Martin’s Fishing Trip in Picton

Early Saturday morning, after a long heavy rainstorm Friday night, we headed out to Picton. The night was quite foggy which made the trip a little longer than usual. We stopped off at the tip of the bay, a small resort-like place, of course in Picton there are a good handfull of places to stay. However, as the name suggests, its right on the tip at the tip of the Bay of Quinte. A perfect place to launch out of since you’re pretty much in the thick of things coming off the ramp. There are even some excellent docks, complete with weed growth and depth to make them a possibly undiscovered hotspot.

On our first day we headed out in the hottest part of the day, not the greatest idea in 30° temperatures, never-the-less we were going fishing. Even in these less than ideal conditions we managed to boat some nice fish. Slow rolling spinnerbaits in and around cover coaxed out some largemouth bass. Later that evening, we headed out again using the exact same patterns and technique to cover as much water as possible. Our best period was between the hours of 6pm and 9pm as the sun began to settle. We landed close to 20 bass, including a couple in the 3-4lb range.

The very next day we headed out early, this time making our way in to the bay directly across from us, I believe it’s called Pikes Bay. The conditions of the day included some very heavy winds that blew all kinds of debris and otherwise unwanted items into the corners of the bay. Again, even with the less than ideal conditions we managed to land some really nice largemouth in the middle of all this muck.

On the third day of our trip we put away our rods and took a trip to Gananoque 1000 Islands for a sight seeing boat trip along the infamous and mighty St. Lawrence river. The river holds the most common freshwater game fish, including (but not limited to) bass, pike, walleye, and perhaps most well known for its muskie, such as the world record Musky (69lb 12oz). The shores of the St. Lawrence are peppered with boat launches and rentals, probably more than I’ve seen on any other lake or river in my life. There is no doubt of the fishing opportunities here, with structure similar to your average northern lake, with ultra clear green water, spotty vegetation and rocks everywhere. Even the American side of the river, which is weedier and a bit murky green, holds excellent fishing opportunities.

Finally, on our last day in Picton, I targeted bass in the deeper water using my 7′-4″ musky rod with a 1/2 oz. Strike King Flippin’ Rattle (brown/green/black) and a Strike King Claw Trailer (black/red specks). I was never very inclined to try flipping jigs for bass before, however in this particular case it was the perfect solution. The jigs provided the perfect combination of weight to drop through heavy patches of weeds, while still remaining mostly weedless. Fishing a long steady drop from 5′ to 20′ while following the thick weed line I managed to clean up pretty quickly and hook in to another group of nice largemouth, all in an hour or so. Following the same pattern down the shore line I found it consistent and extremely effective. To say the least, I have a new go-to bait in difficult conditions, be it extreme heat, cold, or just a slow day. I even landed a beauty of a walleye using this same pattern.