with lol.The two shacks were always at the same spots too. At first we'd park out of the current in the bay and then walk out. It was always 6-7" less ice than the bay. Once the ice there hit a good 9" of black ice we would drive all the way. Some years it was certainly 4x4 only, some years there was a road plowed out for a couple of shacks by the guys with the black Bronco (Gord I think) and we had to shovel out a parking spot to turn around in, the snow was that deep. Some years there were some good pressure ridges to deal with. The odd year after a thaw and refreeze you could take a car anywhere. I remember at least once, maybe twice it was sled only to go that far, even to pull shacks off got tough some years with those late snow dumps. I'm sure Tim remembers those years too.
As for the community aspect out on Shirley's, I don't think it can be underestimated. For some folks it was more important than the actual fishing. One year I counted over 80 shacks out there. Lot's of family fun times were had, skating rinks were made near clusters of shacks, kids and dogs were everywhere having fun, and yea some folks got well lubed up, but there were never any hassles that I recall.
In closing, I'm with Lenny on this one. Assuming I can get to my spots, I still have confidence in the Walleye fishing at Shirley's. In fact, between the Miss, Taylor/Clayton and the Ottawa, Shirley's would still be my first choice for sure. It was always a rare evening indeed where Walleye didn't hit the ice, specially in January. In February the first run was lighter and seemed to have more dinks and Sauger, so staying later helped, even after the Ling started to bite, which was usually when we would start to pack up.
So good luck to everyone out there this year. Hopefully this snow doesn't wreck conditions too much, folks can get their shacks out, and the ramp doesn't get too bad. Speaking of which, Tim did you ever hear any more from the NCC on moving a few of those boulders?
Merry Christmas to all. Cheers