Posted by OnceBitten on 2002 AM:
Need St Lawrence walleye advice
After many years of
walleye fishing in the Bay of Quinte, my buddy's and I are leaning
towards taking a trip to the mouth of the St Lawrence this May instead. We
would probably set up camp at Cream Point, not to far from Mud Bay. We'd be interested in fishing anywhere in the area, and
we'd even consider running to Galloo and Little Galloo islands if that's a good
walleye hang out and the weather forecast is cooperative. My buddies bass fish
the area every year so they know the area pretty well.
Does anyone have any experience for walleye in the area? I'll do some research
on the net and find any related sites, but I thought someone here might fish
that area as well. While we're perfectly happy jigging or casting for eye's
during the day, we've gotten more and more into trolling at night. That's
really paid off for us over the last few years.
Now, before everyone starts warning me about fishing Lake Ontario at night in May, let me assure everyone that the four of
us are all experienced boaters and have fished Ontario for many, many years. Both boats, a 19' and a 21', are
equipped with GPS and VHF, and we make any long runs together. We're well
equipped for big water.
That being said, any advice for walleye in the area? Thanks in advance.
Fred
Posted by Sluggo / NY on 2002 AM:
That may be too early...
Fred..I don't profess to be an expert on Lake Ontario walleye. Maybe east basin Erie..but not Ontario. I do fish the area you're talking about though. We mostly troll the shoals later in the summer. It's been my belief that the majority of the eyes there are the migrating herd that move from Quinte into the lake as the water warms. I really think May might be a bit early for the bite up there. If you like night trolling, you may want to consider the Oswego River in May. That's where I'll be! Night trolling (flat-lining) F-18 Rapalas seems to be the winning ticket. Lots of 12-14# fish taken! During the day, we move into the harbor with bottom bouncers. If you want info or places to stay..feel free to shoot me a note! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris) jstack5478@aol.com
Posted by Sean Heitman on 2002 AM:
TRy contacting the 1000island bait shop up there...they seem to have a handel on any of the fishing in that area....
Posted by GANGGREEN on 2002 PM:
Can't help you much on the location....
although I did fish near Wolfe Island for several days a few years back but walleyecentral.com is the place to go for advice. Maybe you've already been over there. Sluggo and I have been perusing that board for several seasons. In addition to lots of local anglers, you'll find some of the PWT pros on the board. They have an excellent "Boats and Motors" board along with general discussion and fishing reports boards. Good luck.
Posted by OnceBitten on 2002 PM:
Thanks Sean, they were
the first place I thought of when I started looking this morning. I've talked
to them before. Nice people.
Bill, you're right. I've been watching that board for about three years now.
I've picked up alot of tips from walleyecentral. I assume you've checked out
the pics of all the 10+ pounders people have caught. I got in contact with a
guy who fishes the Columbia
River, (Treback?)
from that site. Nice guy, great fisherman. He's got about a dozen slobs posted.
I almost named my boat after one of the walleyecental guy's nicknames, 'eyejacker.
However, Sept 11 made me think twice about that.
Chris. Too early huh? That's interesting. We always fish Quite on the second
weekend of May and depending on the spawn, they could be up by the Napanee River, or out past Picton towards the lake. If those schools
are the fish that take up residence in the St lawrence area, they won't be
anywhere near the area in Mid-May. Hell, they won't even be in the lake yet. Hmmm.
Maybe we'd better rethink this. I've been thinging alot about Oswego, it's close to Rochester, but isn't it sort of small? The
river can't be 1/2 mile long before the dam. I have a mental picture of 50
boats playing follow the leader, planer boards getting run over, tangeled lines
everywhere... How bad is it?
Eastern basin of Erie, huh? We tried that three years
ago and had a stretch of bad weather. Plus we didn't know where to even begin
looking for the walleye's. I'd love to go back there in May. We fished out of
the small boat harbor and headed southwest. Next time we'd probably try Dunkirk. That's alot of water though. I'd
need some advice on narrowing it down. Hint, hint.
If you had 3 or 4 days to kill in mid-May, where would you go? Erie or Oswego?
Thanks again guys,
Fred
Posted by Sluggo / NY on 2002 PM:
Forget Erie in May..
The bite on the eastern basin of Erie doesn't start till July! We usually launch out of Barcelona and troll towards Dunkirk. This will be my first crack at night trolling on the Oswego River. I've hit it (and the harbor) during the day, but never at night. We've had no problems with traffic, but you're right..it's only a half mile run at most till you run out of water! Another option for you would be Chautauqua..I know they have a decent early bite there. If you want Erie info..let me know, but for early walleye, you have to head west quite a ways! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)
Posted by OnceBitten on 2002 PM:
OK then, sounds like we
should plan on hitting Oswego. I'd love to fish around Put-In-Bay and Port Clinton but that's quite
a haul. One of these days we'll get out there.
Like you, we tend to flat line rapala's, thunderstick jr's or reef runners off
planer boards at night. During the day, we'll start jigging live bait or Mr
Twister grubs tipped with minnows. You like running bottom bouncers, huh?
Running them with worm harnesses I assume?
We'll probably be down there on the second weekend in May. Any chance we'll run
into you that weekend? We prefer to camp out, but we'll stay in a hotel if
forced to. I'm pretty sure there's a state park right by the mouth of the
river. I'd love to pick your brain sometime about the area. Are you still
planning on coming up for the Seneca perch outing? I'll buy you a couple beers
and you can fill me in.
Thanks again Chris. I look forward to meeting you.
Fred
Posted by GANGGREEN on 2002 PM:
Welllll.....
Chris is right that in
general the walleye bite on the eastern basin doesn't get hot until July or
thereabouts, however, recently the local inshore walleye population is getting
much better around there. What this means is that you stand a chance of running
into some fair walleye fishing early. I think that the '98 year class on this
end of the lake was pretty decent. Those fish will be around 2.5-3 pounds right
now. You'll also pick up a few slobs mixed in. I'm certainly no authority, I
typically don't fish Erie until the big western basin slobs
show up later in the summer. One thing that I do know is that you can
occasionally get them fairly shallow at that time of year. The smallmouth
fishermen sometimes pop one while jigging shallow water in the spring. I think
that Scully ran into several of them the last time he was out in Dunkirk in May. Maybe he'll see this
thread and post his experience. According to my brother who lives on Erie, this is also the time for night
fishing dragging big minnow baits.
The obvious side benefit to a Lake Erie
trip in May is the fantastic fishing for big pre-spawn smallies. If you get
blown off the big lake you're only a hop-skip and a jump away from Chautauqua.
The problem with Chautauqua is that while the fishing might be OK, the total
number of adult fish in the system isn't that great. There's really only two
year classes of fish moving through the system, the 93 class which was
phenomenal but is now dwindling and the 98 class which was basically just OK.
Good luck whatever you choose.
Posted by Sluggo / NY on 2002 AM:
Bill's right...
I've heard that the eastern basin has a decent resident population, but I've yet to try it before mid-summer. I just love trolling for those migrating hawgs! He's also right about the smallies! We've picked up numerous smallies over 5# while trolling deep water! As or the Seneca outing...I'm still planning on it! I was hoping to hit it last weekend, but it didn't work out. We just started a big project here at work, but I'm hoping it won't interfere with my plans. At least they did it during the close of walleye season! Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris) ps..the trip to Port Clinton is worth it..done it several times!
Posted by OnceBitten on 2002 AM:
Thanks again guys.
The guys and I got
together last night over a cold one (ok, more then one) and chewed over your
advice. We decided that Oswego was just too tempting to pass up.
Plus it's only an hour away from us! That's hard to beat.
Erie was talked about for a long time,
but our last trip there sort of degenerated into a massive smallmouth hunt
since we couldn't find any walleye. We caught some absolute monster smallmouth's!
We're thinking about trying Erie later
on this summer once the eye's make their way over fom the western basin. I'm
sure your right Bill, there's probably a good resident population there in May,
but there's just so much water to cover. We're thinking of getting a guide for
the first day and then heading off on our own.
Thanks again for sharing all the info. You just saved us a trip to the St
Lawrence that probably would have been a bust.
See you guys at Seneca.
Fred
Posted by Craig in GA on 2002 PM:
Fred,
There's no state park in Oswego. There is one in Fair Haven with
camping but that is about 15 miles west of Oswego. There is a motel in Oswego
that is right on the river. Turn left off of Rt. 104 just after you go over the
bridge.
Craig
Posted by JOHN G on 2002 PM:
Craig! Sure took you enough time to reregister and get back on here buddy!! hope all is well...... JOHN G
Posted by OnceBitten on 2002 AM:
Hi Craig! Long time no
see. Like John, I hope all is well.
Thanks for the tip. For some reason I thought there was a park up there. Oh
well, if the hotel is right on the river, that should be just about perfect.
Thanks again,
Fred
Posted by Sluggo / NY on 2002 AM:
Fred..here's a possibility..
We've got a cabin booked at K&G Campgrounds in Oswego the third weekend in May. I assume from the name that they have campsites as well. We're meeting a guy from NJ there who's going to show us his night trolling technique. I haven't stayed at this place before, but you can give them a call at (315) 343-2475 and check them out. Good Fishing, Sluggo (Chris)
Posted by OnceBitten on 2002 AM:
Perfect! Thanks Chris!
I'll give them a call today and find out about campsites as well. We're going
up the second weekend of May. Think that might be a little early?
Let's see now, you've told me where to go and fish, you've told me what
tactic's work for you, you've told me where to camp out... what will I do when
your not there to pitch my tent or net my fish? I'm becoming rather dependent.
Thanks again, I really appreciate the help.
Fred
Posted by Craig in GA on 2002 PM:
John and Fred,
Everything is going as well as can be expected. The weather has been a roller
coaster, much as it has been up there. Crappies down here are near about ready
to spawn so I've been working on them at West Point Lake quite a bit lately.
Been re-registered for a while and lurking around, but haven't seen much in the
way of threads that I could add to. My posting will probably pick up once y'all's
season gets under way. And on that note...only 6 more weeks until the early
smallmouth season on Lake
Erie!!! Lots of smallie
fishing to do in TN between now and then, but I'm chomping at the bit to get
back up there on the big water!
Craig