Quinte Fishing

Dr. Piton's QUINTE FALL FISHING TIPS

Oh sure, make the poor guy fish in here. Like, here's your beta, eh?


SIDE PLANERS AND PRESENTATION STUFF

1. I use the Off Shore Side Planers. They are yellow plastic things that weigh half a pound, and are about eight inches long and five inches high. Something like that. You can find 'em on the web, and I've linked them into this board before. They come in two orientations - "left" and "right". Buy one of each. Don't buy any other brand - these are the best.

2. You do not attach them to your boat like traditional double-blade big-ass planer boards. You attach them to your line... They actually clip onto your fishing line.

4. You let your lure out a ways, then clip the board to your fishing line. Use a long stiff rod, and put the rod vertically into the rod holder. This keeps your rod tip high above the waves. Release the drag on your reel so the planer board pulls itself out SLOWLY from the boat. It tracks better that way.

3. I let mine out perhaps fifty to a hundred feet. It will assume a position of about 4:30 and 7:30 if you are trolling at 12 o'clock. Adjust accordingly for back-trolling. [Just kidding, you don't backtroll planer boards. Sheesh. Had to say that, or someone would have believe me. And it seems unsporting to troll in a trolling post]

5. I like to troll fairly slowly, about 1 to 1.3 mph in the day. There were recent posts from successful anglers who trolled faster. That might work when the water is warmer. Nothing worked for me!

6. At night, I switch to flatlining, and reduce speed to 0.6 mph or so. You don't use planer boards at night. I only fish one line at night, even if east of the ferry. I like to have the rod in my hand as the bites can be very light.

I use 12 lb test line for my planer board lines, and I favour 14 lb Fireline for night trolling. The biggest single thing you can do to improve your catch rate for slow nighttime trolling is to have a good fishing rod - something like a Loomis GL3 or better. You simply can't feel the gentle nighttime taps on a cheapy rod.


LURES AND STUFF

Body baits seem to be the favourite. The "Picton Special" as I call it is a jointed Rebel Fastrac that is kind of chartreuse with pinky-orange diamonds on its side. It doesn't look much like a traditional walleye lure, but it used to work really well, especially at night.

Husky Jerks and deep-diving Husky Jerks are favourites, especially in chartreuse. People used to run CC Shads off the side-planers with success - you don't hear about that any more so much but they work. Smithwick Rogues will work. I like #9 Shad Raps, too, but I might be in a minority. My dad got his 15 lb 3 oz.-er on a silver one of those.

Mann's Stretch 20+ really hit the big time last year in Quinte, especially in the Dr. Death colour. I have yet to catch a fish on one of those, since I only acquired them after the fall season finished up, and, well, uh, last time I was, um, well, you know.....

Last season, people started to catch on more and more to snap weights - a little hunk of lead you clip directly to your fishing line with a clip similar to that on the side planers, which are similar to the release clips on downriggers or the traditional planer boards. This gets your lures deeper. Duh. I just got a set of snap weights, and look forward to figuring them out.


STUFF I DON'T "GET"

The fish tend to move closer to Picton as the season progresses. The whole fishery has changed hugely since I first started fishing there in the early 90's. I reckon it's zebra mussels having cleared the water, and Indians reducing the fishery. We used to fish Picton Harbour at night back then with great success. You used to see boats lined up stern to bow along "The Weedline" - the SE side of the harbour just past "The Pumphouse" which is the final narrowing before it opens up into the bay.

The last few seasons the fishing has been more productive in the big waters of Glenora. I don't fish much in the harbour any more. We used to do really well maybe a half-mile to a mile outside the harbour, but I didn't fish that much last year, either.

In 1999 I fished solo in Picton Harbour one night, and caught 19 fish, most bigger than 10 pounds. There are fewer nights like this any more, but they still come every now and then.

Another strange thing to me is this - in the past, it was difficult to catch fish in the daytime. We would fish all day, and catch little. But then it would get dark, and we would kick ass big time. Now it seems the opposite - the daytime fishing is more productive!

I am wondering why this is. It is very mystifying and perplexing. Without doubt, the daytime trolling techniques have improved hugely. Clip-on side planers are super-easy to use, and deadly in their effectiveness. People are getting smarter and switching lures and presentations more often. I am wondering what the effect of the Indians has been on the fishery - they remove something like 4x what the anglers do, if I remember right.

If you think the fall fishery has changed, you wouldn't believe how the springtime fishery has changed for the worst. In 1991 I stood on the bridge at Deseronto, and looked in both directions. I counted almost a thousand boats fishing! You would not believe it! I sh|t you not. There were boats EVERYWHERE, and every damn one of them was catching their limit of four walleyes. In one afternoon, evening and morning back then, me and my two kids caught 53 fish, almost all 1-2 pounds, except the 5-8 pounders at night. On the opening weekend, you could catch your limit three times in a morning between Deseronto and Telegraph Narrows, right by that big bridge.

A few years later, you had to work really hard to catch fish in the spring, and now you can't bloody buy a fish in the springtime. What happened? I think the main thing is that the water got hugely clearer due to zebra mussels. The hottest springtime fishing used to be in murky and turbid water only four or five feet deep. It's just too bright for 'em anymore.

Are the fish still around in the spring? Probably. It's not worth my time to bother any more. Fortunately the fall fishing is still pretty kick-ass. If I knew five years ago what I know now about daytime fall fishing... holy.


WHEN YOU SHOULD BE FISHING

Stuff in the fall doesn't start to happen til it gets cold. While you can start catching fish in mid-October, the best fishing is yet to come! The colder the better. Once the water temperatures get below 40F things really start to turn on. The diehards, like me and my dad, will fish right until ice-up, hell - we'll do the "ice breaker" thing through thin ice just to get out from the ramp. We'll fish til New Year's if we're lucky. So don't put your boat away. December is the best month by far.

I don't get why things are changing, but the good news is, there are plenty of big fish available. The slot sizes are a great idea, too, as it conserves the fishery.

If you are new, you will be tempted to keep big walleyes. Don't! They don't taste any good! Throw 'em back to grow bigger so I can catch one and finally beat my dad.

This might be the only walleye fishery in the world where it's often hard to catch a fish under 19", but if you can, eat those guys.


GETTING YER BOAT IN THE WATER

There are five launch ramps in the area you can use. All are useable now, but some are most emphatically better than the others. It is worthwhile keeping these in mind, because as the ice closes in and the fishing gets better, some of these ramps will be iced shut.

But man, if you can get into the water when there's ice around, the fishing can be killer!

Deseronto is way too far away. Sheesh.

From west [Picton] heading eastwards towards the ferry:

1. Picton Bay. The launch ramp is in behind The Tip of the Bay motel. It's a fairly steep ramp, and in wintery or icy conditions you should bring sand and salt. It's pretty much free- there might be a "donation box" if you're feeling philanthropic. Back in the olden days, when we fished in Picton Bay, this was the favourite. Nowadays it's a fur piece from the better fishing.

2. McFarland's Conservation Area - about halfway from Picton to Glenora. Steep and bumpy ramp but useable when Picton has iced up.

3. Glenora Marina - kind of a crappy and bumpy little ramp, but sometimes it is the only one available during ice conditions. He'll charge you five bucks, and haul you out with his 4x4 ATV when you can't get out yourself, which happened once to us. It's a half-hour quicker to get in the water here, than to take the ferry across to #4.

Incidentally, he's a fine mechanic, and got our outboard motor running better than it had ever run since we bought the boat! If you need repairs in the area, this is your dude.

4. Glenora Ferry - East Side - probably the best bet these days. East side of the ferry, and it's free.

5. Adolphustown Park - about two or three miles east of the Ferry, it's either currently or formerly a St. Lawrence Parks Commission park, and so far as I am aware, it's free as well. The ramp is OK as I recall, and we used it for our late-season fishing between Christmas and New Year's last year, though we had to do the icebreaker thing for a quarter-mile.

Cheers,

Pete

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Self-unemployed and available for fishin' mid-week most days.