Launching at a stretch of river I had not fished at for a long time I was shocked to see the water quality. The stench in the air was almost overpowering and altough I couldn't figure out exactly what it was it was brutal.
Trying my hardest to find clear water I decided to take a run up river to see what was causing the dirty water only to see it get worse, much worse. Almost a 20 mile run later I had come into clearer water and still hadn't seen what the cause was so I pulled into a
marina and asked a couple questions only to be told that they weren't sure but figured a new marina was being built on the Quebec side of the Ottawa river.
If so it's a complete shame and travesty they are permitted to affect the water like they did as I was also informed that dead fish had been collected the day before.....by whom they didn't know!
Having found clear water I started my troll and it wasn't long before I hooked into a fish that had a great
fight but was disappointed to see a pike on the the end of my line..even though it was close to 40". Several pike later I switched to a different area and the reel started screaming , a short fight later I see a nice mid-high 40" '
skie about 10' off the back of the boat. A quick head shake and she was gone.....oh well....can't win em all.
The old trailer didn't quite fit my Springbok Sp190 very well in length and in height. Being a bit short of what was needed and held the boat high off the ground, add the fact it was getting rusty it was not hard to make the decision to go with new. 
Just in time for my LOTW's trip the first week of October.
Two days of hard fishing and this was the result, Saturday was blue sky, hot and flat water but we pounded some spots and saw several fish. Getting them to bite proved to be a bit more difficult.
It's been tough to nail down an outing due to weather issues this year but things seem to be stabilizing a bit lately and with a full moon and only a few hours to fish I had hoped to make the most of my efforts. On the water immediately after work shallow running appealed to me the most but with water temps dropping 6-8 deg in the last several days who really knew what to expect. So shallow to start it was, hitting a regular hump I was discouraged to see the weeds or lack there of but decided to give it a good trolling over but after 2 hrs (it's a big hump) I moved just off the hump to see if any fish were holding just off in the deeper water. It wasn't long before I bailed to another spot certain to have plenty of vegetation. Now at this point I was keeping it in mind that full moon rising was at 7:30pm and I was on a troll that had netted me plenty of big fish over the years and I was....well...excited at the least. On return from the first pass my reel started screaming and at the end of my line was a 36" muskie. Was this to be a good couple hours??? Playing around with the underwater camera and this time having some sunlight I snapped off a decent pic of the 'skie in the net. 
Another pic with the camera propped up on the dash as I was fishing solo and then a great sunset pic that the Ottawa river never fails to deliver with awe.
Another successful evening on the Ottawa, a fish to show for the efforts but not the size I was hoping for...oh ....I had hoped to stay out longer but my trailblazer was needed to pick up 7 screaming teenage girls from a concert!!!!!!
Fish are always welcome but not always needed, being able to move and search new spots and get away from the grind is priceless and good for the soul.
