This was my second annual trip to the waters of Picton and while the fishing was slow, we did have a good time and learned a lot. During the day, we trolled with the wind using an electric motor to steer and maintain a slow speed and using lots of line.
We fished Picton bay & harbour on Friday night from nightfall until midnight with no luck. Lots of baitfish and pickeral being marked in town, but they weren't very interested. My buddy was fishing a black/gold Fast Trac while I used a clown coloured Rapala minnow. The same lure that nabbed me a trophy last October while trolling near the yacht club.
On Saturday morning at 7:30am, my buddy landed a 24" inch walleye on a clown coloured Deep Tail Dancer just east of the Glenora ferry. He had about 200' of line out and we were in around 60' of water. Good solid hit too. At the time, we were trolling/drifting with the east wind.
Later that afternoon, we were trolling unsuccesfully near the cement plant, when we started marking big fish at the surface of the water. I threw out a clown coloured jointed Rapala (size 11) running around 150-200' of line. Within minutes and right before full dark, I felt a hard tug and proceeded to catch a 22" walleye. No more skunk!
On Sunday, the west wind gave us a chance to head down the Adolphus Reach where a lot of boats were headed to all weekend. I was using a clown coloured Deep Tail Dancer with 200' of line out when at 9:15, we were in around 80-85' of water and nearing Keith's Shoal. I marked a small school of fish in between 25-35' and within minutes, I had a BIG hit and knew I had a decent sized walleye on. After a long retrieve, I finally brought up a 29.25" walleye, which was a personal best for me. Sorry no picture yet because I can't upload one. But I will send a URL out once my entry on the OHFA site gets approved.
Unfortunately, the rest of the trip was a bust. We went out into Picton bay and harbour again Sunday night, and while we marked a lot of fish, no bites. But Monday proved to be the most depressing as just past Glenora and before Pull Point, we were marking huge schools of baitfish with loads of pickeral to boot in between 20-25' in a water depth of 30-40'. I couldn't believe how many fish we marked but none of them were interested!
Grrrr... Oh well, next year.