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Just took my first trip to the Bay Of Quinte this year and was “very” happy with my results. Often times Quinte can be very humbling in the early part of the season. The good thing is that the water is warming up nicely and believe it or not, that’s good!
I planned on taking my wife Leisa and 2 boys Hunter and Cole but the forecast wasn’t very nice. Sunny skies but only 10 degrees and winds at 30k from the west. That morning the rest of the family opted to stay back at the ranch so I figured what the hell, I’ll take the big Princecraft (over my Bassboat) and hope for the best.
I headed down to the office to re-spool some of my reels and grab the boat. On the way I stopped at Canadian Tire in Belleville to pick up some worms and spent at least a half an hour shopping in their fishing department. I’ve got to say, CT Belleville has the best stocked fishing dept of all CT’s that I’ve been into. Another customer told me that the sporting goods guy is a tournament angler so it totally makes sense.
I hit the boat launch sometime before noon (I think) and luckily the wind was being broke from the dock. Once I got out into the big water… WOW… she was nasty! 3 footers were the average with sets of 5+ every so often. I’ll bet there were gusts of wind close to 50k! I literally had the Princecraft out of the water ripping against the wind. There is no way I could have done that with my Bassboat and it’s over 20’ long! Oh well, make the best of it and start fishing.
My first drift had me running a Slow Death rig behind a bottom bouncer at a nice “slowish” rate with the aid of a big drift sock. I figured that if the panfish weren’t too bad this would be a good post spawn/pre summer presentation. Unfortunately the panfish were there in numbers. Yellow Perch, Rock Bass & White Perch loved my swirling worm presentation… too much.
I didn’t like the angle of the drift so I re-adjusted my boat position and decided on running a deep diving crankbait. Since the speed of the strong wind would help an artificial lure I kept the drift sock in. On this (my second) pass I caught 6 great eating sized Walleye with one pushing 4 lbs. From there on it was basically simple fishing. I’d drop the crankbait out and either hand-hold the rod or use the rod holder on the boat. The wind and wave action must have had something to do with the bait’s action because I caught more fish in the rod holder than not. I was probably imparting too much action while holding the rod.
All in all, a great day and a NICE feed of beautiful golden pan fried Walleye!!!
Readers have left 4 comments. No.1 How To "Fish Vertically"?
Question regarding fishing for walleye, specifically in the Detroit River: I hear a lot of people talking about "fishing vertically" (making sure your line is straight down / fishing with the current). I assume this means guiding yourself with the current with your trolling motor, correct? If so, how do you do this with 50 other boats around? No.2 Untitled
You're right in using the trolling motor to slow the drift. It's actually a technique that most people do so if everyone is in tune with each other then things go well. The odd time you will get a troller or a drifter in the crowd but you just need to avoid them with your trolling motor. No.3 Thanks
Thanks -- appreciate it! Any tips on the weight of the jighead to use in the river? Is 5/8 enough? No.4 Untitled
5/8 is exactly what we were using on our recent show on the Detroit. Sean Patterson (local Walleye pro) has custom jigs made up with Sickle hooks... very sharp. You can also get away with 1/2 ounce, it's a matter of personal preference. Hitting bottom is the key. |
