Walleye Fishing - Bay of Quinte in the Fall

This fall I will head out to the Bay of Quinte arear to try for some fall monsters. I have never been there, me and my good friend Mike have been unable to get a good guide to take us out for a fair price, so we have pretty well decided to head out there with our own boats and see how we can do on our own (yikes!).

This should be the ultimate test for me, the Bay of Quinte is a giant area without much structure to speak of, the fish is caught trolling a specific plug called Mann's +20, the color of choice is Dr Death (see picture above). I have none of these plugs so it sounds like I have to spend yet more money on lures this year. Further, I have no idea how deep to troll. I do know people in Ontario will fish with planer boards to get more lines in the water, because they are allowed 2 rods per angler, while our provincial rules say one rod per angler... not used to this.

Also I have no clue where to put the boat in the water, no idea which sector of the Bay is worth my time, I don't know which time of day works best, or even which type of weather works best in November.

Then there is the fact that this is Lake Ontario, and I have a small boat (17 foot Princecraft with a 90 HP motor).

This will be an adventure for sure. Whether we come back with fish or not will be a matter of planning, so I will start now - if any of you know anything interesting that we should consider regarding Bay of Quinte walleye fishing in November and December, please leave a comment and if you prefer, you can send me email at marc {dot} poirier {at} gmail {dot} com.

Cabonga Shore Lunch Video

We visited Cabonga reservoir this week for 4 days of fishing with friends, the whole week was absolutely fantastic, here is a quick video of a shore lunch we had on wednesday this week. This was a scary lunch, because the entire time, thunder and lightning was on the horizon, but we managed to stay dry and eat well while the storm passed over our heads.

Lac Saint Pierre Walleye Opener

well well well... finally out of my winter fishing paralysis, the company is really taking off now, we moved into a great new office on the 5th floor of a commercial building in Saint Lambert, we take up most of the floor, with an option to take the whole floor and the one below if we need it. Our pay-per-click management software is finally ready to hit the big time, and I'm ready to take the boat out for a few practice runs this weekend before walleye season begins on Lac Saint Pierre next friday. One week to go. I'm ecstatic.



I'm also taking monday off to go fishing for landlocked salmon, like last spring, we hired guides to put us on some monster ouananiche. I just hope we'll have warmer days by then, it's been quite cold here so I'm not sure if it will have any effect on fishing. Again we'll be dragging some streamers around the lake at various depths, and I'm hoping to catch at least one over 10 pounds. We'll see.

Fly Fishing Landlocked Salmon - Ouananiche

Last spring, I think it was may 1st, I went out with the boys for a day of flyfishing up near Mont Tremblant. We hired fishing guide François St-Louis who works for Sebastien Lord's guiding service. Francois is one of the country's foremost experts in the art of catching landlocked salmon.

We drove up to our lake really early in the morning, in fact the sun was down when we got on the boat and pulled away from the dock. This is a full service guide so he supplied the boat, the rods and the flies.

It was a very cold morning, and we were all very happy when the sun finally came up to grace us with a little heat.

We setup 4 rods, 2 13 foot fly rods on either side of the boat, and 2 9 foot rods in the back, all rods had the same setup, long tippets with special home made flies that looked like magog smelts (long purple and silver streamers).

Lines were out between 100 feet and 200 feet behind the boats, they were setup in such a way that they covered the first 20 feet of the water column, where landlocked salmon feeds at that time of year.

Everyone caught landlocked salmon that day, everyone except me!

I don't remember the exact weight of the fish we caught, but I think they all weighed approximately 7 - 8 pounds, which is very large for landlocked salmon in this part of the country. For example, Memphremagog lake ouananiche weigh about 1 1/2 - 2 pounds each. I know Lac Saint Jean has a healthy population of ouananiche, but I've never fished there so I wouldn't know for sure how big they grow them there - but if it's like their giant blueberries, their landlocked salmon size would be vastly exagerated!!

The video features my group of friends, but only at the very end. We're the group of guys with baseball hats. I'm the guy with the blue windbreaker, sunglasses and grey baseball hat toward the end. The video also features people we don't know, in fact it was shot by the guide throughout the season, so we're only there when they show the real big fish at the very end! ;-)

Enjoy!

Walleye Fishing in November

It's getting colder outside and I have been so busy at work that I forfeited the entire month of October, I have to get out there one last time before I put the boat away for the winter.

If weather permits, this sunday morning I'm heading out!

Some very much delayed pics

Gouin Aout 2005 054
Originally uploaded by Marc Poirier.

This is from my trip to Gouin... last august! That's me, and you can't see it, but I got excited catching this little pike and we managed to beach our boat onto a sand dune. We had a hard time getting out of there.

Pictures from 2 trips to Club Scott

Sorry about the delay. I've been undisciplined. ;-)

Yet another trip to Club Scott

We just returned from another expedition to Club Scott. I will post some pictures and write a little later this week.

Drowning Anglers Escape Death on Walleye Opener

Friday may 12th was walleye season opening day on famous Lac Saint Pierre.

Mike Walleye, Patrick Malservisi, and myself, got up early and put the boat in the water in nearby Sorel, a stone's throw away from our favorite early season walleye spot.

Winds were very strong on the big lake, but somewhat tamer between the islands, where we were set to go spend the day.

The morning was successful, with a dozen good sized 'eyes. There were at one point 27 other boats fishing the same area featuring a huge submerged dam that crosses a channel about 5oo yards across. Of course the walleye just finished spawning and they were all stacked there, protected from the strong currents, resting and feeding before migrating to their summer pools in the Saint Lawrence seaway channel.

Around lunch time we decided to try another spot. The winds had picked up quite a bit since our arrival, so much so that about half the boats had decided to leave. When that spot proved unsuccessful, we came back to the big dam.

As we approached, we spotted boat seats and a fuel tank floating in the huge waves leading up to the dam. Then we saw a tacklebox, then a knapsack. Something happened here and we were really afraid for the worse.

Another boat pulls up, the 2 men inside explained that they had just finished rescuing 2 other men who were fihsing the area in a tiny rowboat with an antique motor. When the motor died on them, they lost control of the boat, and waves started pouding them from the side, filling the boat until it sank.

Because of the strong winds, nobody could see or hear the 2 sinking men until these guys fortunately happened to look in their direction and noticed the 2 scrambling to save themselves as the boat was sinking.

In any case, by the time they got there, the boat had sunk. One man was hanging on to the fuel tank (which we salvaged minutes later), the other was barely able to keep his head above water.

Both were not wearing their safety vests.

When we finished picking up the floating gear, and made it to shore, we were greeted by 2 trembling men, one of them a younger lad, the other possibly his father.

While the young guy tried to make light of the situation, the old man was in a state of shock. I could read the terror in his eyes.

Please remember:

- don't set out on big water adventure with small watercraft designed for little ponds. Lac Saint Pierre is just not the place for 14 foot rowboats.

- when the wind picks up, make sure to wear your safety vests, no matter what size boat you have. I'll be the first to admit that when I kow the body of water I am on, and the weather is beautiful, my vest is on deck, not on me. But when conditons change, it comes on.

Walleye season opens in less than a month

I'll be on Lac Saint Pierre on friday may 12 for the 2006 walleye opener. Every year, walleye anglers from everywhere in the province congregate there for the first weekend of open water fishing in months.

The popular areas are the dams, this year I may try to explore some of the less popular dams with my buddies, everyone tends to rush to thi sone area, it's not rare to see 30 boats drifting over the same area at the same time.

I have to get my electric motor to work again, there is something wrong with the wiring or a fuse is busted somewhere, but I have no control over my boat other than drift socks.

Also this year will be a record for the number of fishing trips I have planned.

Early june is Gouin reservoir (4 days fly-in with dad)
Mid june is Gouin reservoir with a bunch of guys (5 days)
End of june is Club Scott with another bunch of guys (4 days)
August is our yearly expedition to our buddy's fishing camp (4 days)

LIfe is hard ....

Chalets Gouin - Gouin Reservoir Houseboat Fishing Trip

Our Houseboat had 3 bedrooms with 2 bunks each,

plus a fold out in the dining room

Saturday august 6th we left Montreal at 5:00 am - destination Gouin Reservoir, 7 hours north west of the city - 3 hours of dirt road, 4 hours on paved roads. Gouin reservoir is near La Tuque - here is the reservoir's Google Map

We stopped in La Tuque to fill up and buy live bait, then got on the dirt road leading to our outfitter, les Chalets Gouin. We wanted to try renting a houseboat for a few days to see whether or not this is an experienvce worth the money - because it costs a lot more than renting a camp.

So we got there about noon and waited close to 2 hours for our boat to be ready, which is apparently highly unusual. The owner Yaneck apologized, gave us a few tips on where to fish and read us the book on all the rules and things you must know, such as how to operate the boat, how to beach it, where the channels are, how to setup the toilets, etc etc

Off we went with one of the staff showing us how to pilot the boat.

Richard was our captain for the weekend

Our first stop was 4 hours away, a place called "La Passe" (the pass) - we tied the boat down solidly onto some of the stronger trees near shore, then off we went.

We quickly realized 4 things:
First - My fishfinder's new batteries were dead
Second thing we noticed - Mike's fishfinder batteries were dead
Third: While I do have the bathymetric maps for this area on a GPS map, I forgot to upload the data onto my Garmin Legend.
Fourth: While I was holding a printed version of the bathymetric map at the sporting goods store where I buy most of my tackle (Baron Sports on Taschereau, Brossard), I ended up not buying it.

From left to Right: Myself, Mike "Walleye" Richard, and Benoit "Ben" Allaire

Bottom line we had no way to detect depth and structures, and we had no map to help us locate good potential spots. This weekend we were gonna have to go hardcore and use our common sense to get into some walleye.

La Passe has a few obvious spots, two long rocky points strecth out toward one another, a long rocky shore facing the wind, as well as a sunken island Mike managed to detect in one of his sonar's brief moments of life. We basically jigged this area for the night and came home with only 2 walleyes, one of them was just biug enough to keep. Not the best of starts, but we were determined to improve our hit ratio the next day.

Sunday morning we get up and cook up breakfast while planning our day. We were going to start in the bay in fron of where we anchored the boat and then head to L'Oasis du Gouin, where there is a huge stone wall with a steep drop off, apparently this is o0ne of the best spots at this time of the year. We trolled the bay in the morning and caught one walleye and a small northern pike, then we headed up to L'Oasis.

Mike and Richard in their usual positions: Mike drives the boat and pays close attention, Richard sleeps...

It was about a one hour ride up there in our small 15 foot boats with 15 HP motors, and as the day progressed the wind picked up somewhat, which made for some very serious showers for the guys who were driving the tiller boats. I got soaked on my right side, and so did Mike. Before stopping by the Oasis, we had spotted a small lake which was accessible by boat through a narrow channel, we decided to give it a shot. The first thing we did once we got there was to stop on shore and eat lunch, chicken sandwich rolls that tasted very cheap (bad purchase there!). We were visited by game wardens who made sure we had our licences and fishing rights, they then gave a few tips on fishing the area and took off - but not before I showed them an old rusty baitcaster that Ben caught earlier, asking them if they wanted it. They kinda just shrugged and took off.

We ended up catching nothing in this lake and continued on to our main objective, the infamous stone wall.

Driving the boat with a pupose, before the wind hit us on our way to the stone wall

About 30-45 minutes later we got to our destination and were greeted by a wind storm and some very menacing black clouds. We tried for about 15 minutes but anchors were not holding, there was no way to drift in those waves (not in these boats anyhow). We just headed straight back to camp and had dinner (pork fillets). Then we headed into the bay and caught a few more walleyes jigging near the points. I dropped a big one in about 4 feet of water, he jumped out like a bass and shook himself loose. I was a little upset about losing it, it was getting dark and I'm not 100% sure how big it really was, the sound of the splash says this was a big boy. My partner Ben was quite impressed by that too, though he also lost a good one earlier that evening.

The next morning we fished the bay again until about 10:30 am and then we loosened the houseboat and headed to "Ile aux Femmes" (women island). There we were apparently going to have the chance to tie the boat in such a way that we can fish from its back porch all night long. We couldn't wait to try this, so as soon as we got there and tied the boat, the rods were out and we were igging and casting off the balcony, but nothing happened except for a few whitefish bites.

We went out trolling, Ben decided to tie on a bright orange Thin Fin (Storm). In less than 3 hours he had 5 nice walleyes to his name. Not bad for a first time walleye angler!

Ben's first stringer of walleye, 5 good ones in no time!

I had a nice fight from a 5.2 pound northern, no giant but a good fighter, he almost snapped my rod when he darted under the boat unexpectedly. The fight lasted a good 3-4 minutes and we ended up beaching the boat, and I got my thumb bit real nice trying to get my pliers in his mouth to retrieve my lure.

A nice little northern caught on a white and red thin fin

In the evening we jigged the bay near our boat and we managed to catch 5 or 6 more 2-3 pound walleyes, I caught mine on chartreuse and red Berkley Bungee (no live bait) .

The next day we had to return the boat by 9:30 am and we had a 3 hour ride to get back to camp, so we were up at 6:00 am and to our surprise one of our smaller boats had filled right up with water overnight, so we had to get in the water and empty it before we could untie the houseboat and get moving. It was a cold windy morning so having both feet in the water when you just woke up, and having to deal with bitter cold wind was no fun.

The trip back to the main camp was uneventful, we used the time to clean up and pack up.

All in all we had a great time, although I would have liked another 1 or 2 days of fishing.

I would recommend the experience to anyone, it is definitely a great way to establish base camp near your favorite spot. But be sure to have enough time to enjoy yourself, because once you get there you still have to go for a few hours, and you also need to plan an early departure, unlike a normal trip to an outfitter, you must be back and ready to leave by 10:00 am. We spent 8 hours travelling to and from, plus at least 2-3 hours were spent doing tasks related to these movements. When the trip is 5 days long, it becomes insignificant, but when you only have 3 days, it makes a difference.

Walleye Fishing Trip Checklist

I am posting this for those of us who are always rewriting the same list over and over. It gets tiring, and we always forget something. Here's one list sure to prevent that problem, I have compiled just about every item you can possibly need on a fishing trip to the canadian north. Here it goes:

FISHING GEAR
Fishing Licence
Tackle Box / Fly Box (essentials: jigs, crawler harnesses, hooks, split shot, slipbobbers, soft plastic bait, crankbaits and plugs)
Pliers
Spare Mono or Fishing Line
Fishing Rods & Reels
Fishing Boots / Waders
Rain Gear
Life Jackets
Boat Seats
Filet Knife / Filet Board / Filet Glove / Sharpener
Fishing Gloves
Fish Markers (buoys)
Side Planers
Anchor / Rope
Sunglasses
Sunscreen
Portable Fishfinder
Fishing Net
Electric Motor / Battery / Charger
Gas Motor / Gas Tank / Oil
Mosquito Repellent (Muskol brand concentrated oil preferably)
GPS and Batteries
Compass
Fish Scale
Tape Measure
Camera
Bathymetric Maps (maps with contour details)
Live Bait (Leeches and Crawlers)
Fish Chain / Stringer
Hook Sharpener
Forceps / Mouth spreaders
Chapstick
Nail Clippers
Binoculars
Small Bucket (for bailing)
Rags
Head Lamps



CLOTHING
Warm Sweaters / Sweatshirts
Windbreaker
Long Johns (even in summer, you never know how cold it gets up there til you spend a july afternoon in the snow!)
Underwear
Swimsuit
PJs
Warm socks
Gym socks
Shoes / Sandals / Slippers
Pants
Shorts
T-Shirts
Long Sleeve T Shirts
Hat



OTHER GEAR
Flashlights
Axe
Leatherman Knife
Garbage Bags
Pillows
Sleeping Bags
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Anti Perspirant
Comb
Facecloth
Towel
Soap
Shampoo
Razor / Shaving Cream
Contact Lens Supplies
Feminine Supplies
Cigars
Dish Soap
Dish Cloths
Playing Cards
Books / Magazines / Portable DVD Player
Mini Sound System or Boom Box / Bateries


FOOD GEAR
(pick your own food ok!)
Shore Lunch Pan
Breading for fish
Salt / Pepper
Condiments
Small Coolers (one per boat)
Large Cooler
Ziploc Bags
Bottle Opener / Can Opener / Corkscrew
Coffee Maker (French Press or Espresso or Percolator)
Ice or Ice Paks
Drinking Water
Lighter / Matches
Paper Towels
Paper Plates / Plastic Utensils / Plastic Glasses / Styrofoam Cups
Cooking Utensils
Pots and Pans
Cooking Oil
Butter
Milk
Sugar


MEDICAL
Tylenol, Advil
Antiseptic
Bandaids
Allergy medicine
Tissues
Toilet paper
Moist Towelettes


Please feel free to comment on this list by using the link below - i must have forgotten stuff, let me know, let's make a reference for everyone who needs it!

Club Scott - Summary of our Latest Trip

So we were 10 anglers setting out to visit Club Scott on june 18th, I was the only one who had been there in the past, most of our co-anglers were some american friends from New York State who had been dreaming of this day for weeks. The group was made up of my friend Terry Phillips, and some common friends and family: Mike, Tony, George, Loren, Goober, Matt, and from Montreal there was my buddy Michel Richard (Mike Walleye), his friend Yannick Mime, and myself.

The 3 trucks headed out that saturday morning, we made one quick restroom stop in Mont Tremblant, we stopped one last time in Mont Saint Michel to gas up, get live bait, beer and junk food. This stop is not an option, because once you get on the dirt road there are very few opportunities to get gas and the ones who sell it will charge at least 50% more than the going price - a word of advice, if you ever go up the Parent road, make absolutely sure to fill up in Mont Saint Michel, before you hit the logging road.

Once we got on the logging road, we spotted quite a bit of wildlife which was exciting to our american friend who are all avid hunters. We saw several animals, including a couple of massive moose right in the middle of the river, and some deer. The road was in fairly good condition, though as usual the truck drivers who go up and down this road were just tearing it up, which means we had to be on guard at all times.

We got there around 2:00 pm, registered at the main camp. Mister Morin warned us that the previous week had been really tough fishing, it had been some of the hottest days in recent memory and the fish found refuge where they could, but they were not feeding "normally". Though some very large walleye were getting caught, in fact just moments before we arrived someone had caught a 9 pounder, and a few days earlier someone hooked a 12 pounder.

We headed in to our camp on Mitchinamecus. We unpacked and in no time some of the guys were in their boats, trolling the bay in front of the camp. Dany Morin was our guide for the evening and he was only picking us up at 5:00, so we had time to relax and try to explore on our own before he got there. We trolled around the island in front of our camp, nothing happened there except for George getting a few bites -let me say that this scenario was how the whole weekend went, if George wasn't getting any bites, no one was. He's quite the technical angler, and so is Tony.

We had a visitor for the weekend, "Freddy" the fox hung around like a dog, we fed him so carcasses all weekend long and he would just always come back for more.

Our guide finally came to get us on an old pontoon which looked fine until 4 guys got on it - the back end of the boat got submerged and the motor hit the water real deep, I was on shore and yelled out to get some of the guys in the front, which they did. Off they went, we followed in two 16 foot boats and started trolling, it was still early to jig.

3 hours into our evening, there was still no fish caught. Dany took us to a good jigging spot in the channel that feeds that section of the reservoir. We caught and released a few perch, not one walleye was caught by anyone, nothing happened on that first night.

We headed to camp empty handed and a little concerned. After all I have been to club Scott several times before and I have never returned home without walleye, never mind 10 guys plus one guide and no walleye. Something was different this year for sure and we were going to have to adapt if we wanted to eat some fish.

Day 2: The boys were eager to try out some of the trout lakes, so they did, early in the morning most of the guys went for trout, George caught a nice brookie, but that was it. The afternoon was spent trying to find some walleye on Mitchinamecus. We were split up into 4 boats, each equiped with a walkie talkie type radio. At some point I asked if anyone caught anything, when George and Loren replied they caught a monster, I thought for sure they were pulling my leg, but the more I listened to the details, the more I suspected they were telling the truth. So we took off to go meet them. This is what we saw as we got close, a 7.8 pound walleye caught in no more than 5 feet of water on a wally diver (I think it was red but not sure)

Day 3: We're leaving today, final chance to catch walleye. We head out toward the dam, and other boats scatter, trying to locate the fish. After 2 full days of fishing our boat still hasn't landed more than one or 2 walleye (I'm not even sure we caught even one!), we fish all morning without success, when lunch time comes around we head out to camp, and there were our american friends with big grins on their faces, Tony caught a 7.2 pound walleye, and Terry caught a 4 pounder, plus several smaller ones, finally some fish was caught, and off they went. The canadians stayed behind to try to land at least one walleye, we'd been skunked so far, only a few perch, nothing to speak of, so we head back to the shallow bay where Tony just caught his 7.2 pound walleye. There was no more than 3 to 5 feet of water, but there was a strong wind with a very good chop, the wind was pushing right into the bay. On my second or third cast, I caught a 4.2 pound walleye, we weighed it but the scale shows 3.7 pounds on the picture... but I know the truth ;-)

Shortly after, another comparable walleye was landed, and then nothing, the wind picked up even more and we decided to head out.

We had a great time, the fishing wasn't very busy but the fish were more than respectable, which was just fine by us.

Gouin Reservoir Housebolat Trip - August 6th

My next trip will be to northern Quebec, we will be visiting Les Chalets Gouin, an outfitter with houseboats. I'm heading up there with several friends and work colleagues. For those of you who are wondering why I haven't posted in a while, I'm renovating the upstairs bathroom - gutted it and rebuilding everything. It's taking up a lot of my spare time. I will write up on that trip as soon as I have some time :-)

Leaving for Club Scott this Morning

We're a group of 10 this year, and we will be staying at the big camp down on Mitchinamecus reservoir. Departure is in 1 hour or so. I hear that they are having a record season so far, and I look forward to experiencing some of the larger walleyes the reservoir holds.

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)

Lake Champlain Ice Fishing

Check out this great shot sent to me by my good friend and fishing partner MikeWalleye. He went ice fishing for perch on Lake Champlain a few weeks ago, they spent the day trying to prevent themselves from dying of exposure, winds were raging and temperatures were the lowest they had been all season. No fish either. But what a nice shot!

My Spring Walleye Calendar

Good news for walleye fishermen everywhere. This year will be a good one. At least that is what I have read here and there, and maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I can see my best season yet is about to begin.

I did a little bit of ice fishing this year, maybe 6 or 7 days in total, nothing much, just enough to get me interested in the sport, and to make me decide that next year I will own a power auger. Drilling through 36 inches of ice is fine once, twice, but when you like to move around like I do, it's just not possible.

So spring is upon us, and walleye season opens on May 13th for zone 8.

I will spend that day on Lac Saint Pierre and its islands, where some of the province's best walleye fishing occurs.

The following week, I will be fishing on Lac Saint Louis.

Then on June 18th is my first walleye trip of the year, out to Club Scott again.

Of course there will be many more in between days, but this is what my early season looks like so far.

Ice Fishing the Boucherville Islands

We went to the Boucherville Islands yesterday afternoon. This place is located between Montreal and Boucherville, on the Saint Lawrence river. To get there one needs to use the road leading to the Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine Tunnel, and get off at the @Iles de Boucherville@ exit, where you see the big hotel.

We fished an area near the golf club, between 2 islands. In the summertime this area is reserved for a ferry, but in wintertime, it's open to anyone.

The first thing to know if you plan on going there : it is a very busy place, with hundreds of people walking around, it does not make for a quiet place to fish. Thee are also frequent visits by snowsleds and atvs.

There were 4 of us fishing, and no one caught anything, we moved to different depths, there were a few delicate bites on our jigging rods (missing minnows), but we didn't land one.

There may be another trip to this area next weekend, hopefully there won't be so many people this time.

Ice Fishing near Montreal - Brossard

We had another ice fishing adventure last week when we visited Brossard, a small south shore town located between Saint Lambert and LaPrairie. There we joined several dozen anglers who were fishing for walleye. The results were quite good considering our lack of experience with the area. We totalled 4 black walleyes in less than 2 hours of fishing, although I must say they were quite small, none of them exceeded 12 inches in length.

Map of Brossard, QC

The area to fish is directly in front of the star on the map, Parc Leon Gravel is where you can park your car. Then head over the hill, and down onto the water. We were close to the big yellow marker. Other people were fishing right across the channel near the point, more were at the other yellow marker, maybe 1/4 mile down. We are told the fish there is always present, but always small. Indeed there is only black walleye there, yellow walleye can be found in the Longueuil area, which we will visit next week.

Ice Fishing near Montreal - Sainte Catherine

Sainte Catherine is a small town on the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, just 20 minutes away from downtown Montreal. Each winter groups of ice anglers gather there to catch walleye, perch and pike. The most frequented area is referred to as "the bay", it is a small area where a large concentration of fish apparently congregates, and where I am told walleye is really easy to catch.

I went there for the first time this past weekend, and while I did see some anglers catch a few small walleyes, I did not witness or experience much success. However we did catch a 3 pound pike which we released, as well as a 3 inch perch ...

I will return there sometime in the next few weeks and hope our luck turns for the better.


Map of "The Bay" - Ste Catherine, QC


The Bay is where you see the "Fleuve Saint Laurent" label in the water. If you go there, you can get minnows nearby, one provider is called "Capitaine Pecheur" and is located on the corner of Saint Laurent street and Barbeau street

Map showing minnow provider

Last week minnows were $2,50 / dozen for small and medium sized minnows. Not the best prices around, but very conveniently located.

October Walleyes with Lund Team Pro Patrick Campeau

October 8 2004, my alarm clock goes off at 5:00 am, time to get up and get going. Today I'm going to discover how to fish early fall walleye on Montreal's Lac Saint Louis. I will be accompanied by my friend and fishing partner Michel Richard, another good friend who never fished, Chris Koppe, and last but not least, Lund Pro Patrick Campeau who hopefully will have a few tricks up his sleeve. I've never fished this lake and I need lots of insight.

So I wrap up my home made super sandwiches (hungarian salami, blue cheese, black olives, the works) and the minute I open the door to leave the house, Michel pulls up in his volvo. We're not using my boat for this one, instead we'll use Patrick's Lund Pro V IPS. We get everything into Michel's car and head out to Lachine where we will meet up with Patrick and Chis at the local Dunkin Donuts.

We order breakfast, chat and start planning the day. Patrick seems to know exactly what to do, he says the walleye have just moved in to their fall structure - this is going to be a good day. We finish up breakfast and head out to the Lachine pier.

Lachine Pier in the early morning

Patrick Campeau's portrait is painted onto his Lund IPS

On the water by 7:15 am. We're fishing about 100-200 feet from the pier. The first thing I noticed is that the water on Lac Saint Louis is very murky.

The MINUTE we stop the boat, Patrick starts reeling em in. He is jigging with a 1/2 oz unpainted lead jig and a 3 inch chartreuse soft bait. He must have caught 4 of them before the rest of us started catching anything. It's nice to see a pro at work.

A scene that was repeated many times: Patrick releasing a walleye

After 3 hours we have 18 walleye caught, mostly small ones with a few keepers in the livewell. We decided to change spots and we started eating our sandwiches on the way to the other spot. Chris went out late the night before, so he is hungover as hell, and he used the travel time to pass out in the back of the boat. He has not landed one fish yet and he is sort of hinting that he would like to go back to shore. Of course we ignored him :-)

Once we reached our second spot, Chris came back to life. He finally caught his first fish EVER, a decent size walleye. He caught it with a Balanced Jigging Rapala (a small weighted minnow imitation with 3 hooks, and no other bait). Then he caught a second, a third, etc. - he was on fire! Funny but when I suggested we should take him home he didn't want to leave anymore...

Chris, his hat, and his first fish ever! The pro approves!

Before the day started, we set our goal at 50 walleyes for the day, which was going to end at 3:00 pm so we could avoid the afternoon traffic (this was on a friday). At 2:30 we had 37 walleyes, and we decided it was time to head back to our morning spot near the pier so we can try to catch a few more before heading in.

We wanted to try to reach our goal, so everyone starts concentrating on their rods, but things are not going so great. Pat and Mike get caught at the bottom at the same time, I catch a tiny smallmouth, Pat catches a perch, we have 20 minutes to go and we're stuck at 37. We go back upstream and start our pass once more, but this time, it's one double header after another, the walleye are starting to bite, we're up to 45 in no time at all, we have 10 more minutes to go, and bang bang bang - 50, 51, 52 - and that's how it ended, 52 walleyes on a gorgeous early fall day on Montreal's Lac Saint Louis. They were mostly very small, but we did manage 15 walleyes over 15 inches, including two decent specimens of about 20-21 inches or so. I love walleye, so does Michel, so while we do practice catch and release, that day we were interested in getting some fish for dinner.

No live bait was used that day, only soft plactics on 1/2 oz jigs; and spro ice fishing jigs with no soft plastic bait. I always jig for walleye with live bait, my favorite is leeches, but I will use minnows if I can find them, or worms if nothing else is available. We used short stiff rods, which are my personal favorite for walleye jigging, I like the way I can feel the most subtle bite and react immediately. We used 6 pound fireline, which is also my favorite for jigging, since they have practically no stretch, my reaction to walleye's delicate bite is more immediate and less forgiving for the fish.

Today our guide and fishing pro Patrick Campeau proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that soft plastic baits can do the trick when jigging for fall walleye, they are clean, they are cheap, they require no maintenance, and they are quite efficient. Also, proper boat control with a bow mounted electric motor made a huge difference in keeping our lines vertical in Lac Saint Louis's current. Without it we would have ended up like the rest of the guys who were fishing our spots on that day, i.e. they caught one or two fish the entire day, and they started before we did.

Thumbs Up from our guide Patrick after a very successful day on the water!

I'm not sure I want to store my boat for the winter now, it seems so early, and I want to go back there on my boat to see if I can pull it off without a pro on board!

(I posted a french version of this story on quebecpeche.com in october 2004. )