Quinte Fishing

A lot of folks have been having limited success with the walleye fishing. This past weekend talking with folks at camp many are still getting those 11-16" walleye. Many of the folks I was talking with are tollers with harnesses and worms. Seems the better sized eyes are hiding out somewhere which brings me to why this post and whats the interesting find? I just heard about some electro-fishing results that were done here on the bay in some shallow water. Apparently the sampling was done in a very weed infested back bay that had relatively clear water but weeds right to the top of the water. Depth was 3'-4' ft of water and the testing was done mid-day on a bright, hot sunny day with very low winds. This was done within the last 2 weeks. What they found were walleye and lots of them and more walleye than bass (would of expected the opposite). One walleye at 9 lbs, a number of walleyes at 5-6 lbs and many walleyes in 3-4 lb range. I thought it was pretty interesting results given all the stereotypes we have about their likes dislikes. eg. they like deep water, they dislike sunny bright shallow conditions and they prefer murky turbid water conditions, their eyes .... ect. Anyways, some food for thought and I gotta go find where I stored my bucktail jigs.

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Dan Elliot - A bad day on Quinte is better than a good day at work !!!
http://www.quintefishing.com

This doesn't surprise me at all. It only makes sense that walleye are in the weeds. Healthy green weeds provide a lot of things that fish look for. They give off high levels of oxygen, they attract baitfish, they provide ambush points for predatory fish and it provides shelter from the sun. The style of fishing shallow, weedy water has been going for years on Kawartha Lakes. I would imagine the reason for the small walleye being caught trolling in deeper water is because they leave the shallows so they don't get attacked by bigger predatory fish. It seems like as soon as someone reads about or hears about "Quinte Walleye" they assume that they have to troll.

Go find them bucktail jigs Dan, and you will soon have walleye in the frying pan!!!!

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There's something wrong with that rod.
It has a bend in it!!!

When I said " I gotta go find where I stored my bucktail jigs" it was meant as tongue in cheek as I always have them in the boat and in fact have been catching them in the weeds for years on jigs but was surprised at the 3' as I typically am fishing them 6' and deeper. A 9 lber on a jig in 3' would be fun tho

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Dan Elliot - A bad day on Quinte is better than a good day at work !!!
http://www.quintefishing.com

Everyone is fishing too deep and using summer patterns.

David aka Superdad

Interesting post indeed Dan! I would have never thought to look for them there. Now if I can only find them!!!!

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Cheers,



"I would never lie. I willfully participate in a campaign of misinformation"

Ya, 3' is pretty shallow. I typically fish in 5-9' in the spring/summer. I have caught many walleye fishing from shore in the fall in 2-3' though.

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There's something wrong with that rod.
It has a bend in it!!!

thanks Dan i have been picking them up on the Belleville area for some time in the 2_3lb range but had some difficulty in the last week or so. i found some fish off the weedlines in 10-15' range but they were scattered. most of the cabbage has turned to grass which is a bad sign but havent tried deeper into the weeds. i will have to give this a try.

seen lots of bait this year, not shad which should be in by now. the sheep are spawning on the shoals pretty hard in the big bay. gotta find my bucktails as well. might be worth a try.

b

Agree with walleye 9, been targeting them for years shallower, but then there was/is always people thinking you're catching bass out of season. The pattern holds up until the weeds start to die.

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O2BFSHIN