Kevin J Legg

Just back from a morning on the river. Strong wind made for tough trolling but still got three nice walleyes (23, 24, and 26") and two dandy smallmouths around 19". Two walleyes off rigger and one off bottom bouncer (30-40 fow) and the bass were shallower on deep divers(15-22 fow). Forgot to take photos.

I run up to nine rods for browns when they are shallow on the lake and perhaps fishing suspended walleyes in 20-30 fow on the lake ut the structure changes a lot on the river so I generally can only run 4. Also many of my trolls are over relatively small areas. I just experimented with the Black setting tensions.

Nice post. Sounds like a good night. I never really mind losing a fish when I get a look at it but when you don't know what it was it really haunts you.

I caught a 22' off a stick bait on heavy bottom bouncer this morning. I like to get back to the lake to try trout and salmon but weather doesn't look good. This heat is keeping off the water except early in the morning. By 9:00 I'm done! y have to try the crappies this evening.

Morning and evening are more productive for me. They are deeper during the day and move shallower at night. My most successful technique is a stick bait off homemade heavy bottom bouncer right on the bottom. I do catch some suspended on the long line deep divers and riggers. Lots of guys use jigging spoons or jigs and use trolling motor to control drift in current. Most places I catch them in the river have a strong current. 35 fow has been the place this week.

I troll very slowly into the current. GPS boat speed is often .2-.7 and the current is making lures work. It is a very slow method to troll ( a bit like hotshoting in the Salmon River) I slip in and out along current breaks and have to throttle up to make headway. I use Black releases which are easy to set and adjust. Pinch pads didn't work well for me.

I've only been trying the riggers sparingly and was having limited success. I thought I'd try keeping the balls up while using a deep diving crank on shorter leads to get me to target depth and it worked yesterday.(I heard that walleyes have a 50' ball tolerance on Erie) When fishing shallower off boards at Quinte I also run 150-200' leads and run long lines back about that length on the river. There are many techniques that can work on the river. Depth and speed control are crucial and difficult with current and the changing bottom contours of the river. I'll keep experimenting and post my results.

Matt, Certainly a great start for you this year on the big lake!

Picked up another walleye about 25" this morning off a rigger set at 25' with a Rapala troll to 50' back in 35 fow.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have an electric I like and a Cutco but for bigger trout and salmon I believe the 12" Forschner is the one to add to my collection. The guarantee and the case with sharpener on the Cutco are awesome. They have replaced two knives for me, no questions asked.

I'm interested in purchasing a high quality fillet knife for trout and salmon. Any suggestions? What do the pros use?

Picked up two around 25" again this morning along with 3 smallmouths. North wind made it challenging.

I'm not sure as I've been fishing the lake and smallmouths. irst attempt for eyes but I heard they were hitting so had to see for myself.

[i made my first trip for walleyes on the river this morning and wasn't disappointed. I ended up with a 22" and 26" walleye and three smallmouths. I should have limited out but lost a couple. I was running one long line deep diving crank and two stick baits. One on a heavy bottom bouncer and one on a rigger. Running three rods solo makes for a busy morning!

Fished early off Stony Island a picked up a 8 lb. brown. Fog rolled in and we move out and fished from 65-140 fow only managed one small laker. Wandered around in the fog but couldn't find fish. Ended up tolling along the high cliffs and nothing. Slow day for us today. Most of the bait we marked was from 25-60' didn't see many fish caught but we could see very far in the fog.

I fished the fog this morning. Caught one brown first thing on the cliffs before I even dropped the rigger weight. Near shore surface temp. was 5 degrees colder than off shore. We then ran to Stony Island and got two browns and 2 bass in 20-35 fow. Ran to the wall and found bait at 30-60' over 75-95 fow caught a 12.2 brown on a slider spoon and lost a laker at the boat. Caught fish off riggers, boards and wire dipsey mostly on spoons but laker took FF.

I took my wife and sister-in-law for a morning of bass fishing on the St Lawrence after fishing Butterfield Lake last evening. Ended up with three limits of nice bass for our effort. My sister in law has 11 lbs. of nice fillets to take home to NH. She said it was well worth the one day nonresident license fee.

We caught a beautiful 16.1 pounder yesterday. It certainly was mount worthy but due to cost and lack of wall space decided not to mount it. I also believe it's an individual decision. What is the fish of a lifetime for one may be just a nice fish for another. Anything over 10 is a nice fish.

We were out by islands in my Lund Alaska 18. Not any to big but we got it done.

Had a decent morning with the browns going 6 for 10. We lost 4 at the boat and had a few other release. One off the boards and the rest off riggers down 17-15feet in 25-40 FOW. All on spoons. Largest two weighed 16.1 and 11.3 lbs. on my scales. Snagged an alewive on a spoon while trolling but also saw some gobbies in their stomachs. When rain and wind arrived we decided to run!