Shirley's Bay 2022 Ice season

[scarkner]

Thanks for the update guys, haven't hit Shirlies for a bunch of years, may have to give it a shot this year.
Wondering if anyone has hit Constance Lake yet, might check it out tomorrow

Pretty sure I saw Scarkner post earlier that he was on Constance last week. It's always the first ice to freeze up.

yup Constance had been frozen for almost 3 weeks.

[Stevielad9]

Hey lads,

Heading out to Constance Lake, Clayton or Shirley's tomorrow. Haven't decided where yet. Anyone know the closest minnow spots to Stittsville? Used to hit bits and baits.

Will report back.

Cheers, Steve

[smitty55]

Stevie check out my post on bait in Ottawa.

[Fordpodolski]

My go to for minnows is Serge- close to Sherleys near Bayshore. I live around the corner from him so super convenient, but good price and good guy. I haven’t seen his truck in awhile so I’m hoping he just got rid of it and didn’t move or anything however! Will be picking some up today and can report back as well!

[smitty55]

My go to for minnows is Serge- close to Sherleys near Bayshore. I live around the corner from him so super convenient, but good price and good guy. I haven’t seen his truck in awhile so I’m hoping he just got rid of it and didn’t move or anything however! Will be picking some up today and can report back as well!

I talked to him the other day and no worries, he's not going anywhere. Boss lady doesn't want to move hehe.

[Stevielad9]

Thanks lads.

Ended up at Constance Bay. 6" or so of ice. Picked up some minnows at Bayview Baits and caught about a dozen perch. 3 or 4 were good size.

No pike or Wallies though!

[fishern00b]

Hi folks.

Just a quick report on Clayton. It was a first trip this season for me. Started at noon and stayed till 5PM. The ice was 6-7" thickness and in good condition. Caught only a dozen of perch.

Planning to go to Shirley's Bay tomorrow.

[Fordpodolski]

You’re right Smitty! Haha. Ended up getting ahold of Serge and got my minnows. Got out on the bay this afternoon. I got skunked, but my buddy got a few walleye. Decent 13”-14”. Was sitting in about 10.5 ft of water an 7” of ice. Two guys had their ATVs out.. Still a bit soon for me to bring out but by next week hopefully!

[KrakenShampoo]

So after lurking through many years of posts on this forum for info on fishing around an area new to me- I was able to hit the hard water for the first time this winter. Decided to drive up to Constance Bay Area and went to buckham bay which seemed more favourable and forgiving for hard water novices lol. Spent a bunch of time struggling to use some of my new toys (drill for auger, etc) but eventually got some lines wet and was pretty pumped to get my first tip up pike and then later on around 4pm several walleye. All around 12-15ft in depth. Was great weather and didn’t even bring the hut out. Awesome way to end the year and wanted to provide a mini report to all those who have done the same in the past. Looking forward to exploring a few other lakes this winter and maybe even progress to chasing some lakers or white fish if things work out haha. Maybe I’ll even bump into some folks on the ice and share some interesting stories

Cheers

[CCLad]

So after lurking through many years of posts on this forum for info on fishing around an area new to me- I was able to hit the hard water for the first time this winter. Decided to drive up to Constance Bay Area and went to buckham bay which seemed more favourable and forgiving for hard water novices lol. Spent a bunch of time struggling to use some of my new toys (drill for auger, etc) but eventually got some lines wet and was pretty pumped to get my first tip up pike and then later on around 4pm several walleye. All around 12-15ft in depth. Was great weather and didn’t even bring the hut out. Awesome way to end the year and wanted to provide a mini report to all those who have done the same in the past. Looking forward to exploring a few other lakes this winter and maybe even progress to chasing some lakers or white fish if things work out haha. Maybe I’ll even bump into some folks on the ice and share some interesting stories

Cheers

Welcome aboard. Happy new years all!

[Fisherman89]

The bite was on yesterday at Shirley's. Fished from 3:30 to 6:00 PM and after going through my gopro footage counted a total of 19 walleye and sauger. Everything was small, mostly in the 9-12 inch range, with a couple 14 inchers.

Majority of the fish were caught on a 3/8 oz Northland Rippin' Shad (Glo White Tiger colour) tipped with half an emerald shiner.

rippin_shad.jpg (1.61 MiB) Viewed 4255 times

The others came on a deadstick with a chartreuse jighead tipped with dead emerald shiners.

Was fishing further out away from all the other popups in about 12ft.

Here's a couple snapshots from the gopro.

sauger.png (1.19 MiB) Viewed 4255 times

walleye.png (1.27 MiB) Viewed 4255 times

[JimW]

Thanks for the post Fisherman89 sounds like an awesome afternoon on the ice. Great job!!

The bite was on yesterday at Shirley's. Fished from 3:30 to 6:00 PM and after going through my gopro footage counted a total of 19 walleye and sauger. Everything was small, mostly in the 9-12 inch range, with a couple 14 inchers.

Majority of the fish were caught on a 3/8 oz Northland Rippin' Shad (Glo White Tiger colour) tipped with half an emerald shiner.

The others came on a deadstick with a chartreuse jighead tipped with dead emerald shiners.

Was fishing further out away from all the other popups in about 12ft.

Here's a couple snapshots from the gopro.

[Fisherman89]

Thanks for the post Fisherman89 sounds like an awesome afternoon on the ice. Great job!!

Thanks Jim, it was a good couple hours on the ice!

Here's footage from the day for anyone who is interested: https://youtu.be/hfx0_PpDgrI

Nothing big was caught, but you might get an idea of how I'm fishing for them.

Hoping to get out somewhere new soon to try to ice some bigger eyes!

[Ragehunter]

I swung by Shirley's last night just at Sunset. There were a few pop up's out on the ice. A couple were a LONG way out there, little further than I would be comfortable with just yet. 2 trucks on the ice. One about 50, 75 yards offshore, the other probably about 150 yards out.

[JimmyV]

I went there Tuesday mid-day with kid. Didn't catch a thing but the ice was thick. There was another pop-up shack and three folks out on the ice without shack. Someone from the Lodge was blocking the ramp so I had to pay $10 for parking. He was pretty rude to me and my kid, won't go back there unless I hear reports of folks parking on the ice.