Quinte Fishing

Always seems to be a good topic for those "slow" times...I"ll start.
Although we've boated many "over 10's" from your Bay, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario..our biggest walleye actually came by accident. We were heading out of Sandy Pond into Lake Ontario on a late summer hunt for Kings. At sixty feet or so I slowed down to a troll and decided to start setting rods and troll our way out to deeper water. I had just dropped a downrigger ball with a silver NK Mag behind it to the bottom and was in the process of setting another when the first one released. I watched the rod pop up and slowly bend back down and begin throbbing. Knowing that it was probably a Laker, I told my buddy to winch it in so we could re-set. He did as I asked and just started "horsing" it in..neither of us paying much attention. Fortunately, it surfaced right next to me as I was setting a third line and gave me a glimpse of it's huge, white-spotted tail. I told my buddy to ease up a bit..it's a huge walleye! Huge it was...14.8 lbs. to be exact! Still searching for that magic 15 though! I did get one of your fish that wandered across to Mud Bay this summer that is probably a 15 by now. She was just under 35 inches and skinney as a rail when I caught her in July..but still scaled at 13.5 lbs. I'd guess she's probably 16 or so right now. Send her back after you get her..OK? Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)

Sluggo,
The best I caught was a 15.6 eye caught from shore here in Belleville's Victoria harbour. The eyes use to come in to the harbour late fall and it was a slugfest. Guys casting from every availble dock and foot of shoreline with everyone catching.

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

Sluggo,

Like many others, I too am looking for the 15lb beast. Keep trying and we'll get there.

To date that 13.5 lber caught in PIcton Bay in Nov 2003 is the biggest.

That''s her in my Avatar.

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David Delcloo aka Superdad
(Retired)

Kingston

my larger than life was 12# 3oz
15# would head me toward heart attack city
blue

A tad over 12pd. on a solo icefishing trip near Thompsons Point in 1997 I think. Released and of course I have no photo (It is my fate to always forget my camera whenever I am to catch anything of significance).

Don Stokes

I had the privilege to fish in a lot of fresh and salt water over the years but the one trip that stands out was my first venture onto the Bay of Quinte in May of 1977. The second hit of the night was my 14 lbs plus walleye and before the night was out my host had landed one dead on 17lbs. That weekend each of the four of us landed half a dozen over 10 pounds and were hooked on B of Q for life. To many I've met in other parts this sounds like a fish story but anyone who knew these waters in their hayday can tell a similar story, let's hope the fishery keeps coming back. Oh yeah, counted seven boats at the mouth of the Trent this afternoon, are you sure it's February in Ontario.

take the grandkids fishin

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Bassn51- Bring on the Bucket Mouths

A tad over 14# two years ago through the ice in front of Deseronto. Four in the afternoon, 18 FOW, 3/4 oz Swedish Pimple with red prism tape. The last week of February that year I caught 117 walleyes with 7 over ten pounds. BOQ fan for life.

my biggest is 13.8 pounds, BUT only 28.5 INCHES!

My biggest was 34" long last year, no scale, no picture. My son got one this year 29" long and 13.8lbs.

Largest was 34.25" caught in open water at the end of August about 10 years ago. It was caught on Melville shoal just out from Kingston. Let it go. We caught a number of fish over 12 that year. This fish made them look tiny.

I had three guys in the boat will me. They though I was hooked on bottom until they saw the fish take a couple of good runs.

BATMAN

Hello all - This is my first post and I would like to thank everyone for the information you share. I am from Buffalo NY and have been fishing the Bay for 31 years straight. About 2 times per year since I was 6 years old. This board has helped me catch more fish and I thank you all. My largest Quinte eye was caught thru the ice on a sliv/green cleo tipped with a minnow head just off the center ground near Big Island. I caught 2 eyes 11.5lbs just before dark two years ago mid Feb. after a few years of poor results. I will do my best to add value to this site in the future and if anyone heads to Lake Erie in the future I would be more than happy to share my knowledge with them.

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Quinte Catch and Release - 33 years straight.
BigCheese

My first time fishing BoQ in early January of this year produced a nearly 12-lb and a 10-plus pounder. The larger of the two was 31.5 inches w/ an 18-inch girth, the second 30.5 inches with a 17-inch girth. Both beauties. We caught many 9- and 10-pounders.

I was also intriqued by the gentleman who talked about what fishing the BoQ was like 10 or 15 years ago, when it seemed many more larger fish were caught. It seems from the many posts here and the pictures (as well as what I witnessed when I fished the Bay earlier this year) that way too many fish are being taken home. I don't begrudge a person from a nice walleye dinner, but to see some of the 6- and 7-pounders being taken home had me wince a time or two. I'm 44 years old, been fishing all my life, and I've seen what the lack of practicing catch-and-release or selective harvesting of game (for you hunters out there) can do to a species of body of water.

I pray there are more fish going back into the water than being taken out. Of our group, we caught some 80-plus fish in 4.5 days in January. We kept 6 for a fish fry (all around the 2-pound range) one night and took two trophies home for the wall. The rest safely swam away.

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Rocky Mountain Man

6 or 7 pounders are babies, and if your trophy hunting in the fall, thats the only chance you have at eaters.

we caught many many many walleye over 10 pounds this past fall...and all were released.

every single 6 pounder we caught (which was about five total in 12 or so outings) were kept.

oh, and the old folks you talked to, that claim the bay was better 10 years ago just simply haven't been able to adapt to zebra muscles.

a few locals 'we' fish with are doing better now than ever.

as they saying goes 'you cant teach an old dog new tricks'....but if your an old dog, and are willing to try, you'd be surprised what you can catch...

yeppers, the dudes in the tinnies who sit jigging shermans point, like they have been for three decades, might not be doing as well as they once were...

The biggest walleye I ever caught was 14 lbs in Dec. 2000 in Picton Bay. Its girth was 18 in. and 32 in. length. The picture of that fish is displayed in the downstairs bathroom. Visitors spend more than their usual time in that room staring at it - drooling

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Practise catch and release!
Smile !

Hey Steve ! That was very very well said.