Rideau Canal – Rideau Lakes

About this water

The Rideau Lakes chain — Big Rideau, Upper Rideau, Newboro, and Opinicon — offers fantastic warm-water fishing in a scenic historic waterway.

Connected chain of lakes along the historic Rideau Canal. Warm, weedy bays with deeper rocky sections. Stained to moderate clarity.

FMZ 18 regulations — Eastern Ontario — Rideau & inland southeastern watersheds

Southeastern Ontario, built around the connecting lakes and rivers of the Rideau waterway, with the Canadian Shield at its heart and the St. Lawrence Lowlands to the east and west. It covers the Crowe, Mississippi, Napanee, Cataraqui, Rideau, Salmon, South Nation and Raisin River watersheds. It ends at Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River to the south (FMZ 20) and follows the Ottawa River (FMZ 12) to the north and east — the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers themselves are not in FMZ 18.

• Walleye: 3rd Saturday in May – March 15; S-4/C-2.
• Muskie: 3rd Saturday in June – Dec 15; 137 cm min, S-1/C-0.
• Bass (large & small): 3rd Saturday in June – Nov 30; S-6/C-2.
• Lake trout (Big Rideau, Charleston): Jan 1 – Sept 30; S-2/C-1.

Zone check: FMZ 18 confirmed from this water's coordinates against the official Ontario zone boundaries (reviewed 2026-08-12).

Summary only — always confirm current seasons and limits on the Ontario MNRF FMZ 18 page before your trip.

Seasonal availability

Open-season windows for the species found at Rideau Canal – Rideau Lakes, taken from the FMZ 18 regulation summary. Green months are within a published open season — they are not a prediction of how well fish will bite.

No FMZ 18 season line published in our summary for: Northern Pike, Panfish, Black Crappie. Check the official page before keeping these species.

Summary only, and seasons change annually. Confirm dates on the Ontario MNRF FMZ 18 page before your trip.

Fishing tips

• St. Lawrence smallmouth relate to current — drop-shot the drop-offs.
• Thousand Islands muskie respond to figure-8s at boatside — always finish the retrieve.
• Fish the weedy bays for largemouth with wacky-rigged Senkos. The lock walls hold smallmouth and walleye in current. Crappie stack in submerged timber — use small jigs vertically.
• Access: Free parking at several lock stations (Narrows, Newboro, Chaffey's). Public launches at Newboro and Portland.

Gear setup

Setup:

Medium spinning for bass; light spinning for crappie/panfish; medium-heavy for pike

Rod:

6'6" medium spinning; 6' ultralight for crappie

Reel:

Size 2500 spinning; 1000 ultralight

Line:

8 lb braid with fluorocarbon leader for bass; 4 lb mono for crappie

Best bait:

Worms, Leeches, Minnows, Wax worms (crappie)

Best lures:

Wacky Senko (green pumpkin), Spinnerbait (white/chartreuse), Small crappie jig (1/32 oz), Frog (topwater)