Fishing White Lake Ontario

Every once in a while, I get invited to fish on someone's boat with them. After a few past experiences, I tend to be skeptical about doing this sort of thing. Not that the experiences on these boats were terrible in any way, but for various reasons, the fishing never worked out to what I had hoped.

My eldest son Ari got married in Arizona a couple years ago. During the wedding ceremony / reception, I met Paul. We got to talking, and being that he lives in Ottawa every summer, I mentioned something about driving through there to go fishing back before highway 50 was completed. That led to him pulling up a bunch of fishing pictures on his phone, and had I not been at my son's wedding, I'd probably would have spent the rest of the night talking about fishing with Paul.

To make a long story short, Paul invited me to fish with him, and  over 2 years later, we finally decided to make it happen. Paul has been spending most of his summers on White Lake in Ontario, about 1 hour drive West of Ottawa in the Lanark/Renfrew region. Over the years, he's caught a decent mix of smallmouth bass and walleye, mainly drift fishing or casting using live worms. Being that I barely fish with worms at all, I mentioned that I'd introduce him to my trolling system, as well as a bit of casting, as long as my injured shoulder would allow.

I made the drive out to White Lake early Wednesday morning, arriving just at the tail end of some rain passing through the Lanark region. Paul was in a nearby town picking up some supplies, so I unloaded my gear, set up my rods, and decided to take a few casts off his dock.

First cast using a Mepps 3 spinner hooked up immediately, with a decent smallmouth bass at the end of my line. After a few jumps, I had the bass dockside, with a couple more bass in the same size range following it. I landed the fish, snapped a pic, and quickly released it.

I was quite happy to land a decent bass on my first cast of the trip, obviously thinking that fishing on White Lake was going to be extremely easy and productive. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I didn't land any more fish casting off the dock after that first bass, so I gave fishing a little break.

Paul eventually showed up with his friend Howie, and we headed over to a nearby marina to pick up his pontoon boat. I've rarely fished off pontoon boats in the past, only time I can remember was back in Colorado about 10 years ago. At that time, we were trolling for Kokanee salmon, and that boat was properly rigged with rod holders and downriggers. By contrast, Paul's boat was not rigged for fishing. Namely, the lack of a kicker or bow mounted trolling motor, no lake map, nor any rod holders. That being said, these are all luxuries, and I've fished plenty enough times to figure out how to accommodate for the lack of gear.

I brought along a couple quick release rod holders, that I was able to clamp onto the pontoon rails. With White Lake\s extra clear waters, I was able to sit at the bow, and visually navigate around stumps, rock piles, and over weedbeds, thereby negating the need for a lake map. Paul's 90 HP Yamaha motor was able to keep us trolling slowly enough to be in productive range. Using 2 rods, we started off trolling a spinnerbait on the shallower side, and a jerkbait on the deeper side. After a bit of adjustments to each other, we got our system down to trolling at the proper depths, along the proper structure.

It didn't take long for us to hook into out first fish, I handed the rod to Howie, who proceeded to land our first pike of the trip.

Paul followed up with the next pike.

We landed a couple more pike, as well as a small largemouth bass while trolling. 

Eventually, we switched to casting, and I landed a decent little pike on a crankbait.

After a while, we headed back to shore for an early dinner. Paul kept us nicely fed, with some BBQ chicken, grilled veggies and potatoes, and I enjoyed some nice European lager for dessert. Paul and Howie were both amazed at the quality of pike fishing on White Lake. In 18 years, they had never landed that many pike in a day. Being that they generally were fishing with worms, I wasn't surprised.

We got back out on the water for the evening bite, this time, with Paul and Howie drift fishing with worms, while I stuck to casting a variety of topwater lures and spinners. We all caught a decent amount of fish, mainly a mix a small largemouth and smallmouth bass, as well as a few sunfish, perch and rock bass.    

We eventually called it a day, after landing 7 pike, a good 20 or so bass, and some panfish.

The following morning, Howie left to head home, and our next guest cancelled due to a family emergency, which left Paul and I fishing alone for the day. We started off attempting some deeper trolling, but with the weeds growing quite high in the water column, the lack of a lake map was evident. A good hour or so of me constantly clearing lines of accumulated weeds was enough, and we switched back to our original trolling game of trolling spinnerbaits over the tops of emerging weeds. Our plan paid off with some more pike.

 

At some point, we tried drift fishing with worms, but the wind was quite slower than required. Paul connected with some smaller bass and jumbo sunfish, while all I caught were weeds. We switched back to trolling after a couple hours, but the area we tried wasn't productive at all. With less than an hour left to my trip, I suggested we try casting an area where we caught a lot of the smaller bass during the previous evening. Not much was happening, until I got a nice hit on the spinnerbait I was casting. After a short battle and couple nice jumps, I had my biggest bass of the trip in the net.

Nothing too huge, but a good 2.5 lbs or so, the largemouth bass was a perfect end to the short fishing trip on White Lake. We headed into shore shortly after.

Looking back on this latest fishing adventure, I was happy to have tried a new lake in a new region that I had never fished up until this point. Paul is a great host, and on his end, he was very happy to have someone with my fishing experience on deck. I put him onto a new world of opportunities when it comes to fishing on White Lake, and being that he has a boat on the lake for 3-4 months every year, I'm sure he'll do very well using the new techniques I showed him.

On my end, I'd be glad to return to White Lake for another attempt at fishing it properly. White Lake is a beautiful and picturesque waterway, with a large variety of structure, prone to holding the various fish species in the lake. |I can only imagine the sort of success that would be achieved if I had enough time to properly dissect White Lake. 

Paul and I plan to do it again sometime, hoping next summer will work for both of us.

Domaine Shannon fishing trip - part 2

Back from my second trip to Le Domaine Shannon. This was my final weeklong trip of the season, having done two other such trips over the past 5 weeks. This time, I took my childhood fishing buddy Jimmy along for the trip. Jimmy is one of those special people that can match my commitment to putting in 10 hour days on the water, no matter what the weather of fishing conditions may be. He and I have shared many great fishing moments and trips together over the years.

We headed out late Saturday night, hitting the main forest road around 3 am. Normally a 1 hour drive during daylight, this one took 2 hours at reduced speed in the dark, being that it was cloudy. Another 1.5 hours drive from there to our cabin on lac wahoo. Lucky for us, Le Domaine Shannon is under new ownership / management this year, and they are putting in a lot of effort into revamping their operations, including refurbishing all the roads on their territory, which made for a much smoother ride. 

We made it to the cabins early enough to break camp, eat, setup the cabin, and get a decent start on our day. As usual, we were hoping to get into a trophy pike or 2, and planned to pick up a mixed bag of smaller pike and walleye to keep for the table.

Day 1:

We got started by trolling, picking up a lot of smaller pike, harvesting one for Jimmy to take home. Action was steady. We eventually switched to casting. Being that my shoulder is still injured, I was quite limited, and Jimmy got most of the action, catching a few walleyes.

Having secured some tasty walleyes dinners, we made it through most of the day catching more pike. mainly trolling. At one point, Jimmy and I hit a double header, with mine being the first trolled caught walleye of the trip.

Later that evening when the wind calmed down, we decided to cast the calm mirror like lake. Again, Jimmy and I hit a double header on our first casts, with mine being the larger of the two pike.

Decent days we ended up landing a decent mix of pike and walleye.

Day 2:

Any hot sunny day, bite started of slower than the previous day, with us landing a few more smaller pike. Walleye bite died down, but luckily, we already had 5 of them in the fridge, securing 2 fish dinners. By the late morning, we had just started another trolling pass around the lake after short break on shore. I landed a small pike within the first minute or so, and a couple minutes later, my rod hooked a much nicer pike.

After a decent few runs near the boat, we landed the nice 30 incher, which ended up being the biggest fish of the trip.

More small pike throughout the day, We ended up with mainly pike and only one walleye. At least the nice pike I caught was released in good condition, hoping we meet again when she's grown a bit.

Day 3:

A heavy thunderstorm blew in over night, and by morning, it had turned to steady rain. We took advantage and slept in for an extra hour or so, hoping the rain would taper off. It didn't, so we donned our heavy rain gear, and got out to trolling in the cold wind. In contrast to us having to keep dousing our t shirts in the lake to stay cool over the past couple days, we were now in sweaters and waterproof gear, determined to put in a full day no matter the conditions.

Fishing for pike was very slow, and the few hits we got were light taps instead of strikes. Walleye were a bit more active, we caught a few during the rain, which lasted until late afternoon.

By evening, the rain died down, but we were still fighting a cold wind, so we stuck with mainly trolling until dark. We tied on spinnerbaits for a shallow troll near weed beds, and not surprisingly, the pike bite turned on fast and furious. We ended up catching a good 10 pike or so during the last 90 minutes of the day, including another nice pike I landed to end the day.

Day 4:

Another cloudy day, with strong winds blowing all morning. By early afternoon, more rain, that lasted until the evening. Bite was extremely slow, but Jimmy and I persevered, grinding out another 10 hour day on the water in cold weather gear. Most of the catches were small, so we didn't bother with pictures.

A nice walleye dinner with some good beer and fine single malt that Jimmy brought along.

Tasty way to end our day.

Day 5:

Our last day of fishing at Le Domaine Shannon for the season. Sunshine and heat were back, and we were hoping the bite would pick up enough for us to get one last shot at landing a trophy pike. We fished hard all day in the heat, catching more pike and more eater sized walleye.

By late afternoon, we decided to cast a shallow flat. Throwing a spinnerbaits, Jimmy managed to raise a big trophy pike, probably in the 10 to 12 lbs range, It followed his lure to the boat, made one swirl at the figure eight pattern, and turned and swam off. A close call during the last hours, would have been an amazing fairy tale ending to the trip if we manage to hook and land the big pike, but that's all part of the game, and what keeps us going back to Le Domaine Shannon year after year.

We ended the trip with a total of 67 pike and 18 walleyes landed. Better yet, Jimmy and I ended up putting in 48-49 hours of fishing in 5 days, despite scorching heat, and a couple days of cold wind and rain. Best of all, the fun moments shared with a great friend, who I've been fishing with for over 40 years.

On the way home the following morning, I stopped by the main camp to discuss with Luc, one of the new owners who now runs the office and main lodge. The family operation is committed to opening many of the untouched lakes on their territory over the next few years, as well as upgrading some of the remote camps with plumbing, toilets and showers, making them a bit more "user friendly" than what we have been used to over the past. Being a family business, their adult boys work in the camp as guides, doing maintenance, etc. After meeting a couple of them as well, I'm confident that they will take the Le Domaine Shannon fishing experience to new levels.

For more information on fishing at Le Domaine Shannon, see my page at:

https://freshwaterphil.com/ledomaineshannon.cfm

Great walleye and pike fishing at Domaine Shannon

Just got back from another great fishing trip to Le Domaine Shannon. As in the past few seasons, my son Eli came along for this trip. This time, he decided to bring Audrey along for her first attempt at walleye fishing. She has been on a few of our family fishing trips to Mijocama by now, but being that she has never been this far off the grid, I was a bit skeptical as to how she would take to the potential discomforts of biting insects, lack of plumbing, outhouse, etc. As well, there is literally nothing to do but fish all day out there, as we are the only ones on the lake I chose, and over 1 hour's drive from the main camp. So much for the social life we are used to on larger family trips, these are all about fishing and being remote in the wild forest of the upper Outaouais region of Quebec.

We made the drive up to Le Domaine Shannon late Saturday night, to give ourselves enough time to get there. While the highway driving is relatively good, conditions of the 100 km of dirt roads can vary from trip to trip. Reaching the first of the dirt roads around sunrise is typically what I planned on, getting there around 5 am Sunday morning. We were hoping to see some wildlife, and sure enough, within 5 minutes of driving on the main dirt road, we cam across a large black bear in middle of the road. We stopped, stared at each other for 5-10 seconds, and then it ran off into the woods. Eli and Audrey had never seen any bears in the wild before, so they were thrilled to start the trip on a high note.

We eventually made it to our cabin a couple hours later. After unloading, breaking camp and a quick breakfast, we got to setting up the boat. Portable rod holders, electric motor, and a new sonar I borrowed from my friend Jimmy. We planned to use a mix of trolling and casting, and after last summer's success with walleye fishing on the lake, I had an ide of a few spots to cast to get the trip started.

As we got started, I noticed that the sonar wasn't recognizing the transducer, and despite us trying all the available options we found in the menu system, we weren't able to get the sonar working. I was a bit upset that I hadn't brought along my old sonar as a backup, but at this point, I knew I could potentially make due without it, as I have been fishing and trolling the lake for well over a decade, and likely have over 50 full days experience on it.

Being that were were without sonar, we opted to start off casting so of my better spots on the lake. Unfortunately, my shoulder injury is still persistent, though not as bad a last trip. As such, I didn't plan on doing much casting. I controlled the boat and maintained boat position while Eli and Audrey got to cast with better precision. First spot, first cast, Eli landed a decent pike, which we decided to keep. Next cast, he landed a small walleye, which we released.

After a few more passes and no more bites, we headed over to other parts of the lake to cast some more of my hot spots. Sure enough, Eli landed another nice walleye, and Audrey landed her first ever walleyes as well.

We decided to keep walleyes for our planned fish meals on site, and I deboned and froze the pike to bring home. When we got back to shore, Audrey mentioned that Eli's new iPhone 14 has a built in satellite connection feature. This meant, that for first time ever, we were able to connect to the outside world from our remote location. We texted Jimmy about the sonar issue, and sure enough, he was able to guide us on how to get it working properly within minutes.

After our first log fire barbecue lunch of the trip, we decided to do some shore fishing before heading out on the boat again. Audrey's first cast landed a nice fallfish, and Eli landed a few small pike. 

I decided to try casting a top water lure for a bit, and caught my first fish of the trip.

Eventually, we decided to head back out on the boat and tried trolling with the help of the new sonar. Didn't take long, and we started catching some nicer sized pike.

We ended the first day with a total of 15 pike, 13 walleyes, and 4 fallfish landed.

Day 2:

After catching up on 2 nights of sleep overnight, we got started around 9 am, which became our daily routine. Casting in the calm morning breeze, Audrey landed another nice pike, which turned out to be her biggest of the trip.

As I was was snapping some pictures, Eli doubled up with another walleye.

Eventually, as the casting bite slowed down, we got in a good trolling pattern, landing a lot more keeper sized pike.

We'd stop to cast every once in a while, and sure enough, Audrey landed another nice walleye casting.

Back to trolling, some more pike landed mainly by Audrey.

We were lucky to encounter much fewer black flies and mosquitoes than usual, but eventually, they did show up about an hour before sunset. That didn't deter us from fishing, nor the fish from biting.

We ended the day with a total of 21 pike, 7 walleyes, and 1 more fallfish landed.

Day 3:

We started off by casting again. Bite was slow, but Eli landed his biggest walleye of the trip at our 3rd spot. A couple nice pics, and into our makeshift livewell it went, to join us for dinner.

Continuing with a mix of casting and trolling, Audrey landed some more pike.

Eventually, she managed another walleye casting a spinner in front of our cabin at last light.

We ended the day with a total of 21 pike and 5 walleyes.

Day 4:

Fishing started off quite slow, we struggled to catch anything both casting and trolling. A few smaller pike, but nowhere near the sizes or numbers of previous days. By mid afternoon, a storm system moved in, after 3.5 days of sweltering heat and sunny conditions. 

We headed back to the cabin, I got a few hours of napping, while Eli and Audrey casted a nearby creek in rain gear, catching a few more walleyes, pike an fallfish. Eventually, we decided to go out to do some trolling in the rain, which was now lighter than when it started. Trolling action was slow, but Audrey landed back to back walleyes on a couple passes about 10 minutes in.

We ended the day landing 7 pike, 6 walleye and 6 fallfish.

Day 5:

This was our last day of fishing. We woke up to calm/cloudy conditions. Seemingly better for walleye, but in reality, all we ended up landing over a couple hours of trolling were 2 more pike. We decided to do some more casting. At one of the spots, we noticed something white and puffy floating in the distance, I assuming it may have been a gull. After moving around and fishing back to the area over an hour later, it was still there. I decided to investigate, and we found a very long pike floating on it's back. It was very emaciated, but still alive. Our attempts to revive it didn't work, seems that it was probably dying of old age and had been starving for a while, as it didn't have any signs of damage or trauma. We snapped a few pics of the 40 inch pike, marveling at it's length while realizing that this was about as close to a monster pike we were going to see this trip.

Eventually, trolling started producing some more pike, as well as Audrey's biggest walleye of the trip at just under 3 lbs.

We ended the day with another 13 pike and 3 walleye landed, bringing the trip total to a whopping 77 pike, 34 walleyes, and 11 fallfish landed, mainly by Eli and Audrey. I was content just guiding them and resting my shoulder in between fileting sessions, as we ended up keeping 14 pike and 13 walleyes over the course of the trip. While we consumed all the walleyes on site, the pike are back home in my now restocked freezer, which should last us for a few months. 

We left bright and early the following morning, stopping by the main camp to meet Domaine Shannon's new owner. When I originally booked the trip early last winter, Serge was still there, but a couple weeks before the trip, the new owners explained that they but the camp and operation sometime in February 2026. I met with Luc, chatted with him for a while, He was impressed with the quality of fishing we were able to achieve, as well as the many fishing trips and experiences I have enjoyed at Le Domaine Shannon over the past 16 years.

While Eli and Audrey we sad to see the trip come to it's end, I'm content knowing that they had a great time, Audrey is a quick learner, and honestly, I don't know any gals (and very few guys) that would put up with the seeming discomforts of remote accommodations to get onto good fishing. Congrats to her.

As well, I'm scheduled to head back to Le Domaine Shannon for another fishing trip in 2 weeks, this time with my lifelong friend Jimmy. We'll see how that plays out, hope to have some good results to report.

I highly recommend Le Domaine Shannon to anyone looking to enjoy some excellent walleye and pike fishing in the upper Outaouais forest. While I choose remote lakes to fish for my peace and quite, they also have fully equipped cabins at the main camp, with electricity and  plumbing, as well as various meals plans at the main lodge, along with a bar, and the option of hiring their fishing guides on site for ensured success.

More information on the Domaine Shannon is available on my web site at:

https://freshwaterphil.com/ledomaineshannon.cfm 

Mijocama fishing summer 2026

Just got back from our yearly family fishing trip to Mijocama outfitter to kick off the summer. A growing number of family members joined, we were up to 9 of us in my chalet, as well as another dozen friends in 2 other chalets. Pike and largemouth bass were to be our target species for the next few days.

Unfortunately for myself, I'm dealing with some sort of shoulder injury that prevents me from doing much casting, so I had to content myself on guiding everyone else, using a mix of trolling and controlled drifting. Here's what happened...

Day 1.

Zev and I got up bright and early to make the 3 hour drive up to Mijocama. Heavy rain over the past few days had the previous guests leaving our chalet early, which meant that we were able to check in earlier than planned. After driving up, unloading, and eating breakfast, I headed over to the main camp to get our boat. Lucky for me, I noticed a brand new motor on on of the boats, so I was spoiled enough to get one that started up within 1-2 cranks using my left arm.

Zev and I started off by trolling jerkbaits, and it didn't take too long for him to hook our our first pike of the trip. 

He proceeded to land a few more, some of which we kept for future shore lunches during our stay at Mijocama.

By the time we got back to our chalet, everyone else was arriving. Next up on my boat, were Levi and Lindsey. As casting wasn't very productive, we trolled for pike as well. Both of them landed some nice pike, and Lindsey's first fish ended up being the biggest of the trip at just over 5 lbs.

After a late lunch, I ended up taking out Ezzy, who managed his first couple pike as well.

I ended up catching a pike on a topwater lure just before dark, didn't bother with a picture. That was it for day 1.

Day 2.

I had very little time to fish, as I was driving back to Montreal after lunch to attend my daughter's graduation later that evening. Got out solo bright and early, and with the calm mirrorlike surface, I opted to cast a PopR. Only took a few casts, and I got my first bass of the trip.

After a while, I decided to tie on a spinner and cast a weedbed on the other side of the lake. Sure enough, I landed back to back pike on a few casts.

Early morning success was nice, and before leaving I asked my boys to snap some pics of their catches while I was gone, as Eli and Avi were running their own boats. Eli, Audrey, Avi, and Ezzy, all had a pretty good rest of the day catching mainly pike, as well as some nice bass.

Seems like they did just fine without me there.

Day 3.

I made the drive in from Montreal bright an early, getting the water by 6:30 am. Landed another bass on the PopR, as well as some small pike. Kids slept in a bit, so I was solo until after breakfast. Being that his older brothers trash talk him about only being able to catch fish when I guide him, Zev asked me to teach him how to run the boat, and effectively toll for pike. I was more than happy to oblige, and Zev was the perfect student, adapting to my instructions rather quickly, for someone who'd never driven a boat before.

I showed Zev how to effectively troll sunken branches and weedlines visually, being that we were fishing in clear water without any electronics. I showed him how to avoid shoals off point based on water color changes, and how to orient himself using shoreline markers. Hoping he remembers most of it for next time...

I took a while for the pike to start biting, but when they finally did, Zev landed them one after the other.

Eventually, I also showed Zev how to drift fish large areas, using the wind and intermittent motor power to place us in casting position. He landed 2 pike back to back.

After heading to shore for a late lunch, I took Levi and Lindsey out again, and we landed a few more pike while trolling late afternoon/evening.

Day 4.

Most of our group was leaving for home mid morning, so they were busy packing and tidying the chalet. We were down to 3 of us fishing for the rest of the trip, and wasted no time getting out for the morning bite. Eli and Audrey tied on some a couple topwater lures, and sure enough, we got a few missed hits, followed by Eli landing a tiny pike. On his next cast using a One Knocker  Zara Spook, Eli landed his first bass of the trip, a nice largemouth in the 3 lbs range. I was very glad to see this size bass landed, after most of the bass in Giles lakes seem to have died off a few years ago. 

After the topwater bite died down and the wind picked up, I took them drift casting for pike on another part of the lake. Audrey tied on a #5 Mepps spinner, and she and Eli landed a few pike on our first few drifts.

Afternoon/evening bite was a bit tougher, but more pike were landed, mainly by Audrey.

The day ended off with Eli hooking a nice pike that ended up cutting off his One Knocker spook. He was pretty bummed by it, so I lent him one of my Zara spooks for the rest of the trip.

Day 5.

Our last day fishing Mijocama on our yearly family fishing trip. We headed out extra early to cast topwater lures again. Eli started off casting the frog patterned Zara spook I lent him. Our first spot paid off with a small pike.

For our next spot, I took them to another calm bay where I had spotted a couple bass in the shallows the previous day. Eli's first cast at the spot resulted in a smashing topwater explosion, and I knew that he had hooked into a nice fish. After a couple good runs, I netted the big largemouth bass that hit Eli's lure.

A respectable bass weighing just under 3 1/2 lbs, haven't seen one that size caught at Mijocama in over 5 years. As well, Eli got redemption for the lost pike & lure the previous evening, as this bass was likely just as big as the pike he lost.

I then pointed to a big boulder where I had seen the bass swimming on the previous day, Eli casted to it. Within seconds, he had another nice bass making summersaults at the end of his line. Landed it as well, another solid 3 pounder.

Landed another 7 pike on our last day, brining the total for the trip to a record 66 pike landed. They seem to be growing longer every year, but they a mostly a lot thinner as well. As opposed to the small perch and baby bass I normally find in their stomachs when cleaning them, these we mostly empty, except for a few that were stuffed with crayfish.

More impressive, is the comeback the largemouth bass have made after nearly being wiped out a few years ago. Hoping they will be able to grow even bigger, given the shift in predator/prey relationship over the past few years. 

Weather was perfect, warm sunny days, not too hot, with cool nights that made for perfect sleeping conditions. with less biting insects than usual.

As always, I'd like to thank al the family members and friends that joined us for our yearly trip to Mijocama, as well as my friend Jocelyn (the owner) for providing us with a brand new motor boat, and upgraded appliances / full time power in our chalet. I highly recommend Mijocama outfitter as a perfect family fishing vacation spot only 3 hours from Montreal, you can view previous blog posts detailing many trips to Mijocama by clikcing: https://freshwaterphil.com/mijocama-outfitter.cfm 

I'll leave you with some more images shared by some of the aspiring photographers in our group. Already looking forward to my 25th Mijocama anniversary trip booked for next summer.