Fishing the Outaouais River at ice out

The warm weather got me dreaming of casting into soft water again, I couldn’t take it any longer as I haven’t been able to cast since November 2007. I headed out for a few hours just to check on a couple spots that usually thaw out before the rest of the river, hoping to possibly hook into anything swimming around. I picked up some worms, headed to a spot where the perch run to spawn at the end of April. I got to my first spot on the Outaouais River, it was nice to see the water is extremely high, especially after seeing it at an all time low last fall. After a couple casts, it was obvious that they aren’t there yet, as the spot usually produces fish on almost every cast. We stayed about an hour or so, then headed down to the Pointe des Cascades Pier to check the water, it turned out to be frozen and access to the pier is still covered in deep snow. The dam was accessible, but most of the water is also covered in ice. The last spot we hit on the way home was the 34th street pier one Ile Perrot. Although the river is still covered in ice, there is a 30-40 foot area surrounding the pier that is flowing. The current is very strong in front of the pier, the left side is a lot calmer. Not much biting until I tried cast toward the shore, where a drainage pipe is sending warmer water in the river. I got bit off a couple times, on my third cast I hooked into what I expected to be a perch, but then I started to pull harder. I figured it was a catfish when I brought it in a realized it was a decent sized sucker. I got some footage, it’s accessible on Youtube by clicking: http://youtube.com/watch?v=oXEXU6Qup18