How to Plan a Fishing Vacation

Every year, tens of thousands of anglers plan for a fishing vacation, or at least a vacation that will include fishing. Fishing destinations are getting more and more exotic and the most remote spots in the world are now catered by outfitters of every kind, from the small fishing cabin with see through walls and leaky roofs, to the 5 star resort with gourmet chef and full spa.

Whatever your need there is a fishing vacation tailor made for you, whether you want to spend a week away with your family, or need a retreat for business purposes, whether you want to spend $200 or $20,000, whether you want to drive in or fly-in, you can do camping, or you can rent cottages, you can even go "american style" with 3 prepared meals and room service.

What is the best way to choose a fishing vacation that will please everyone and remain within your budget? Well for canadian tourists, there are several excellent websites that will provide you with a bird's eye view of what is available out there. In Quebec, one site stands out for the wealth of information it provides. Although the site needs a lot of work in my opinion, if you take the time to ask it the right questions, it will provide you with a wide array of available outfitters that will meet every one of your criteria. One of the issues I have with the site is that the english version looks like it was made in 1995, in fact most of it doesn't even work. But if you are up to a little french, you can visit the site and plan a fishing vacation in Quebec.

http://www.fpq.com/pages/liste_recherche.php (in french only)

Light Levels and Walleye Behavior

Walleye behavior is dictated by many variables, but by far the single most important one is light. How much light is penetrating the surface and how quickly does that light fade as the water gets deeper will have a huge impact on walleye's ability to see and willingness to feed. I think most walleye anglers already know that walleyes have light sensitive eyes and that they will shy away from very bright light, but I don't think the idea is fully understood, which is why I am writing this short article.

The angle at which the light hits the surface determines how much of the light will penetrate and how deep its impact will be felt. That explains why fishing for walleye at noon on a lake with a still surface and clear water is a sure disaster, and why the evening bite starts when the sun hits the treetops. Evening fishing is so good because the light hits the water at such an angle that it cannot penetrate very far, hence the walleye become active in search of food.

Of course, murky water is excellent for walleye, as they can feed all day long, because the difference in light levels varies much less between noon and night than it would in a clear lake.

Note that the angle at which the sun hits the surface changes through the season, so if anglers only rely on time of day to determine whether or not the bite is on, they could be dead wrong. For example, on the first day of spring and fall, the angle at which the light hits the water on the Saint Lawrence river is about 30 degrees at 9:00 am. In contrast, on the first day of summer, the angle is 50 degrees. This means in morning and fall, the morning feeding period lasts quite a bit longer, and the evening bite begins earlier.

Weather conditions will also impact light levels, for example, on overcast skies, or windy days, the walleye will remain active all day long, while still peaking in periods of very low light, they continue to feed during the daytime as well.

Researchers in Canada have demonstrated that the speed at which light levels change have a huge impact on triggering feeding behavior. This explains why the early morning and late evening are the best, because these are the times of day when the light changes the fastest. Also, this explains why walleyes start feeding like mad when a storm approaches.

I hope this helped to clarify some common misconceptions on the impact of sunlight on walleye feeding behavior, nothing impacts walleye feeding more than light levels, they will go to great lengths to avoid light, diving down to 50 or even 60 feet if they have to, or travelling miles upon miles to find the appropriate environment. This phenomenon is most obvious on Lake Saint François where the zebra mussels have cleaned the water so much that you can literrally see your jig in 25 feet of water.

The next time you are having trouble getting them to hit, think about where you could go to minimize the impact of light. Once you find those areas, your success is sure to increase.

Walleye U: Online Walleye Fishing School

Ever heard of WalleyeU? It is a great place to learn from some of the world's best walleye anglers. The best part of it is thast you don't have to leave your house and take a plane to some remote location, because WalleyeU offers its classes online, absolutely free of charge. There are a good number of detailed lessons there, they cover everything you need to know and more.

Click here to visit walleye U

Boat Launches and Ramps: Saint Lawrence and the SeaWay

NORTH SHORE

Lanoraie

• Dock at the end of rue Champagne

Lavaltrie

• Dock at the end of Rue Saint-Antoine-Sud

St-Sulpice

• Dock facing the church

Repentigny

• Saint Laurent Park

Montreal Pointe aux Trembles

• Facing 13415 Notre Dame, right under the Hydro Quebec power lines

Verdun

• Desmarchais Park behind the circus school

LaSalle

• 8912 Boulevard LaSalle (Lachine Rapids)

SOUTH SHORE

Contrecoeur

• Contrecoeur Dock behind the Mayor's Office

Vercheres

• Federal Dock, rue Madeleine

Varennes

• Parc de la Commune

Boucherville

• Dock facing 425 Marie Victorin
• Parc des Iles de Boucherville

Longueuil

• Parc de l'ile Charron
• Intersection Taschereau et Pierre Dupuy

Brossard

• Léon Gravel Park, South Shore Canal

La Prairie

• La Prairie Dock, at the Marina

Ste Catherine

• Dock facing 4075 rue Marie Victorin (South Shore Canal)
• Seaway Ramp, La Prairie Basin, across the Locks Bridge

Lac des Deux Montagnes Boat Launches & Ramps

For those of you looking to launch your boat on Two Mountains Lake (or is it Lake of Two Mountains?), here are a few of the most popular public ramps [descentes de bateaux] which you can use.

I tried to make the Google Map links as accurate as possible, though they will get you within a block of where you need to go, they are not perfect. I have not used most of these ramps, rather I found the list on a paper map called "la pêche à la carte autour de Montréal".

North Shore

Deux Montagnes

• Armitage Park behind the water filtration plant

Ste-Marthe-sur-le-Lac

• Plage Roger Marina, 37e Avenue

Pointe Calumet

• End of 32nd Avenue, Alphonse-Gravel Park for parking
• Facing Place René street, park your vehicle at the Pointe Calumet Marina

Oka

• At the end of St-Pierre street

St-Placide

• Dock at the end of rue de l'église

South Shore

Rigaud

• Rigaud Nautical Park, chemin de la Pointe Séguin

Hudson

• Hudson Marina, at the end of Rue Halcro

Boat Launches and Ramps on the Saint Lawrence: Lac Saint-François

Are you looking for a boat launch or boat ramp [descente de bateau] on Lac Saint François?

Here is a bunch of them, starting by the north shore, then the south shore. To see where the boat ramp is located and obtain driving directions to the ramp, simply click on it and visit the corresponding Google Map.

Please not that the Google Map links are APPROXIMATE locations, you may have to move a street corner or two to find the actual launch. The information is taken from "la pêche autour de Montréal", a great paper map containing all the boat ramp information you may need.

NORTH SHORE

Les Coteaux - 2 Ramps

• Camping Coteau Landing
• Ramp at the end of rue Des Saules (turn off rue Principale)

Saint Zotique - 1 Ramp

• 2 side-by-side launches: one at the beach and one at the bar

SOUTH SHORE

Salaberry de Valleyfield - 1 Ramp

• Baie Saint François, Marcil Park

Saint Stanislas de Kostka - 1 Ramp

• Just Upstream from Larocque Bridge

Saint Louis de Gonzague - 1 ramp

• Upstream from Saint Louis Bridge, in the Park

Port Lewis - 1 ramp

• Port Lewis Marina, right at the end of chemin des planches

Saint Anicet - 4 ramps

• Behind the church, 132 rue de la fabrique
• Dock at the end of Caza street
• Bar du Chasseur
• At the end of Chemin Trépanier

Walleye Fishing in Montreal is available as a Feed (ATOM)

For all you feed fanatics, I have converted this blog to Atom format. This means every new post will show up in your newsreader immediately.

If you don't know what newsreaders are or what Atom (or RSS) feeds are, please visit faganfinder for a good explanation of the format.

The address of the feed :

http://marc.poirier.com/atom.xml

Some New Equipment for my Boat

Yesterday, my buddy MikeWalleye came over and helped me install a few new gadgets on the boat in preparation for the season opener, which will happen on friday may 13th, on Lac Saint Pierre. We installed the following :

1. Minnkota Co-Pilot for the bow mount electric motor. This required little effort, simply put one of the side plates on the bow mount had to be removed and replaced with one which contains the remote control sensors.

   

   This new addition will help me control the boat's drift in the Saint Lawrence as well as anywhere else. Because this unit operates with a remote control, which I can mount on my rods or even wear as a bracelet on my wrist, it will give me much more flexibility and I will be able to move around the boat while controlling the drift. Huge advantage I think.



2. Garmin Swiveling GPS holder for the console. Because I already own a GPS (eTrex Legend) I did not feel obliged to spend the 1,000$+ required to get a 2 in 1 fishfinder/sonar unit.
   
   This year I will continue to use the handheld GPS unit, but it will have a good place on the console.



3. Inline 24 Volt 2 Bank Battery Charger. I did not have an inline charger before, which means each time I came back home, I had to plug in one battery after the other and try to guess when they were ready to receive a lower voltage chart and when they were ready to be unplugged. Then I had to do it for 2 batteries. In other words it was impossible to manage. This new unit installs in one of the bow compartments with 4 stainless steel sheet metal screws, it cools by convection, all I need to do is leave the unit a little breathing room to maximize its efficiency, which I will do by leaving the trap door slightly opened when charging.




4. New Trailer Winch Strap & Hook. Last year I damaged the pull strap on the trailer when it got caught in the gears. Some of it was chewed right off so it needed to be replaced.
   
   
   
   The job took no time at all, I only had to unwind the old one, remove the bolt which holds it in place, replace it with a new nut and bolt assemble and a new strap/hook combo, which costs less than $15.