Where to Fish, And What to Use, as Another Walleye Season opens in Northern Ontario
Original Blog Post Below by: Gord Pyzer
Gord Pyzer is the fishing editor of Outdoor Canada Magazine and field editor of In-Fisherman Magazine
There is no question where Nicholas Werner, owner of Werner’s Angling Adventures spends his early season walleye fishing.
“About 38 feet from my back door, on the world famous Bay of Quinte,” chuckles the personable Kingfisher Boat pro. “Hundreds of thousands of migratory Lake Ontario walleye fill the bay every fall and spend the winter here preparing for the spring spawn. It makes for some very lucrative angling on opening weekend.”
Werner focuses his attention on the areas where the Trent and Napanee Rivers spill into the big bay, as well as constricted areas that concentrate the fish, such as Massassauga Point and Telegraph Narrows.
“I’ll keep the boat out over the deeper water and channels, adjacent to spawning areas, and follow the walleyes as they migrate back out into Lake Ontario.
“If I’m in the river mouths or the neck-down areas, I’ll use a chartreuse or white ReelBait flasher jig tipped with either two minnows or a big crawler. My secret is to gob on a whole crawler the way a 6 year old would do it. It’s just a yummy juicy mess that the walleyes can’t resist.
“If the fish have already moved deeper, however, I’ll long-line troll a custom painted DHJ-12 Husky Jerk or spinner harness. Big Eye Custom Lures produces some of the hottest walleye patterns on the Great Lakes today with the The Grinch and Maniac colour schemes being my two top performers. I start trolling fast, up to 2.1 mph, and I’ll only slow down if I’m not getting bites.”