Fishing

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Personal Best! – Shallow Water Walleye on the BoQ

The bay of Quinte has always been an intimidating body of water to fish for me. The stories of giant walleye are pretty easy to find on the Bay, however I have never been able to crack the big fish code here. That all changed today.

This morning’s dawn found me on the road travelling to Deseronto to meet up with my Dad and Brother.  After numerous attempts to get out for a fish together we were finally able to make it happen which was a great feeling in its own right.

The morning was clear and cool with a slight ripple on the water and temperatures were hovering around 12 degrees.  Not perfect walleye conditions, but as my Dads says, “its nice just to get out”.  Regardless of the optimism he always has when fishing, I wasn’t expecting a banner day with the walleye as the temperatures were supposed to climb to the mid 20’s and the sun was supposed to be in full force in a clear sky.  Not to mention little to no predicted winds. Boy was I wrong.

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Fishing started slow with only a few white bass and perch caught, albeit jumbo in size.  My thought today was to run and gun the whole stretch of Long Reach until we found some active walleye.  This took us past hogs back and the entrance to hay bay.   We passed over what seem like endless schools of pan fish until we were nearly to at the end of the reach.  It was at this point I kinda gave up on the walleye and started pitching bass along the shoreline, but still maintained a steady pace for my Dad and Brother’s troll line.

The next thing I know, my dad has a hit and his rod is bent over the boat.

“Drum” I say.

This is my typical response for big hit and run situations on the BoQ.  But as soon as I saw the flash of gold I knew this this was not the case.  Sure enough My dad was hooked into a decent 4lb walleye and was having a blast fighting his quarry.

That’s when I threw everything I knew about walleye fishing right out the window.

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Fish were caught in relatively shallow water on spinner baits.  The water seemed pretty warm and was murky with lots of dispersed algae.  Again, not what I expected considering my idea of ideal walleye habit includes 20+ FOW and crystal clear waters.

I readjusted our troll line and promptly dropped a spinner bait in to test this new found success to ensure it wasn’t a fluke.

5 minutes later, the fluke test was passed and I was holding my new personal best walleye.

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Weighing in at close to 9lbs, this beast toppled my previous 4lb record caught on lake Nippissing.  This fish gave me one of the biggest rushes of my life.  We were so excited when this fish came into view we were lucky to land it amongst the shaky hands, thumping heart beats and profanities.

One more decent eye was caught following a location adjustment.

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In summary, this fish gave me a new found appreciation for the walleye species in general and a peak at a slick new way of targeting giant gold in the BoQ.

My advice, don’t get to attached to patterns of fishing.  Sometimes it takes a little “outside the box” thinking to get the job done right.

Cheers from the Wild

Albert

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Bay of Quinte Report

This weekend found me fishing my old stomping grounds: the Bay of Quinte.  Together with my dad and another gent, we launched at the Deseronto boat launch  around 7:00 am.  Winds from the previous day were lingering which left a good “walleye chop” on the water.  In addition the sky was overcast and periods of drizzle were common.  This seemed like a perfect day for catching walters!

From the launch we travelled past foresters island and headed for Catalaque Shoal where we dropped the trolling motor and proceeded to troll.  Bottom bouncers and spinners were our go to lures that day however the action was slow to start with only perch and white bass caught.  We criss-crossed the lake fishing in everything from 18 to 40 FOW.  Again only perch and white bass seemed to be interested.

Being a firm believer in “If it aint working, try something else” we decided to try a troll line of the eastern shore line where there was a definitive drop.  Trolling in everything from 17 to 24 FOW we started getting lots of hits and proceeded to land several nice sized drum.  One we estimated to be around 13 Lbs.  We tucked in even closer to the shore line to find a submerged weedbed where we caught a couple decent sized largemouths.  As an added bonus we even caught a walleye while on the out side of the weedline.

All in all a decent day on the water.

 

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My apologies for such crummy photography work.  I left my DSLR at home as the weather was predicted to be pretty lousy.

Ah well, low quality fish pics are better than none at all right?

 

Cheers from the Wild

Albert

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Free Fishing Week in Ontario

For those who don’t know, you and your family can fish license free in Ontario this week from July 6 to the 14, 2013.

Why not get out with the Family and cast a line or two?

More details below.

http://www.ofah.org/news/2013-Family-Fishing-Events-July-6-14

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An Ontario Special – Four Species day

Southern Ontario is blessed with an abundance of great, albeit often overlooked, fishing opportunities. I know I am starting to sound like a broken record on this issue but hear me out.

The misconception is that you need to travel a great distance to get to good fishing opportunities but in my experience this is not so. While there is great fishing in the states and Northern Ontario, Southern Ontario has many vibrant watersheds that are not only conveniently located near major centres but afford the angler a chance at quantity and quality of fish.

Case in point, my report below:

I packed a light bag and hopped in the car at 8:30 pm Thursday evening headed for Bethany to meet up with my uncle.  After a few hours of sleep we awoke at 4:30 am and were on our way to Port Darlington.  We launched the boat and sailed out of port into 80 FOW.

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We dropped the down riggers and dipsy divers and instantly had a hit but couldn’t capitalize.  We trolled for another hour out to 117 FOW with no hits and no sign of bait balls.  Things were looking grim with no fish in the boat so we decided to head back to the scene of the crime where we had the first hit.

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Sure enough we had two quick bites and boated two rainbow trout: one was 6lbs the other was 9lbs.  Both were healthy fish and provided a strong fight.

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An hour later and a after  couple more near misses we received a strong hit on the down rigger.  I set the hook and proceeded to reel in the fish thinking we hooked another decent rainbow.  You could imagine my surprise when the fish kept up its impressive run for what seemed like forever.  Fifteen minutes and a couple blisters later we boated a beautiful 18lb Chinook salmon. This was a truly magnificent beast, built for speed and strength.  The truly impressive thing about these fish is that they will fight to their very last ounce of strength making it essential for proper equipment and proper release techniques.

One more impressive thing, they are located just minutes from the 401 along almost the whole stretch of southern Ontario.

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With our Big lake appetite sated we pulled the boat and took a few hours break giving me just enough time to make a quick stop at SAIL and have a quick nap.

In the afternoon we towed the boat to Sturgeon lake, located near Lindsay Ontario to take a crack at the resident walleye population.

The walleye cooperated and we boated multiple 40cm fish which put them convienently in the 35-50 cm slot in force on the lake.  All within a couple hours.

Since I can’t resist the taste of fresh walleye we kept two nice eating sized fish for the table and released the rest.

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(my new abu Garcia verdict and cardinal in action)

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All in all an impressive day on the water with a total of four species caught ( included a jumbo perch caught while trolling) and all within less than an hour’s drive.

Once again, I recommend trying the fishing opportunities in Sothern Ontario.  Not only is the fishing great but you will save on gas too!

Cheers from the Wild

Al

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Round Lake – Early Season Stress Releif

Work has been tough lately.

I have been putting in long days at the office  for as long as I can remember with no foreseeable end in sight.  Not only is this tiring but its draining in every way conceivable.  Its times like these that a little stress relief is in order, so when my co-worker jokingly suggested a quick fish after work tonight I decided to take it seriously and jumped at the chance.  Enough of the late nights at the office,  I decided a break was in order (not to mention well deserved).

With that snap decision made, off I went to change and grab my gear and a half hour later we were at the launch pushing off in a canoe.

The trip was nothing fancy.

There were no huge expectations for trophy fish.

Just two dudes, a canoe and the lake.

Part of me wonders at how many world problems would be solved If every person got to experience this feeling on a regular basis.

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Ok. enough rambling, here is the report:

The afternoon was an exceptional one, with warm sunshine and a very slight breeze.  Temperatures were fairly warm and the evening was gearing up to be a good one.

The first fish (a small Pike) came a few minutes later on the fifth cast of my senko.  Nothing big, but definitely fun.  Fishing was nothing exceptional, but certainly decent enough to make the evening enjoyable.  We totalled around 8 bass for the evening, plus a horde of Rockies and that first Pike.  All fish were caught on a variety of plastics, crank baits and jigs in varying depths.  The fish were modest, with the biggest being between around 2.5 lbs.

It was interesting fishing as the lake is basically a deep bowl with 20 to 50ft drops right at the edges.  Really no weedy flats to fish at all so typical tactics don’t usually apply here.

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(Apparently I approve of this fish!)

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Heres a nice shot of me landing a LMB (Photo credit: Dave Hodgson)

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(Above Photo credit: Dave Hodgson)

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We were sure to take advantage of the beautiful scenery to be had on this quaint little lake.  Something Southern Ontario has in abundance.

Definitely one of the best ways I can think of to recharge the batteries after a tough week at work.

Reminds me of a saying:  “All work and no fish make jack a dull boy”  … or is it play? … no its definitely fish.

Cheers from the Wild

Al

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Bass Opener 2013 – Collins Lake

After a half year wait, bass season is back!  This year bass season has opened a week early in our zone.  This has come as a blessing to many anglers in the area who have felt for years that the season opened unnecessarily late.  Coupled with some recent cold nights and warm days, things were looking good!

With boat pre-rigged, a new 65 lb thrust minn kota on the bow of my Legend, and the rods rigged, my buddy Dave and I hit the road at 5 am.  45 minutes later we were on the water with rods in hand.  The morning turned out to be tough fishing with only one largemouth (approx. 2lbs) in the boat.  Temperatures were fairly chilly and a sweater was required.

As the morning pressed we changed up techniques and areas, targeting flat expanses with sparse weed formations.  Fishing picked up almost immediately as we made the changes with several largemouth and pike caught.  Dave even managed one decent sized smallmouth which is pretty rare for Collins.

 

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Great shot of a local loon family….

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To my surprise, one of the fish I pulled out decided to relieve it’s self all over my jeans.  This was definitely a first for me!

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All-in- all we had a fairly decent day with multiple 3lb bucket mouths and some decent sized pike.

Ultimately, our success was directly related to trying techniques and fishing areas that differed from the other boat on the water.  More than a few times, we have found this was the key to a successful fishing day.

I hope everyone enjoyed their opening day!

Cheers from the wild

Al

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Newboro Lake – Spring Pike

We are a week away from the opening day of bass here in South Eastern Ontario.  Most people are spending the weekend polishing up their spinner baits and putting new braid on their bait casters in preparation for this holy day. For me though, this is just another weekend to chase the last remnants of spring pike around with the bonus of little to no boat traffic to get in my way.  Kicking things off at 6am, my friend Dave and I took the 45 minute drive to the Crosby/Westport area and launched at Newboro Lake.  I had only ever fished Newboro twice before, and Dave had never been, so although we had a slight inkling of where to start, the majority of the trip was an exploratory one.DSC_0054

As almost always for spring pike, we started with a troll line using spoons on a line that had produced on my previous two trips (thank goodness for Navionics path tracking!).  This produced two decent 2 -3 lb pike.  Moving on we tried a two edged approach by trolling along sharp drop offs near a set of islands where the depth changed from 9 to 25 ft over a distance of about 15 ft.  One line targeted the shallows and the other probed the deep. This produced some pike as well as a decent 2 lb out of season small mouth that was promptly released.  On to the next area!

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We toured around a good 1/2 of the lake and continued to pick up stragglers throughout the rest of the morning using a multitude of techniques including spinner baits, crank baits and even some extra large swim baits.  Fish were caught in a variety of depths and conditions indicating a high degree of variability.  In my opinion this is indicative of the transition between spring spawning and the usual summer haunts.

The trip was a great way to explore and put some time into getting to know the lake.   Not to mention a great way to relax after a busy week in the office.

Hopefully next visit will see us catching some of the elusive walleye that are said to inhabit the lake.

All in all a great way to warm up the rigs for the fast pace action that is bass fishing in southern Ontario.

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Cheers from the wild!

Albert

 

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Early season Pike on Collins Lake

Pike fishing has always been a passion of mine and early spring is one of the best times to catch these fish.  Spring finds these fish thick in shallow water and can be caught by both casting and trolling.  Spinners and spoons are go to’s for these fish however swim baits and crank baits are also effective.

Lucky for us Ontarians (especially in the kingston area) we have many Eutrophic lakes that are absolutely teaming with Pike.

Two of my work mates and I left work early on May 14, 2013 and headed to our favourite local Pike spot, Collins Lake.  The water was a bit choppy with a 15 km/hr SW wind that ran right through the large fetch on the lake so we were limited to trolling at the beginnning of the outing.  We immediately hooked into a decent 1-2 lber and then hit a lull.  Ever persistent when using techniques I have alot of confidence in, we kept trolling and the fishing slowly picked up.  By about 6pm we were getting into decent pike on a pretty regular basis.  When the action died down on the trolling we decided to switch up and throw some spinner baits into the shallows.  Sure enough, the switch in gear paid off.  The action once again heated up and our numbers swelled to around 30 fish with at least one double header ( two or three if you are using Tarpon rules and leader touches count!).

All in all, a good first kick at the pike can in 2013.

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Bay of Quinte Walleye Derby – Night Fishing at its finest

I have been getting excited for this derby for weeks now and finally the day is upon us.  Lights and batteries are charged, the worms are purchased and the rods are tooled and ready to go.

This will be my very first time night fishing.

11:00 – We launched from the mouth of the Trent River.  Docking was mostly easy except for dodging the odd pack of drunken teenagers and party goers.  Apparently the Kiwanis Walleye derby is quite the social gathering.

After launching we crawled out through the dark to our spot and waited for 12:01.  Waiting half an hour before opening day was torture, but the excitement and promise of a good day fishing.

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12:01 – Lines were dropped and we began trolling.  20 minutes in and I get a fairly strong hit.  Was this the tourney winner already? Sadly no, just a stinky drum, albeit a big stinky drum.

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The next four hours were filled with more big drum, including one that we suspected to be at least 15 lbs.

So with the rise of the sun we left our spot for deeper waters and hopefully some viable fish.

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After motoring to a spot we knew to have deep water I was saddened to see it full with other boats all jigging.  We dropped out lines anyways and trolled through.  Sure enough, after passing the first boat we hooked into a decent 4 lb walleye. Finally the first good fish of the day!  We caught more than a few glances from the resident boats as we proceeded to catch 1o more walleye in the same stretch of water.

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8:00 fatigue was setting in and the walleye bite was over.  We packed up and headed back to the launch satisfied with our catch.  We didn’t get the winner but had enough action to keep us busy and happy.  There is always next year!

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