Quinte Fishing

I heard from my bro that the bay is full of boats. Word is getting out. Really out. So what does all this pressure do to stocks? We know we gentlemen release the hogs but is everyone doing this? How many fish can the bay give up before we're in a crisis? Just wondering as I have no idea.

Birdman

word has been out for a few years now....at least four years....

however, you'll find more than half the boats are just washing lures....

as long as the fish are being released, we're the least of the concerns of the BOQ walleye.... just wait till they get in the rivers.

I don't think the word being out about the big water walleye will hurt anything.. Most people are releasing the big producers, with a few kept for the wall or due to injury.

I have seen the fishing in a few places now dimished because of the internet.. It is bad enough how fast the word travels between locals, but when you start putting it on the internet, it is available to millions of people...

I'm sure by now, anyone who is serious about walleye fishing in north america know about the fall Quinte fish.. as long as they keep being released, I think it will thrive..

However I really hate to see people posting on here that the walleye are on in the smaller waters.. i.e. anywhere besides the reach ... These fish are all "keeper" size, and now that the word is out.. I'm sure there will be a million boats around, and a pile of fish kept..

My predistion is, the internet is going to kill the fishery in the future...

Not to mention the leading angling magazines trumpeting the size and quality of the walleyes in Quinte.

There are more people fishing now than ever for the fish and the population appears to be thriving.

Catch & Release ensures a sustanable population.

Let em go and spawn.

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David Delcloo aka Superdad
(Retired)

Kingston

I am also worried about Quintes future.I think a little education to New fisherman on the BOQ.would Help.

Last November I caught my first and only double digit.I will be back next weekend to try and repeat and yes the fish will be released.

Last November I stayed at The Tip of the Bay hotel.I saw alot of double digits being kept .At one point I saw a large group photographing at least a dozen walleyes all over 10lbs.If hundreds of people do this each year can we preserve the walleye.Some people told me alot of fish are being caught down deep with riggers which in most cases the fish does not survive.

From what I have been told by some of you local guys that 30 feet down or higher is a safe depth to catch walleyes.

I learned recently from a Pro Muskie fisherman how to catch muskie and increase there chance of survival.

He told me that after he nets a musky he always leaves the fish in the net until the fish regains its wind.He takes the picture when the fish has regained its breathe .This allows a quicker release.It is kind of like if we as humans ran like hell up a 100 metre hill and then stuck our face in a barrel of water.I think I will try keeping the walleye in the net for a few minutes. If any of you have not used a rubber net you should try one they are fantastic .I will never go back to a regular net.No tangles and the rubber does not cut into the fish scales.

I don't know if anyone has ever thought of this one.When weighing a fish bring along that digital bathroom scale.Hold the fish horozontally weigh yourself on the scale with the fish .Release her .Get back on the scale and you do the math.I am not sure how much damage we can do to a fish hanging them from a hook scale but I have heard for large fish horizontal is better .I agree with alot of you bring back some kind of a slot size.

I have been seeing far too many walleye being caught under 12 inches kept for table fare.

I keep about 10% of the fish I catch every year. my family and enjoy eating a good meal of walleye once in awhile.

I have seen people who fish almost everyday catch their limit but try and fill their freezers as much as they can.

I think moderation will preserve the fish for the future who knows with careful planning we may return to what it was like in the 90's.Hope these little tips may increase the percentage of fish survival after release.

Mike Hamilton

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Fish,Relax and forget about work!

yes, it is not the number of boats that might damage the fishery but the number of anglers who insisted on keeping double digit walleye, probably loaded with toxins from the Great Lakes. A picture or a replica lasts a lot longer.....and is safer than table fare for a fish that size.

Uh, guys? It's not us, you know. Look at the statistics. I am not sure where the link is and maybe someone can provide it. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I will be happy to eat my words and edit this post if these numbers are not about right.

The numbers I saw were that anglers removed about 30,000 fish per season, but the Indians remove about 120,000. And they're not practising catch and release.

If you do not believe me, please hang around the spawning beds in April before the season opens, and look for the guys with the spears. Start counting. What you see at the Tip of the Bay is merely the tip of the iceberg.

However we ought to keep doing what we can, which is to release most of our fish. At least your fish will live to swim again, and end up on some Indian's dinner plate next spring before opening day.

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

Hi Pete, Did you happen to read this post.

http://forums.quintefishing.com/phpBB2/ ... h+stocking

Jim

there is No doubt certain people are catching them in the spring time and at the wrong time,and most are wasted.....Ive heard of people up on georgian bay doing the same thing in the spring time,a local cottager told me so,they go out and come back with a big smile on their face and NO idea those fish are chalked full of eggs,hundreds and hundreds of eggs....and future walleyes...to me that is the biggest problem ,but thats just my opinion

The BOQ is a perfect eg. that the more big fish make more small fish theary doesn't work. If it did there would be a lot more small eyes in the bay all summer. As these large fish moving in from LO are like having your fat cousins show up at thanksgiving and taking your food till May it wouildn't bother me to see half of them fished out to give the smaller size local BOQ population a chance.

Habitat is the key to walleye #'s not a huge breeding population.

You can trace the comeback of the BOQ to I think it was 1975 or77 when we had snow up to the hydro wires and very few fish in the bay, a good spring run off cleans the spawning beds and = a good year class. If you check the #'s for each year class against the snowfall of the previous winter I'm sure there is a pattern.

I don't expect anyone to agree with me, but science is theary taken for fact untill proven wrong and as far as I see the BOQ proves the save the big fish for breeders theary wrong.

The debate to keep or not to keep the big walleyes is always a touchy subject. There is no "if" about whether these larger fall walleyes are full of toxins. As sad as it is to say, they are and we must deal with that reality. Any fisherman who takes pride in a picture with his mates of a dozen large walleye pulled from Quinte has no regard for the future of the fishery. The larger fish taste terrible anyways, and each one of them contains eggs to hatch thousands of future offspring. Why not release them to fulfil their destiny....having to deal with the odd deep hooked or bleeder fish is one thing, and the majority of us fish responsibly.

I really believe that continued education is the key to the future of the fishery. The more knowledge we gain (in general) the more responsible we can be. Why do we sit here an act like armchair quarterbacks, and then when the MNR asks for input, very few people step up. We sometimes get what we deserve. If you want to preserve the fishery, get involved in it! Provide input, take the time to educate those who may not realize those large fish are full of toxins.

With respect to the previous comments about smiling natives not knowing that they're killing spawning females with thousands of eggs in the spring, that's crap. The MNR have been attempting to negotiate with the native people of Ontario for years about working out a deal that honours ceremonial rights, but conserves the fishery. They know exactly what they're doing. We've all seen pictures of piles of wasted walleye lying along spawning tribs in the spring. We have unlicenced people trying to sell walleye to local restaurants when the buyer has no idea how large the fish were, or how safe the fish are and sometimes where they came from, that's just wrong. Any restaurant owner who buys those fish from someone without a legitimate commercial license is part of the problem, and could be endangering the health of their customers.

We should be encouraged to know the majority of guys and gals on the this board, and others are releasing most, if not all their big fish. Stay the course.....those who choose to keep the odd fish, that is their choice. Anyone who keeps a limit of these big fish are poisoning themselves and others. They won't be around for much longer. Survival of the fittest, right? (said tongue in cheek). We have a world class fishery in Quinte, let's keep it that way.

weedman
very well written post
and
i agree
blue

Two points are unarguable:

1. Big Quinte walleyes contain large amounts of toxins and taste yucky.
2. If you keep a big fish, it cannot reproduce any more little fishies.

Here's something I don't get at all - the apparent lack of small fish in Quinte any more. In the early 90's, you would catch scores of half- to two-pound fish in the spring. You couldn't miss. Now it is actually difficult to catch them. They've never really been around in the fall.

Is this seeming [to me] lack of little fishies indicative of a failing fishery?

How old are these 10-12 lb. walleyes we catch in the fall? From what year class do they come? How have the year classes recently been? How will the fishery be in another 10-lb-walleye lifetime?

Always remember, Starkist doesn't want walleyes with good taste, they want walleyes that taste good.

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

My understanding is we've had some good year classes in the past few spawns. It seems to me the younger fish are staying in the Bay and just not part of the fall fishery based on where the majority of us fish, and where they like to stack up. I read a good report that younger (eating sized) fish were plentiful off the Trent and Moira right now, and most guys fishing the upper Bay are getting them. I haven't had any trouble finding smaller fish in the earlier part of the season. That past two springs have been the best in years. As to the age of those 'hawgs we're catching, gonna have to defer that one to someone with a bit more fish biology experience. I have a question though, that no one to date has been able to answer. Has anyone been able to track these pods of very large walleye that are obviously leaving the Bay after spawning to spend the rest of year feasting on alewife in Lake O? Where do they go? How far do they go? I've always wondered if it's a road the MNR just doesn't want to go down, should the population get too much fishing pressure during the summer.

We have a population of walleye of many different year classes that frequent the warm water outflows along Lake O. They come and go from offshore all year, and this summer the owner of Tightlines in Pickering landed a 12 lb+ walleye while salmon trolling. I'm surprised those incidental catches don't happen more often. The largest walleye I've ever seen landed came one winter's night years ago when a buddy and I were fishing off the shore at one of the outflows off our Nuke plant (don't ask us how we got in there)......unfortunately it was foul hooked so we had to release it, but that giant was 34 inches long and just shy of 18 lbs!!!! I wonder at times how I became such a walleye fanatic when they just don't fight all that well. It's gotta be how they taste!

As many know the word on the Bay has headed south. With that being said I will let you know what has happened to the Detroit River in the past 15 yrs.
The numbers are still very good, but the crownds continue to get bigger and bigger. Get used to fishing in PACKS. It is going to bother many that have had the chance to fish the waters basically by themselves.
Many anglers will know about CPR but there are still a bunch that will harvest these big pigs. After all it is a legal fish and it is their choice what they want to do with it. For me it is release. Someday I may mount a big one but until then it will be photos only.
Quinte fish are very unique indeed, here on Det River and Erie we catch LOTS, but the fatties on the Bay are truly awesome.
With passports being a bit of an issue and possibly a bit of a drive for most US residents it will not be on everyones list but they will come. One other factor is deer season, many in the US are die hard deer hunters and that may deter a few.
The US guys that have fished Green Bay and other Great lakes waters know their stuff and will produce fish period. They are well equipped and knowledgeable.
When the Next Bites airs the show from the Bay in 2007 you will see an increase in tourism for sure. Be prepared for the fall of '07 when you see 100 plus boats. Here on the Detroit River you can see well over 500 in the spring. With many wanting to shake the winter blahs and looking to fill up the freezer it is sometimes a zoo.

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Get in, sit down, shut up and hold on !

Bob Devine
www.chartertalk.com