Quinte Fishing

Just got back from our annual fall fishing trip to the bay. Had a good weekend of fishing. End up with 27 fish over the weekend. Of these, only 2 were in the slot and the rest were over.

Top 4 fish were 16.6, 12.7, 12.2 and 11.7 lbs.

All fish were caught trolling using planer boards. Some fish were also caught using the snap weight systems as well. No riggers used a fish were in the 25 - 45 foot range.

Fished in what is considered Lake Ontario part of the bay.

Lots of boats (5-6) fishing Picton bay Saturday night.

Friday and Saturday the winds were bad but Sunday morning was beautiful. Wet but calm.

Pics to be up soon.

Cheers,

Mike

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Wish I wasn't here...Rather be fishing if you know what I mean

Were u close to ferry??? Using Stretches??

How were they fighting? Did you find them sluggish or a little fiesty? By the way, nice 16.6, sweet.

Mike,

congratulations on the fish! Can't wait to see the pics.

I came up for the day on Sat. and fished from 12:30 to 4:30 without a bite. Trolled amongst about 20 boats in the reach in between Thompson's and Mallory. Saw about another 6 + boats down by the buoy in front of the cement plant. Didn't see anyone landing any fish but heard of an 11+ pounder being caught on Sat. and Fatman had a nice one on Friday...I'll let him tell ya' about it. Didn't mark any fish along the West wall or in the reach, marked a few by the Yellow Buoy ..... my fish finder must be broken LOL. Probably won't be down next weekend but will be up on the 14th - 16th for my last shot at a double digit 'eye. Can't be skunked for 3 days straight now can I????

Ken

We weren't using Stretches. Using Husky Jerks, Rogues and Power Dives.

Not close to the ferry. Water depths ranged from 80-125 feet.

There was a bunch of boat out Saturday and Sunday and they went further than we did out the Reach towards Lake Ontario.

On Friday and Saturday the fish didn't fight that hard. Might have been the brighter conditions. On Sunday, the fish seem to fight a lot harder and were more active during the day. This was due to the fact that it was raining and overcast all morning (and probably all day but we left at noon).

Not sure if the Walleye are actually in the bay yet but there was a lot of boats in there Saturday night.

Cheers,

Mike

_________________
Wish I wasn't here...Rather be fishing if you know what I mean

Hi guys

I was out Saturday as well.

Ken, that was us with the 11lb eye. Good fight. Short fish (28in)but what a FOOTBALL! Put her back.
Had 2 more VERY solid hits that actually pulled drag. Then had 5 more hits, no more fish.
A slightly faster speed seemed to be the ticket in the morning. Then that was it for the rest of the day.
We were in a 16ft Green/tan Smokercraft. I was the big yellow marshmellow with the bright orange hat.

Which boat were you?

I should not have let my Brother talk me into taking his boat. (no riggers/planer board) There was a bunch of catchable fish there.

Mike, I am not following where exactly you were fishing. Where you out past Glenora near the Big Lake?

Thanks
Speed

Hey Speedtroll,

Nice fish! What were you using and how deep? I was by myself in the Lund Renegade side console with the Johnson 60 & 5 hp Mariner kicker. I think I saw you, but there were a few boats matching your description. Where abouts did you catch her? The cement plant? I was on my way there when I saw the flotilla of 20 or so boats off of Thompson's so I figured they were there for a reason. I think I was wrong Bummer. By the time I figured I'd try the cement plant it was getting too late and headed home. I'll be up for 3 days straight in a couple of weeks so that should provide me enough time to catch at least ONE fish! This fall fishing takes some getting used to. 8'6" trolling outfit vs a 6'6" spinning outfit sure is different. Hope to see you all on the water in a couple of weeks.

Ken

Speedtroll,

We were on the east side of the ferry towards the lake.

Interesting about your missed hits. One of the guys in our boat had 4 hits on the same lure on Friday and missed all 4. When we went out Satruday he changed the hooks and then didn't miss another fish on that lure the rest of the weekend.

Check your hooks, they shouldn't be rusty or bent at all.

Cheers,

Mike

_________________
Wish I wasn't here...Rather be fishing if you know what I mean

Ken

I did see you out there. I didn't recognize you all bundled up.

Believe it or not, my brother got the big one on a Canadian wiggler in five of diamongs pattern.
The other big hits came on my Rapala Tail dancer. Other hits came on blue/silver Ripplin redfin. Also had a few hits jigging.

Most hits came from the next little bay around from Thompsons Point (?)toward the lake. We motored around until we found them.

Mike

Thanks. I make sure all my hooks are sticky sharp before they go in the water. Rapala hooks are very soft though. But on a lite lure like that I am afraid to go with a heavy hook for fear it will change the action.

What do you think?

Speed

Speedtroll,

I believe you said you were flat lining. Are you using braid line (i.e. Fireline, Power Pro)? I have found that because these braided lines have the no stretch, you can actually miss fish because of this. My theory is that with braided line there is a chance the hook is ripped out of the fishes mouth when flat lining because the line does not stretch. With mono there is that bit of stretch that allows the fish to take the bait before the speed of the boat pulls the line.

This theory can also be applied to bass fishing with braided lines. You can actually miss fish by setting the hook to hard upon feeling a hit. For this reason some guys I have talked to actually avoid using the braided lines.

Just a thought.

Cheers,

Mike

_________________
Wish I wasn't here...Rather be fishing if you know what I mean

Mike

I think your on to something.
I use nothing but braids with a Florocarbon leader. I got all the hits except for one.
My brother used mono and got one hit and got him in.
Most of the hits were very hard.


What line do you use? Do you think running with a looser drag would work? I suspect using a planer board would eliminate this.

Speed

Mike,
Sounds like your group did pretty good. I'm starting to get pretty pumped for my trip up there. You said there were a lot of boats in the bay on Saturday night, you weren't sure if they were getting anything. Were you guys getting many after dark?

YO,

Don't know about the boats in Picton bay. There were lots and it was dark. I imagine they must be getting some by now. No one was at the launch to talk about it when we came in so I can't say.

Speedy,

I was using straight mono (Berkely Trilene XT - 12 lbs). I personally didn't missed a hit all weekend. My buddy who did miss some fish was using braided line but also dull hooks. Those 2 factors probably both contributed to him missing fish. Interesting enough, my other buddy (there were 4 of us in the boat) that caught the most fish was also using straight mono and also didn't miss a fish.

In terms of drag, I usually don't have it too high. I like the big fish to be able to take line (and not the rod) if I am too slow to get the rod out of the holder. Also, you don't want to bring those fish up to quick out of the depths as then can get the bends (any fish caught deeper than 30 feet).

I think I am going to come up for the Nov 22/23 weekend. Need to get one last fix of those big bay Walleye.

Cheers,

Mike

_________________
Wish I wasn't here...Rather be fishing if you know what I mean

Mike,

I am glad that you had a successful trip, but I do have one burning question: Realizing that this is an information forum, why do you feel the need to tell the world about your exact location, lures used, depth fished, etc??? Is this the first time that you have ever caught that many walleye, and felt the need to gloat, or are you insecure and need to read positive remarks from complete strangers on this board? Telling some our your close friends is understandable, but let those who are 'new' to the BOQ go through the learning curve as many of us others did. This is a valuable resource that we share, and should not be raped. Some advice: finish your next fishing trip early, wait at the Picton launch for other boats to return and then inspect their live wells to see how many fish are being kept. Great job Mike. You are the Best. Congratulations at protecting this resource.

Captain Hank

[/quote]This is the place where Quinte anglers can, as the name implies, "Beg" for information or "Brag" about the one that didn't get away. Post your fish talk but remember site admin has access to IP address from every post - so play nice!