Quinte Fishing

Basically the headline says it. Looking at doing some smallmouth fishing in and around gan. Looking for maybe where to start I’ve looked it’s a little overwhelming looking at maps lol. Just some advice on where to try would be great. Thanks in advance

I was in the same boat last year. Just found a few spots that looked interesting with shoals or that had some good depth changes, fished it in a kayak, and caught 4 good ones over about 3 hrs one morning.

The current is incredible...in a kayak lol. It's also amazing with your drop shot weight because the current will be moving one way, then you'll feel your rod load up being pulled the other way...meanwhile that's just the current swirling on bottom pulling your dropshot weight along. I set the hook on nothing about 50 times from that. Pretty wild.

I don't think you need too much guidance.

Right now you might find smallmouth in shallow water as spawn has been late and some are still hanging around their bed areas.

Thanks a lot. That is definitely some good insite on it.

I went down there about 4 yrs ago. Took a tour near the bridge. The current is crazy with high rollers. I wouldn't venture down there unless you have a 16 or bigger deep boat.

Some of the guy's that run the big pleasure boats through there don't seem to care if they run you over. You have to avoid them because they won't avoid you.

I did't have much luck fishing but that doesn't mean anything. I was using crayfish coloured tubes. They worked on the rock bottoms up north but didn't at Gan.. Might have been the timing. If I go again, I'm going to try goby and see what happens.

Can't go wrong with drop shot either, if you can get out of the heavy current.

Real pretty spot with lots of islands to explore.

Good luck.

I did forget to mention. I did grab a u.s. license because that invisible line is very easy to cross and I’d rather be safe than sorry

Interesting, i m from the us side and i fish canadian side almost exclusively. Water seem to be clearer. Fished on monday, seems to be quite a few male fish crusin’ in the 4 to 12 foot range. Assuming larger females have started to move to deeper water. With water being about three feet higher then normal, have yet to figure out the pattern. Water temp on main river channel is 63 so I think it needs to warm up some which should happen over next few days and perhaps turn the bigger fish on. I like the goby or pumpkin colors

Thank you mrpike

Lots of good info in here. I'll add my 2 cents. I've fished the St Lawrence quite a bit of the last few years...mostly for Pike out of Gan. I used a 14' tinny, so I didn't go out on the river all that much during peak boating season as the boat traffic is pretty nuts. Not so bad around Gan, really really intense and kind of dangerous around rockport. I've never really caught much bass going out from Gan, but I know it's possible. That area is filled with 2-5lb pike and jumbo perch if you can find them. I've done well for Smallies out from Rockport though, there's heavy current there. I didn't find much current at all around Gan, the river varies significantly from one area to the next. Basically, anywhere on the map where it's narrow there is extreme current upto 3MPH that's tough to fish in, but those are the areas I've found walleye and smallies on bottom, using 3+ OZ of weight at times to stay on the bottom with worm harnesses or drop shots. I've found covering water to be the best tactic, and fishing shoals in current.

The water at Gan is up several feet and the parking is a bit of a PITA for boat trailers. Good luck!

Thanks a lot. Huge help and info much appreciated