Quinte Fishing

I'm curious why more serious walleye folks have not entered the Professional Walleye Trail on the amatuer side. There is an event in Cleveland this year in June. Log on and tell me your thoughts on the subject and if you have ever considered it or are currently considering it. The amatuer side of these events are the lifeblood of the series and we often come up short of these contestants......Talk to me guys!!!


I will answer all of your questions..... Tom Gustar

Tom

Any comments on the Cabelas Walleye tourny, they're expanding in Lake Ont?

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David Delcloo aka Superdad
(Retired)

Kingston

It is relatively good fishing around the Black river system and it will be a 4 0r 5 fish limit so a 40 mile run to Bof Q is not worth the punishment on your boat for the chance to get 2 Quinte fish. ( I am going on the assumtion that this was your plan) The MWC is often filled up a year in advance. It is very popular and many PWT and RCL guys compete in it. It is as tough a competition as any out there but it would be a great experience if you can get in..... let me know what your investigation of this event reveals.

Targa, I fished 2 PWT tournaments this year as an amature, both on Erie.
To say the least it was quite an experience both good and bad. Both tournaments were shortened to 2 days due to the wind. One thing I found is you will learn more if you can hook up with a pro and prefish with them.
I actually got lucky and hooked up with 2 pros from Syracuse(which is where I live) for both tourn. I think it was you one of them introduced to me at Dunkirk. A pro is more likely to be trying many things during prefish than when tournament day rolls around. After all if he hasn't gotten his program togeather by then he probably will be lost for the tournament.
I will say I learned alot about walleye fishing that I applied to BOQ this fall.(HAD A GREAT FALL)
Bottom line signup but try to prefish with a pro. M.T.

Well......I'm one of about 4 or 5 Canadians (including Tom) that traveled the Eastern Div. last year. I fished as an amateur on the PWT but have fished as a pro when I was out west. I have to say that this was a great experience for me and I learned a great deal about open water trolling. I'm going to the Ohio event next year and I plan on introducing a few others to the scene as well. I am also seriously considering the MWC East for next year (I have the entry package in front of me), if I can find a competent partner. The offer still stands Tom.

Shawn

Personally I fish for fun and the PWT is too much like work & I hate work!!!!!!!!! For that matter any of the big tourneys whether it be bass, walleye or what ever, is too much like work & like I said before.. ..I fish for fun!!!!!!!! Just my personal opinion.....Brampton Mike

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If I can't hunt & fish in heaven, then I don't want to go!!!!

I agree with Brampton Mike, I go fishing to enjoy myself but hey, if you get your kicks out of tourneys, good for you. I think some of what Shawn says, speaks volumes to why I wouldn't do it. "if I can find a competent partner". That one little phrase right there would take what I personally, consider to be the fun out of it.

I totally understand what he means, at least I think I do. For him, he wants to go out and compete to win. Good for him. If I wanted to fish tourneys, I would hope to team up with someone who could teach me and visa versa. Where I would be out more to learn, have the comradery (here's where spell check would help...sigh!).

Shawn, if you go out professionally, good luck. But remember to have some fun man !

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WIG

Tourneys are not for everyone that's true. Funny though , a man once asked me how long competetive fishing had been around and I said Oh.... 30 year or so . He said :" since the dawn of man I would think." I think he's right. I wonder why you fellows think the Amatuer side of the P.W.T. would be so much work. Really it's more like an educational guide service. I can see the cost being a factor for some guys but in the long run you will spend just as much learnuing the same thing by trial and error. T and E cost a lot of money


Personally I am always fishing cometetively no matter what and I think a lot of people are. Whether it's trying to outdo a buddy for the day ar one of the other guides I am always in some sort of competition. My best competitor and probably most guys best is myself. I am always trying to get better at what I am doing all the time.

Steve Tyler from Aerosmith said " anything worth doing is worth overdoing"

I don't think I'd want to get into a boat with a guy who needs to catch fish to pay some of his bills and I don't believe he'd be willing to give me answers to many questions during a tournament in which he's having trouble catching fish,especially if I happen to not net his winning fish fast enough. That alone could make for a real long day. I prefer to fish different waters alone or with someone I know personally,buying maps and searching websites at my own pace is what thrills me.There will come a day when the urge to compete will fall far behind the urge to relax and smell the roses.

I love to fish bass tourneys. I haven't considered Walleye tournaments as I don't fish for Walleye enough. I basically have one spring trip and 1 or 2 fall trips to the Bay of Quinte and then the odd spring weekend on Mississippi Lake. But once bass season opens I concentrate on them.

Maybe in the futre I might but for now bass tourneys do it for me.

Cheers,

Mike

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

Targa 2,

I entered a PWT event in Dunkirk three years ago and found that I have mixed reactions about it. On one hand, it was an amazing learning experience (tracking fish, presentations, techniques, etc..). It was in that tournament that I learned how to effectively use planar boards - which everyone on this site knows can be applied to fish for walleye on the BOQ.

On the other hand, I found it quite expensive to enter - $575.00 (US). In addition, 2 nights in a hotel or bed/breakfast, food, gas to get there - I would estimate that in total it was $1200.00 (CDN) for three days of fishing. My partners over the first two days managed to catch a total of one walleye. Brad Davis (my day 3 partner) and I had a great day 3, and he managed to place 7th overall.

It was a fantastic learning experience but as an amateur, you have very little input on the fishing day. You are there to just 'help out'. I believe that it would be much more enjoyable to enter the tournament as a pro, and the potential prize money is much higher (but the overall entry fee rises to $1200.00 (US), plus pre-fishing, etc).

I respect you, Targa 2, for entering the PWT year after year. Your time will come. Merry Christmas all.


Captain Hank

i agree with capt'n hank. for me est 1,200 with chances of getting one of top 20 pros so slim not worth the cost. they should devise system where pairiings are not by chance but by rankings pre tourn so am gets more balanced matchups and not just by draw. if i had tons of money i might do it but for now rather spend the money on new equip. to me 3oo us is more in line. if i lived in area of tournament and saved on other costs i would do it for sure however. personally i would rather pick a pro who guides that i know i could learn from and spend a day with him making it clear learning is my priority in the experience, many of the top pros are avail for this. as far as tom (targa 2 ) is concerned i have heard that one day of guiding with him on boq is well worth money in terms of learning exper. as well as catching lots of fish using variety of methods. happy holidays to all fellow quinte-thusiests.

That's true. It would be worth more as B of Q fisher to hire myself or another guide for a day. I'm not saying that out of ego or anything. One of my good repeat clients always says I'm a bargain because it would cost a fortune to repeat the learning curve I have already paid for over the last 15 years. It's funny too , because freinds that fish with me that already fish the Bay always get better out of their own boats after fishing with me yet guys who I just give ideas to never seem to be able to implement them as well as guys who see it first hand.

I still learned a lot from my 2 years as a Am on the trail and even more from my 3 years as pro. For me a good competition makes me work harder and think harder than I usually would. Hey, you guys who like to relax should hire me as a guide for weekend. It's even less work going out with me than going alone. I do everything for you. I even tell some pretty good jokes in between fish.