Walleye around Carleton Island

[eye8astonie]

Staying at Angel Rock by Carleton Island 2nd weekend in May. It's our first time fishing the St. Lawrence in the spring, so just looking for any general tips anyone can provide.... depth, troll vs. jig vs. cast, etc. Would like to find some perch as well. We'll be sure to post detailed results after our trip!

Thanks,

Duane

[mostlymuskies]

The Walleyes will be more apt to be near the tribs or shallow bays where they spawn the second week of May. Some good places to try would be Bayfield Bay(Wolfe Island), Carleton Island dropoffs & humps and the shoals around Fishers Landing. Last season in front of Foxy's (Fishers Landing) on bucktail jigs tipped with a worms was the ticket. There are walleyes all around that part of the river early in the season. Try Large black Tube Jigs 5", Triple "D" spinner harness w/ worms or trolling stickbaits along the edges of shallow structure (14 to 25 feet). In Bayfield Bay try casting Bluefox #2 Buctails tipped with worm or Countdown Rapalas around the shoreline of the bay.

Capt. Larry D. Jones

http://www.mostlymuskies.com

[eye8astonie]

Thanks, Capt. Larry. It will keep us busy all weekend just trying all that!

[mccoy13]

Bayfield is in ontario, so you will need an appropriate liscence. The thousand island bait store can help you with that. A word to the wise, getting in to bayfield is no joke. Its two entrance's are shallow and loaded with boulders. Use caution. It is best to follow in some one who knows the way. I have seen a lot of props and out drives damaged there. Some were mine.

[Grady95]

Bayfield is in ontario, so you will need an appropriate liscence. The thousand island bait store can help you with that. A word to the wise, getting in to bayfield is no joke. Its two entrance's are shallow and loaded with boulders. Use caution. It is best to follow in some one who knows the way. I have seen a lot of props and out drives damaged there. Some were mine.

Bayfield should be called minefield! You're right about the potential to hit rocks. A few years ago, I also added some structure to the area in the form of the entire lower half of a Honda 225 outboard. A guy who lives on an island there actually came out because he heard the thing hit. He was nice enough to tow us all the way to Chalk's, even though the tow boat from BoatUSA was on the way. $4,400 damage.

Also, do make sure to get that Ontario license. TI Bait shop can help with that. Be sure you also get your Ontario Sportsman's card. They do check. They do sit in boats with binoculars and watch you. They are aggressive so play nice.

Having said that, yes, there are walleye there! Good Luck. See you up there.

Grady

[Curt7234]

I will also be staying at Angel Rock, June 11-18th...looking for some good Walleye fishing.... Would the spots in may be pretty much teh same in June?

[mostlymuskies]

Tossing 1/2 ounce brown bucktail jigs tipped with worms in 22 to 25 feet of water off the the humps off Calumet Island throwing to deep water working the jigs back toward the humps was what worked for me a couple years ago in mid June.Also at the shoal just above Calumet Island on the upstream side we did well on walleye right on the edge of the channel using the same jigs working from deep back to the channel edge.Water temp was around 61 degeees then.

Capt. Larry D. Jones

[Curt7234]

Capt Larry I need to just hook up with you! Do you charter on Ontario or St Lawrence?

We do a ton of Walleye fishing on lake Wallenpaupack....We have been going up to Angel rock for years now for the awesome Bass fishing and Pike fishing, and this year we wanted to get into the Walleye fishing we hear so much about....Would love to get me a musky one of these days as well....only ever caught a few Musky biggest one being about 35 inches while fishing for Walleyes with Rattlin Rogues.

[mostlymuskies]

Curt7234,I stopped guideing in May & June up on the St. Lawrence some years back when the price of gasoline started going up.I use to go up to the Larry if I had two consecative day trips.Just not profitable to go from Buffalo,NY to Clayton,NY to charter anymore,sorry.

I do tiger muskies and northern pike on Conesus Lake & Findley Lake in May & June.Then 3rd Saturday in June till mid August I do muskies on Chautauqua Lake.Mid August till mid Sepember Walleye on Lake Erie.Then back to Chautauqua for muskies till the end of October,finishing my season with muskies in the Buffalo Harbor on Lake Erie through November.I make a trip up to the Larry usualy in early June with three freinds slitting the expenes,not sure about this year.

Capt. Larry

[Curt7234]

Capt Larry I hear ya on those gas prices....It's absolutely ridiculous! Well we are definitely going to try to get into some glass eye fishing on the Larry this year. I have never fished for glass eyes during the day, always caught them at night on 1/2 oz shad raps, rattlin rogues and cc rattlin shads. I realize fishing for them during the day is a whole new animal. From what I understand the Larry offers some pretty good Walleye fishing with quality size. We use to do very well up at Lake Wallenpaupack, but over the last few years up there the numbers have been down. (To much craziness on the lake up there during the day).

I heard reports of being able to Limit out on Walleyes during the day quickly on the Larry. I need to find those spots! LOL. Obviously Carleton Island is right across from where we are staying at Angel Rock so we have heard good things about the fishing around there. We have fished the island over the last few years and caught a ton of Pike biggest one being almost 9 pounds, and a few smallmouth and a ton of perch, but never a walleye or musky. Angel Rock yielded a 50 pound Musky I believe it was spring of last year, I think they have a picture of it up on their website. So they are there, just tough to catch.

We thought about getting our Canadian licenses, but is it really worth it? We only come up for a week. Is the fishing that much better on the Canadian side?

[eye8astonie]

Thanks for the help guys. One more question.... I've always used 8 lb. mono for jigging, and 12-15 lb. for trolling for walleye. Will this be sufficient for the St. Lawrence? I think it would handle the walleye fine, but not sure how many muskie or pike to expect by accident?

Thanks,

Duane

[mostlymuskies]

I've gone to 8 lb Seaguar Tatsu Florocarbon .009 diameter and blood knot a 6" piece of 15 lb Seaguar Tatsu as the leader at the jig. Seaguar's exclusive double structure fluorocarbon (DSF) technology. Super sensitive and abrasion resistant, the soft exterior resin provides tournament-grade knot strength and flexibility, while the hard interior resin vastly improves tensile strength. Seaguar Tatsu Fluorocarbon also sinks faster so you can maximize your time in the strike zone. Like the flexible, lithe, and armored scales of a Dragon (tatsu – means dragon in Japanese), Seaguar Tatsu Fluorocarbon has a tough, but soft exterior, which hides incomparable inner strength.

Capt. Larry

[eye8astonie]

Capt. Larry, thanks for the suggestion on the line.. I had missed that earlier. We got to the St. Larry today, and stopped at 1000 Islands Bait Shop, and were surprised to hear him say there are really no walleye to be caught in this section of the river this time of year! (other than Bayfield Bay). We tried around Carleton Island today.. mix of jigging, trolling stickbaits, and casting around the dropoffs, and didn't get a bite. Any suggestions on where to find the 'eyes without trailering to Ogdensburg or buying a Canadian license? If all else fails, we'll try to find some perch, but would love to find out where the walleye are hiding!

Thanks,

Duane

[mostlymuskies]

The water temps around Carleton Island are most likely still on the cool side,from nearby bouey's I seen 45 degrees.Bayfield Bay is shallow and is much warmer.You also have an east wind working again'st you.Maybe you need to try shallow flats trolling back in French Creek Bay by Clayton,NY,13s Rapala's in black & silver, long lined at night.The walleye action here at the head of the Niagara River in Lake Erie is slow as well with the cooler then normal water temps,46 degrees here.

Capt. Larry

[sqqy14]

Chaumont Bay isn't far from where you're at. It can produce some good walleye action this time of year.

Regards

Bob

[Kevin J Legg]

Black River Bay has been good so far. Caught a 30" and a 22" walleye and also a 32" pike last week in about three hours.

[eye8astonie]

Thanks guys, we ended up trailering down to Black River Bay on Friday. Got a nice 23" eye down there in about 8 fow by the buouys on a chartreuse/black jig/minnow, plus some huge smallies and a northern up in the river. Never got back out on the st. larry due to rain, but from what I hear, it might be worth heading up there in August. Thanks again for the advice!

Duane