Fall Paddling Routes on the Trent-Severn Waterway
Discover the Trent-Severn Waterway this fall. Immerse yourself in fall foliage along more than 350 interconnected lakes and rivers. The bugs are gone. The traffic on the waterway has reduced from the busy summer months – you can find that peace & tranquility you long for. The fall harvest festivities are in full swing, as is the delicious farm-to-fork culinary scene in the many towns along the waterway.
Discover it all (including route recommendations) as you read about how a local family and some friends have enjoyed exploring the Trent-Severn Waterway in the fall. Click the image below to see our Canoe Culture Blog.
1. It’s beautiful & the fish are biting!
Twitch this along the edge of the green weeds you locate. The fish will dart out and strike!
Drag this over the matted vegetation! The shallow fish will be under it and cannot resist!
A steady retrieve over top of healthy weeds will generate strikes. A spinnerbait is a terrific option this time of year!
Dunk this right in the middle of the healthy green weeds and feel for weight! Set the hook hard and winch the fish out of the heavy cover.
The regions Smallmouth Bass population is on the move this time of year as well. They will begin their transition from deeper offshore structure to more accessible closer to shore haunts. Rocky points are very popular this time of year. They tend to really tighten up into schools. Instead of two or three fish together we often see ten or more together. The same rule is true. Once you find them they will be present in numbers. Every fish I catch this time of year seems to have at least a half a dozen friends following it in as I land it. Some if my biggest Smallmouth of the season will be taken after Labor day in as little as three to four feet of water! Rock and sand points being my main target, but not to forget hard bottom healthy yet relatively shallow weed lines as well. The same rule applies however! If the vegetation is still green and baitfish or panfish are still present so will the Smallmouth be.
Twitch this along the outside green weedlines and rocky points. Hang on because they will smash this!
Hopped and dragged along the bottom will entice a strike from a hungry smallmouth. Also a great follow up bait to drop to the fish that may be following the fish you are reeling in!
The Muskie bite during the fall transition can be absolutely lights out as well. The drop in water temperature is the queue for these apex predators to put the feed on. This is not only the time to catch a lot of Muskies, but can also be the time to catch an absolute monster. They can be extremely aggressive in late August and early September. The forage they have been feeding on has grown throughout the season and as such the tackle I like to use will increase in size as well. Large soft plastic baits are a go-to for many as the water temperature starts to drop. I like a bait that will allow me to impart a “stop and go” retrieve and has a fair bit of buoyancy so that it will hang suspended in the water column between jerks. That extra hang time is just what the doctor ordered for big Muskies this time of year. I have good success fishing fairly shallow weed line edges this time of year and edges with relative proximity to deep water. Green weeds seem to be less of a factor ironically enough and my belief is that they simply need something for cover to ambush their forage whether the weeds are healthy or not. So don’t shy away from decaying vegetation just yet for these fish during the fall season.
A slow steady retrieve will often win the race with this big plastic. Don’t hesitate to impart a pull pause retrieve as well! Fish will often strike on the pause.
Swim this bait in current or over the tops of the weedlines. A very slow presentation that the fish really like this time of year.
On the flip side the regions Great Lake tributaries are on the cusp of exploding with the annual fall Chinook Salmon run. A drop in temperature and a good rain will trigger the “run” in full force, and what a blast these fish are to target and fight in shallow flowing water. There are a plethora of accessible locations to park and fish along some extremely product and renowned tributaries like the Ganaraska River flowing through Port Hope or the Wilmot in Newcastle. There are many bait and tackle shops along the way that are licensed to sell tied salmon roe that can be used under a float as bait. This is a very popular and productive method for catching these massive fish. They will stage in enormous schools at the mouths of these tributaries in waiting for the river conditions to suit their spawning requirements. They can be caught as early as mid-August at the mouths and right in to the tributaries as early as late August, early September. Light line and small hooks are imperative as these fish have very keen senses. A medium action ten- to thirteen-foot rod and large spooled spinning reel are also very helpful when fighting these long running, head shaking, high flying fish and will dramatically increase your odds of landing them.
Drift these under a float or on a bottom bounce rig at the mouth of the tributaries and the upstream pools and wait for the float to drop!
Drift these under a float in clear pressured waters.
What do you want to catch? Muskie? Pike? Walleye? Largemouth Bass? Smallmouth Bass? Panfish? Gar? Carp? The list goes on and on. You don’t have a boat? No problem! The resorts within the region offer boat rental packages and if that’s not in the budget, we have a plethora of shore locations that you can pull up to and catch the fish of a lifetime. Not to mention plenty of bait and tackle shops that are happy to fill your tackle box with productive baits for the area.
My days of Muskie fishing started quite young. My teenage years were spent walking the bank of the Otonabee River and Rice Lake with a small Muskie buck tail tied on. To this day, I can still tell you some of the greatest locations to catch these fish from shore in the area. My days now are spent on the water itself from the luxury of my boat fishing an insurmountable number of lakes both connected via the Severn or land locked. Some of my absolute favorite lakes to target Muskie in the region include Balsam Lake, The Tri lakes (Buckhorn, Pigeon and Chemong) as well as Cameron Lake and the Otonabee River.
While Muskie fishing is definitely at the top of my list of favorites the phenomenal Bass fishing in the region cannot be overlooked. Whether you are a seasoned tournament angler or new to the sport both Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass can be targeted from both shore and boat just about anywhere, and are present in almost every lake in the region. Bass season in the region opens shortly after Muskie, on the second last Saturday of the month of June.
Smallmouth bass are in favor of rock structure as a general rule and spend a great deal of their time in and around these areas. Post-spawn small mouth remain close to shallow rocky areas of the lake until the water temperatures start to increase. Rocky islands and points as well as shoals are great areas to start your search. I will generally start fishing each area up shallow and gradually move to deeper water until I make contact with fish. Top water poppers are great early in the season! There is nothing better than a big blow up from an angry smallmouth. I will also tend to lean towards jerk baits this time of year–both soft and hard plastic. As we make our way mid to late July, and the water temperature reaches the high 70s°F or low 80s°F, the fish will transition to deeper water structure. During this period I look for main lake humps. Smallmouth are a schooling fish by nature. So once you catch one there are likely several in the area so keep casting!
Early Season Largemouth Bass can be found in a few key areas on most of the lakes in the region. I will look for relatively shallow back bays that they have used during the spawn. These areas will generally play host to the majority of the post-spawn fish for several weeks into the season. I really like spinner baits, buzz baits and top water frogs during the early season. I like to start things off close to shore in search of aggressive roaming fish. As the sun gets higher in the sky the fish will hold tighter to available cover to escape the rays. That is when I will slow things down with a jig or a topwater frog dragged over matted weed or lily pads. Similar to their smallmouth cousins, as the water temperatures increase the majority of the fish will spend more and more of their time on the outside of the bays they have spawned in. High concentrations of fish can be found along the weed lines in front of their early season haunts. They may still roam shallow at dawn and dusk but for the most part the bigger fish will remain on the weed lines for the dog days of summer. This is where a Jig and chunk trailer really shine. Short pitches into pockets along the weed end will produce a lot of fish. One of my favorite bodies of water to target bass is Rice Lake. This particular body of water contains both species in great numbers and trophy size. Smallmouth bass reaching 6lbs are not unheard of and largemouth bass in the 7lb class do exist as well!
The region offers a very healthy population of Walleyes as I have mentioned in previous publications. Keep in mind that we do have a slot limit in place throughout the region to ensure the population is maintained. The limit is 13.8 inches to 19.7 inches (35cm to 50cm). Fish within this range can be kept.
Northern Pike are just another species to add to the list of possibilities during the summer months in the Kawarthas Northumberland region. A small percentage of pike will relate to shallow water in the summer, but they will seek the shade and comfort that weed and pad beds provide, these are generally the smaller fish in the given waterbody. Much like Muskies, Pike are an ambush edge predator. When the water warms into the high 70s °F they will set up on the edges of weed lines and tight into weed beds adjacent to deep water where they will lay in waiting for their next meal to swim by. My tackle recommendations are very similar to what I would be using for Muskies this time of year. I will work bucktails and spinnerbaits along these fish-holding structures and work my bait quickly and thoroughly. The larger fish will seek deeper water during the hot summer months. I generally start my search deep, towards the center of the basins adjacent to the bays the fish would have spawned in a month or two prior, and make my way shallow until I start to connect with fish. Some of my favorite lakes to target Pike during the summer months are Balsam Lake and Chandos Lake. Both put out big fish every season. And Balsam is one of the few areas in the region to contain the elusive Pike/Muskie Hybrid. The Tiger Muskie!
The Rice Lake Ramble is a popular Ontario cycling route.
Take a cruise over the world’s highest lift lock. Photo by Lydia Dotto.