Finally got the boat out for the first time on Saturday a.m. The plan was to do some piking so we tried out an inland lake approx 15 minutes south of Parry Sound. Never fished here before, so it took a bit of time...but not too long...before the first fish was on. Not what I was looking for, but a nice incidental catch.
This was a 6.5 lb walleye that hit a 5 of diamonds spoon. Never having been to Quinte, and never deliberately trying to catch a walleye, this was actually a personal best for me! Fish was released healthy. Funny thing is, I had just finished telling my partner that I had never caught a bass on a spoon before, but that I had caught walleye on a 5 of diamonds while pike fishing at Lakair. Couldn't have been more than 2 casts later that this fish was caught.
Nonetheless, we didn't drive up to Parry Sound for incidental walleye catches. Pike was our targetted prey. We had a tough time finding even a hammerhandle on this new lake, although just before we were entirely discouraged my partner had a follow from a pike that looked like it had a shovel for a head...an absolute monster. As he quivered at the back of the boat, I caught a glimpse of the fish that appeared to be in the 40 inch range with an absolutely huge melon. About an hour after finally raising a fish, we managed to land one when I coaxed a 32 inch fish with broad shoulders out from under a boathouse. This fish had only one eye, but had a big girth so clearly wasn't having problems seeing the dinner menu. Throughout the day we had some follows of nice pike (mid 30 inches) but they seemed a bit lethargic, just kind of curious. The out of season smallies were out in full force though, being quite aggressive and hitting some large baits. Ended the day with this pike, not huge (a little under 30 inches) but a good way to wrap up the day. Good times out exploring new waters.