Quinte Fishing

Here are my statistics for 2017 fall walleye fishing in the Bay of Quinte.

My average time fishing each day was about 8 hours so I used that for my calculation.
I only kept track of Walleye although we also caught freshwater drum and silver bass.


Oct 21, 4 Walleye Caught, 2 anglers on board, 8 hour trip, 16 angler hours
Oct 22, 0 Walleye Caught, 2 anglers on board, 8 hour trip, 16 angler hours
Oct 29, 2 Walleye Caught, 3 anglers on board, 8 hour trip, 24 angler hours
Nov 04, 1 Walleye Caught, 4 anglers on board, 8 hour trip, 32 angler hours
Nov 11, 0 Walleye Caught, 2 anglers on board, 8 hour trip, 16 angler hours
Nov 24, 3 Walleye Caught, 2 anglers on board, 8 hour trip, 16 angler hours
Dec 02, 1 Walleye Caught, 2 anglers on board, 8 hour trip, 16 angler hours
Dec 09, 1 Walleye Caught, 2 anglers on board, 8 hour trip, 16 angler hours
Totals:12 Walleye Caught, 19 anglers on board, 64 boat hours, 136 angler hours

12 Walleye Caught in total over 8 trips. (8 hours each)

19 anglers in total over 8 trips. (average 2.375 anglers per trip)

136 angler hours in total.

8 boat trips of 8 hours each totaling 64 hours of fishing with 2 to 4 anglers per trip. (Usually 2)

Largest Walleye was 12 pounds, 9 ounces, which measured 31 1/2 inches.

0.09 Walleye Caught per angler hour.

0.19 Walleye Caught per Boat hour.

0.63 Walleye Caught per angler in total (19 Anglers)

1.5 Walleye Caught per 8 trip. (8 hours)

This was only my second fall season fishing for Quinte walleye. We got skunked last year on our two outings.

This year, I personally spent 64 hours on the water to see 12 walleye landed over 8 trips of 8 hours each.

In total there was 6 different people fishing so of the 19 anglers listed, often the same person was on board again.

Everyone caught at least one fish but it sure seems like a lot of hours on the water for not very many fish.

Most fish caught in a day was 4 and the least was zero! (Two days skunked)

0.09 Walleye caught per angler hour seemed pretty low but when I checked Ministry statistics from last year they listed the walleye caught per angler hour in the Bay of Quinte as 0.11 so I just a little below average.

The good news is that we caught some decent sized fish and 4 anglers who fished this year caught their personal best largest walleye. Woohoo!

I am interested to hear your feedback on my report!

Thanks everyone and have a great Winter season!

Cheers, Kevin

that's fishing and as long as you had a good time spent with friends on the water then its all good.........the magic of quinte fishing summed up in a nut shell , right day right place, right time your whole seasons catch is matched by 2 guys in 4 hours on one trip out ....... I've learned that fishing can be a very humbling experience

Thats some calculating,, my stats for two anglers in boat November to freeze up almost every non typhoon day from half way down long reach to big bay ,,,,,..0 ! It was pretty funny how the fish move/ react, soon as it iced over we've been on the eyes fishing the exact same spots using exact same jigs., oh well maybe next year from the boat.. For the amount of time jigging n trolling was frustrating to say the least.. Every year is the same for us in the narrows come Nov Dec from the boat nothing .. That's not mentioning the time spent jigging and casting shore lines half way through the night on more than a few occasions.,..

Not sure where you were fishing, but if your goal was targeting trophy migrating walleye say between the Gap and the Ferry your first 4-5 trips were possibly too early in the season, although you did catch some fish. The first couple years I started trolling Adolphus Reach in the fall, I used to come down starting sometime in October, but now I don't even bother coming down until at least mid November. That being said, I'm not local, so it's not as easy for me to make several trips out there, so I try to wait till "primetime". Eater size walleye can be caught anywhere in the Bay from Trenton to Picton anytime during the season if you can find them (WEEDS!!!). Trolling isn't always the best idea in this case.

Good Luck this year!!!

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

Grizzly, very well said and I totally agree. The magic of Quinte Fishing summed up in a nut shell!




jkd24, thanks for your comments. It is strange how you can use the same gear in the same spot but through the ice have better results. I am new to walleye fishing. I still have some things to learn about catching walleye is seems.



Walleye 9, We were fishing in Long Reach near the red barn at the end of October, beginning of November. Mid October on we fished the Ferry to the Gap. We really were targeting trophy migrating walleye but we were happy just to catch any size. I lived in Belleville for 8 year and never came walleye fishing once. lol. Now that I've moved back to Toronto, I was down here 7 Saturday's in a row this fall! Go figure! Next year I will likely do like you and just come down for a couple of full weekends during prime time. All of our time on the water was spent trolling. I might have to tag along with someone more experienced than me one day next fall to try to figure out what I could be doing differently to have better success this year. It seems like a pretty straight forward formula at Quinte in the fall, Long leads, Planer Boards, Deep Diver lures, Snap Weights, Varied lure depth, Shallower in water early and late, deeper water during the day, Varied speed 1.3 to 1.9, find fish and change colours till you get one! Not sure what I missed. Perhaps I am doing it well and it was just luck of the draw that my numbers were low. One thing for sure is I had great camaraderie with my friends and the catching is just a bonus.


Thank you all for your comments!

Kevin

trophycraft
Your results and experience pretty well match mine, 2nd year fishing the fall run 1 fish last year after 4 tries, this year in multiple trips in different boats I saw 4 PBs, with a couple of skunks thrown in to keep us humble, being retired living on bay and having fishing buddy who works shifts gives us an advantage, week day fishing, a common trend all summer avoid the crowds, you will find biting fish, we were skunked on Dec 2nd, way to flat, sunny and to many boats, got 2 on Monday the 4th including my 29 1/2" PB, no fish over 25" in Oct, first 27" came Nov. 13th, after that nothing under 25" a pair of binoculars really saved our season, we saw way to many guys unclipping snap weights while reeling in a fish, also noticed how long it was taking them to reel it in, add info that to arsenal, 1.5 - 2 oz snap weights, extra 50 feet to our leads and the skunks stopped, 3 in one trip was best outing.
Any time on water is priceless.
Looking forward to next fall but who knows what the conditions will be?
Now I just gotta figure out these winter walleyes and the binoculars sure don't help there!!