Back to Highway 60

Highway 60 runs through Algonquin Park, and connects the towns of Huntsville and Renfrew, where it intersects the Trans-Canada. For more than two decades, I have logged thousands of kilometres on route 60 with boat in tow on fishing trips. The Ottawa Valley is unquestionably a multispecies fishing playground — but the smallmouth bass fishing is truly spectacular and, perhaps, only bested by the region’s striking scenery. Three of my favourite Highway 60 bronzeback lakes are Golden, Round, and Bark. No matter where you’re coming from, it’s worth the trip to target smallies on any of these waterbodies.

Off Highway 60 on Golden Lake

Just off Highway 60 on Kranz Road is a public boat launch on the Bonnechere River, which leads into Golden Lake. This ramp is about an hour and 45-minute drive from Ottawa, less than an hour from Petawawa.

The majority of Golden Lake is wide-open, although it hooks to the northeast just before Big Island. Prime smallmouth haunts are the points and sand bars found along the northern shore around The Sands on Golden Lake Resort, and similar structures on the lake’s southern and south-eastern shores.

Ruby and Mundts bays are two large bays where you can bump into bass. Resident small-jaws are equally inclined to hangout in small coves containing rocky reefs and shoals worth exploring.

I’ve had some great days fishing these shallow zones with good friend, Rick Klatt. He and I first fished together in 2004 for an Ottawa River story I was writing for the magazine, and we’ve fished together regularly ever since. He’s a bit of a local angling legend and, while he’s largely stepped back from the tournament scene, he remains a force to be reckoned with when he signs up for an Ottawa Valley fishing derby.

“Ten- to 15-kilometre winds and it’s a spinnerbait for me on Golden, especially if they’re shallow,” Klatt said.

This is a chuck-and-wind, cover-water deal best done with heavy, meal-sized baits you can retrieve fast, he explained. A jerkbait is also good when there’s a chop. Fish it around wind-blown points, rocky shoreline, and shallow reefs. Use an aggressive, erratic retrieve, and hold on tight to the rod.

Golden Lake’s weedbeds and cabbage clumps regularly hold bass.

Vegetation near shore is where you’re likely to catch largemouth, but big bronzebacks prefer greenery near deep water.

“A weed flat in 10 to 12 feet of water is a good place to fish a fluke or a topwater, like a Whopper Plopper or Chug Bug,” Klatt said. “Generally, I like it fairly calm and warm for a fluke. I’m ok with light winds for a topwater.”

Snapping tubes and hair jigs is a potent tactic for working weed-sand-rock transitions. Come to think of it, my daughter Maeve’s first time in a boat was when I caught a big bronzeback on a hair jig on Golden Lake.

As one might expect, Golden’s offshore humps hold quality fish once deep-water patterns get established in mid-summer, and only gets better as water temps drop in autumn. Smallmouth frequently position around the various mid to deep structure complexes around Centre Island. Dropshotting, dragging plastics, slow rolling swimbaits, and working deep-diving jerkbaits are all reliable offshore tactics.

Round Lake

Driving about 15 minutes beyond Deacon brings you to the Lake Street boat launch on Round Lake in Killaloe-Hagarty-Richards Township. True to its name, the lake is circular. Similar to Golden, the Bonnechere River enters Round’s northwest shore and exits at the southeastern end.

Round has tons of sweet-looking smallmouth water. You can catch bronzebacks from shallow bays and shorelines, off of mid-depth flats mixed with sand, vegetation and rock, as well as deep offshore structure and flats.

Covering water with spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and topwaters is a summer strategy my wife and I did well with during a stay in 2012 at Round Lake Resort. These tactics continue to put quality bass in the net. Sue and I caught smallmouth along the southwestern shoreline extending from the boat ramp to Sherwood River, and from Dunne’s Bay to Smiths Bay in the lake’s northern end. I still vividly recall Sue’s laugh when a smallmouth would suddenly materialize behind her bait as she worked it over sand-rock bottom transitions.

The section of water around Victoria, Edwards, and Idylwild islands is a popular smallmouth-producing area. This is to be expected as it’s a major structural complex beside the lake basin. I fished here last September with Ryan Weatherall, a regular top finisher in Valley Bass Trail events.

An early adopter of Garmin’s LiveScope forward-facing sonar, Ryan is an offshore smallmouth specialist, with more tricks up his sleeve for triggering bass to bite than a used car salesman has for closing deals on hesitant customers. Still, we had to work for every fish we caught.

“Round Lake smallmouth can be very hard to catch, and have a reputation of being fussy,” he said. “They’re not like Rideau Lakes smallmouth that swim around in big groups.

Round’s smallies move in smaller packs or are loners. This can make it tough to get their competitive juices flowing sometimes.”

The majority of bass Weatherall and I caught ate finesse jigs of various configurations. When working suspending smallmouth offshore, he did well swimming a jig rigged with either a pearl Berkley PowerBait Pro Twitchtail Minnow or a Z-Man Finesse ShadZ.

We also fished points, rocky reefs, sand bars, and weedbeds. Green pumpkin and other dark-coloured Ned rigs and tubes fooled smallmouth, along with a few bonus largemouth.

Weatherall gave the umbrella rig the proverbial college try. I did the same with a jerkbait. Neither of us had any luck. The bass were in a classic summer-to-fall transitional funk and unin- terested in chasing moving baits. Extremely calm conditions didn’t help our cause either, it seemed.

“Reaction baits weren’t the deal today, but this lake isn’t always about finesse presentations,” Weatherall said at Covered Bridge Park’s as we unloaded gear after putting the boat back on the trailer. “A-rigs and big topwaters are awesome out here when conditions are right. Crashing a heavy, tube or creature bait on bottom can also work well.”

Bark Lake

Bark Lake’s Tom and Mick Murray Millennium Park boat launch is about a 30-minute, westward drive beyond Barry’s Bay, and just south of Madawaska. A more stretched-out waterbody in comparison to Golden or Round, Bark has elongated bays extending off of the main lake, and is one of several systems the Madawaska River flows through before eventually emptying into the Ottawa River at the town of Arnprior.

Klatt, friend Blair Gable, and I enjoyed a late-autumn outing on Bark a couple years ago. We caught smallmouth from mid-depth flats dotted with boulder piles, rocky points plunging into deep water, and offshore humps.

Gable kicked off the day with a smallmouth just shy of five pounds drop-shotting a Z-Man Trick ShotZ. Dragging bottom with tubes, creature baits on football jigs, and finesse worms also produced.

Contrasting this deep-water experience, was the shoreline-dominated smallmouth pattern my family and I enjoyed the first week of bass opener last year. We were staying in a cottage at Sunny Hill Resort and had an absolute blast. When we weren’t out catching fish, my kids enjoyed themselves exploring the well-kept grounds, swimming off the dock and in the indoor pool (it rained), and enjoying game room activities. It’s a great spot for families.

Sunny Hill sits on Bark Lake’s eastern shore, a short ride to several decent smallmouth spots. We fished from Beavertail Island towards Littlebark Bay, including the shorelines, main lake points, and coves on Bells Bay, plus from Hay Bay past Big Point towards Sand Bay. We didn’t make it past The Narrows and into and Chapleau Island or Harris Bay, which is another good stretch of water.

It didn’t take long for my family to have a Toto we’re-not-in-Kansas-anymore moment our first day on Bark. On Lanark County lakes, my kids are rather proficient at putting bass in the boat using Ned rigs, tubes, and jig-worms, but many of Bark’s rocky shorelines ate these presentations with an insatiable hunger. Re-rigging rods with horizontal presentations got us out of Frown Town and back into fish.

Maeve and Grady did well retrieving three-inch swimbaits. Hopping and shake-swimming a four-inch Z-Man Jerk ShadZ on a 1⁄8 – to 1⁄4 -ounce jig was also productive.

Sue, however, got the biggest fish of our trip on one of her favourite baits, a 31⁄8 -inch Rapala X-Rap. She cast towards shore, then used a pull-pause retrieve to dance the jerkbait enticingly. This was a carbon copy presentation of the technique she used when the two of us were staying at Round Lake Resort more than a decade ago.

The fact that this specific bait and retrieve remains potent after all these years struck me as fascinating. What really hit home, though, was this time Sue wasn’t pregnant with our daughter, but instead fishing side by side with Maeve.

Watching the two of them together on the back deck, with Grady bombing casts beside me, I caught myself reflecting on how fast time passes. I stopped fishing to soak-up the scene and reflect.

Pick your presentation

If you’ve got a favourite tactic for catching smallmouth, odds are it’ll work in one of these lakes. Like to Ned rig? No problem. Prefer to power-fish jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, and other reaction lures? Better bring Bandaids for bass thumb.

I don’t want to be misleading, though. Big, Ottawa Valley smallmouth are not pushovers. Golden, Round, and Bark see angling pressure from tournaments, cottagers, and weekend warriors, like yours truly. As such, wary bronzebacks encounters are common.

More, smallmouth inhabiting these lakes are not wanting for food. These water systems contain an abundance of baitfish, crayfish, and other for- age, giving bass the luxury of being choosy about when and what they decide to eat.

Not sure what to do? Target points

Fishing points is my go-to troubleshooting strategy when smallmouth trips are not going as planned. It’s a basic approach, but also very effective. Flog enough water around points and, sooner or later, you’ll stumble across biting smallmouth.

Several main lake points are easy to find on these three lakes. Rock slides, boulder strips, sand bars, and any other feature pushing into deeper water also deserve attention.

Bring your clear-water A-game

When Ottawa Valley smallmouth are aggressive, they’re not shy about smashing a lure close to the boat. This is more the exception than the norm, though. Clear-water strategies critical for consistent success. Long casts, using fluorocarbon line, and staying stealthy are just three rules to follow.

Fishing a naturally coloured bait can be helpful but don’t go all-in on this one. We’re talking smallmouth after all. Lures with loud, bright paint patterns have put big bronzeback in my boat from each of these lakes.

Target transition areas

Whether shallow, deep, or somewhere in between, smallmouth often orient around transitions and edges. Fish drop-offs, bottom composition changes, weed edges, ledges, and isolated pieces of structure. This tip isn’t revolutionary, but I guarantee it will help you catch better-quality bass.

Spending time on the water with family and good friends is a special thing and, for the time being, I’m fortunate to do this regularly. The proverbial icing on the cake is many of these trips bring me to amazing smallmouth lakes within the picturesque Ottawa Valley. Experience yourself what the region and its many lakes have to offer.

Fantastic fall fishing, but…

Water levels drop in these lakes in autumn. Round in particular can be tricky to get on after September. It’s not just about not being able to launch, either. Take care to avoid the shallow reefs and other hazards.

Keep moving

You’ll be faced with lots of amazing smallmouth water when fishing Golden, Round, and Bark lakes. Bass are as likely to be stacked on spots as they are to be transient and cruising around. Don’t lallygag if an area isn’t producing. Move on.

Watch the wind

These lakes get rough in breezy conditions. As Klatt put it: “Even though these lakes are small, most good locations are not sheltered.”

I learned this years ago after catching largemouth in Sand Bay on Round Lake. I hadn’t given the increasing wind intensity the respect it deserved. As I left the bay, the lake was filled with whitecaps. It was a white-knuckled ride in my 16-footer and the impetus to upgrade to an 18-foot Lund a few years later.

…And experiment

If you are around fish but can’t get them to bite, start experimenting. Cycle through presentations until you crack the code.

Other fish

Largemouth bass, northern pike, walleye, whitefish, lake trout, yellow perch

More info

Ottawa Valley Tourist Association
www.ottawavalley.travel
1-800-757-6580

Where to stay

The Sands on Golden Lake: www.sandsongoldenlake.com
Mountainview Cottage Resort (Golden Lake): www.mountainviewcottagerentals.com
Round Lake Resort: roundlakeresort.org
Covered Bridge Park: www.coveredbridgepark
Bonnechere Provincial Park and Foy Provincial Park on Round Lake, Bell Bay Provincial Park on Bark Lake.