We made the two hour trek north of Ottawa again the other day. The day before a cold front had moved through and that may have put the bass off a bit. But we didn't see very many close to shore. In fact, I did not see a single one whereas a few are almost always seen running away. In float tubes you don't scare them very much, if at all. The day before I was at another lake and a baby seagull started to follow me and it wasn't until it almost reached me that it realized I wasn't going to be much of a substitute mother.
My notes from previous years indicated that we would have to go a bit deeper to find them and I put on my #3 full sink line and spent some time in both deep water and shallow, sort of zig zagging back and forth to shore. But as I discovered last time, it wasn't until I put on a smaller version of my favorite fly, the Black Coney Leech that I caught my first larger LM Bass. That is the usual procedure in rivers...keep putting on smaller versions. But this was a "trout fly", not a bass fly. I keep some "failed trout flies" in my bass box as they are often less fussy.
I also think that since we've had more than our fair share of windy days lately, the water may have been mixed up too much and that can turn the appetite off. Also, rain changes the PH of the water and we've had a few of those as well.
All four of us caught about half our usual number of large bass but it is still worth it to have a five pound fish on the other end of our lines.
My notes from previous years indicated that we would have to go a bit deeper to find them and I put on my #3 full sink line and spent some time in both deep water and shallow, sort of zig zagging back and forth to shore. But as I discovered last time, it wasn't until I put on a smaller version of my favorite fly, the Black Coney Leech that I caught my first larger LM Bass. That is the usual procedure in rivers...keep putting on smaller versions. But this was a "trout fly", not a bass fly. I keep some "failed trout flies" in my bass box as they are often less fussy.
I also think that since we've had more than our fair share of windy days lately, the water may have been mixed up too much and that can turn the appetite off. Also, rain changes the PH of the water and we've had a few of those as well.
All four of us caught about half our usual number of large bass but it is still worth it to have a five pound fish on the other end of our lines.
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