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.

Some people are wasting perfecty good lures

I have no clue how I stumbled upon this, but it's definitely worth your attention - some folk are building jewelry with lures, in this case it looks as though they are using a soft plastic minnow (maybe a Berkley?) - it's actually pretty cool. check it out here!

New Tackle for 2006

Anyone find anything impressive in this year's crop of fishing gear?

Nothing really caught my eye this year, seems like the marketing machines over at Pure Fishing ran out of juice, or maybe they're still tyring to make people buy last year's stuff?

Berkley GULP Leeches: As Good as a Live Leech?

I'm a big fan of using live leeches when fishing for walleye, whenever it is convenient for me to do so, I use live leeches for vertical jigging, on harnesses, and lindy rigs.

However it is not always convenient or economical to fish with leeches. If you can't catch them yourself they can cost a fortune. And if you can catch your own, it requires a lot of time that I would prefer to use fishing. Even buying leeches requires time, it limits the time you can start fishing to the time the bait shop opens.

Berkley has perhaps a solution to this problem. They released a new product in 2005 as part of the GULP line of artificial baits. It is called the Berkley GULP leech, it is 3 inches long, and is available in black and pumpkinseed. The GULP technology supposedly releases 400 times more scent than the average plastic bait. They come in packs of 12, and cost about $4, which is about the same price you would pay for live leeches. But anyone who has fished live leeches knows you will lose several of them to short strikes, the GULP hooked on a bait holder will most probably stay on much longer.

I have yet to try this new bait, but in just a couple of weeks walleye reopens here and I will be up on Lac Saint Pierre with some of these new baits to give them a shot. I'll be comparing them to Berkley's Power Leeches, as well as to real live leeches, and of course I will tell you what transpired.

When to Use Stinger Hooks for Walleye

Stinger hooks are used when walleye are striking shoirt, stealing livebait or ripping through short plastics. When this is a pattern rather than the exception, you need to turn to stinger hooks (trailer hooks). Gamakatsu has released a product called the G-Stinger.

It is made of a sticky sharp short shank forged hook strong enough to handle the big fish, but not so heavy as to adversely affect the lure. The hook has a corrosion resistant matte black finish.

The loop on the G-Stinger is made from super strong braided line to hold up against sharp toothed fish like walleye. It’s flexible enough to let the hook ride in the right position while keeping it from fouling with the main line. A durable shrink tubing covers the wrappings and loop connection providing protection from teeth, corrosion and pliers.

Attaching the G-Stinger to a lure is very simple. Just run the loop through the eye of the lure and loop it over the hook, pull tight and it’s done. Easy to rig, no split rings or fasteners to deal with. The G-Stinger is available in hook sizes 8 and 4 with a 30lb. loop, sizes 1, 1/0 and 2/0 with a 50lb. loop.

Blade Dancer Presentations for Walleye

By now I'm sure you've heard of the new Berkley Blade Dancer. The bait is available in 4 weights (1/16, 1/4, 5/16 and 3/8 ounce); as well as in 15 color combos (Alewife, Black Shad, Bleeding Minnow, Chartreuse Shiner, Firetiger, Glow/Chartreuse, Perch, Rainbow Smelt, Rainbow Trout, Shiner, Black Gold, Electric Grape, Tequila Sunrise, Red Shad, Bloodshot). Though I have yet to try it, I already know how I'm going to use it on opening day.

1. Jigging
As with any form of vertical jigging presentation, finesse is of the essence. The idea is to let the Blade Dancer drop freely until it reaches the bottom, i.e. until you notice slack in your line. Then lift it 6 inches off the bottom, and stay there, twitch a little, drop it back to bottom, lift up a foot, twitch, drop, etc etc. The key is in paying attention to changes in the way your line feels.

2. Trolling
Trolling the blade dancer is the same as trolling any other crankbait, except the results may be somewhat better than with most normal hard crankbaits. The erratic action of the blade dancer should make a difference, it will look much different and will act less predictably, which should trigger more attacks. You may need to weigh it down slightly with one or two small split shots to reach the bottom.

3. Cast and Retrieve
This is the ideal bait for pause and retrieve techniques. Because when you pause the bait drops like a dying minnow, it is probably the best bait on the market for this technique. Very good for walleye along weedlines and rock piles.

I would recommend you match the size of the Blade Dancer with depth and current conditions as well as with the technique you are trying to use. Use the lightest weight you can get away with. Best colors will depend on fishing conditions, but in general chartreuse minnow, firetiger, bloodshot, and perch should do great.

Cotton Cordell - New Grappler Shad, Jr.

This new lure by Cotton Cordell will reach 6-8 feet on a cast and 8-12 feet while trolling. This one can work even while speed trolling, and it is very easy to cast. The best speed for this lure according to some pros is 3 MPH. You want the lure to hit the bottom occasionally, because that's where walleye spend their life.

It is available in 12 awesome colors. Its tight wiggling action simulates a minnow in distress. The Grappler Shad, Jr. is available everywhere and should retail for about $4.59 USD or $5.50 CAD.

Cotton Cordell Wally Diver - 13 New Colors

Cotton Cordell has released 13 new colors for the CD5 Wally Diver, without a doubt one of the most popular walleye crankbaits out there. These new colors include Monkey Puke, Cheap Sunglasses, Eriedescent, Orange Juice, and many more.

Lots of variations on Orange, Red and Green themes, which are the colors most easily seen by walleye. These new colors are sure to please many walleye pros.

Rapala Shad Rap Hardbait on Special

Rapala Shad Rap Hardbait

Bass Pro Shop is practically giving this stuff away. I like the SR-05 3 inch model, at $1.99 a piece, I'm ordering a few dozen. My favorite colors for this specific lure are firetiger, walleye and clown.

Hot Tip: Use Red Hooks for Walleye Fishing

Red hooks are in.

Walleye anglers everywhere are switching to red hooks, from the big time tournament circuits right down to the small town angler. Why? First and foremost, recent scientific studies have demonstrated that walleyes can see red better than any other color. Red also signifies a bleeding prey. The buzz is red hooks will catch more walleye, so I figured I would take a moment to review different ways you can incorporate red hooks into your presentations.

JIGGING
Red lead jigs have been on the market forever, same goes for red soft plastics, but red hooks on jigs? I first used a red hook on a jig last spring, on Gouin Reservoir's Lac Du Male. There, my fishing buddy Mike "Walleye" and myself caught close to 100 good sized walleyes in 2 days, all on 1/4oz Matzuo Jigs with a red hook and a leech. Not only were these some of the sharpest hooks I have ever seen on a jig (out of the box), but they really did seem to outfish normal jigs - which we soon abandoned at the bottom of our tackle boxes. The rest of the summer's vertical jiggin was done with these same jigs. I am trying to find these jigs on the internet and can't find any trace of their existence. I still have a hundred of them or so, so I will try to take a picture soon and post it.

SPINNER RIGS
Gamakastu's new line of red hooked spinner rigs is just the thing you need to get those shy walleye to strike in the middle of the day. It features a firetiger pattern, which incidentally is the other most visible color to walleye.

CRANKBAITS
Replace your standard treble hooks with red hooks, if you can only change one of them, change the one closest to the head of your bait. If you're fishing in the right area, you will notice a difference. Remember to keep the exact same size hooks, otherwise you will interfere with the bait's natural movement and probably make it totally worthless in the water.


RED HOOK MANUFACTURERS
There are many hook manufacturers out there but only a select few make a quality product worth mentioning. Red hook manufacturers include:

Gamakatsu - possibly the best hooks money can buy. I have been using red Gamakatsu hooks for a few years now, but I never suspected that their color had something to do with the success I had with them. Guess I was wrong.

Matzuo - too bad their website is the worst corporate site I have ever seen - everything about it is wrong or broken. Their products however are really quite awesome.

Mustad - everyone knows the quality of these fine hooks, always the innovators, they have come up with a line of red hooks dubbed "Red Baitholder Ultra Point Hook", super sharp hooks that stay sharp longer than the competition.

Eagle Claw when a company has been making hooks for more than 80 years, you can trust them to deliver quality products for a reasonable price. They have a wide selection of red hooks in all shapes and sizes.

Daiichi - another company with a top notch product, they produce many different kinds of red "bleeding" hooks, many specifically designed for walleye.

Fiannly Check out Shaw Grisby's article "Why I Know Red Works "

Best Lure Colors for Clear Water

the picture and text above are taken from:

"Successful Walleye Fishing:

The complete hot-to guide for finding and catching walleyes year-round"

www.creativepub.com

If you fish walleye in lakes that are invaded by zebra mussels, you know how difficult it is to get the walleye to bite during the day. The water is so clear, they retreat to 30 feet or deeper yet, 40 even 50 feet of water for comfort. Walleye respond well to shiny lures, so leave the dull lures in the tackle box.

According to In-Fisherman Magazine (april-may 2005), other than shine, there are a few colors that will work better than others in conditions like these.

The most aggressive presentations are the easiest to see, if you need to make the walleye come to you from a distance, go with bright orange, red or green lures. For example, Cotton Cordell Fluorescent red/black, Firetiger patterns or Orange PowerBait soft plastics.

If the fish is biting relativeley well, stick to more neutral presentations such as perch patterns, gold, and pumpkinseed.

A subtle presentation for spooky fish would be blue, purple and smoke.

If you must remember just one thing, remember that walleye's eyes are very different from ours, and the colors they can see underwater are not the same, it doesn't matter that red is the first color to fade away for human eyes, the simple fact is that walleye will see bright orange, red and green better than any other color. Keep that in mind the next time you're having trouble getting ole marble eyes to bite and give those colors a try.

Best Walleye Lures

According to Professional Angler Patrick Campeau, these are some of the most prolific lure for walleye in the province, these must be in your arsenal if you're into walleye and fishing near Montreal. I can assure you I own a lot of just about each of these lures, in various colors and formats, and I would never go out without a good assortment of each.



Vertical Jigging
Gulp Minnow Grub on a Lead Jig

Berkley Power Grub on a Lead Jig

Rapala Balanced Jigging

Williams Ice Jigging

Power Bait Tournament Strenght 4¨minnow

Trolling
Crawler Harness with Night Crawler

Rapala Shad Rad RS

Frenzy Diver

Storm Thunderstick

Rocket Shad

Musky Lures

"Brett's Bait" is not the first hand made lure I come across, but I'm pretty sure nothing is more expensive.

http://www.muskystriker.com/bb/bb.htm

This 14 inch cedar bait will cost you $120.00 EACH!!

I must say I don't know much about musky fishing yet, and I have been known to spend lavishly on rods and reels, so who am I to talk, maybe this bait does make a difference. I would definitely bring along scuba diving gear though, cause at this price I don't care how cold the water is, I'm not losing it.

And while you're there be sure to pick up a few tips, the site is very informative.