bosco

Caught one by accident on Lake Nippising a number of years ago. I was in a rented hut with a buddy, set my pole down on the bench with the line reeled up just to to keep the bait barely submerged under the water. I went outside for a moment and when I came back in I walked over to the bench, glanced down the hole and saw a fish swim right under and grab my bait and just keep on going. I had to lunge and nearly lost my pole down the hole but grabbed it just in time to pull my one and only whitefish through the ice. Threw it back though. I'm a walleye kind of angler.

I don't know that it would even be worthwhile. There are already Walleye in every Lake Ontario bay and tributary from the St. Lawrence to the Niagra, from Quinte to Irondequoit. The Eastern basin is loaded with them. There's nothing stopping them from migrating to the rest of the open water if the habitat were desirable to them. I think they just reject the open water west of Chamount and Henderson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojGhaGwGPg4 Bleeding Walleye

Short answer...a pair of garden pruners to their throats. Long answer....for me anyways....just before heading back to the launch, I take them out of the live-well and snip their throats, and throw them back in the live-well. Then I throttle back to the launch and while I'm motoring, the live-well drains while the fish bleed out. When I get to the dock and stop the boat, the live-well fills up again and gives them another good washing over. I pull my boat out, the live-well drains again, and I drive them the 1 mile to my garage and clean them immediately. I know this scenario can't work for everyone but that's the program I've developed for my circumstances.

I, personally, eat many Walleye out of I-Bay every year. When I first started fishing on the bay I thought they were not as good as the eyes from Honeoye that I grew up eating. I now follow the instructions as described above and they're perfectly fine in my opinion. Bleed them and filet them with great care and they're great. I generally sift through the 23"-28"ers that are common and just keep the 18"-22"ers. I usually don't have a problem fishing until I find some smaller ones. And I do believe it's a matter of Alewife diet over water quality.

Yeah...I hear ya. Staying up late isn't the problem for me. It's getting back to feeling normal after the sleep depravation. Good luck to yourself as well.

Yeah Devo. My personal best from I-Bay came on opening night 2 years ago. It was the only fish I got that night though. I'm having second thoughts about staying home. Fifty degrees and light rain forecast. I can handle that from for a few hours in the darkness. Should I look for you out there or are you a daytime fisher?

The unthinkable....I might just sit this one out. Opening night has always been more of an annual rite than a particularly good night of fishing for me anyways. Usually around the last week of May and the first week of June is when I-Bay starts to turn on for me anyways. I think I'll enjoy the warmth of a fire, stay home with the Mrs and then proceed to ditch her in the pursuit of ol' marble eyes for all the weekends in June.

Thanks for the heads up. I didn't know that. And I've been eating them (and perch) for years. I've always thought that they taste fine and really I've moticed no reeeeziddyoooalll afffexxx at ullll.

It's still a steady pick out there. Same old, same old. Casting stick baits and shallow diving Shad Raps on the edge of the weed line and in shallower where breaks in the weed beds allow. They ran smaller this year for me. Lots of good eaters 18"-21" and absolutely no complaints about that from here.

Blue Pike? Historically speaking, correct? If we're talking about the same Blue Pike I understand they've been extinct for some time. My deceased grandfather told me he used to get them aplenty out of Ontario.

Anytime Gator. Missed you on the ice this year so it'd be nice to get together again. And thanks Justin. I did well again tonight. I took a couple less experienced guys out tonight and they boated 9 between the two of them. Biggest came in a shade under 10 lbs. And thanks Devo. When I run out of steam doing the night bite I'll have a starting strategy for daylight hours.

My first night out in the month of July. The bay still works though. 4 eyes in 2 hours. All good eating size. 18"-20" but they hit hard and fought above their weight class. May was awesome for me. June was slow (alewife season). I tried to fish them like Justin suggested but I wasn't having luck and lost confidence. Last year this is where it started to turn on for me so I'm going to try and get out a few nights a week now.

Top water action for Walleye?....the classic bottom huggers?....Preposterous I say!....Preposterous!!.

Fished from about 10:30-1:00 last night. A beautiful night to be on the water but apretty slow evening as well. Just two...a 20" and a 21". Alewife action was pretty intense. They were smacking the surface continuously and we actually foul hooked four of them plus the eyes spit a couple up in the live well. I kind of thought that would be over by June but I guess not. I have little doubt though that the fishing was tough because they already had bellies full of alewives.

Thursday 6/4 got 8 eyes (and a gar) last night. 19"-25" between myself and a buddy. Numerous shake-offs and one bust-off at the boat. Fished from 10:00-2:45. Stayed out a little later than I wanted but I was determined to get my buddy his limit. It was worth it. A lot of action. A lot of fun. And a beautiful, quiet evening.

I learned that from you...thanks.