Quinte Fishing

Following up on Grateful Anglers post, I'll try and show what a great day everyone had and the joy of the live release derby.

It was the Ninth Annual Live Release Fall Classic Walleye Derby, In Support of University Hospital Foundation Kingston - Kingston General Hospital (Kid at Christmas) A portion of each ticket is set aside and before Christmas, those Kids in Hospital all receive presents from this fund. The Derby's funds are added to the fund so all the kids receive some joy at the holiday season.

Thanks to Les Corbay as the organizer of this well attended event, the tickets are generally sold out in August. As Paul mentioned, the 10th edition is planned for expansion to permit more fishers to attend.

Stay Tuned for announcements in the summer.

Enough of the sales pitch, here's the drill on the Derby.

All boats were required to come to the launch ramp at Shermans Point for a live-well inspection and at 0630 the opening salvo of firecrackers told everyone, "It's fishing time"

The boats roared away from the area and from our vantage point, everyone was heading towards the ferry.

Laker John and I motored past the ferry to witness a flotilla of fishers in boats of all sizes. We began fishing at 0700 setting four lines and trolling towards Keith Shoal. We marked a lot of fish in 70 - 80 feet, but we couldn't attract anything.

As we trolled, I did a count of the boats that I could see from the ferry down past the lighthouse and over to the Bat-cave. I counted 65 boats - that's a lot of rods in the water.

The day was absolutely gorgeous, sun shining, no winds (especially after Friday); however the winds began out of the SW and we were fearful of a repetition of Friday, so we headed back to Hay Bay.

We trolled up and down and tried big lures, small lures - we ran thru our favourites, but we couldn't attract a strike.

We landed at Shermans launch and there were only three walleye and a rainbow having been weighed, as the clock ticked down towards 1330 hrs, the boats roared into the launch ramp with livewells brimming. This years fish count was much better than the last couple of years.

Les the organizer was busy weighing fish and releasing them to ascertain they were alive and kicking.



Any fish not swimming away to survive would have been disqualified, ALL fish released were survivors.



With the closing of the weigh-in, the assembled throng moved up to the clubhouse and reviewed the names on the leader board and had a look at the prizes and availed themselves of the Chili and the Stew.

As the fishers were sated with food, Les began the awarding of the cash prizes. He announced the winner with a walleye of 11.1 lbs. There were a chorus of cheers for Bob Fendley, a long time supporter of the Derby.



The second place was awarded to Doug Orton. Doug weighed a fish of 10.6 lbs. Congrats to Doug.



Third place was Sam Callum with a walleye weighing 9.6 lbs. Way to go Sam, nice fish.



The balance of the prizes were drawn from the tickets and everyone received a trip to the prize table. A special prize of two cases of 5 Year Balderson Cheese for the last ticket drawn - well the donor - Les Corbay won his own prize. In the spirit of the fund-raising event, Les announced an auction for the 20 lbs of cheese. The bidding went $20 - $40 - $60 - $80 and was sold for $100 and that amount would be added to the total fund for Kids for Christmas. What a great idea and what a great donation.

The boats were being pulled from the water and crowd hit the road and although we were first boat in the morning, we were the last to taken out - no problem. The weather gods smiled on the derby and it was super.

Everyone is looking forward to the 2014 version of the Fall Classic.

The organizer asked me to thank everyone who came to the derby and to all who donated prizes.

David aka Superdad