Rice Lake | 5. Carp
Rice Lake is high on the list of Southern Ontario’s best Carp fishing destinations. Rice has an enormous population of Common Carp and a good number Mirror Carp. If you can access Rice Lake’s shoreline for fishing, you can probably tie into a Carp pretty easily.
As with most successful Carp angling, feeding, or pre-baiting an area is key to putting fish in the net. Pre-soaked corn (24 hours minimum) is an economical feed material for any Carp areas pretty much worldwide (where legal, of course).
After a couple of days of consistent feeding, there should be a population of Carp waiting in the vicinity for another feed session. Hopefully, that next feeding will be on your hook-bait.
Please remember, there is a lot of private land along the shores of Rice Lake, so ask for permission or maybe rent a cottage to fish a privately owned area and do not trespass!
Rice Lake | 6. Crappie
Rice Lake has had a Black Crappie population for many years now. In fact, Pete first encountered them some 30 years back while Walleye fishing. “I was firing small spinners for Walleye in shallow weeds, and I hooked into what felt like a decent fish but certainly not big,” says Pete. “It fought funny, so I figured it wasn’t a Walleye. That was my first ever Rice Lake Crappie. By the end of that day, I must have caught twenty to thirty of them. And they were all nice ones!”
Since those old days, Crappie fishing has become extremely popular on Rice Lake. Every season, the shallows get inundated with spawning fish and anglers. As summer progresses and Crappie fishing pressure subsides, the real dedicated Crappie lovers/experts stay on them—right into the fall.
Other Fish Species in Rice Lake
With the abundance of fertile water, Rice Lake harbours other desirable panfish like bluegill, pumpkinseed, rock bass and yellow perch.
“I remember years ago, I was fishing on Rice Lake for Largemouth Bass early in the season,” says Angelo, “and I noticed what looked like hundreds of craters in the shallows. They sort of looked like bass nests, but they were a bit too small and too close to each other. Upon closer inspection, I saw at least one if not two Bluegills on each nest!”
What Ang found was an area chock full of Bluegill nests. From then on, he knew the population of ‘gills was extremely healthy.
The same goes for Pumpkinseed and Yellow Perch. The lake has outstanding populations of both.
Believe it or not, there is even a population of Catfish in Rice Lake.
Although the Fish’n Canada hosts would argue that any lake is a great place to take kids fishing, Rice Lake would come with a particularly strong recommendation for those looking for quality family time and high probability for excitement.
In Conclusion
There you have it: The Fish’n Canada guide to fish species in Rice Lake. There are a few more, but the above are by far the most popular. Feel free to browse through our site to look for any tactical information to help you execute the proper presentations for your intended species. Also, check out our Hotspots section for some excellent waypoints, including the one from our 2015 Rice Lake Carp episode, “Kawartha Carp Showdown.”
LOOKS LIKE A GREAT PLACE TO FISH