From Bob MacMillan:

12 Degrees Fahrenheit, time to hit the lake. Jim Lyon and I (Bob MacMillan) met at the local coffee shop and headed to the boat ramp around 8am Saturday December 8/2018. Ice had formed in some of the small bays and sheltered areas but not where we were going. We planned to launch at a ramp just west of Kingston, Ontario and make the 12-mile run down. We launched Jim’s Ranger 620 and got our floater suits on while warming up the ETEC motor. After a approx. 15-minute run we were in the Bay of Quinte. If you’ve never been, the BOQ is well known for being the Bay of giants. Lake Ontario has a very good population of large migratory Walleye that return to the BOQ in the fall to stage for the spawn. Once the spawn is complete in the spring, they head back out into the depths of the Eastern Basin of the lake.
We started our day with a 4-rod spread, 2 Offshore Tackle Planer boards and 2 lead core lines flatlined. We had a mix of Deep Husky Jerks, Flicker Minnows, Tail Dancers and Reef Runners set to various depths. We trolled for approx. 2 hours before we had our first bite. A beautiful little 5 pounder that ate the Tail Dancer on lead core. Not long after that we hit a smaller fish on a Deep Husky Jerk on the lead core. By now we are starting to show the picture on the graph that we wanted to see. A lot of deep fish but a good abundance of higher more active fish. These fish do not relate to structure, they are anywhere from 20-100 feet down over depths as much as 160 feet. Finding the concentration of fish is key looking for higher marks on the graph. Once we started marking, we made some minor tweaks to our board rods. Now it is snowing, and snowing hard, unable to see shore and with no wind at the moment it became very surreal. Sipping hot coffee from the thermos, watching the boards for action and seeing the snow pile up added to experience. Not long after the snow started, we have our first larger fish on. I reeled it in and Jim netted the 28’ approx. 10lb Walleye that hit a Deep Husky Jerk. These fish are gorging themselves on the crazy amount of shad in the bay and are extremely plump. After some quick pics she was set free. We practice Catch and Release almost exclusively on the bay to protect the population of trophy Walleye. After a short while we had another hit, this one ripped the board back and wasn’t stopping. We slowed the boat and Jim angled in to the net a 30.5” giant. After some very quick pics and measurement she went back but we estimated the weight to be approx. 13lbs. Now we had identified the pattern and Deep Husky Jerks were the ticket. The next fish, on the same bait, was a 29” 11.1lb Walleye. Bob was fortunate enough to bring this one to the boat for Jim to net. We ended the day landing a total of 6 fish, while missing 2 others. The sizes of the 6 fish were approximately, 5lb, 3lb, 10lb, 11.1lb, 13lb and 10.5lb. Our day ended at 345pm, with the shorter days we chose to avoid loading the boat in the dark on an icy ramp. Turns out, with the weather having cleared and the sun now out, it was a gorgeous ride back to the ramp. We cruised back at 45mph and loaded the boat just in time for the sun to go down. It was now 21 degrees out and Jim’s boat was coated in snow and ice. She will be back in her shop to get warmed up and thawed out and be ready for the next trip. Hopefully we can get another in before ice covers the Bay.