Quinte Fishing

Decided at the last minute to give it my first shot this fall and headed out on Sunday morning with a cop friend from Niagara. Began fishing east of Merland Park on the south shore just before dark. Between 5:30 and 7:00 we nailed 10 fish, 7 for me and 3 for my buddy. All fish caught near the south shore in 12 to 15 ft of water, from east of Merland to the red buoy outsided the pumphouse. I tried to stay just outside the weedlines and it seemed to work well. His first fish was an 11.3 and that remained the biggest fish for the trip. My biggest that evening was 10.8, a nice fat female. It was hectic fishing for that one hour and then it shut off and we headed in for liquid refreshment and food. Maybe it was the howling wind and the pelting rain that turned the fish on because when it settled down somewhat they became lethargic.

Next day we burned to the ferry but there were not too many marks. Gave it an hour and headed east to Keith's Shoal and adjacent deep water. Lots of marks on the east side of centre but we could not get any takers. Tried other spots and ended up at Thompson's to see the screen loaded with marks. Two minutes after starting, my board gave up a nice 10.7 and I thought we were going to get the mother load. No, that was it for trolling. Used jigging spoons to have fun with some eater sized fish and then had to make an "emergency" run back to the Tip. Only just made it before things became a mess...phew! Fished after dark in calm, starry conditions and did not get a single hit. Headed home and got back at 11:30, tired but mellow. Got to love that place in the fall, cannot wait to return.

So I crawl my lazy ass out of bed sometime this morning, and the first thing I see on my email is a note from Neil:

"Check out my post on the board!"

Well, hot diggity damn, ain't that nice to read? Our traditional nighttime pattern paid off well. He did pretty well for a Lard-Ass in a Mustang Suit. Looks like my dad and I are heading out tomorrow most likely, and will stay til Thursday if it's good, so we'll be sure to hit that area at night. Gads, looks like I'm down about ten to zero so far in this year's fish tally. Geeez.........

Any tips on Thompson's? Should we grab some minnows? How many eater-size fish did you get? The forecast for Wednesday is currently mainly sunny and light NW winds of only 5 kph - sounds pretty good for jigging, eh? Thoughts?

I should mention that Neil is a Brit, you know, and attempts to retain the purity of his Queen's English despite being immersed in the Hoserdom of "Can-ee-dar". He takes particular delight in my inability to make three distinct vowel sounds, as he easily can, in the words "merry", "Mary" and "marry". [Note: The last word no longer forms part of my vocabulary]

So it was with great delight I read his misspelling of "mother lode". However this is forgiveable. Better a homonym than a homo --- especially in my boat, mate!

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Self-unemployed and available for fishin' mid-week most days.