Quinte Fishing

Well quite a night tonight. Went to Presquile for a duck hunt off the tip of High Bluff Island. Went with my friend and his 14 yr old son. It was a little bumpy getting out there with 2-3 footers. We set the decoys up and had a few take a look from about 80 yards, but the big flocks were 3-400 yards off shore. Not much more to say than that. The loading up in the dark proved a little more interesting though. When he backed the truck, he was sideways to the waves which were breaking on the rocks. I was clad in my chest waders and trying to get it onto the trailer with the waves tossing the boat everywhere. The waves were hitting the side of his truck and rolling right over into the bed. Of course the waves promptly filled the boat while I was trying to get it on the trailer. I was pretty much soaked by the time we pulled it out. Needless to say, Lake Ontario is on the cold side this time of the year. By the time I crawled up out of the lake, the water froze my clothes in seconds and I was like an iceman (iceidiot?). At least his son had a good laugh I'm sure.
Ya gotta love duck hunting in December...
I think.

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

After reading that story, you gotta love King Cole Ducks, (order desk) in December.

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Choppy waters and grey skies,
BluePickerel

I can't remember the last time I hunted that side of presquile for that very reason. There is not a duck flyin worth your life. Rare calm days are the time to go out that side. We normally stick to the Brighton bay side but has not been many ducks in yet. Buffle head and old squaw seem to be the mass majority with a few blue bill and whistlers around. To warm yet to really get the divers down. Hopefully soon tho!!!!

Completely agreed on the duck and life thing. The waves weren't that bad out on the lake, 1-2 ft rollers. The water at the launch is only about 16" deep but the rollers were breaking on the flat rock ledge just out from us. We would have been alright except he backed in sideways as he couldn't see exactly where he was on the flat rocks. I couldn't guide him because I was standing out there holding the boat. Not dangerous, just difficult and wet. Any different, we would have landed where the waves weren't breaking as bad and carried it over to the truck.



On the duck side of things, I'm not so sure the majority haven't left yet. I didn't see the huge flocks on Tremor Lake (Wooler Rd and Telephone Rd) that were there a week or two ago. I thought there would have been thousands around High Bluff, but was disappointed with what we saw. We were talking to the guy from the park and he said most seem to have moved off as well. Hopefully there's another wave coming down.

Maybe it was just the wrong day, anybody seeing huge flocks in other places?

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

Oh i have been there before in the past. Nothing worse than trying to load the boat with those rollers coming ashore. Waiting for the freeze up. Where brighton bay caps over. Thats when you get the good shooting on high bluff and the outer edge of the ice. But you are right the birds that were here have also pretty much gone but I think the best is yet to come. Bring on the cold.

Getting out with a youngster is still worth the trip. Sorry you didn't get into a anything, but it wasn't for lack of trying. What kinda spread were you running? and what was the wind orientation? With a little research I'm sure you could find some places a bit further westthat are wadable from shore, don't require the boat and would be a bit better if the wind is blowing from the southwest...I hunt a lot further west from there, but I'm sure oppertunities are there closer. Good luck!!!

We had 12 Bluebills in a J pattern 15-25 yds off shore to our left closer to the point and 6 mallards in a cluster further in the bay to our right about 15 yds off shore with about 40 yards inbetween them. The wind was on our back when we were facing the decoys. We put the boat about 100 yds up the shore amongst a fallen tree.
We had a few fly by but they stayed back and there just weren't a lot flying. We scared up about 100 on the trip in, but they never came back. We could see one huge flock way out, but they stayed there.

We figured the back bays in the area would be froze. Maybe High Bluff just isn't a night spot?

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

Sounds like a decent set up. Bufflehead and goldeneyes are netorious for wanting to be with their own kind. I've run a spread of 6 dozen bills and 3 buffies, and where do the butterballs land? with their own kind. They were zero'd in from 200 yards. We've even had success painting a few old mallard dekes black and white.

Wind coming off your back helps land the puddlers, but I find the divers dont seem to care nearly as much. A wind off your back may push the rafted birds out deeper and draw some attention from your spread. Hard to say. It's always difficult to compete with live birds, especially in those numbers.

I find that divers are a daytime bird, puddlers first and last light. Being there early means you dont miss anything, but with a good wind you can shoot divers all day long. I also don't think the majority of the Lake O divers haven't shown up yet and well see a lot more over the next few days.

Good Luck!!!

I did the same thing with some old discolored mallards, painted them black and white. I have also used javex bottles painted the same. Both work really well. I did find that I had to use flat paint, the sun reflecting off the glossy paint made the birds wary.