Fishing in Ottawa

Well, like I've said many times before, to many people, the Sport Fishing in and around the Ottawa area, leaves very little to be desired! To reinforce that for You, I want to share something with y'all right here. Kinda like a testimonial about the Quality and Quantity of this fishery.

I recently received this email from my ol' Fishin' buddy, Big Jim McLaughlin, of "Just Fishing" fame, in which this for real, living legend, confirms a few spots that YOU just might want to try out too...

Hey, if Big Jim says there are fish to be caught there, you can Believe it to be True. :-)

Here's the email for You, and it's unaltered to boot...
--------------------------------------------------

TO: LarryBourgeois@Hotmail.com

Hey Larry, great to hear from you.

Petrie Island is always a pretty safe bet with the panfish in the small bay
on the left and the wally's out in the main river to the right...it is
really easy to get on them there and following the crowd is the way to go
there for a few bites, although I have had some awesome results on busy days
and later in the season by leaving the crowd.

Mississippi Lake and Clayton Lake are also safe bet for a bunch of panfish
or the odd walleye most days. The areas in front of most weed edges will
produce during the day and then the weeds just up on the flats catch on fire
about a half hour before dark as the whole lake seems to migrate to them
like clock work most evenings.

The Ottawa River is still the sleeper when it comes to ice fishing and if
there is a place to explore...this is it...lots of fish and giants of almost
every specie are available.

Not sure if you have a Vexilar, but if you ever want to borrow one for a day
let me know and maybe we can make it happen.

Thanks for the thoughts...

Warmest Regards

BIG JIM

"Big" Jim McLaughlin,
Publisher - Just Fishing
Canada's Largest FREE fishing publication
102 Graham Lake Rd.
RR#1
Lyn, ON.
K0E-1M0
Canada

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So there you have it my friends! If you live in or near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, then get going on this and check these places my fishin' bud Big Jim, just told you about. You won't be sorry!

lb

This is my trusty old Bait-caster which has logged over a thousand pounds of bass over the last quarter century! I bought this reel back in the days when my fishing friend, Big Jim McLaughlin, had a kool little tackle store down on Bank Street, here in Ottawa. It's a Lew's Speed Spool reel and it works as smooth to-day as the day I took it out of it's box and hooked it up to my Zebco, Measuring Stick, fishing rod. A little preventive maintenance in the winter months, will keep good gear running slick for years. That's what happens when you buy quality gear folks.

For further proof of that, see my faithful Abu Garcia 6500C below and she's purring like a kitten still, after many thousands of casts and hundreds of battles with fish. Garcia also makes my original Mitchell 300 and 410, spinning reels, which I use still. :-)

It's like, every year, you get your money back, in good service with these reels. Good gear PAYS for itself. There's NO two ways about it! :-)

lb

Here's a few of Grandpa's old artificial baits out of his rusty old tackle box he had stored out in the garage, under the steps. :-) Every one of these old lures can and will catch fish to-day, the designs were THAT good back then. I have hundreds of newer lures so I won't have to put these ol' boys to work anymore. These lures have already caught more than their share of fish over the years and are now officially retired from active duty...

Do YOU have any of your Grandfather's old fishing lures? Send me a picture if you have one and I'll post it here for you OR you could include it in the Comments box even, along with a wee note about it... :-)

Hook 'em!

lb

I have ALWAYS been impressed with a woman who showed an interest in the fine Sport/Art of Fishing like this lovely creature! Also, I still think that there are Not enough women out there Fishing. We need MORE Fishing Women to ply the waters of our Great lands!

Here's a few links to help encourage the fairer sex to investigate this beautiful way of enjoying the Great Outdoors.

Women Anglers

and there's this fine website, that is just jammed with great Lady-links to Fishin' stuff.

Women Bassers

And this one is great too...

LadyBassAngler

Check them out girls and see if they don't inspire YOU to Get Fishin' too. :-)

Cheers!

LarryB

Collecting cool old lures is fun. I've got a number of them and I'm always looking for more. Here's a shot of some of my old hotties. Do You have any sweet Oldie Goldies laying around?

Do you like interactive fishing? Wanna meet other local Fishermen/women? Well then, just skip over to these websites and meet a real good bunch of fisher guys and gals and share your ideas or questions too.


Visit getREELed.com



Fish-Hawk!

Get goin'...

You can never have too many old fishing lures. :-) Here's another handful of sweet old hookers for you to drool over! :-)

While you're here, why not tour over to my little Fishing website and check that out for a bit? Here's the URL.

Fishing with LarryB

And here's a shot of a few lures I used last fall...

Here's a bookmark button for you to click and save this page with too.


Chow 4 now...

Did I mention that I've been an avid "lure tweaker" for over 4 decades now? Yup, I just LOVE playing with my terminal tackle and coming up with neat little modifications that make the lures better. :-)

This T50 Flatfish has been tweaked in a number of ways, as you can see if you know what a "box stock" flatfish looks like. :-) The hook set-up is VERY different, compared to what's on the stock models. Instead of two bars with two treble hooks, this puppy uses a single, double-hook, hung direct from the screw eye, on the belly of the Flatfish. It faces downwards, in a VERY fish hooking position, and is protected by the natural animal fur, which pulsates in front of it. That of course makes the hook invisible to a charging fish! The screw eye at the back of it is attached to a smallish, Colorado spinner blade, on a swivel. This combo provides just enough flash without disturbing the natural side to side motion of this wide swimming lure.

I dubbed it the "Bearded Flatty" when I first looked at it from this angle. :-) In the water, this is the most remarkable combo of hard-bait, spinner and fur that I've ever used, or seen before, for that matter! ;-)

What do you think of my little Tweaks? O.K. besides being clunky looking. :-)

Anyone else out there that likes to fiddle with fishing tackle too? Leave a comment or two in here if you get a spare moment. Don't be shy...

lb

What follows are some pictures shot recently from the Rideau system while field-testing the contents of one of my ultra-lite T boxes. As always, they never fail to produce action for me from every species that swims in it's waters.

This is not about size obviously, but instead, it's about being able to catch all kinds of fish, anywhere, under all conditions...

Stainless Steel ball bearings and solid brass gears make this one tough fishin' unit if you plan on fishing for awhile...

You can't go wrong with a Swedish made 6500C, and that's a fact! :-)