Fish-Hawk.Net

Hey guys, I'm heading from Ottawa to try the Bay of Quinty next week for the first time, being from northern Ontario I have no experience with downriggers or planar boards, I've always jig fished or simply trolling with spinner and live bait. My new boat has 2 downriggers on it and numerous rod holders, here are the questions I have

1 - Should I spend the time to setup planar boards, or can I troll simply using rapala style lures and normal rods.

2 - Can I use my downriggers to run a dual planar board setup, or do I need to invest in something else

3 - What are the best lures to use, I see alot of people using Mann's +20

4 - How deep should I be fishing and should I rely on the fish finder to find fish in the deeper waters, what type of pattern is used to troll.

5 - Is jig fishing viable there, how deep should I be fishing if so.

Any input is welcome, thanks alot

If you fish East of the Ferry crossing you can have 2 lines per person and then you would want the planner boards.
We would mark the fish and put the down riggers to the depth the fish are.
Purple reef runners worked best for us.
I fished there 2 years ago November and got a 13 lb ten minutes in, 8
9-13lb followed and a 15lb pike. Are fish finder lit up like a xmas tree with bait fish and the hogs.
I think its a bit early for the peek time, but your close... when the ice is just starting and the leafs are off is best.. brrrrrrr.
Good luck.
FN

Welcome to the Bay , right now the big fish are 12 to 25 feet down , as stated above Reef runners and tail dancers in Purple or firetiger are producing best , if you fish west of the Ferry along the shore going into Picton Harbor you will see a lot of dead or dying vegatation , try and run your boards as close to this edge as possible , the best times seem to be fist light and from 3:00 pm till dark have fun and dress warm it is starting to get colder on the water now

All the info above is accurate and will get you fish. If I can add my 2 cents I would say don't get to carried away with getting deep. A lot of active fish are in the top 30 fow even if you are marking schools down 75'. Don't be afraid to run a bait or two in the top 15 - 20'. As said planar boards are very helpful especially east of the ferry as you can use 2 rods/person as previously noted.

The reach is not hot yet. I spent a couple hours searching for fish yesterday and didn't find too much. The odd fish is being caught down there but not with any consistency yet. I got my fish yesterday in picton bay off the cement plant in 35 fow of water. Best lure was a yellow reef runner out 100'.

If you are new to Quinte fishing you may be interested in the Walleye institute I host at our resort. Sheldon Hatch and Gord Shultz do a bang up job of teaching you all the techniques you will need for quinte in the fall and spending 8 hours fishing the reach will be really helpful for knowing the hotspots in the future. PM me if you want some more details.

Scott

Hi jayg - PM sent.

Hi jayg - PM sent.

Hi jayg - pm sent.

Thanks for all the response guys, ill let you know what happens, Erie I'm sending you pm