Cottage location, Walleye fishing

I was looking at purchasing a cottage that is a between 2-3 hours away from m my son who lives in Irquois Ontario near Ottawa.I am a walleye fisherman and am looking for good lakes to fish ,I was looking at Rice Lake,Bay of Quinte or if anyone has another suggestion thanks.

Quebec.

For size, it's hard to beat BOQ. Some really large walleye come out of there every year...all about timing though.

My understanding is that the Walleye fishery in Rice is a shadow of it's former self. The Pike have now gotten in the lake and will soon be the dominant species IMHO. This is mostly hearsay on my part as I do not fish the lake but felt the need to say something if Walleye is your primary target. There should be people on here with more in depth info and can correct me if I am wrong. (I hope I am).

MC

Have been fishing rice for 30 plus years. If its walleye your after choose another lake. It is as bad as I have ever seen it. If its bass especially sm then yes get a cottage here.There are some pigs here. Regards Alan

Agree with you. Have been fishing Rice for 50+ years and except for one other time this is the worst Walleye fishing I have seen. Not sure what happened.

I know weeds have changed and now Pike are in the lake. Hard to believe Pike would make a difference as have fished Kesagami too and that lake has more Walleye and Pike than any lake I have ever fished. So, not buying the Pike theory. Maybe ice fishing, as decline started after than, but hard to believe that would affect it either, especially since you can’t keep Walleye, but then who knows if people do.

Used to catch lots of tiny cigar Walleye and have not caught any of those in years.

Surprised ODNR has done nothing. Why are they not doing survery’s like they used too. Where does all of our fishing license money and Outdoor Card revenue go.

Rice is an excellent bass lake now, but really could care less about that. Can catch bass in my pond. Lol

All I know is it is sad how hard Walleye fishing has become.

The bass are probably a big factor in diminishing walleye numbers.

Rice Lake has an overwhelming plague of fishing pressure. Not just during the daylight hours, the cover of darkness hides what is going on there. So many launching opportunities on Rice Lake and the proximity to the cities are just the first two nails in the coffin. There are literally dozens of boats at night, fishing for walleye and crappie and other species. Certain times of the year are worse than others, with the spring and fall being the busiest. Overfishing in recent decades has slowly brought the walleye population down. Dams and changing water flows are damaging/destroying spawning areas, added to this decline. Changes to the ecosystem, loss of habitat equals poor reproduction numbers. We have treated our lakes and rivers like toilets for decades, and people wonder where the fish went. Growing population, land development, of course water pollution are three more nails in the coffin. Then we have the invasive species of plants, changing the lake again. Don't worry I have not forgot the invasive fish species that are in Rice Lake now. You add all this up and a fragile fish species like walleye is going to be the loser. This is a fight the walleye will not win on Rice Lake. A moratorium on Rice Lake should be declared as was done on Lake Scugog ten years ago. Invasive species are a problem of course, but overlooking the live wells full of walleye at night would be naive. Just as naive as denying how we have been destroying our waterways since we showed up in North America. It's time for everyone to pitch in and help the fish. Release more fish so they can grow and spawn. Lobby the government to stock fish on a larger scale. Stop the greed that is sometimes human nature. Many anglers suffer from a lack of restraint. Respect the fishery and the fragile fish population.