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I don’t normally do weekend reports; this one will be unique because we were competing in the QFS walleye opener.
The morning started with 40 boats in Belleville, light 15k winds out of the east, 20~ degrees and blue-bird skies. Prefishing pointed us towards two very small stretches of weedline which were maybe 200 total yards in length. Not much had changed since prefish so we were confident that the fish would still be there. We put the Triton/Mercury in drive and enjoyed the beautiful morning….at 74Mph.
The area itself was around Ram Island; 6’-8’, muddy water, 73.4-degrees, tight defined weed edge, and windblown. Unlike a bass and contrary to the high skies, the walleye were roaming a few feet out from the edge. We also noted from prefishing that the walleye were schooled tight; if you got one there were very likely more. Upon arrival we put a small limit together using small natural shad coloured cranks on 7’2” Shimano Cumara rods. We normally prefer glass TC4 casting rods, but in this specific case the spincaster was the weapon of choice because they allowed us to cast these very light baits far into the wind. In combination, we also used green and blue worm harnesses rigged Carolina. Why a Carolina rig? Frankly speaking… I don’t know how to use a bottom bouncer, and I do feel a Carolina rig does a better job because the fish doesn’t pull against a big 1.5oz weight (the line slips through the weight in a Carolina rig) and you can cast a Carolina rig.
With a small limit in the boat, we had to find some larger fish. Next stop was a weed flat in Picton bay. Limited weed growth, ~15ft-30ft, 64-degrees, crystal clear water – the exact opposite of the morning’s spot. We knew we had to make the move as there was exactly zero chance at 5,6,7 lb'r from Hay Bay doing what we were doing. We put in about 2h of trolling, rip jig, large cranks, small cranks…shallow, deep, fast (2.2Mph), slow (1.3 Mph). Nothing. We marked a lot of baitfish (perch) but no ‘large hooks’ (a little walleye talk from a bass guy).
Back to Hay Bay to nickel-and-dime, some small fish. It was now noon, and using the same approach as in the morning we went back to the original weedline, with some company – a white PrinceCraft who was also in the tourney (who caught ~5 in the 20mins they were in view!). We made a single pass, landing a couple more with nothing more than 2.5lbs and left.
With about 3h to go we started to run, looking for active fish. Thompson’s, Sherman’s, Hog’s Back, Green pt., Massasauga, Snake and DONE! We managed to cull one in the last few minutes using green Carolina rigged worm harness in 12’, 72-degrees.
All in all a great day! Probably caught 20 fish and had a great time. And so concludes my walleye season; 364 more days until I do it again!
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