Opener of Walleye on the Bay of Quinte is in the books and the taste of Walleye is in my system.

I teamed up with Jack Summers of Radioworld and his good buddy Claude Del Tatto for a “full” Saturday of Walleye fishing on Quinte. We based our group out of Deseronto but didn’t limit ourselves to just that area.

Our first stop was the back end of Hay Bay which usually is the warmest water in Quinte. Unfortunately we only picked up one tiny Walleye. We also caught a medium sized Pike and Claude caught a giant 1.5+ pound Black Crappie. Landing that fish for Claude made my weekend!

Since the Walleye bite was obviously off (if they’re not biting in Hay Bay then it’s definitely off) we made a move to the Long Reach near Sherman’s Point. We could see fish on the chart all stuck to the bottom. The problem is it’s so deep here and add to that the wind was picking up, that bait control is an issue. Traditionally we get our fish (big and small) in that area suspended and just because we only saw fish on the bottom doesn’t mean there aren’t suspended fish.

The boys ran cranks and jigs while I decided to run a Slow Death rig on a long piece of fluorocarbon to basically dissect the bottom area and really try to hook what ever was showing on the chart. In no time I tagged into a nice eater Walleye. I never hang my hat on one fish so we kept at it very quickly I hit into 2 more.

I converted the Jack and Claude over to heavy bottom bouncers and spinner rigs (worm harnesses) and they instantly started to bang off fish. I think they had 3 different double headers (I love netting 2 fish at a time). My boys were on fire!!!

I then decided to change it up (you know… what a total moron does when he’s catching fish) to a crank behind a bottom bouncer and came up blank. Of course by now Claude and Jack were kicking my ass and letting me know about it in their very subtle manner. Slow Death… that was me after the change.

We went out later that day for an evening fish where the Crankbait actually worked for me and caught another for the fryer and basically that was it. We kept 10 eaters for the Saturday (we had to feed 5 guys so it was perfect) and had a great time in doing so.

Sunday morning we got up, had a huge fish fry, cleaned up the place and headed home for Mothers Day… we’re pretty good guys eh?????

Trips like this with your buddies or family are what fishing is all about!