Shirley's bay 2016

[RyanW]

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[Ragehunter]

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.

[scarkner]

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.

[MLR]

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.

[scarkner]

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.

[RyanW]

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[BassSlapper]

Not much hit until 5. Got 3 perch, two sauger and a pike. Biggest sauger I've caught so far.

[The Captain]

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 . . .

[Whiter88]

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!

Whiter

[smitty55]

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.

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.

Cheers

[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!

[scarkner]

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.

[smitty55]

Nothing like a strong cold front to turn the fishing off

Cheers

[RJ]

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.

RJ

[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.