Comit wrote:
These days I don't go near that water. A friend of mine use to work at the city sewage plant and they would regularly open the flood gates of that place and dump it into the river when the pumps were overloaded during rain storms. A couple years back when the city built those storage tanks by the hospital pumping station to handle the overload it slowed down the flow but I have heard it still happens after they are full. Trust me I have been inside the pumping station where the river of sewage flows through an open pit and if you saw or smelled what goes through there you would stay away from that water. I prefer to stay off the Rideau all together, I know lots of people who fish dog lake (connected to the rideau) for Crappie but have been told by real estate agents and people that live there it is one of the most polluted areas around. One of my wife's clients live there and will not swim it the water... Personally the closest I would fish to the Rideau is the the water past the line between RMC point and downtown where it opens up to the big water. I regularly fish off shore up the St. Lawrence in the summer and also rent a small private cabin annually for a long weekend on the spectacle islands just out from Treasure Island.
Interesting theory on the pollution. I know when they have an overflow discharge in Kingston the folks on Howe and Wolfe Islands find lots of goodies, and the beaches get shut down at Grass Creek Park and in Gan. All that stuff flows downstream, right past the spectacles.
As for the dog lake crappies MNR consumption guidelines show 8 meals per month (highest rating they give) except for fish 12-14". Those, if you can find them, are 4 meals per month and probably should be released anyway as those are prime spawners.
But please tell everybody you know that the water is poison and the fish are not safe to eat.
Besides, it's a well known fact that there are no fish in dog lake.
The key is "it flows right past" those islands... The water is blue and clear and moving in the St Lawrence and the only thing we have eaten there are small perch. It is the standing shallow water at the sides that I prefer to stay away from as it is where the stuff settles in. That east bay at grass creek boat launch looks pretty nasty in the summer..... The MNR Guidelines give the St Lawrence 1000 island area a pretty high rating. As for Dog my guidelines shows only 8 meals on 6 - 8" as I have a 7 year old son and he eats what I eat, compared to some of the un-connected lakes that is a pretty poor rating but a very good one compared to the causeway belle island area. These days every bit of water has something in... The stuff we buy from the grocery store coming from who knows where is definatly much worse then what we can pull out of any water around here. Well I guess I should say any area water other than the Causeway/Belle Island area.