Quinte Fishing

First, this is by far the most informative and best website I've seen on fishing. Period. It seems that all of you are extremely informed of the area and have done this for years. Here is why I could use a little bit of help.

I do a ton of salmon downrigging in the big lake however I was told that pickerel fishing is more of an art than the laziness of salmon fishing. I was told that planer boards are better than riggers and that very long leads are required. Body baits work best, but try to maintain a length of about 4". Mann's, Husky Jerk, or Walleye Divers are good. Dark colours during the day, chartruese at night. Now I would appreciate it if I could hear what works best out on the bay from seasoned professionals.

What works best - planer boards with long leads or downriggers with long leads? If planer boards, do you hook up directly to the board?

Speeds - slow as possible? I sold my Princecraft and now have a 90hp which I doubt will troll down to 1.2mph so it may not be worth the while until I get a kicker. Do you think I'd be wasting my time trying to troll with the 90?

Location - where are the best spots? Also, what would be the nearest boat launch. I'm heading from the GTA area.

I'd also be willing to have a seasoned vet take me out in my boat. It's a 17' Sylvan which is plenty deep so it'll handle the lake well.

Any advice is appreciated. Keep up the great posts!!!!

Iam also new to the board ,I have been fishing lake erie pickrel for along time now and have done well i have always trolled with a 115 on a 17' fiberglass bowrider that trolls about 2.9-3.5, the crank baits work well at these speeds as well as the big worm harnesses,we have also caught them at the bay of quinte at these speeds as well i hope this helps.

This should answer most of your questions.

http://forums.quintefishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2001

While I'm no expert at the fine art of fall fishing (yet), speeds between 1.3 to 2.5 mph are fine. You could troll with a large bucket or two as a poor man's drift sock to slow you down until you get your kicker. Your bait selection is right on the money. Colour wise, firetiger, clown, perch and especially PURPLE work well. Offshore boards are superior to the big collapsible type, especially in wavy waters. Riggers work but it seems that most fish are caught off the planer boards. You don't have to go extremely deep as it seems most fish suspend over deep water, hovering around the 30 foot mark. A combination of snap weights with planer boards can be deadly as well to achieve depth and stealth. Anyways, hope this helps some.

cheers
Ken

One thing I've learned from Quinte. There's NOT one magic speed. I've seen people catch them at 1.3 to 3.5. There's many mitigating circumstances.

I've personally done my best at 1.5-2.5.

Get some drift socks. They stow away nicely and are relatively cheap, when considering the alternative..a kicker

_________________
WIG

Thanks a lot guys for the replies - it looks like I'll be heading down on Saturday to give it a try for the first time. I know it would have been better to book a charter with Fish Finder since I see him all the time out of Darlington - at least that way it takes out some of the guess work plus I could punch in all the locations on my GPS at the same time!!!!

Thanks guys - if you see a guy in a green/tan Sylvan getting nothing, that's me!!!!!!

In the picton area, the winds can be incredable. The boat and motor size does not seem to make a differance if the strong winds get a hold of the boat. I have had good success with throughing out a drift sock to slow the presentation down some. Give it a shot you may be surprised on how well it works.

Hey that's me too:!:

_________________
WIG

I saw pictures of your boat - looks like the same model as I have. Mine is a 2000 - 1600 Adventurer which is absolutely loaded for a 16.5' boat!!! That is why I sold my Princecraft 166 Super Pro - the Sylvan is a much better boat.