Quinte Fishing

Just wondering how many keep their (one) BIG HEN fish. I did last year, and I swear I'll never keep another big HEN fish again. When I seen the eggs that was in that fish I was embarressed. Little ones are better eating anway. Just a thought. I'm not bashing anyone if they want to keep their one fish. I keep my fare share of fish too. Pictures tell a thousand words anyway.

I do not get to fish the Bay of Quinte much, but as a rule, I release most of my fish. I do enjoy eating many species, but usually target particular size, etc. from various waters. The one thing I wish I would do on every trip is take more pictures. I either forget or am too particular about the layout, etc.

Donald Stokes

Fish Farmer, I enjoy a good feed after every fishing trip. My wife and I kept a couple big ones last weeked. One for the wall and one for supper last night. I would have perfered a smaller one to eat, but WIG and I never saw one fish in or below the slot.

I took a 8.5 pounder home to eat. After filleting her and deepfring her, I have to say...it was the very best.

I was up last November when many were catching alot of large fish. I was disturbed by the number of large fish kept. I have no problem with a shore lunch/keeping a few of the smaller fish to eat but certainly do not understand eating large fish full of eggs and toxins. I also think that replica mounts are a great way to go - they look much better for much longer and the fish can be returned for others to enjoy catching. I hope the game wardens are out in full force again this year, catching those not obeying the law. I saw more than one boat keeping fish after fish!!

I've caught lots of BIG ones, fall and ice fishing.I only keep the little 2lbers to eat.But I want to keep one big one for the wall,15 lb would be nice.The biggest I've got was 14.5 lb,I know that's close, but 15 is my goal.There is a fella in Parry Sound who will mount it cheap (friend of wife),I thought of replica,wow big bucks.But us Taylor boy's take lots of pictures.

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YOU CAN'T PUT A PRICE ON RECREATION <*{{{{><

I too am looking for that 15 pounder ....For a photo only, well, maybe Hope you get you mount tdoug!!!

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WIG

Just a suggestion for those looking for smaller fish. The deep hole right in front of the thompsons point shoreline usually holds schooling walleye once the water temp drops. The only thing with that spot is the bite is either on or off. I try and hit it for an hour in the morning before I go trolling. When you hit it right you can be on fish of all sizes for the day.

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Dan Elliot - A bad day on Quinte is better than a good day at work !!!
http://www.quintefishing.com

Dan are you talking about the hole on the west side of Thompsons or the trough on the west shoreline of the bay immediately opposite Thompsons? Thx.... Barry

I am talking about the deep hole right at Thompsons. The shoreline there has lots of trees in the water. There is a self in the water that drops off real quick. You will probably see other boats there if the jig bite is on. I think the water is still a bit warm but always worth a quick look. Good Luck!

Looking for that 20lber...

eye-tracker

OK,
I got a good little tidbit ot add to this discussion..

How about the big girls caught while downrigging. I've never used riggers for eyes before, so help me out here. Say I get a big fish (or a slot fish for that matter) off a downrigger. She comes up quick and is suffering because of the pressure change. Can I release this fish? If it's in the slot, I have to. If it's a big fish, should I put it in the box? I'd much rather take the chance of releasing it and hope that it recovers and makes it through at least one more spawn. Last thing I want to do is kill a big walleye, I'm not about to eat it, and not likely going to get a mount done unless the fish is over 15.

Should I even bother with riggers? I can get a stretch 20 down over 40 ft off in line boards with a snap weight. I think the plus side to that is that you have a lot more line out and it forces you to bring the fish in slower.

Hey YO. Last weekend we weren't using the riggers to necessarily get down deep, but more for controled depth fishing. I thing the deepest we had any rigger set was 28 feet. We used cranks like J-13's that weren't real deep divers to try and maintain that depth (plus a little for the crank diving slightly). The riggers were very productive. I'd recomend using them if you have the ability to run extra poles or if the water is too rough for boards.

You'll have more troubles releasing fish jigged from depths of 40 to 50 feet as opposed to using downriggers set to 25 - 30 feet. IMHO.

Use the lures and if required add a snap weight to get down. Get the Precision Trolling book, Volume 7 has the lures in colour - way cool and smaller and appears to be better waterproofing.

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David Delcloo aka Superdad
(Retired)

Kingston

Superdad...
I just photocopy the pages of my cranks and place them in a ziplock bag and place it in the tackle tray for that lure. I leave the book at home so it does not get wet


cheers'

eye-tracker

Nice to see that no one responded to your post YO.

This is VERY VERY important and everyone that fishes the bay should learn as much about "The bends" as possible.

Firstly, I am not an expert on this and I have killed first due to my lack of knowledge on this topic. So please if someone is an expert on this please post information on this board about the problem.

Here is what I know:

The bends is when a fish comes from deep water (30-40 feet) and rises too quickly causing the air in their air bladder to expand. The explanation for this is as follows. Since the water pressure is greater as you go deeper, the air in their air bladder is compressed at the great depths. If the fish is unable to slowly release air as it rises from the depths, the air in the air bladder expands as the water pressure decreases. Since the air is trapped in the Walleye's air bladder, and the bladder is obiviousily instead the fish, a fish that has the bends will have it's stomach start to come out of it's mouth. The more air trapped, the more the stomach comes out.

If you get anything from my post understand this, a fish that has the bends will NOT survive if simply released. I had one fish get the bends this weekend and I put it in my livewell with fresh oxygenated water in the hopes it would survive. The air bladder did NOT deflate and the fish did not survive. I keep this fish for the table.

The only way that I know of to successfully release a fish that has the bends and ensure it survives is to use a need to deflate the air bladder. I have never done this and read that it works but never seen it done. Hopefully someone that has done this can enlighten us.

In terms of your question about having to release a slot fish even though it has the bends. Well, the MNR regs are not so clear on this but they are clear on any fish in the slot must be released. I was in this situation this weekend (yes, a second fish got the bends) and I release the fish. I made all attempts to revive the fish but I knew it wouldn't survive. I will be sending an enquiry to the MNR about this because it doesn't make any sense to me to release a fish cause it is in the slot, knowing it won't survive.

I plan to research this topic this winter and hopefully become more educated so that I can successfully release a fish that gets the bends.

Just remember, bring the fish up as slow as you can. If you are trolling remember that there is a constant pull on the fish if you don't put the boat in neutral while fighting it. If you keep the boat in gear, you need to go even slower.

Cheers,

Mike

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