I made my second and final Fall trip to the Bay of Quinte this past weekend. My Buddy and I arrived at Merland Park early Saturday morning and Launched the boat. By the time we chatted with a few guys and rigged up the boat it was after 9:30 before we had our lines in the water. We started at Thompson's Point and fished out was to the Red Barn and back, right along the edge of the ice pack. Marked a few fish but didn't move a rod so about 12:30 we pulled the lines, headed out past the lighthouse and started trolling around there. We saw a lot of boats between the Lighthouse and the Ferry but we decided fish the north shore along the lighthouse. About 1:30 just east of the lighthouse. We trolled along the north shore and one of the planer boards starts jumping and finally after a few hours of trolling we have hooked into one of these fickle Bay of Quinte Walleye.
We were in about 80 feet of water with 150 feet of line out and a 2 ounce snap weight and he weighed in at 4.0 pounds.
This 4 pound walleye was caught with a Rapala Gold Husky Jerk Deep Diver.
We worked our way to where most of the boat were, between the light house and the Ferry. We marked a ton of fish on the graph and saw lots of clouds of baitfish but we fished until dark and didn't move another rod. We headed in to Merland Park and went to town for some dinner.
On Sunday another buddy arrived in the Morning to join us in the boat. We dithered around a bit in the morning and finally got fishing by 9:00 am. We set our lines just past the Ferry and didn't move a stick for a long time. We made out way past the Lighthouse and then circled across the bay towards the Bat Cave and just before noon and the middle, Port side planer board releases and heads behind the boat. We put the new guy on the rod and he reports it was pulling pretty good. Eventually he lands a 10 pound 12 ounce walleye. We were in 120 feet of water with 150 feet of line out and no snap weight.
This 10 pound 12 ounce, 30 1/2 inch walleye was caught with a Reef Runner Gold Shiner 800 series.
We continued circling across the bay towards the Bat Cave and about 15 minutes after catching the last fish the outer, port side planer board drops back a bit and starts shaking. My other buddy picks up the rod and reels in a 5 pound, five ounce walleye. We were in 100 feet of water with 150 feet of line out and a 2 ounce snap weight.
This 5 pound, five ounce, 24 inch walleye was caught with the same Reef Runner Gold Shiner 800 series.
And 15 minutes after that, the outside, starboard planer board releases and heads behind the boat. It's my turn on the rod and it feels like a decent fish. After a short battle, I land a 9 pound 9 ounce walleye. We were in 100 feet of water with 150 feet of line out and no snap weight.
This 9 pound 9 ounce, 30 inch walleye was caught with a Rapala Bleeding Tiger, Deep Tail Dancer 11.
We had decided to repeatedly circle the area between the Bat Cave and Lighthouse. About an hour after the last fish (1:30ish) the Middle planer board on the Port Side starts shaking pretty good. The Rookie jumps up and quickly grabs the rod out of the holder and reels in a 5 pound, 10 ounce walleye using the rod with 5 colours of leadcore out.
This 5 pound, 10 ounce, 23 1/2 inch walleye was caught on a Bay Rat Purple Flash Long Extra Deep.
At 3:40 pm we decided to pack it in and while bringing in the lines we discovered we had be towing along a walleye for some time. We caught him on the line hooked to the outside, starboard planer board. It was kind of funny because we had the discussion a couple of times as to whether that planer board was tracking properly and we wondered out loud about a fish being on that line but both times dismissed it to wind, waves and current. I guess the lesson is, when in doubt, always check the line. Anyway, my buddy was happy to discover something pulling the other way when he removed the planer board. He reeled in a 4 pound, 8 ounce walleye with 150 feet of line out and a 3 ounce snap weight.
This 4 pound, 8 ounce, 23 inch walleye was caught once again with the same Reef Runner Gold Shiner 800 series.
Saturday Morning from Cabin 10 at Merland Park Cottages
Ice around the dock Sunday afternoon. These docks were completely iced in the day before we arrived.
The time between bites.
We caught 1 fish Saturday and 5 fish on Sunday. We didn't have any fish on and off. It's seems like there's a lot of the 5 pound class fish being caught this year. Gold has been our most successful colour lure, particularly the Gold Reef Runner. We didn't catch any huge Walleye but 6 fish with 2 ten pounders in the lot made for a pretty darn good weekend. There was bright smiles all around.
My friend Zack made a couple of 60 second Videos from our trip on Sunday. Here are the youtube links to them.
Video Clip One:
https://youtu.be/Jv78oPRFMjwVideo Clip Two:
https://youtu.be/iyPMpNG4V48 That's it for my fishing season for 2018. I'm putting my boat in the barn for the winter this coming weekend. There's still some open water days ahead, so good luck to those of you still heading out on the Bay.
Tight lines Everyone!
Cheers, Kevin
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