Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

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kliven
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Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by kliven »

Went out at 6:30am to fish walleye & pike opener. Got on the water by 7:30am, and my first thought was: "This weather is great - not too windy nor rainy. Looks like a great morning for fishing!"

Two hours later - after searching through several weedbeds using spinnerbaits, spooks, and jerkbaits - my enthusiasm soon withered. We just couldn't find the fish. So, my brother decided to slow down and do some finesse fishing. He threw around a dropshot rig, caught something that initially felt like a piece of weed, but turned out to be a a nice 2-3lb walleye! She was about 8 cm over the slot limit, so we let her go to fight another day.

Image

After the release, I quickly casted my jerkbait, and jerked twice, and a huge splash engulfed my lure. Drag screamed, and after a few minutes, I landed a nice Rideau River pike. Again, she was a quite big, so I decided to let her go.
Image

Aside from these two fish (and a couple of out-of-season bass) we never got anymore hits. After asking around, I think walleye and pike fishing was generally slow today on the river. The fish seemed finicky and didn't want to chase fast moving baits. Of course, I'm not complaining - I'm pretty glad that we landed quality fish. Would've been nicer to have a few more bites though!
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by riverdog »

A couple of nice quality fish!
Fishing the St.Lawrence 12 months a year!
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emeraldpirate
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by emeraldpirate »

FYI ....I believe you are a bit early on your walleye and Pike season opener.
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BradGuenette
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by BradGuenette »

emeraldpirate wrote:FYI ....I believe you are a bit early on your walleye and Pike season opener.

It opened this weekend in FMZ18.
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by Daboss »

emeraldpirate wrote:FYI ....I believe you are a bit early on your walleye and Pike season opener.
Depends on the FMZ. 18 is open this past Friday, 12 is next Friday
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by CBB »

Congrats on some nice fish and great pics
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by Netman »

Daboss wrote:
emeraldpirate wrote:FYI ....I believe you are a bit early on your walleye and Pike season opener.
Depends on the FMZ. 18 is open this past Friday, 12 is next Friday
Zone 18 opened on Saturday not Friday. Definitely some quality fish there kliven
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by Gord »

Nice double shot dude! :mrgreen: ........morning was a beauty yesterday, afternoon.....not so much :lol: :lol:
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by baz fish »

Some nice quality fish bud.
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by fatluke »

I would take quality over quantity any day.


Good fishing dude!!
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by Trout_83 »

Well done! I'd also take quality over quantity any day of the week. And good on ya for getting out bright and early...I didn't get on the water until mid-afternoon and was battling gnarly winds and rain...
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by RJ »

Great fishin boys!

RJ
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by 67ZL1 »

I think if you Lindy rigged with a leech or crawler with a shot of air your success rate woulda shot right up. Slow drift at .2-.5mph and you'll get bit!
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by kliven »

Thanks for all the positive feedback!
emeraldpirate wrote:FYI ....I believe you are a bit early on your walleye and Pike season opener.
Yes, I was fishing in Zone 18, where walleye and pike opened on Saturday - Sorry if I wasn't being clear!
Gord wrote:Nice double shot dude! :mrgreen: ........morning was a beauty yesterday, afternoon.....not so much :lol: :lol:
Trout_83 wrote:Well done! I'd also take quality over quantity any day of the week. And good on ya for getting out bright and early...I didn't get on the water until mid-afternoon and was battling gnarly winds and rain...
Yeah, when I saw the weather forecasting rain and heavy wind for most of the weekend, I knew that I only had a short window of time early saturday morning to get some fishing in. I'm in a canoe, and its not pleasant fishing when the waves are 2 feet high!
67ZL1 wrote:I think if you Lindy rigged with a leech or crawler with a shot of air your success rate woulda shot right up. Slow drift at .2-.5mph and you'll get bit!
Perhaps I will try this! I've never actually fished with a lindy rig before, so my first thought is whether this would end up getting caught on weeds?
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Re: Walleye & Pike Opener - Quality, but not quantity!

Post by 67ZL1 »

Lindying would be good for rigging alongside weedbeds. If you're set on fishing the weeds, perhaps a slip bobber set up with a leech would be a better option for you. Leeches are like candy to walleye.
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