The hard water fishermen in our area continue to do well on perch across the region. Fishing reports from the ponds in Greece, Braddock Bay, and Irondequoit Bay are all favorable. Ice fisherman on Sodus Bay report that the perch bite has been on fire there, with good catches coming out of 30 feet of water. The thaws we have recently been experiencing have changed the safety of the ice in spots, so make sure you stay on the beaten paths while walking on the hard water.
One fish you won’t hear about being caught in our area, at least in any numbers, is the walleye. Walleye are big brothers to the perch and are the most sought-after fish by ice fishermen across the country. Walleye catches are unusual in our immediate area, with Oneida Lake being the closest place for some decent ice-hole walleye.
But did you know we live only a four-hour drive from one of the best walleye ice fishing locations in North America? The Bay of Quinte on the northeast corner of Lake Ontario is a premier walleye fishery, only an hour’s drive east after you cross the Thousand Islands Bridge. The Bay of Quinte is famous for its giant eye’s, and the biggest are being caught through the ice. Just this past month a Canadian ice fisherman caught a humongous 18-pound walleye there. These are fish that have moved into the bay in the fall from Lake Ontario, hanging out there until they spawn at first thaw in the early spring. I have fished this walleye hotspot many times on soft water, and there is no big deal to pull off a trip up there. After crossing the border at the Thousand Islands Bridge, drive east on the Q.E.W. 401 to the town of Napanee and you are on the shores of the famous walleye hot spot.
We always fished out of Napanee, but there is excellent fishing in the towns of Belleville and Trenton, a little further east on the bay. There are many places to stay; some will even rent you an ice hut. We’ve stayed at the Twin Peaks Motel because of their large rooms catering to groups of fishermen. You can find current information on accommodations at http://www.quintefishing.com.
We’ve fished up there every May for years with great success. At that time of the year we caught smaller resident walleyes, because at that point in the season all the giant fish have migrated back out to Lake Ontario. We would see pictures of the giant walleyes caught through the ice hanging on bait shops walls up there.
The recent exchange rates are for every $100 American currency you exchange you will get back $126 Canadian, so that makes the trip a little cheaper. A non-resident fishing license costs $85 Canadian and can be bought at the Canadian Tire store in the Napanee Mall. If you want to save twenty bucks, Ontario Province offers a cheaper Conservation License, but it cuts the number of fish you can keep from four to two. Once you get to Napanee, look for Baker’s Baits at 309 Dundas Street W., Napanee, 613-354-9280. They will give you advice on where to start drilling your holes and sell you the bait you need to catch these big walleyes. For more info insight on ice fishing the Bay of Quinte go to http://www.timeonthewater.ca/winter_walleye_Quinte.html
The daily limit is four walleyes and, unfortunately, you can only bring back home one day’s limit per person. So, if you fish for more than one day, which most do if you are going to drive that far, you must release your fish or eat them that day. We would always bring a deep fryer and cook the fillets back at the motel. Fresh caught walleye, dipped in a beer batter then dropped in hot oil can’t be beat. They make lobster taste like Spam in comparison.
Small two- to three-pound walleye are much better tasting than the large walleyes that you tend to catch in the winter. Those are usually big females and mature spawners, and should be released for the good of future fishing. Keep the small fish and take a picture of the large female spawners … then back in the hole with them.
When you fish in Canada, do not attempt to bend the rules. Our neighbors to the north are very strict with their fishing and hunting regulations and we have been checked a few times while fishing up there. Once we were even checked by undercover officers disguised as fishermen. They fished next to us for some time before motoring up to our boat and showing their badges. I have no doubt that they picked us out because the I.D. letters on our boat told them we were from New York. They checked our fish in the livewell thoroughly, and we were completely legal. Disappointed, they asked us where we were staying and did we have any fish at the motel. We said that we had cooked the walleye we caught the day before, but that there were a few leftover prepared fillets that we hadn’t eaten eat yet. They informed us that we had our limit in the boat and if there were more at the motel, we were over our possession limit. If we didn’t want a fine we had to stop fishing, go back to the motel and eat them right away, and they would be by later to check. So, we reluctantly stopped fishing and headed back to the motel to finish the leftover fillets. We figured they were bluffing about showing up, but we couldn’t take a chance. Of course they did not show, the Dudley Do-Right looking so and so’s. So, the moral of the story is do not bend the laws in Canada. They are serious.
Speaking of serious, if you are a serious ice fisherman you must make the short drive to the Bay of Quinte. The odds are very good that if you put the time in you could catch a walleye of a lifetime.
