Well, it was a tougher day out on the Bay for some of us than it had to be. Whenever your 30 years of fishing experience is telling you to do something, just do it. Knowing the water all over the Bay is quite cool for this time of year, 57 - 59 deg F., my thought was to find me and the kids some warmer water, because surely the walleye will be there. Spawning was late, caught a ripe female last week for Pete's sake. I chose to take the advice of someone who said the hydro wires and mouth of Napanee River were a hot spot right now....we did manage a nice walleye just west of the hydro lines mind you, and lost a larger one too but, I was still thinking.....I know where they are. After stops at the mouth of Napanee River (nothin!), Foresters Island (nothin!), we picked up our lines and headed down to Hay Bay. Stopped at Sherman's Point where there was a small flotilla workin' the shoal and outside, I slipped through and made our way to Ram Island. The kids really wanted to catch a pike, so we stopped on the west side of the island, only to find most of the weed growth hardly emerged. A few drifts towards the buoy, a visit from the MNR and OPP and a few smerchies later, we're off to my hunch hole. We get to the eastern end of the Bay, and there's about 10 boats working the area. Water temperature is 61 - 62 deg.....bingo! We throw out 2 spinners and worm, start a slow troll and less than a minute after the rod goes in the holder......fish on!. A nice solid fish, a walleye we're thinking, my daughter fights it valiantly near the boat, it rolls and fish gone! At least 4 lbs. of it, crap! We work back over the same area, and on the turn, same rod starts throbbin', fish on....I set the hook and fish gone. We lost a third fish within that hour and half just after lunch, then a lull. My daughter was determined to land a pike on this outing, but she still all over the nice walleye she lost.....well, I'll darned if she doesn't get one about 3 pounds thrashing all over with her 6 lb. test, after we start a drift. Thankfully, a perfect hook set kept the line safe, and we got the fish to the net. Oh, the look on my daughter's face! That's what I love about taking them out. We managed another fish, a sheephead which at 5 lbs. felt like a 10 pd. walleye. You Quinte anglers know what I'm talking about. We saw a few nets over the side at points. Why didn't we start there in the morning!! Anyhow, lesson in this story is I think we would've faired much better if I stuck with Plan A and headed straight for where my gut was telling me to go.....lesson learned. Looking forward to another crack at the Bay mid-next week.
|