A few tips - these may seem obvious, but they'll save some frustration. First, after the end of June, boating traffic picks up. No problem - just find a quiet spot out of the main channel. For example, Kemptville Creek doesn't get much traffic, it's reasonably deep, and there are some great lilypad beds on both sides of the creek. If you're patient and would like to try "flipping" a plastic worm or a weedless jig among the pads, you can get some heart-stopping action. This is especially true if you happen to hook a musky or a large pike. Just hang on and hope for the best.

In addition, the central Rideau lakes are renown for their fantastic Large Mouth Bass fishing. These lakes offer excellent fishing in the many bays and areas off the navigation channels. The peace and quiet of the lakes offers the angler a wonderful opportunity to get away from it all and simply enjoy the experience of fishing.

Second, try fishing in the evening. After about five or six in the evening on weekends or during the week, you may have much of the river to yourself. If it's been breezy during the day, the wind usually drops in the evening. This is a very pleasant time to be on the water, watching the sky turn red in the west, and feeling the old blood pressure dropping. Besides, the fishing is often better at dusk, as the walleye, pike, and musky start prowling the big weed flats. I like to start with a double-bladed spinnerbait run just under the surface, "yo-yoing" it up and down into the holes in the weeds. A crankbait run along the channel edge is always good. finally, when in doubt, try a Texas-rigged plastic worm - blue-black, watermelon, motor oil, or Tennessee Shad are good colours for me. 

Third, wait for a rainy day if you can. This keeps down the boating traffic and also really turns on the fish.

Fourth, try trolling along the channel edge. You'd be amazed at the number of fish that you can pick up running a crawfish-coloured Fat Rap - everything from bass to musky. In fact, I think that I do much better on musky by staying away from the heavy lumber ( small firewood ) lures that I see a lot of people using. These fish aren't stupid - catch and release them a few times, and they're VERY cautious about chasing down the standard musky fare. On the other hand, you get a lot of exercise flinging the big lures around, if you're a die-hard casting person. Like I said - try trolling.

Fifth, take along some minnows, worms, or an ultra-light spinning outfit and your children. They can catch a ton of perch, crappie, bluegills, and usually some walleye. Make yourself a hero to your own family - when you're old, you'll never be kicking yourself for all the time you wasted with your kids.

Daily limits are six fish for both pike and walleye. Minimum lengths ? For pike, there isn 't one, but most people release them anyway. Over 24 inches, they are big enough to take the time to fillet.For walleye, the general minimum length is 13 . 8 inches ( 35 cm ), but there are a number of lakes in the Corridor with slot limits. Better read the Ontario Sport Fishing Regulations carefully.

By the way, there 's some excellent fishing in Dow's Lake right in downtown Ottawa. Try around Brewer's Park- a little down from the Bronson Street bridge.

By late September, the boat traffic starts to decline on the Rideau. It's hard to understand why, since the weather is usually beautiful at this time of year. However, our American friends start back south and Canadian visitors go back to work. In any event, anyone who's been around the Rideau for a while starts to rub their hands with glee - the best fishing of the year lies ahead. . 

 The changes are generally slow and subtle. The weed growth is not quite as thick - you can see fish shouldering their way through weed clumps. As the "young of the year" baitfish get a little bigger, the schools of baitfish are maybe not as "cloud-like", but are easier to spot - either dimpling the surface or swirling along weed edges, along bridge abutments, and so on. Still, find the baitfish and you've got a good chance of finding feeding gamefish .

The largemouth bass seem to move to the edges of the pad beds and weed clumps more often now, whether because they find this an easier place to ambush their prey, or whether they're getting ready to move toward deeper water as the shallows start to cool. The smallmouth still can be found holding in weed clumps, looking at the openings for unwary baitfish. Spinnerbaits or soft plastics like "Sluggos" allowed to drop into these openings can be very productive.

Musky fishing really starts to come into its own in the fall. They can be found almost anywhere in the stretch of water called "The Long Reach". Weed flats seem to hold most of them. You haven't lived until you feel a strike as if your lure's stuck in a stump! On the other hand, I've had them pick up a crappie jig and gently swim along, as if they were bemused by it all. I've watched some big muskies inhale a plastic worm, then exhale - several times in a row. It's an odd sensation in the rod - unlike the pickup that you get from a bass. Needless to say, I've had no success with plastic worms in landing muskies, but I have landed two on an ultralight spinning rod and crappie jigs. Slow and steady does it, if you're lucky enough to get them in deep water. 

A rainy day in the fall - it just doesn't get any better than that. The bass are cruising - the walleye are often up on the flats, near the channel edges, and will often take crankbaits worked slowly and erratically. As a general rule, bigger baits work better this time of year. It may be due to the fact that the baitfish are bigger, and to a need on the part of the fish to start putting on the fat. In any case, you can get some remarkably big smallmouth and largemouth on absurdly large minnowbaits.

Trolling along the channel edge still works well. Minnow-coloured crankbaits seem to work better now than they did during the summer - especially large lures. There are some REALLY big walleye in the Rideau and this is a prime time to get a wallhanger.

Daily limits are six fish for both pike and walleye. Minimum lengths ? For pike, there isn 't one, but most people release them anyway. Over 24 inches, they are big enough to take the time to fillet.For walleye, the general minimum length is 13 . 8 inches ( 35 cm ), but there are a number of lakes in the Corridor with slot limits. Better read the Ontario Sport Fishing Regulations carefully.

By the way, there 's some excellent fishing in Dow's Lake right in downtown Ottawa. Try around Brewer's Park- a little down from the Bronson Street bridge.

 A good spot just south of Ottawa is at Long Island Locks. Just below the locks is a nice sheltered bay, about 3 - 5 feet deep. Generally you can walk down from the lock station, and sometimes you can even drive down ( but not onto the ice ). This is a good spot for perch and crappie, as well as the odd pike and walleye. If you have children, or dogs, or just some good ole buddies, take 'em out for some fresh air and a chance to adjust your SAD state.

If you're serious about getting a shot at some better fish, then maybe you should try down around Reeve Craig ( at the Highway 16 bridge ). You'll probably need live bait. Tiny jigs and twister tails or tube jigs - pink and white, white, chartreuse, blue/silver, etc., tipped with a minnow and dangled from an ultra-light spinning outfit will help you have a ball. Take some walleye home - they're fine eating. And remember - if you can't or won't eat them all, then release the extra fish. We've got the future to think about, you know. 

Daily limits are six fish for both pike and walleye. Minimum lengths? For pike, there isn't one, but most people release them anyway. Over 24 inches, they are big enough to take the time to fillet.For walleye, the general minimum length is 13.8 inches ( 35 cm ), but there are a number of lakes in the Corridor with slot limits. Better read the Ontario Sport Fishing Regulations carefully.

By the way, there 's some excellent fishing in Dow's Lake right in downtown Ottawa. Try around Brewer's Park- a little down from the Bronson Street bridge.

Winter is a great time in the Rideau Corridor, and especially on the Rideau itself. Anglers can rub off the Christmas Flab and listen to the silence, or to the soft crunch and rustle of footsteps on fresh snow. Shake off the cobwebs - forget the hot news items that really don't matter a hill of beans. Is this a great time or what ?