Normally I don’t spend opening weekend focusing on pike, but the action in the last couple of days has been good and it’s hard to resist a good pike battle!
My fish of the day yesterday, on the Bay of Quinte!
I got a message late Sunday night from my friend Ian “You up for fishing tomorrow?” – and we all know where this is going, I definitely said yes! About an hour and a half into our trip and I hooked my first walleye of the season, followed by 4 more! I tried to get out on Saturday for opener, but the wind prevented me from kayaking to my usual walleye opener spot, so I didn’t get the chance to hook up with any walleye on the weekend. You may think I am disappointed, but the next few photos captured definitely made up for it!
This year Kiwanis invited me as a guest speaker at their annual Kiwanis Walleye World Derby held in Trenton, Ontario! It was my first time getting up on the ‘Mega Tank’ stage, so I was pretty nervous but I think I did OK! Thanks to all that watched my seminars and BIG thank you to Kiwanis 🙂 It was an honor!
Showing some young anglers my favourite rig for spring walleye – a bottom bouncer and a worm harness.
Now back to yesterday – after 5 walleye (biggest at about 2 pounds), the wind picked up and it was hard to troll or stay on any spot that we wanted to fish. We decided to seek a bit of shelter, and try for pike instead. We found a big flat in about 11 feet of water and the pike were loving the spoons! I tried a few different colours and techniques, but Ian was having success on a gold/silver spoon so I decided to do the same. In total we got 5 walleye, and 13 pike!
Ian’s 10 pounder – woo woo!
After figuring out a bit of a pattern yesterday, it was time to take the kayak out – and I’ve recently added a second one to my (hopefully) ever-growing fleet! For me this is a definite reason to smile! Now that I have 2 kayaks, I can take friends out and that is something I have been really looking forward to!
After yesterdays success, I didn’t waste any time asking my friend Matt to join me in chasing Quinte pike! The water this afternoon was calm after a morning rain, and it was perfect kayak fishing weather! Not long after we reached our destination, we were reeling in pike!
Matt had no trouble landing pike in the Hobie while standing! He was a natural, has kayak fished for 10 years… and naturally now wants a Hobie 🙂
Reelin’ a pike!
Showing the pike my new rig!
Matt’s fish of the day!
Our pattern today was much like yesterday – 8-12 feet of water with heavy weed growth, casting spoons and swim baits. I had luck reeling quickly, close to the surface and Matt discovered that a slow falling presentation was his ticket! We landed 15 or so pike today, with many followers that didn’t commit to a strike. Cannot wait to get out again for northern pike, and more walleye too!
As always, thank you for reading!
Hi Ashley. There goes that old saying again, “How many kayaks does a fisherwoman need? One more.” Five Walleye's would make a good fish fry.
Mark
liked the blog, i would like to add pike to my list, i have chain pickerel near me, close enough to a pike, good fighters on lite tackle
We fish for fun off shore and really don't know much about fishing but love it!!! Your blog was really helpful and hopefully we can catch more then sun fish!!!
My guess on the salmon's length is 38.5″ – however, how do you measure? Here in Ohio, USA we measure to the tip of the caudal fin. Some places, they measure to the inside point of the tail fork – this can change the fish length by several inches!
that 10 pounder is a total slob 🙂