So I emailed Anita, and told her I'd been trolling around an internet forum. "So what else is new?" she asked.
"No seriously, I was trolling for bites. I wanted to see if anyone would take us out fishing this weekend." Most internet users think that trolling has something to do with little men who live under bridges, but we fishermen know what trolling really is.
"So what did you use for bait?" she asked.
"Um .... you."
"WHAT?!"
As it turned out, Duckie aka Frenchie aka Pierre Leblanc took us out on his superb boat. I would hotlink a picture here, but it seems as though all the photos on his website can't be linked. Not to mention being mostly in French!
Anyway, here is his website, and you can see a picture of his boat.
http://www.guidepierreleblanc.ca/bay-of-quinte.htmlYeah, right .... that's why there are fifteen hundred hits on this thread, isn't it? You guys wanted to see a picture of the boat....... Riiiiiiiiight..........
Anyway, we were out on the water by 7am, watching the sun rise ahead of us as we zoomed through the narrows at Glenora and on to deeper water several miles beyond. Duckie threw out a spread of six hot lures on the planer boards with various secret lengths of line and snap weights, which I promised I wouldn't reveal, but would probably tell you if you bought me a beer.
Unfortunately, the walleyes weren't cooperating last Friday, and all of the boats Duckie was communicating with had similar lack of luck, maybe one or two fish each if they were lucky. Conditions seemed perfect, and we were marking fish here and there, but the walleyes were keeping their mouths closed for us.
Anita did, however, save us from getting skunked with this 6 lb sheepshead, which put up a great fight and is at least ten times bigger than her biggest fish ever. So we'll call it an all time Personal Best for Anita.
So we trolled around for a long time, occasionally marking fish down deep. Although Frenchie has downriggers, we didn't want to target the deep fish, knowing with near certainty that bringing them to the top would kill them.
But what can I say? A great time was had by all, and Anita kept smiling in spite of the frigid temperatures and bitter winds. Being on a proper boat with room to walk around, and a canopy that really breaks the wind, was a huge upgrade from our old 17' Tracker, and bigger still than the 15' cartopper we used to use back in the 90's. Although one night back them my dad and I hoisted 39 walleyes out of Picton Harbour into that cartopper .... just sayin'.
So huge thanks to Duckman for a great day on the water!
Cheers,
Pete [and Anita]