Bay of Quinte Walleye

Anytime I get the opportunity to hit migratory species in the Great Lakes fisheries I do everything in my power to make it happen. This year with some late planning myself and a couple friends made the Bay of Quinte a reality the past weekend in search of some trophy eyes. We left Wednesday evening at midnight and drove through every weather condition possible - snow, sleet, freezing rain, rain and more snow - it was a very difficult drive to say the least. We made our first stop at Denny's for a hearty breakfast and to get ourselves rejuvenated for the day ahead. We soon checked into Merland Park Resort, unloaded all our gear into our cabin, set up the slow cooker and hit the water. Thursday was an exploration day while pulling boards everywhere we could keeping an eye on the graph for bait, streaking fish and water temperatures. We covered all the main lake areas including Aldolphus Reach, Tall Wall, Bat Cave, Keith's Shoal and Young's Point including quick checks at the Cement Plant and Thompson Point on our way in. The first day did not have any fish in store for us but we did not see any nets being dipped either. Supper, beers and well needed sleep were in store for us all! Friday was an unbelievable day weather wise as the reach layed flat for the majority of the day with minor rain and winds coming out in the early afternoon. Perfect trolling conditions but not conducive for a bite - I think it took a hot lunch on the boat and a minor weather change to trigger my fish into biting! Just as one of our guys was falling asleep he screamed board and fell out of his seat doing so ... too good. The lines were cleared, board released and an excellent battle was on. This 27.75" beauty made it into the boat with a Reef Runner T-Boned in her yap. We couldn't of been happier as it was what the boat needed to keep our adrenaline going and morale high! A quick supper followed by an evening under the lights at the cement plant brought us in to camp at 11:30 pm with a tally of one fish in the boat. Friday activity observed was our fish and two other nets going over the gunnels during our trolling in the reach. Still slow out there and the number of boats was only increasing. Saturday was the day we were hoping for and had the perfect forecast in our minds. 10 km/h west winds, high of 4 degrees and sunny breaks - who wouldn't want to be out in this weather at the end of November! We started at Young's point and pulled boards all the way to steep wall jogging with other boats and covering every piece of structure we could - 4 hours later we decided to hit the cooler water and headed over to Thompson Point. A lot less boat activity was around and some boats set up on the jigging bite; we quickly set our spread, set up the BBQ, enjoyed a hot lunch and no sooner than packing up did a board slam back - Go Time! Johnny was into what we knew would be his personal best and first ever on a board, man was that ever exciting to witness. He thought he lost the fish a couple times but once the board was released his eyes lit up. The fish put up a good fight and gave him smiles throughout - all captured on GoPro! We got the fish in the boat, quickly removed the Rapala Tail Dancer, put the 28.5" on the board and were instantly blown away with the girth - tank! Some quick photos were taken and the fish was released safely to swim another day in the bay. Overall we had an amazing trip - the food, camaraderie, laughs, random useless conversations, hospitality at Merland Park and the fish made it all worth while. We would have loved a third fish in the boat for us all to have landed one but this will bring us back next year. Thanks for reading and thank you Bay of Quinte for being awesome!