Hello all.
Just got home late yesterday afternoon from an interesting week at Quinte. The weather fluctuated as much as the fishing....well, i guess both weren't great.
We arrived Saturday evening...to darkness falling quickely....the trailer was covered in a nice coating of fluffy white snow...very inviting.
We originally planned to wait until Sunday morning to fish...but, well, that plan didn't last long... We cleared off the boat which hadn't been moved in a few weeks, and were launching outta Bayview at around 11:30 pm.
We fished till around 4am. Tons of fun being on the water again, even though it was cold, dark, and fishless. Came back in, and drank more beer...by this time it was nice and cold!
We woke up to a beautiful Sunday morning. The weather was a cool -6, but a nice crisp morning...
Started out of Bayview, and headed into the cold Quinte waters.
Started out with planers,
running manns and taildancers. Hit two fish in six hours of fishing. Not bad....not great numbers, but nice size. That was ok with us, it was only the first day, and we had six to go!
The first fish of the trip: A healthy six pounder!
Here's a nice shot of Jackson fighting his first fish of the trip, as the night was setting, and the snow was lightly falling (almost pure bliss!)
Here's the result: A nice nine pounder.
Day 2 morning was spent hitting the shallower water of Picton bay, with no luck. Went back in for lunch, and found Jackson's girlfriend and brother had made the adventure up through the snow, to meet us for two days. Nice to have some more great company.
We headed out, the four of us, in the afternoon to do a late afternoon, evening fish. Once again, we managed another single. The fish were big, and fought well. This one came off a Taildancer with a weight.
Decided to head in after the fish for a nice night of partying.
We woke up to some nice temps Tuesday morning...everything was melting. No wonder, it was almost PLUS 12 degrees!!!!
Luckily, with the melting ice we were actually able to launch of the boat out of bayview again, but this time with some work.
Of course things clouded over, and it was running a 0 degrees the rest of the day.
Jay managed the big fish of the trip Tuesday afternoon, a nice 10.75 pounder. His biggest ever!
By the end of Tuesday, the temps were dropping fast, and we came back in through -9 winds.... Beautiful stuff, lol.
The temps Dropped to minus 16 Tuesday night, Wednesday morning, causing the WHOLE BAY to freeze IN ONE NIGHT! Yep, the night before we took the boat out at Bayview, and the next morning ALL of Hay Bay, well up past Shermans, was frozen.
Frozen Bay after ONE night:
Some Fishing Items:
Checked four different launches, and all had at least four inches of ice! Wednesday was a write off! No fishing done. But we had a great lunch bbq, enjoyed some fresh QUinte Pickeral, and had some frosty cold beverages.
Thursday brought some rising temps, and allowed us to launch out of McFalands park (sp?) ... had no dock, but a picnic table in the water did the trick. Thursday was tough. The high was -7, and the winds were strong, gusting to 60 km's. Reminded me a lot of the Merlands GTG. This time i felt a lot safer in the 19 foot, with full cover.
Fished hard all day, but didn't want to stay to dark, not knowing the launch very well....Took the boat out around sunset. No fish.
Friday brought some serious bad luck. It started by me taking a six step tumble down the icy steps and landing head first into the frozen mud.
(yes i know i'm looking pretty cute)
We also had a serious boat/trailer mishap, almost culminating into a 25 Grand Insurance Claim, doh! At least everyone was ok. Friday was spent fixing a few minor/somewhat major repairs to the trailer (lights, wiring, front lifting wheel, and resetting all the positions of the c-clamps).
We decided after all the mess, we would just leave Saturday morning before we killed ourselves. Probably a good move!
All in all, it was a memorable trip. Four days on the water, with an average of six to eight hours each day. It was nice for both of us to get away, and forget about the pressures of life (isn't that what fishing is really all about?).
Here's a few reasons why fishing in open water in freezing temps can be a hassle:
- Freezing Gears on the reels (the drag would still pull, but you couldn't adjust them)
- Frozen axle on the trailer (yep, wheels wouldn't spin)
- Frozen props on BOTH the kicker and the main motor.
- Frozen hull to the bunks of the trailer
- Snap winch in brittle conditions.
- Break tip of frozen rod.
- Inline Plainer Boards freezing and falling over
- Frozen windshields on the boat (water immediately froze as it hit the windshield)
- Frozen tell-tale outtakes….
- BUT TONS OF FUN. WOULD DO IT AGAIN TOMORROW!
Questions for seasoned Quinte Angers:
Why didnt' we catch more? We put at least six-eight hours on the water daily, fished both the deeper water with deep diving lures of boards, AND the shallower water (less than 20 feet) with shallow divers, off plainers.
We tried long lining, and jigging. Jackson, who has fished the bay his whole life, said this was teh slowest final week, by far, ever. Now of course i'm not so pompus to think we are amazing fisherman, but i would have thought we would have caught more than four fish in four outings....
In the four outings, we only saw three other boats, and they said things were slow....DEFINATELY no double digit number days....
Guess i was just kinda expecting more....Oh well, can't compalin about four trophy fish....well at least two...and two decent fish.
Didn't end the season at Quinte the way i was hoping for.
As for launches, they are all done but bath. We spent a considerable amount of time at each of them, and i know them well now, lol.
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This time of year is tough on everything 