Friday Fishing Report Calabogie area/Constance Lake
Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:19 pm
Dist,
Well I had all of today off from work, and I've had the fishing bug for the last week real good. So after many discussions with quite a number of you, I made my way up to Shiner/Scully this morning and got there at around 10:25 am or so.
I picked up my fins yesterday from FP&F so today was my first day in the float tube. I'm not necessarily sure what lake I was fishing to be honest with you, after turning left onto Scully lake Rd, I went down the road roughly 200 meters, parked, and then was setting up to go to the lake on my left. The lake was shaped almost like a peanut (if that makes sense). One bay where I launched from, and then one at the other end with a slightly narrower mid section. On the left side of the lake there are roughly 5-6 cottages with maybe 2 floating docks).
When I got there it was raining a bit (very little). The water temperature was a little chilly but it was also very overcast with no sun directly hitting the lake.
After putting the float tube together I set off. The lake was very still, except for the numerous bass jumping around. I decided I'd take a look at the lake first and see if I couldn't come into some fish by trolling. The first thing I noticed was that the float tube is only going to be temporary for me, I still prefer a canoe or a kayak to fish from. Eventually I got to the other end of the lake with no hits at all on my line, when I got to the other end, I also noticed something quite particular about my float tube.. The top chamber when from being quite solid, to a point where I could lean really far back in it....I had a leak!
I would consider myself a strong swimmer, so I wasn't worried about safety, more so just pee pee off. By the time I got back to the other side of the lake the top chamber was maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 full. So I dismantled everything, and then packed everything up back in the box (which I had just opened that morning) and headed back. I stopped in to FP&F to ask GWright what the course of action should be for this as I definitely wanted to send it back to waterskeeter. He asked me if I had the tube with me (which I did), and replaced it right then and there (see footnote).
So now I had my new tube, I decided it wasn't worth the gas/daylight to go back to the Calabogie area today as it was already 1pm or so. So I decided to go onto Constance Lake. When I got there I got my gear on, pumped up the new tube and set off. I had heard that this lake had some good bass/pike in it. The water temperature here was the same as Calabogie (cool...sorry no thermometer). Beeing such an open lake, the 'runway' section was pretty still, the middle of the lake though did have some ripples coming from the west.
I had on this white fly that was recommended to me by GWright ( I don't know the name of it, but he has it at his shop..) and decided I would fish the shore structures/weeds. Once I got out and away from my launch point I fired off my first cast. I was presenting it using short strips back to me (to simulate maybe a wounded minnow), no more than 4 strips and then all of a sudden...WHOMP...no bite just a bit WHOMP. I had something, and it was a good size too because it was giving my old 8wt a good bow in it....after a short battle, I saw the fish turn it's side to me, and then snap, my fly was gone. I'm still not sure if it was a pike or a bass, but it took the fly very easily off of my 9lb test tippet.
After this I tied on just a black wooley bugger, and continued up the shore, I managed to land a few 5-10inch large mouths with it. On my way back I managed to land a 16.5 inch large mouth that was nice and thick, it would ultimately prove to be the fish of the day for me. The fish are very active on Constance Lake, lots of bass jumping around, and big ones at that. I'd have loved to have had a canoe or a kayak on it and get into some of the other areas that looked decent from far.
Overall, I was impressed with the action on Constance Lake, again, i'm not sure what lake I was on in the Calabogie area, but I think my lack of success there is directly related to (a. No sinking line for trolling, b. The leak in my Tube).
I'll definitely give them both a shot again, if not for the sheer beauty of the Calabogie region.
Cheers,
Sean.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnote:
I've only been in the Ottawa region for 1 month (yesterday). When I arrived, I didn't have any clue where anything was, or where fishing was good and where it wasn't. One day while noticing that I needed to outfit myself if I was about to attempt fly fishing this region, I walked into Float Paddle & Fly because it was close to my office.
Not really knowing what I was looking for or where to really start, I met GWright, whom I found very very approachable from the onset. He kinda told me about the region and the different areas, and then handed me his business card. On the back of it, he wrote fish-hawk.net. That was how I came to leech off of everyone's experience in here. Since that time I have been back to FP&F quite a few times to outfit myself completely...with a float tube, some booties, some fins, fly's etc. On every single visit I have been treated with a very high quality of customer service, and lots of patience! (I am very frugal in my money spending!). Today when I went in there with my tube (I was discouraged), without hesitation or even looking at the damage (not sure what it was, maybe the seam?), gwright told me to take a new one as he knew I had just bought it last weekend, and bought the fins yesterday so he knew it was my first time out. He only said "If I let you deal with Waterskeeter directly, you'll be out for the rest of the season". Honestly, that's not something you see very often (check the shotgun issue that one of the fellow fish-hawkers is experiencing from Lebaron in the "non fishing related forum".
The service doesn't just stop at their products either, both gwright and mitch24 (along with some of you, but I'm tooting FP&F's horn at the moment) have gone above and beyond the call of duty with their knowledge of the areas and where to find fish, and for me it's the simple things that count, like where to park on these lakes, what I need to watch for etc.
Anyways, I know pretty much everyone's been in there already and are regulars, but if anyone hasn't been in there, I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it.
To the guys at FP&F your efforts and your high standards of customer service have not gone un-noticed in my books. I will definitely be a returning customer, hopefully for years to come.
Well I had all of today off from work, and I've had the fishing bug for the last week real good. So after many discussions with quite a number of you, I made my way up to Shiner/Scully this morning and got there at around 10:25 am or so.
I picked up my fins yesterday from FP&F so today was my first day in the float tube. I'm not necessarily sure what lake I was fishing to be honest with you, after turning left onto Scully lake Rd, I went down the road roughly 200 meters, parked, and then was setting up to go to the lake on my left. The lake was shaped almost like a peanut (if that makes sense). One bay where I launched from, and then one at the other end with a slightly narrower mid section. On the left side of the lake there are roughly 5-6 cottages with maybe 2 floating docks).
When I got there it was raining a bit (very little). The water temperature was a little chilly but it was also very overcast with no sun directly hitting the lake.
After putting the float tube together I set off. The lake was very still, except for the numerous bass jumping around. I decided I'd take a look at the lake first and see if I couldn't come into some fish by trolling. The first thing I noticed was that the float tube is only going to be temporary for me, I still prefer a canoe or a kayak to fish from. Eventually I got to the other end of the lake with no hits at all on my line, when I got to the other end, I also noticed something quite particular about my float tube.. The top chamber when from being quite solid, to a point where I could lean really far back in it....I had a leak!
I would consider myself a strong swimmer, so I wasn't worried about safety, more so just pee pee off. By the time I got back to the other side of the lake the top chamber was maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 full. So I dismantled everything, and then packed everything up back in the box (which I had just opened that morning) and headed back. I stopped in to FP&F to ask GWright what the course of action should be for this as I definitely wanted to send it back to waterskeeter. He asked me if I had the tube with me (which I did), and replaced it right then and there (see footnote).
So now I had my new tube, I decided it wasn't worth the gas/daylight to go back to the Calabogie area today as it was already 1pm or so. So I decided to go onto Constance Lake. When I got there I got my gear on, pumped up the new tube and set off. I had heard that this lake had some good bass/pike in it. The water temperature here was the same as Calabogie (cool...sorry no thermometer). Beeing such an open lake, the 'runway' section was pretty still, the middle of the lake though did have some ripples coming from the west.
I had on this white fly that was recommended to me by GWright ( I don't know the name of it, but he has it at his shop..) and decided I would fish the shore structures/weeds. Once I got out and away from my launch point I fired off my first cast. I was presenting it using short strips back to me (to simulate maybe a wounded minnow), no more than 4 strips and then all of a sudden...WHOMP...no bite just a bit WHOMP. I had something, and it was a good size too because it was giving my old 8wt a good bow in it....after a short battle, I saw the fish turn it's side to me, and then snap, my fly was gone. I'm still not sure if it was a pike or a bass, but it took the fly very easily off of my 9lb test tippet.
After this I tied on just a black wooley bugger, and continued up the shore, I managed to land a few 5-10inch large mouths with it. On my way back I managed to land a 16.5 inch large mouth that was nice and thick, it would ultimately prove to be the fish of the day for me. The fish are very active on Constance Lake, lots of bass jumping around, and big ones at that. I'd have loved to have had a canoe or a kayak on it and get into some of the other areas that looked decent from far.
Overall, I was impressed with the action on Constance Lake, again, i'm not sure what lake I was on in the Calabogie area, but I think my lack of success there is directly related to (a. No sinking line for trolling, b. The leak in my Tube).
I'll definitely give them both a shot again, if not for the sheer beauty of the Calabogie region.
Cheers,
Sean.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnote:
I've only been in the Ottawa region for 1 month (yesterday). When I arrived, I didn't have any clue where anything was, or where fishing was good and where it wasn't. One day while noticing that I needed to outfit myself if I was about to attempt fly fishing this region, I walked into Float Paddle & Fly because it was close to my office.
Not really knowing what I was looking for or where to really start, I met GWright, whom I found very very approachable from the onset. He kinda told me about the region and the different areas, and then handed me his business card. On the back of it, he wrote fish-hawk.net. That was how I came to leech off of everyone's experience in here. Since that time I have been back to FP&F quite a few times to outfit myself completely...with a float tube, some booties, some fins, fly's etc. On every single visit I have been treated with a very high quality of customer service, and lots of patience! (I am very frugal in my money spending!). Today when I went in there with my tube (I was discouraged), without hesitation or even looking at the damage (not sure what it was, maybe the seam?), gwright told me to take a new one as he knew I had just bought it last weekend, and bought the fins yesterday so he knew it was my first time out. He only said "If I let you deal with Waterskeeter directly, you'll be out for the rest of the season". Honestly, that's not something you see very often (check the shotgun issue that one of the fellow fish-hawkers is experiencing from Lebaron in the "non fishing related forum".
The service doesn't just stop at their products either, both gwright and mitch24 (along with some of you, but I'm tooting FP&F's horn at the moment) have gone above and beyond the call of duty with their knowledge of the areas and where to find fish, and for me it's the simple things that count, like where to park on these lakes, what I need to watch for etc.
Anyways, I know pretty much everyone's been in there already and are regulars, but if anyone hasn't been in there, I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it.
To the guys at FP&F your efforts and your high standards of customer service have not gone un-noticed in my books. I will definitely be a returning customer, hopefully for years to come.
