Shirleys Bay reports

[gsoxley]

Pb 25.5" walleye at Shirley's Bay last Tuesday. Threw it back for others, but kept 4 juicy jumbo perch and a smaller 14" walleye for the pan. Just missed several other fish that felt like good weight!

Pb 25.5" walleye at Shirley's Bay

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[CCLad]

Nice fish! I have caught a hand full of big walleye so far this season as well. I think it has to do with the no spring fishing for the past 2 years. 2 years ago - the flood happened and no boats were allowed on the river. last spring covid started and also reduced the post spawn pressure. So far this year our numbers are way up and we too have got some quality walleye! Great to see.

[CCLad]

Fishing was a bit slower for us this past week. Usually a couple small walleye and a few ling. The ling bite has definitely picked up where we are.

[Mav]

Yep, our last outing brought in 5 decent sized ling along with some small walleye. The ling bite is on!

[Zach bros Outdoors]

Went out in the bay on sunday a bit further than most of the huts. The bite didn't turn on until prime time around 4 oclock, and we caught 4 sauger, the tiniest walleye I've ever seen, and a perch. Surprised to see in the earlier posts that someone caught a burbot!
Good fishing,
Zach bros

[SirCatfish]

I was out on Sunday from approx. 2 to 6 pm. Pretty consistent action, landed 5 sauger and 1 walleye (missed a bigger bite). It was my first successful trip to Shirley's out of 4 or 5. Still lacking in size but a fun outing nonetheless. found them in roughly 12 FoW. Might try going out a bit farther next time to see if they get any bigger.

A couple teenagers asked to borrow my ION auger, I could hear them chiseling away a hole for over 30 minutes while I was setting up more than happy to oblige.

I hadn't pegged my popup as there was no wind at all most of the day, I was hoping to stay a bit late to catch a burbot or 2, but I heard the wind kicking up shortly after sundown . I made the wise decision to start packing up. By the time I started walking back, it was pure white out conditions with gusting winds and blinding snow! Made for a fun walk back to the Jeep.

First time posting, long time lurker, looking forward to being more active on this board!

[CCLad]

Thanks for sharing the report Catfish, good to hear their biting! My friend and I will be giving it a go tomorrow. And ya, It certainly can blow up fast out there sometimes.

[chris_f12]

Hi all,

New to ice fishing this year and definitely enjoying it. I've been reading this forum since December to get ideas. Just registered today and thought I'd post to see if i can get some advice. I mostly fish Shirley's bay and a couple times Buckhams Bay. I usually fish 6-7 hours on the weekend and once on weeknights 4-5 hours after work, setup and fishing at 5:00-5:30PM. I have the navionics app and keep a semi log of my outings in the attached photo. Green means i caught a fish. Orange they were biting and red nothing.

My big problem is out of the 10 plus times I've been out I've caught 1 small perch, 1 walleye and 1 sauger. I'm using a Hummingbird Helix 5 and i have to say i rarely see any fish swim by. I have two rods out one with a jig and minnow and the other a jigging crank bait with rattler to call them in or a glow spoon which I tip with a minnow head.

Seems like there's a lot of skilled people that fish on this site/forum, especially in Shirley's Bay. Just thought I'd reach out and see what kind of lures everyone are using that are catching fish. How far off the bottom and any recommendations on improving my locations to drop a line for this time of year. I'm still going to go out and have a blast out there just seeing if i can get some feedback to improve my chances.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

[CCLad]

Hi Chris, our hut is located near the green fish marker on your screen shot. I always fish with a minnow on a single hook and sinker set up, 1 foot off the bottom and my other line is always a horizontal jig with a minnow and stinger hook. I pretty much jig around a foot off the bottom as well. They way I jig and hook the minnow up is too much of a process to type out on here. We are moving our hut out today so it wont be in your area but that's decent water there.

Good luck!

[Prairieboy]

Out on the Bay tonight 3-5:30 for a quicky. Went out more to try the new 24v Strikemaster. Managed a few 5-6” walleye that took a 3+” minnow on the rise. Managed one keeper sauger. Lots of risers on the Flasher but they just weren’t taking it. Tried every jig and minnow size. Had holes in a straight line from 8-12ft. All marks in 10-11ft

[CCLad]

We had a similar outing yesterday. We caught 6 all small,1 keeper my buddy took hm for dinner. It was an odd night fishing wise. I must have missed between 10-15 fish that hit my jig, and I have a stinger on the minnow as well. Every time - Bite - hook set (some times let it swim with the minnow after missing so many) - no fish - minnow gone. I cant remember missing that many fish in an outing EVER LOL! How can a fish take a 2 and a half inch minnow with 4 hooks in it without getting stung by one LOL. Oh well, its fishing not catching!

We have migrated now closer to the que side than the boat ramp. I'll post results!

[Prairieboy]

What are the ice conditions farther out ? At the edge of the shacks yesterday we were seeing 12-14”

[SteveO]

Hi guys - long time since I’ve posted here! My son is now 9 plus no Nepean raiders hockey right now so I’ve been able to get out. I met scarkner there 3/4 years ago. Yesterday we managed one small walleye. Out there with a Honda Odyssey mini van. We cheered loud for the walleye and when the sens scored in the last seconds of the third.

I didn’t jig this time. I had two tip ups (one a flag board) and one rod with a pickerel rig.

Previous two times just a few small perch - but no live bait.

So far I haven’t picked a spot carefully - just spray and pray.

Thanks for your reports. Hope to see some of you out there sometime.

[scarkner]

Hi guys - long time since I’ve posted here! My son is now 9 plus no Nepean raiders hockey right now so I’ve been able to get out. I met scarkner there 3/4 years ago. Yesterday we managed one small walleye. Out there with a Honda Odyssey mini van. We cheered loud for the walleye and when the sens scored in the last seconds of the third.

Well G'day!!!
Yeah, I didn't even bother putting the hut out this year, no point if I can't share it with anyone. Easier to just bring a tent.

But more on why you haven't seen me much in my next post...

[scarkner]

Some of you may wonder why I haven't been out to Shirleys since my last report. Well, it's been rough. I fished that night with my best friend Andres Garami. We had a good night, even though the fishing was slow. We chatted the next morning, laughing and carrying on as normal, talking about a big trout trip we were going to take the next day. Shortly after the call, with absolutely no warnng, he lost conciousness and died. Andres was a young guy with a wife and kids.

I have still been getting out fishing, but am finding it hard to get up the urge to drage "our" hut out on the ice, especially this year when I would end up just fishing alone in it.

PLEASE WATCH THIS SPACE - We will be starting a Go Fund Me soon as we plan to install a commemorative bench that looks out onto Shirleys Bay. We have NCC on board and will be raising the money for this and another couple things. Andres was totally hooked on fishing, he was new to the sport and was always blown away by how friendly everyone at Shirley's Bay was, that's why it was his favourite place to go fishing.

The picture below is from that last trip out - hard to believe he was gone the next day!!!

ONE MORE NOTE: I don't want to hijack this thread, so don't worry about posting "condolences" messages., it's OK. I know