If you are in the Smiths Falls area be sure to stop by the new Big Rideau Tackle store.
Some fresh shiners ready to go to "work".
Only one other hut on the lake a mile away from us.... love the peace and quiet. We started fishing a deep hole in search of crappie and blue gill, we marked quite a few fish but they seemed to have a bit of lock jaw. Working the fish on the sonar with a mix of small spoons, jigging Raps and Simcoe bugs we did manage to land a variety... blue gill, crappie, rock bass, a couple OOS largemouth, including a few nice slab pannies for the frying pan.
Time for a little snack.... spicy El Diablito jerky and a nice hot chicken sandwich to help keep the chill off.
Later in the afternoon we decided to move to the end of a shallower flat in preparation for the late afternoon walleye bite.
My new aluminum Erie Secrets sled loaded up ready to move.
We get set up... set lines outside the huts and jigging inside... nothing except tiny perch for awhile. As we are getting close to prime bite time some other anglers arrive and start setting up about 100 feet from us, drilling holes, talking, 2 dogs barking... some much for the peace and quiet and not disturbing the fish. A little while later I mark a big fish on the screen and after a little jiggy .... FISH ON... for about 4 seconds
I drop my lure back down and the fish takes another big hit, but does not stay hooked and disappears off the screen. About 30 seconds later my set rod outside the hut takes a hit and the rod is bouncing nicely, but by the time I get there to drive the hook home... the fish is gone.
Hearing and seeing the bit of action I just had the last guy from the group of anglers that recently arrived decided to pull his pop up hut closer to mine and drill a bunch of new holes 30 feet away. I don't care if people fish close to me but get set up before it is prime bite time.
After my little flurry of action we fish a little while longer.... not a bite and basically nothing on the screen, so we packed it in a bit before 6 pm and headed for shore.
No huge fish, but a fun day on the ice.
Best of luck out there.... be safe and hope you catch a trophy... until next time.
