Trolling BOQ Walleye on Family Weekend

[Aaron Shirley]

I had a good friend Glen and his buddy Fraser out to troll walleye on the Bay of Quinte on the Saturday of the Family Day weekend. I was excited to get back there after the success from a week and a half ago! We hatched plans and headed up for what we thought would be an incredible day of fishing that the guys wouldn't forget. Well, Mother Nature had other plans, and although the guys may not forget the trip, it will not be for numbers of big walleye lol.

 

We arrived early in the morning to see the launch ramp in Bath was wide open to launch. That was a bit of a worry on a long trip, but it was good. We were greated by a beautiful morning without any wind at all. After we launched and started heading down the reach, the boat was breaking through a skim layer of ice that had built up. Some of the ice as a bit thicker in some areas, but we took our time and the heavy ProV had no issues breaking through the ice. When we got closer to the zone we wanted to fish, we noticed the ice from the ferry down the reach past Keith's Shoal has frozen over pretty well. Not enough to feel safe walking on, but we couldn't break through ice that think in the Lund. This was not good, as we couldn't fish more toward the ferry like we wanted. We then realized that due to the skim ice in the entire reach, we wouldn't be able to troll and employ planer boards! Luckily we took some jigging rods, and we broke up the ice with the Lund and jigged. We didn't mark anything and didn't get any hits in the first hour or so. Things were not lookin' good!

 

Then, the wind started up a slight bit. It wasn't enough to break up the skim ice, and we reluctantly prayed for stronger winds so that we could troll. Another short while and Mother Nature answered the call with enough wind to break up the skim ice. We eventually began to troll the reach with 4 planer boards rigged with mono and Husky Jerks. It was simple to keep it to 4 rods in the challenging conditions, especially since a snow storm had moved in!

 

We trolled the shorelines on both sides and across the reach.

 

 

I tried a new 15lb high vis Maxima mono line for the first time for planer boards, and I love it! I can see the line and boards so much better in overcast conditions, and snow storms lol

 

 

We even trolled dangerously close to the ice edge a lot with our outside board.

 

 

We were not alone out there, the gulls were hanging out on the ice edge. We even saw another boat come out to play just after we were able to start trolling.

 

 

It was a very wet and cold snowy day, and we went through several pairs of gloves. Thankfully we took plenty to keep warm and dry. The trolling bite was mega slow. We started moving around the reach a bit and trying new areas. Still nothing. Finally, later in the day our outside rod loads up while trolling close to the ice edge. Fraser grabs the rod and starts reeling. Unsure if we had a fish or not as we picked up a lot of debris, I asked Fraser if it was a fish. He did not know. I asked if there was weight to the rod? Fraser replied yeah it feels a bit heavy but no fighting or head shakes. He still wasn't sure if it was a fish. I asked how much weight, a little or a lot. He said quite a bit, so I knew it was a fish. I coached him a bit on what to do, as I had forgotten my net! I took one for the team and dipped my hand into the icy cold waters to grab his new PB walleye Fraser was stoked, this fish absolutely crushed his PB by about double! His previous PB was under 6 pounds.

 

Hit on the outside board on a gold and black Husky Jerk in 100 feet of water.

 

 

 

That warmed the young guy up a bit! Unfortunately, we didn't get another hit all day despite our efforts. It was still a great winter trolling adventure with challenges that made things interesting. Good company made the trip even better. Ya can't kill it every time you hit the water... or ice lol. We talked to another boat at the ramp that got skunked, so we were happy to get that one bite! What a difference one bite can make. Now Fraser has a new PB and a story to tell

 

Good fishing!

 

Aaron

[Joey]

Quite the adventure Aaron, and a fish to boot for your efforts. Congrats to your pal for his PB. Forgot the net sounds familiar in our boat

 

I was waiting for you to say the wind got so strong it pushed a big chunk of ice in front of the launch and you could not get off the water

[mercman]

Awesome Aaron !!!!!!One big hungry dude is better than 2 little munchers.

Been a strange winter this year.

 

 

[Spiel]

You're insane Aaron, *noted from the warm comfort of my work shop.*

[Joeytier]

Good goin'! I spent sunday ice fishing Quinte. Got a keeper and lost 2 monsters at the hole. My buddy was there yesterday and caught about a 2.5 lb steelhead all the way up by belleville.

[Roy]

A great report Aaron and certainly a welcome one today. Man that's a nice looking doré for sure. I'm sure that all three of you will remember the adventure fondly for years. Thanks for taking the time to post it, Bud.

[Lungelarry]

I,m not saying I,m a good luck charm, but ...........good report and to think another Quinte openwater report

Edited February 21, 2012 by Lungelarry

[superdad]

Good report Aaron - thanks for sharing your Quinte Skim ice adventure.

 

C U in the Fall

 

David aka Superdad

[TDunn]

Nice pics and fish!

 

TDunn

[corvette1]

nice trip Aaron congrats

[muskymatt]

Very awesome!

 

Nice fattie

[fishindevil]

amazing trolling in febuary in the BOQ !!!! well one good thing about global warming,wont have to ever put the boat away !!! some nice winter gol aaron...cheers

[bubbles]

Sweet fish