Quinte Fishing

Was out Saturday afternoon and saw the big schools of alewifes in Athol bay, had one good fish on right away but lost it after the fish jumped a couple times 2-3 feet out of the water. Funny the seagulls were trying to attack this 6-8 pound fish while it was near the surface. We came around for another pass and the outside board fired, grabbed the rod and saw a seagull skiing along behind the boat, crap didn’t think they could dive deep enough to get my spoon but it ended up happening twice until I put a large split shot on to keep the spoon down below 8’. After the afternoon storm passed and the clouds cleared we couldn’t buy another hit, tried pretty much everything but with the amount of bait in the water it was tough. Ended the day 2/3 with two gulls and one nice fish lost, first time I caught more birds then fish!

This year has been really tough, I’m not sure if it has to do with the extremely cold winter or are we feeling the effects of the low number of fish that were stocked in 2011? The last couple years have seen higher number of fish stocked so I’m not sure? I was expecting to see a higher number of small fish this year. Did the cold winter cause the fish to leave the area and head to the south shore of the lake? What were others experiences with the amount of fish caught this year?

Personally for me 2012 was the best year at the sandbanks with over 30 fish caught from my kayak, that year was the warmest on record and the season lasted from March to mid May when the Alewifes showed up. However in 2012 I was catching many fish while the Alewifes were around and the browns did not seem to leave the area until water temperatures rose above 60 f.

Any ideas on how to improve the brown fishery at the sandbanks? Do we need to stock more browns or was it just the cold winter this year? Here is the summary of browns stocked at the sandbanks since they started in 2006:

Spring 2014 – 25,000 (Al do you know if MEA plans to stock more fish this fall?)
2013 – 16,700
2012 – 28,000
2011 – 7,700
2010 - 25,000
2009 – 10,600
2008 – 11,300
2007 – 33,500
2006 – 6,300

Thanks for the info at Athol Bay, combining that with Trannymans report, we'll look at the weather for one more kick at the brownie can.

David aka Superdad

Personally, I think Mother Nature had a lot to do with this years results. It was the worst winter in years. I'd be checking your numbers on stocking too.

I double checked the numbers and they are accurate, I did some minor rounding but the only difference is a couple dozen fish, here are the numbers to the exact fish:

Spring 2014 - 25,000 as per Al's post in April
2013 – 16,737
2012 – 28,008
2011 – 7,749
2010 - 25,063
2009 – 10,693
2008 – 11,335
2007 – 33,521
2006 – 6,399

You can read through the annual reports here if you don't believe me:
http://www.glfc.org/lakecom/loc/mgmt_unit/index.html

What's the catch rate like from June-sept? Don't hear of a lot of people catching browns after spring. Shouldn't that mean populations should be exploding. Or are these fish leaving for other waters in Lake Ontario. Like Oswego or eastern ny.

_________________
Bob MacMillan
Owner/Operator
Kingston Sport Fishing
https://kingstonsportfishing.ca/

You are correct in thinking that it was one of the worst springs for browns in many years. I started fishing browns & lakers in Athol Bay and North Beach in the late 70's. It was also the coldest winter with the greatest ice build up along the shore in at least 30 years.

I fished Little Cleos and roe bags off the pier-head at Wellington a couple times in late march and early April. Days that the ice blew out. Not a single hit. Conditions were good and I figured something was up when I didn't have any action.

Seeing that gobies joined the food web in the mid 90's and a huge source of food for the trout in the area, I checked out the Wellington Channel and the beach in front of the Wellington park for the amount of gobies present. Absolutely nothing. The first gobies that I observed in the channel was early last week. I do not know, but I am thinking that the huge amount of ice and super cold water conditions in Feb. & Mar. may have forced the gobies to deeper water and they are just returning to the shallow water lately. Also we usually see a lot of spot tail shiners and perch around the salmon pen at the dock in Wellington. I was at the pen a lot this year and no spot tail shiners and the perch never showed up until about May 6th or 7th and we usually start to see them mid April. Cold water and a late spring was the culprit. I have talked to some of the commercial guys and they have all indicated that the fish runs and migration patterns are all different this spring.

Big Mac - We have a lot of club members that will run a high rod for browns while fishing salmon out of Wellington. I have heard of one member that caught 10 browns on 1 high rod in a morning fishing near the Bonnet. Many of the guys at the camp near me will always run a high rod for super. I have seen a lot of browns hit the cleaning table the last few years all through July and August.

Hope this helps
Al

_________________


Captain - Team ATOMMIK/Rockets

Thanks al was curious. I caught a brown one evening 2 years ago on a high stick bait off a board. Was prob down 10 feet over 100-120 fow.

_________________
Bob MacMillan
Owner/Operator
Kingston Sport Fishing
https://kingstonsportfishing.ca/

Thanks al really good information. Were there browns in the area before stocking began in 2006? How does it compare to the amount of fish we have now? Just purely based on the american brown program it looks to me like 40-60k per year might give us some similar number of fish assuming we don't have brutally cold years like 2014. As wellington is more isolated from the other stocking sites around the lake it would make sense to have a higher number stocked here. I really don't like giving up the millhaven site but if it must be done then hopefully these fish would go to the sandbanks. I think we have the angling population in the kingston area to expand the program it would be a huge shame to lose the browns as they are one of the only fish available in spring before walleye open. Some good habitat is available around Wolfe and amherst islands sand beaches.

Yes the browns were there before 06 at both places, Athol Bay and North Beach PP.

The brown fishery has been better since then but with the exception being this year.

I am thinking that June and July will be good for those that target them while down rigging.

Al

_________________


Captain - Team ATOMMIK/Rockets

Good read Al!

We've also been getting browns while Salmon fishing in Late June/July. We run lead core 3-6 colours with NK28 spoons (usually purple thunder and green monkey puke) straight off rods out the sides of the boat. We've gotten a pretty even mix of browns and rainbows off the load core.

Most of our trout were taken trolling on a heading between West Point and Scotch Bonnet, keeping the boat between the 100 and 120 ft hydro-graphic lines on the map. Once we get close to Scotch Bonnet, the riggers fire with Salmon (though less than we'd like but the lead core is absolutely silent.

Brian

I got them in the kayak at the bonnet running one rod with a walker mini dipsey and red michigan stinger spoon. The second rod I used a cuda torpedo diver to get down deep for salmon, that combo worked pretty well. For sure they're out there just need to target them.

How's the night dock fishing there these days?